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VOIP Review Features Magna5 VP of Sales Enablement Gary Elliott

Industry publication VoipReview.org recently interviewed Magna5 VP of Sales Enablement Gary Elliott on the VoIP services available from Magna5. In this post, Gary explores the shift in the industry businesses replace and upgrade legacy phone systems with new-age VoIP and cloud-based communication solutions and explains how Magna5 can provide services to help the transition and offer innovate products and offerings to help businesses communicate and connect. VoipReview.org is the online authority helping compare top business and residential VoIP providers across price, features, reliability, support, quality, customer reviews, and more.

Read the full interview with Gary Elliott on the VoIP Review website.


Gary Elliott | Magna5 VP Sales Enablement | [email protected]

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology has improved by leaps and bounds, so much so that most businesses–from small businesses to larger enterprises–are replacing and upgrading their legacy phone systems with new-age VoIP and cloud-based communication solutions.

This is because, unlike traditional phone systems that include only basic calling features and little flexibility, VoIP systems feature greater capabilities and carry uptime and reliability that suits the need of modern businesses to be connected at all times. And rather than installing a brand-new system on-site, more and more of today’s companies are finding that choosing a hosted VoIP service is often much more convenient (and also much more effective) in the long term.

In this article, Gary Elliott, the Vice President of Sales Enablement at Magna5, shares with VoipReview.org the importance of hosted VoIP and reveals how Magna5 is helping enterprises make smart connections with their cloud-based communication solutions.

Making the Switch to Hosted VoIP

Hosted VoIP is gaining traction in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) market not only because it allows companies to make crystal clear calls at a fraction of the cost of a traditional landline service, but also because it brings simplicity and flexibility to business telephony. A hosted VoIP solution removes the need for businesses to install, manage, and maintain expensive phone systems because the provider assumes these responsibilities. Choosing a hosted VoIP solution rather than an on-site system is also more convenient (especially among organizations with remote workers) as it lets employees work from anywhere while remaining connected to the same telephone system.

Elliott says that the ease of setup and flexibility, by far, are the biggest advantages of a hosted VoIP solution over any legacy system. “With a traditional PBX model, the setup was complex and, in many cases, cost prohibitive,” said Elliott. “When you layer in collaboration tools, businesses now have the ability to have video calls across the organization, so employees feel as if they are having conversations face-to-face, making workers in remote offices feel included.”

But flexibility isn’t the only benefit businesses can enjoy from a hosted VoIP service. Elliott also identifies a number of key advantages to using a hosted service versus a traditional telephone service:

  • Low to no upfront costs and low total cost of ownership –  With hosted VoIP, the upfront costs are much less expensive than a traditional PBX. Business customers can also expect a more predictable monthly bill. “In most cases, local and long distance usage, or a bundle of minutes, are included, as are firmware updates and software upgrades,” explained Elliott. A number of services also offer pay-as-you-go plans, helping companies control their communication costs.
  • Scalability – Traditional phone systems typically have a limit on the number of users and the number of lines it can handle. By contrast, a hosted VoIP service can expand as a business grows, with the option to add users and lines as needed due to increased business, company growth, or even seasonality. “Moves and changes can be completed via a portal, as opposed to relying on phone system vendor,” said Elliott.
  • Business continuity – In the event of internet or power outage, phones will automatically re-route to a designated number, such as a Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) line or mobile phone.
  • Feature rich – A hosted service offers a wealth of powerful features that are highly attractive for today’s modern businesses. “Features such as auto failover/business continuity, voicemail to email, and find me follow me are included with the monthly cost,” explained Elliott.

Hosted VoIP offers an array of features and benefits that modern enterprises simply cannot afford to ignore. At the end of the day, though, just like any other business undertaking, the key to making a smooth and seamless transition is through partnering with the right provider.

Creating Better Connections with Magna5

A nationwide provider of cloud-based communications and hybrid network solutions, Magna5 is committed to delivering solutions to consumers that drive business. “Magna5 is a relatively young brand, but we have a vast wealth of experience in the industry based on the long heritage from our legacy companies,” said Elliott. “The three companies brought together to form Magna5 in late 2016 were long-standing telecommunications providers and also a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC).”

The combination of the three companies offers a wide variety of valuable products, ranging from cloud-based communications (such as cloud or hosted VoIP and Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and network security services) to more traditional hybrid network offerings (such as long-distance termination and toll-free origination services).

Elliott also shared that, in response to the increasing need for collaboration among organizations, Magna5 has recently added a collaboration tool to their range of products. “Collaboration tools do not just allow for IM and video conferencing, but also allow organizations to hold white boarding sessions with their management teams in addition to share files between offices and employees. “We’ve added a robust collaboration tool called Accession Meeting to our product set, which allows customers to host video meetings with up to 1,000 users, which differentiates us from many providers in this space,” said Elliott.

In addition to offering high-quality communications solutions, Magna5 also values excellent customer service. “We constantly monitor the needs of our customers and also keep a close look on the network performance around the clock to provide a high availability service,” mentioned Elliott. “Magna5 has a broad span of coverage for comparably-sized competitors based on our density of talented human resources and network that spans the four corners of the U.S. (i.e. Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City), along with a presence in Europe.”