Q&A: Why Hosted by 3CX may just be per fect for you
3CX Phone System v16 continues to evolve and improve, and the latest Update is arguably its most important yet…
Update 6 of 3CX Phone System v16 doesn’t just come with a list of improvements. It includes something truly transformative for many businesses: “Hosted by 3CX”. What’s more, you get the first year of hosting for free. Here, we speak to CEO Stefan Walther to uncover the company’s thinking and answer some practical questions.
What problem is 3CX trying to solve by providing the hosting?
We’ve always been a channel-focused vendor, and that isn’t about to change. Our new hosted solution will allow resellers to leave the work of hosting, maintenance and updates to us while they focus on what they do best: selling to and supporting customers. With more and more companies in favour of using cloud services for their businesses, it’s something that has been highly requested by our partners – and now we’re happy to fill that demand!
Are you targeting any particular type of business? For example, by complexity or size?
Like anything 3CX does, it works for any kind of business of any size. SMEs shouldn’t feel that 3CX is out of their league and, similarly, larger enterprises can be confident that a Hosted by 3CX PBX is secure, reliable and will cater to their businesses’ communications needs. 3CX is flexible, with plans and hosting to suit all requirements and budgets.
What are the key benefits to Hosted by 3CX?
We have always boasted about 3CX being a “zero-admin” solution. And now with Hosted by 3CX it really is just that. A Hosted by 3CX solution eliminates OS admin, provides automatic updates and enhances businesses’ remote capabilities – we’ve made it extremely easy to set up and support remote teams. It’ll free up time usually spent on maintaining the PBX for both the end user and reseller so that they can spend time and resources on more productive tasks. What’s more, it’s free for one year.
You say that you can “eliminate OS admin” but is that really possible? Surely business owners need to do something?
When it comes to updates, maintenance and performance optimisation, no, they don’t need to do anything. 3CX will take care are of all that. Of course, end users or their resellers still have ave control of their PBX, meaning that they are the ones who will configure, customise and set up new extensions.
How will Hosted by 3CX help businesses with remote workers?
As I’ve already mentioned, Hosted by 3CX enhances businesses’ remote capabilities – we’ve made it
extremely easy to set up and support remote teams, and merge remote PBXs. 3CX is great for businesses that employ remote workers. All that’s needed is to create their extension and set the necessary permissions. The user can then easily access the web client or quickly provision their smartphone with the 3CX app via a QR code to use their extension just as if they were in the office.
Why is 2020 the right time for this product?
Unfortunately, for everyone, 2020 equals Covid-19. It’s had such a huge impact, particularly on the way businesses are run. Flexible working isn’t new but now, instead of just a perk, business owners are seeing it as a necessity. They need to remain agile. A Hosted by 3CX solution offers this. It can be set up in minutes remotely, run remotely and used remotely. And to make things even easier, we’re taking care of maintenance. This is also helping to take the pressure off of our resellers who have also been impacted by the events of 2020.
What should existing customers do if they want to take advantage?
Existing customers can get hosting free until the end of Q1 2021. It’s easy to switch: they just need to talk to their 3CX partner. If they don’t have a partner, they can find all the relevant documentation about migrating on our website! And migration is easy: they can simply log in to the customer portal and select Switch to Hosted.
Are there any limitations people should note compared to other methods of implementing 3CX?
As of now, it’s not available in every country – but it will be soon. The Hosted by 3CX solution offers the same level of features, functionality, service, reliability and security as our other options. Just with added convenience! At the moment, Hosted by 3CX is available for 24SC licences and offers 500MB backups for migrations. For customers with larger installations, we will of course assist them in the migration to 3CX.
What advice would you give a small business that’s using conventional phone services but thinking about switching to VoIP?
Don’t sit on the fence too long! Change doesn’t have to be scary, and once you do make the switch you’ll soon start seeing the benefits. Cloud solutions are excellent, especially for small businesses that might not have the resources to implement or manage an on-premise solution. The future is in the cloud, so you’ll also be future-proofing your business. Make sure you choose a vendor that’s transparent. So many of them advertise features such as videoconferencing, voicemail, live chat, call centre… but these come at a price as add-ons. This is not the case with 3CX.
What would you say to businesses that have been thinking about switching to 3CX but have been put off until now?
Give us a try! Test out our free Standard Edition with free hosting – what do you have to lose? We’re confident in our product, which is why we offer the free edition perpetually. There are no commitments if you decide it’s not for you.
It’s great that the first year of hosting is free, but how much is it going to cost after that point? Am I paying a premium for 3CX hosting the service instead of another supplier?
We’ll be announcing pricing shortly, but it’s going to be competitive. That means customers won’t be paying more to host with us.
For businesses that are new to 3CX, what are the next steps to take if they’re interested?
They should try out the free version on our website and then get in touch with a reseller, who will be able to assess their needs and discuss options to tailor a solution for them. All our approved resellers are listed on our website, so they can easily find one in their area. We also offer a free conversion tool so that businesses using certain phone systems can easily convert their system to 3CX – this can be done in under one hour so it’s really easy to get started without disrupting services.