When evaluating cloud solutions for a migration, enterprises often hear that either public or private cloud is superior, with little room for a more nuanced interpretation of the benefits and drawbacks of each. In many cases, one of these options will be more appealing in terms of the specific needs of an enterprise, but it’s more likely that an organization will need to evaluate their options thoroughly to come to a decision.
In addition to public and private cloud, many enterprises find that a hybrid solution is the best approach for their IT environment. Multi-cloud also holds some attraction in certain situations, or as a stepping stone to full migration of communications technology. It’s a good idea to begin with a comparison of some basic features of each type of private branch exchange (PBX), beginning with your legacy system:
On-premise PBX: Hosted on the enterprise property, this system is purchased with a capital investment and is managed and maintained by in-house IT. There may be some integration with third-party cloud solutions and features are generally relatively simple telephony tools.
Private Cloud PBX: There are several options for hosting, from the service provider housing the system in their data center to keeping the PBX housed on-site for the enterprise in their own data center. Financing also offers flexible options, with enterprises either treating it as a capital expense or being billed each month as part of a subscription service. Different segments of communications technology can be billed separately or together, depending on the needs of the enterprise. Private cloud can be customized and integrated with third-party technology using application programming interfaces (APIs).
Public Cloud PBX: Also referred to as multi-tenant deployments, this solution is owned by the cloud service provider and offered for a monthly subscription fee. Every aspect of management is handled by the provider, including upgrades, maintenance, hardware and support. The system is managed by the provider in a state-of-the-art data center with full peering to other networks. Telecom and the public switched telephone network (PSTN) are bundled and integration with third party cloud solutions is part of the standard offering. The public cloud option is usually the most economical of the three.
For many enterprises, hybrid cloud solutions make the most of the benefits of both private and public cloud offerings. For instance, a large enterprise may prefer to use private cloud for their headquarters, but then access public cloud for small branch locations that only handle a light level of customer service phone calls. Headquarters may require advanced features or accessibility to video conferencing and other tools.
In addition, an enterprise with a certain volume of local phone calls that also runs a busy contact center may prefer to use a hybrid approach, with a private cloud solution utilized for the contact center.
To simplify your cloud migration, contact us at eXemplify. We can help you identify the right mix of private, public or hybrid cloud to meet your communications goals and requirements.