The global curveball called Covid-19 caught the world by surprise and continues to wreak havoc on many countries and economies. With its debilitating effects on businesses, companies are now coming up with business continuity plans for next year in order to survive while easing up on their expenses.
According to many businesses, careful planning and innovation are two key areas companies can look at in their bounce-back efforts. One such innovation is the use of cloud-based solutions for their operations and business processes. Migrating to the cloud will also give companies the flexibility to choose whatever cloud-based service or solution will work for them regardless of the vendor.
To help businesses continue to exist and thrive in the middle of a still-unpredictable business environment, Erwin Co, President and CEO of a telecoms distribution company, offers Telavi Cloud, a cloud-based business communication solution. Co looks at Telavi Cloud as a game-changing telephony solution that can help both Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Enterprise-level companies transition to a “new normal” hybrid work setup where employees may opt to work remotely.
Telavi Cloud, now available in the market and perhaps the only one of its kind, is well suited for companies with employees working from home. “With Telavi Cloud, we can forward calls directly to those who work from home. The call may be received or made from any Android or iOS smartphone, tablet, laptop or desktop using any web browser or an IP phone. Wherever you are, as long as you have Internet, you never miss any phone call from your office,” Co explained.
Co said they have been dreaming of creating a cloud solution for the last 5 years but they thought the market was not ready back then. Many Filipinos, he said, are in Facebook or doing online banking but not too many were interested then in migrating their telephony solutions to the cloud. However, things have changed significantly. According to a global survey conducted from February to May 2020 by IBM among 6,000 executives, 100 of which are from the Philippines, many said they were already open to going to the cloud, specifically the hybrid cloud model.
“Globally, other countries have been doing it for several years already so the Philippines is really lagging behind, primarily because of Internet and other connectivity concerns. However, there are so many ways to make it highly-available. Multiple Internet connections, either fixed or wireless, can make the system robust and reliable.”
When it comes to bandwidth, Co explained that voice consumes a small amount of bandwidth. For video, regardless of how long they do video calls, connectivity has always been very stable. “Connectivity over the Internet has improved significantly over the years. Bandwidth for video may be a bit more, but if you look at what we’re doing today with all these virtual meeting platforms, it has become very stable now.”
He further emphasized that, with a hosted cloud system, a bigger server is created that’s centrally managed, more secure and redundant because there are multiple servers backing up each other. A company can connect 10 to even 100,000 users, it doesn’t matter, he said. Before, when companies buy equipment, they would normally depreciate these in 3 to 5 years, but even if the equipment hasn’t been fully depreciated yet, a new technology will emerge that will require companies to reinvest to keep abreast with developments. “With Telavi Cloud, no more worries on additional purchases, just renewal of monthly subscription.”
As a product, Telavi Cloud will continue to change, Co said. The pandemic became more of a catalyst for people to call them and give the platform a try, only to discover that it is much easier and more cost-effective in the cloud. “With Telavi Cloud, we now provide people the freedom to drive businesses anywhere in the world. They now have the accessibility, the flexibility that they could still collaborate with each other, that they’ll have savings. And we will continue to build more features for the product.”
In terms of security, Co said there are data protection measures in place. Everything that is transmitted and stored by the system is fully encrypted and secured. However, he emphasized that subscribers should also do their part to make sure that their information is protected. “Users should have the responsibility of taking care of data they access wherever they may be. Overall, security starts in the normal, day-to-day practices of an individual in taking care of their devices.”
Co said that Telavi Cloud will definitely be part of the solution to help the country, especially the smaller businesses, to bounce back, with affordable price points. The cheapest package, he said, is around less than P300 or below P10 per day. There are also packages they designed depending on customer requirements, and some may pay more depending on the features they want but still, the objective is to help out as many businesses as possible.
For next year, as part of their roadmap, Co said they intend to release features that will enable users to enjoy CRM integration, omni-channel contact center, dialers, MS Teams integration, and a lot more. “With the pandemic, businesses need to be prepared to be able to continue operating wherever their employees may be. If you need help in connecting your customers to your employees, we can get you up and running in a couple of days.”
For more details about Telavi Cloud, go to https://telavi.com.ph.
