There is much friction on whether phones are easy to use (which they are) and being easy to configure (which they are not). The gap between perception and reality within voice services is driven by the amazing advances in digital technology.

End-users, particularly those within enterprise environments, are witness to an astonishing array of configurability when it comes to interfaces. And almost any interface—or reporting system for that matter—that reaches back to touch a database can be adapted to the roles and responsibilities of those users.

But most enterprise users aren’t seeing that kind of flexibility in their voice system. According to a recent IDG Research Services survey, IT decision makers feel like their voice systems are holding back both their users and their company from higher levels of productivity and efficiency.

Some 39 percent said that “even a small change is expensive and labor intensive”; 30 percent felt that the organization’s voice technology wasn’t “reflective of the company’s innovative spirit or commitment to digital transformation.”

Pardon the expression, but that’s not a ringing endorsement.

The question becomes, how can companies bring their voice systems in line with their other computer systems? How can they create the flexibility with voice applications that users have come to expect with state-of-the-art computing systems?

The answer may be to borrow a page from those systems: instead of maintaining cranky on-premises voice systems, companies should think about making the leap into cloud-based voice systems. Companies are already moving other areas to the cloud because new applications can be deployed quickly and paid for as an operational rather than capital expense. The same benefits apply to voice applications, so it seems like a no-brainer.

Think about contracting with a service provider who can take on the heavy lifting and put voice services on equal footing with other aspects of your digital transformation.