DOES THE CLOUD EVER GO DOWN?


Despite the fact that cloud phones are relatively common today, it has taken several years for companies to establish trust in a system that they couldn't actually see or touch. Many companies want a hard guarantee that the cloud will never go down and that their phones will never be cut off due to a system failure. Obviously, this is a difficult promise to make, even for the most successful cloud service providers.

Does the Cloud Go Down?

We can't avoid the hard truth that sometimes the cloud does indeed go down. A number of major cloud players, including Amazon, have landed in hot water recently for their outages, which took down a variety of big name sites. However, most cloud outages are short-lived and quickly resolved. They have teams of dedicated engineers working around the clock to ensure continuity of service and to fend off any disruptions. In addition, most cloud companies also have plenty of redundancy in their system so that traffic can be shifted to other servers in the event of an isolated outage.

Service Guarantees

When you look at cloud providers, many companies will provide you with their uptime statistics. The best of the lot offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee. This acknowledges that the cloud could go down, but their track record so far has shown that their system is highly reliable. Depending on your particular contract agreement, some cloud providers offer a discount on your monthly fee if your service is disrupted for any amount of time.

What Really Matters

For the most part, you can rest assured that the cloud service provider you choose has done its homework. They have built in fail safes and redundancy features to handle temporary outages and unexpected technical issues. Instead, the one thing you need to pay attention to is your Internet provider's uptime. Some businesses are shocked to discover that their phones are out, not because the cloud let them down, but because their local Internet got disconnected. If it is your Internet connection that goes down, rather than the cloud itself, you will need to address the problem with your internet service provider directly. Your cloud phones may require an upgraded broadband connection to stay online and ensure call quality.

As you shop for cloud phones for your business, take a look at both the advertised uptime statistics as well as the safety features included in the system. You will be surprised to find that many cloud phone services have developed great tools for dealing with downtime and ensuring that you get the service you deserve at all times.


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