An introduction to telephone systems in the cloud

1. An introduction to hosted telephony
2. What is hosted telephony?
3. How does Gamma Horizon hosted telephony work?
4. What are the benefits of hosted telephony?
5. What is the difference between hosted telephony and a traditional phone system?
6. Which hosted telephony provider should I choose?

1. An introduction to hosted telephony

Working in the Marketing Department it is my role to learn what I can and share it with both customers and colleagues. When I first started at TSG earlier in 2018, my telephony knowledge was minimal at best. Fast forward to now and I’d happily say my hosted telephony knowledge has been somewhat boosted due to the outstanding information provided by TSG’s passionate experts.

It’s been called many things, VOIP, cloud-based telephony, hosted telephony & good old telephone system. If you’re confused by all the jargon or just want to know more about how your business can benefit from hosted telephony. Let us shine some light on the misinterpreted minefield that is hosted telephony with the top 5 asked hosted telephony questions.

2. What is hosted telephony?

Traditionally a telephony solution requires telephone system hardware, whereas a hosted telephone system is a cloud-based phone solution hosted in an enterprise grade data centre. This eliminates the need for telephone system hardware resulting in lower costs due to no upfront costs and no maintenance costs.

hosted telephone services are commonly via ethernet internet or converged fibre broadband service, once within the business it then uses the same wiring as your company data network.

Hosted telephony will be the ideal replacement to existing ISDN services which is more pressing than ever as the Openreach end of life for ISDN lines approaches. With a range of benefits which a traditional SME phone system does not provide, including a flexible secure system that is disaster recovery-ready, it is clear to see that hosted telephony is the way to go moving forward.

3. How does Gamma Horizon hosted telephony work?

Offering a range of fixed line and mobile telephony capabilities, Gamma Horizon is a full-package business communication tool that can be utilised via an easy-to-use web portal.

Gamma Horizon’s fixed line and mobile voice services are provided via an assured or converged internet connection and the telephones connect to the Gamma Horizon cloud platform where voice services are supplied.
Supporting millions of users’ voice services every day, the platform itself is built upon the infamous Broadsoft platform. Calls can be presented to all users to pick up through premium Polycom headsets and softphone clients whenever they connect to the internet. The management of Gamma Horizon is through an easy-to-use interface, providing all users with several ways of handling personal call.

Also supplying access to voicemail, call history and recorded calls. The telephone system being hosted in enterprise data centres, location is no longer an issue for businesses with home-workers and remote offices as they all become part of one singular system. This is something that was historically only available in enterprise-grade on-premise systems but is now available to all businesses. Due to the innovative nature of technology, Gamma Horizon is an ideal product for any business embarking upon digital transformation.

4. What are the benefits of hosted telephony?

The number of benefits is growing rapidly due to the innovative nature of IT environments resulting in pioneering developments. The benefits of a hosted phone system such as Gamma Horizon benefits offer minimal capital expenditure, potential savings, a simple futureproof system and ongoing support. Find out more about how Gamma Horizon can work for your business.

5. What is the difference between hosted telephony and a traditional phone system?

Traditional telephony solutions are commonly reliant upon hardware installed on-premise and connected to voice networks via Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).
ISDN is a set of communication standards which allows for voice, video and data transmission.
Openreach (BT) announced it will be retiring ISDN in 2025, resulting in the need for hosted telephony system adoption which will serve as a catalyst for business modernisation.

Adopting a hosted telephony system will remove the need for on-premise hardware equipment and move call handling onto a cloud-based phone system. Your business will benefit from this as it will connect to a network of enterprise grade phone systems across multiple geographic locations, ensuring you have access to the latest iteration of the phone system software.

6. Which hosted telephony provider should I choose?

TSG continuously collaborates with organisations across the UK to deploy hosted telephony solutions and TSG’s telephony partners with respected award-winning supplier Gamma. Gamma is a leading supplier of voice, mobile products and data services and products in the UK. Together TSG and Gamma Horizon provide flexible, scalable, and resilient solutions delivering real business value.