WASHINGTON, D.C. – June 19, 2018 – Small businesses often find themselves facing financial hardship after paying for start-up costs such as renting office space, covering utilities, and purchasing equipment. ULTATEL steps forward to address these overwhelming expenses and offers remote work forces and cloud communications as cost-efficient options.
Small businesses are the backbone of the American industry with an impressive 27.9 million registered small businesses noted during the 2010 Census.1 Sadly, with only 50% of all small businesses staying active after five years, the need for change is obvious.2 Many experience failure due to outgo increasing over income. The CEO of ULTATEL, Amr Ibrahim, has recognized the need for changes in start-up costs so that more small businesses can succeed. “To keep small businesses thriving, we have to find new ways to make start-up costs more affordable,” explains Ibrahim. “A more manageable and significant budget decrease is easily attained through limiting office space, hiring remote workers and converting to cloud communications.”
Half of all employees in the United States are estimated to be working at home by the year 2020, making it possible for business owners to downsize expensive office space or forego it entirely.3 The benefits of hiring remote workers does not end with lower start-up costs; in the long run, each employee who works at home is shown to save a business approximately $20,000 a year compared to those who work in an office. 4
Paying for office space isn’t the only mistake that weighs heavily on a startup budget. Many entrepreneurs spend significant startup funds on high-priced equipment such as traditional PBX phone systems. Ibrahim points toward cloud-based business VoIP phone service as a cost-efficient and more technologically advanced way for employees to communicate. A VoIP phone plan is about half as expensive as those offered by PBX providers. 5 Cloud-based small business phone systems can work on a “bring your own device” premise, where remote employees can access a business phone line using their personal device. Over all, by opting for cloud-based services, entrepreneurs can expect to save between 40-80% on telecom startup costs.
By saving money on expensive telecom systems and office space rent, entrepreneurs can focus on addressing potential downfalls of their business and avoiding these problems before they arise. Some of these issues include hiring the right team of employees and better marketing techniques. Experts suggest that businesses that want to increase their profits should spend approximately 10% of what they bring in on a marketing regimen.6 For businesses just getting started, this figure is even higher. “Better said, that is 14-20% of corrected gross income —meaning after cost of goods is taken off the top,” said Ibrahim. “Small businesses can’t afford not to market —and having the budget tied up mostly in brick & mortar and expensive communication systems, when new technology is frankly better today, is foolhardy,” he added.
At times, branching out into the business world can seem daunting and full of challenges. By saving money on startup costs through remote workers and cloud-based phone systems, entrepreneurs can focus on expanding their brand, avoiding challenges ahead, and meeting important goals.
ULTATEL says today’s success is a reality for smart businesses who aren’t afraid to take the less traditional route.
About ULTATEL
ULTATEL is a leading provider of cloud-based phone system solutions. Through its unified communications platform, companies can have all of their voice, video, fax, SMS and audio conferencing services on one affordable system. ULTATEL Business Clarity, with more than 40 enterprise grade features, helps companies operate from a single location or multiple locations seamlessly using desktop phones, soft phones or mobile apps. ULTATEL’s Contact Center solution satisfies the need for call center features such as advanced interactive voice response (IVR), call queuing, skilled/time-based routing and advanced call analytics. ULTATEL’s vision is to completely change how companies conduct business by delivering the most comprehensive suite of unified cloud-based telephony services that dramatically improve responsiveness, increase productivity, enhance globalization efficiencies, and reduce operating costs so that businesses can most effectively compete both today and in the future. Visit https://www.ULTATEL.com/.Sources
- Hecht, Jared. “Are Small Businesses Really the Backbone of the Economy?” Inc.com, Inc., 17 Dec. 2014
- McIntyre, Georgia. “What Percentage of Small Businesses Fail? (And Other Need-to-Know Stats).” Fundera Ledger, Fundera, 8 May 2018
- Burkes, Paula. “Trade Talk: Will Half of Oklahomans Be Working Remotely by 2020?” NewsOK.com, NewsOK, 25 Apr. 2018
- Lesonsky, Rieva. “Remote Working Policies Can Benefit Small Business.” Small Business Trends, Small Business Trends, 2 Nov. 2017
- “Comparing Business Phone Costs: VoIP vs. On-Site.” BullsEye Telecom, 26 Mar. 2017
- “How Much Should Companies Budget for Marketing?” FrogDog, 27 Oct. 2017
