Want to manage your business? AI is transforming it and plays a central role in cloud telephony. Yatish Mehrotra tells you how

Starting an entrepreneurial journey is exciting. Individuals who embark on such journeys are usually ambitious, motivated, and have a vision. Today, it is easier than ever to be an entrepreneur because many new technologies make managing a business simpler. While the element of risk that comes with starting a business remains; it is easier to manage using technologies like artificial intelligence and cloud telephony.

To remain competitive most businesses use AI and cloud telephony. To stay competitive new businesses must adopt them too. Both technologies confer advantages to companies that use them; some such benefits are as follow.

Easy to set-up

An advantage of using cloud telephony instead of PBX and EPBAX lines is that the former can be set up in less than a day, often in a matter of hours. A PBX or EPBAX line, on the other hand, may take days to become operational. In the competitive world of business, it is essential to deliver services as quickly as possible; this makes cloud telephony a vital technology for businesses.  

There are other advantages of using cloud telephony too. Everyone knows that traditional phone lines are prone to becoming inoperative during bad weather. For entrepreneurs, not hearing a dial tone when they need to make an urgent call is frustrating. Because entrepreneurs value efficiency and time, they recognise cloud telephony as an ideal communication technology. A cloud telephony system never fails even in the harshest weather.

In addition to failure during bad weather, traditional PBX and EPBAX lines are prone to crash for a variety of other reasons. Hence the reliability of cloud telephony systems is an important reason why entrepreneurs adopt them.

Grows with businesses

Entrepreneurs who use PBX and EPBAX lines must change their businesses phone number when they move to new premises. A unique business number every few years diminishes an enterprises image. Customers and vendors may view it as unreliable. Also, customers who don’t have its new number may not be able to buy its products and services.

The problem of having to change phone numbers when relocating is not an issue with cloud telephony. A business that uses cloud telephony doesn’t need to change its phone numbers when it moves to new offices. It may change offices as many times as necessary and still use the number it had in its first location. Businesses that have the same phone number they did when they opened enjoy greater trust.

Another even more significant advantage of using cloud telephony is the system can be effortlessly scaled up or down. As a business’ requirements grow its cloud telephony system matches them. When a business’ employee strength grows from ten to one hundred its infrastructure requirements change. It needs more telephone numbers and lines to accommodate the larger workforce. Cloud telephony is an ideal technology because growing business can quickly increase the number of their telephone lines. 

Because cloud telephony can be scaled rapidly, businesses can increase the number of lines they use when they expect a surge in call volumes. When call volumes taper, they can easily use fewer lines. Rapid scalability such as this offers enormous advantages to businesses. Business can quickly buy subscriptions to match an increase in demand and vice-versa.

AI gives an edge

A cloud telephony system stores data on the cloud where sophisticated artificial intelligence algorithms can analyse it. AIs ability to analyse and glean insights from data stored on the cloud gives businesses that use cloud telephony an advantage. AI is becoming more intelligent every month, making its predictions about future events highly accurate.

For instance, a company that uses a cloud telephony system may find the system alerts an agent that an incoming call is from someone angry at his employer. It may also make useful suggestions to help placate such callers.  AI can’t replace agents, but as it grows more powerful, it can make the agents better at their jobs.

In addition to alerting agents about callers’ temperament, AI can inform entrepreneurs about their customers’ intents. AI is intelligent enough to predict with a high rate of probability which customers are considering ending their relationship with the business.

By bringing to the attention of entrepreneurs those customers who are considering ending their relationship with a company, AI gives time to act and win back trust.     

Most entrepreneurs today understand that using a cloud telephony system is important for their business to succeed. They like the flexibility of being able to scale the system as their organisation grows and cancelling subscriptions when needed.

AI is transforming business and plays a central role in cloud telephony. Entrepreneurs want to use AI to manage their enterprise; cloud telephony lets them do so. The predictive ability of AI, when deployed among dozens of employees, adds considerable value to a business; entrepreneurs recognise this.

People driven by the zeal to succeed on entrepreneurial journeys and have fun along the way know some technologies help do both. Cloud telephony is considered a valuable tool by young entrepreneurs because most of them know innovative technologies are critical drivers of success. Such entrepreneurs are digital natives who recognise that adopting technology in businesses increases productivity. They are comfortable with technology and understand its potential.

The writer is CEO, Knowlarity Communications