How does a cloud phone system help business continuity?

Last updated: 27 September 2026

A cloud (hosted) phone system keeps your business reachable even when your office is not. Because calls are handled in the cloud rather than by a phone system in your building, you can keep taking calls during a power cut, broadband outage, flood or any other disruption.

How it keeps you connected

• Work from anywhere: staff can make and receive calls on their business number using a mobile or desktop app, or Microsoft Teams.
• Automatic call diversion: if your office line or internet goes down, calls can be routed to mobiles, another site or a colleague.
• Out-of-hours and emergency routing: switch call flows, voicemail and announcements instantly from a web portal.
• No single point of failure: providers run their platforms across multiple resilient datacentres.

What should be in your continuity plan?

1. Decide where calls should go if the office is unavailable.
2. Make sure key staff have the softphone app installed and tested.
3. Consider a backup internet connection, such as a 4G/5G router, for the office.
4. Test your plan at least once a year.

With the PSTN switch-off deadline of 31 January 2027, now is a good time to move. ABCOM provides cloud phone systems and VoIP for businesses across Sussex.