So you’re starting a small business. Or perhaps you’ve been at it for a while, but suddenly the floodgates have come open with an overwhelming gush of daily calls. Either way, you’re now finding yourself in need of a better way to manage all this inbound traffic. You’ve probably listened with envy when calling big conglomerates to these fancy phone trees: “dial 1 for this... dial 2 for that”. Perhaps you’ve even shopped around till you got chest-pains looking at traditional solutions and their price tags.

But worry not. Thanks to modern computing, you can now have a system with all the bells and whistles just like the big boys, for less than the price of a landline.

Let’s take a closer look.

The challenge with setting up a PBX (Private Branch Exchange) has traditionally been the exorbitant expenses it entailed. From the early days of operators manually plugging and re-plugging telephone lines to the first automated switchboards, the process involved the purchase of expensive equipment, hiring professional technicians to have it set up, and later incurring the high costs of perpetual maintenance. Unsurprisingly, this was something only the top dogs in the business could afford.

Even in the 1990’s, as smaller systems came into the market, they were still beyond the pale to smaller businesses.

In the following decade, however, the introduction of VOiP along with other technological innovations and the ever decreasing prices of hardware components combined to open a door to a new class of PBX systems. These were significantly less expensive on the hardware side, and, especially with open source solutions, very affordable on the software side. But no good thing comes without a caveat, and in this case, though one could put together such a system for a relatively small initial investment, he still required the expertise to have it set up, configured, and maintained. Assuming he wasn’t the savvy type, this required again hiring an expert—which has a way of seeing even the smallest investment quickly put on weight.

Now fast forward to the preset—with the internet becoming ever prevalent, connection speeds ever faster, storage capacities ever larger, and prices increasingly cheaper—a new phenomenon has emerged that is fast reshaping the faces of most industries. This phenomenon is called ‘Cloud Computing’, and it’s the new wave in digital data management.

The idea is simple: to eliminate the need for dedicated hardware and software configurations on the user’s end by delegating them to a centralized server, specifically equipped to handle the relevant tasks. It is essentially a form of specialization. An example is how you share and edit documents online using a platform such as Google docs, or how you utilize remote storage to backup your personal data.

Synclio has taken this concept and applied it to the field of Virtual PBX, bringing the full power and features of a robust telephone system right to the tips of your fingers for one low monthly fee. There’s no longer any need to purchase additional hardware or software components—all you need is your existing telephone lines, personal computers, phones, and internet connection (all of which you already own!) There’s no need to pay outrageous installation fees, or to worry about maintenance—Synclio does all the worrying for you!

Synclio helps you cut costs further by letting you choose a local or toll-free telephone number for inbound calls, so you and your customers don’t have to keep running up international calling charges.

Moreover, the simple, user-friendly web portal means you’ll be up and running in minutes—not days—slashing the costs associated with training and ensuring a smooth transition.

But ‘simple’ doesn’t mean ‘bland’: Synclio's platform is highly adaptable and lets you easily modify it to fit your own identity, not the other way around.

You’ll be able to record customized greetings and to design your own phone trees; to create rules and to route calls in any way you choose. You’ll even be able to review call stats and access records, which remain stored on our server for as long as your account remains active.

Keeping your finger on the pulse of daily business has never been easier!

And that’s not all—by going on a cloud, you not only get features equal to a physical system—you get the freedom of the web. So whether you’re home or half-way around the world, you can always stay connected.

It no longer takes a fortune to give yourself and your customers the calling experience you deserve. Technology has a beautiful way of progressively making more available for less, and this is just one of those elegant leaps forward. Now the only question is are you going to ride the wave?

Cloud computing is fast reshaping the world. It changes the way we store and manage data. It redefines the way we conduct business. It allows us to carry a single laptop or Smartphone and access an arsenal of features that previously demanded a roomful of expensive computer equipment. Heck, soon enough we’ll be able to upload our minds to reality 2.0 and live up there in the cloud—now there’s a thought!

But before that happens, let’s take a look at what’s already happening today.

What is Cloud Computing?

Cloud computing is essentially a different approach to how we go about executing IT operations. In the past, to perform any given task, each individual had to own the necessary software and hardware, which in turn had to be properly set up, installed/configured, and maintained.

To take a simple example, suppose you wanted to set up a raid system to back up your digital data. This required a computer with compatible hardware to act as a server, and a software program that could perform the necessary function. Both the software and the hardware had to be set up correctly, and the system as a whole had to be maintained.

All this (at long last) enabled you to perform the desired operation on that particular system, and if something went wrong, it was up to you to troubleshoot the problem or to hire a professional who could do it for you.

If this setup was rigged in your office and you wanted to back up data on your home computer as well you had to put together a second system, equivalent to the first.

Needless to say, this approach was very costly (not to mention inconvenient). But it’s how we used to live.

The nature of our technology simply could not facilitate any alternative.

But with the internet becoming ever prevalent, a far more elegant solution has evolved: enter the Cloud...

The name is derived from the ‘cloud’ symbol that used to represent telecom infrastructure, and later the internet itself, in early flowcharts and diagrams. It epitomizes the idea of severing the user from the equipment—or ‘data’ from ‘location’—to essentially ‘float’, as if in the air. There’s something decidedly sci-fi about this concept: just imagine, all your data simply ‘out there’, accessible whenever you need it. Sure gives ‘out of the aether’ a whole new meaning!

But unlike the fabled substance, this phenomenon is real.

It’s in effect a form of specialization. If previously individuals had to own the infrastructure to perform any IT operation required by their business, now companies recognizing the potential for specialization have stepped up to offer these as services. It's a far more dynamic approach than the rigid, old-fashioned model. The principles of specialization have always made societies far more productive, as people could stop wasting precious time and resources doing a little bit of everything and instead focus on what it was each of them did best. It's the same here. Instead of each business owner setting up his own on-site backup, phone system, etc—he can simply shop around for a company that offers any of these as a virtual service, and for a single low monthly fee make use of their established infrastructure via a convenient web portal. Anytime, anywhere, and on any device.

By letting their centralized servers take over all the heavy lifting, the rest of us are freed to enjoy a streamlined existence with just our favorite gizmo, an internet access, and a latte.

Now that's working in style!

To read more about the benefits of a Virtual platform and why it’s superior to a physical system, check out '5 Reasons Virtual Systems are Taking Over the Physical World'