It’s Tuesday morning. The horrors of Monday are over, your iced coffee is deliciously sweet, and you stroll into the office excited to have a productive day. But, as you say your hellos and make your way to your desk, something seems… off. You can’t quite put your finger on it. 

Taking a long sip of ice-cold deliciousness, you sit down and reach for your phone so you can check your messages. That’s when it hits you. That’s what’s wrong. 

None of the phones are ringing. 

You glance back at your own phone. No new messages. Checking around the office, it’s confirmed. 

Your entire phone system is down. 

Your PBX box, rest its ancient soul, has died. 

Maybe it was a slow demise, piece by expensive piece… Or perhaps it happened all at once, no warnings or red flags. Whatever the specific circumstances, no business is ever truly ready for their phone system to bite the dust. However, even if you can’t be ready, you can get up and running again surprisingly quickly. 

Let Your Customers Know 

The most difficult part of your PBX box dying is that customers have no way of knowing your phone system is down until they attempt to call you. Then, when they hit dead air, they’ll most likely look up one of your competitors and contact them instead. Every missed call is an opportunity lost, so your first course of action should be to get the word out about your situation as quickly as possible. 

1. Select a cell phone number to temporarily use for business calls. 
   
   
2. Post a banner on your website asking customers to dial that cell phone number instead of your main line. 
   
   
3. Apologize for the inconvenience on your social media accounts and provide details for alternate ways they can contact you. 

Contact a Cloud Communications Provider for Immediate Assistance

Replacing a PBX box can take weeks and cost thousands of dollars on top of all the money you’re already losing from missed calls. Thankfully, replacing one outdated PBX with another is not your only option. As you figure out where to turn next, it’s important to know the differences between Cloud VoIP and VoIP PBX. 

Cloud-hosted VoIP phone systems are designed to prevent exactly this sort of scenario. All the hardware and infrastructure is hosted remotely, so there is no box that can die on you. Even if your internet goes down, calls will be automatically forwarded to your personal devices. No downtime. No lost business. 

If your phone system is currently dead in the water, FluentStream’s communications experts can get you up and running again in a matter of hours. That’s right, not weeks, not days, just a few hours. Once you’re able to make and receive calls again, getting your whole phone system online can be done in as little as a week. 

If you’re worried that your PBX box may be on its last legs, or you just want to hear more about the many, many advantages of switching to a cloud-hosted communications system, let us know at sales@fluentstream.com or by calling 303-GO-CLOUD and selecting Option 1.