The smart guys over at ShoreTel Sky lay out in simple terms what the differences are between “Hosted” solutions and “Cloud-based” solutions when it comes to VoIP.
Especially helpful is their water-tower analogy:
A cloud-based solution is like having your water supplied through your municipal utility. When you turn on the tap, water comes out. Sometimes you need a little water, sometimes you need a lot. Each month you are billed by the utility for the amount of water you used. You don’t ever think about water storage or the pipelines to your house. The utility worries about those things for your whole community.
A hosted solution is more like owning or renting a water tank that is located off of your property, but connects to your home. The water tank is only for your use, but you are responsible for figuring out how much water you will need. You are responsible for filling the tank and you are responsible for maintaining the pipes. It’s pretty much like having a water tank on your lawn, but it is somewhere else. You pay for all of the water that goes into the tank, whether you use it or not. If you use too much and run out of water, you are out of luck until you refill the tank or get a bigger one. Make sense? You could pay someone else to take care of your water tank for you. You would then have a managed, hosted solution. Cloud solutions are, by nature, managed.
Read the rest of the article by clicking here, or give us a ring and we’ll lay it out for you in person.