Executive Summary
Legacy phone systems remain surprisingly common across New Jersey businesses despite the continued adoption of cloud communications and Unified Communications as a Service, or UCaaS. Many organizations continue operating older telecommunications infrastructure because the systems still function and replacing them can appear disruptive or expensive.
An estimated 39% of New Jersey businesses continued to rely on legacy telephony systems in 2025. These systems include traditional on-premises PBX platforms, analog telephone lines, and older non-cloud VoIP systems that have generally been in service for seven to ten years or longer.
The persistence of these platforms is increasingly creating financial and operational challenges. Businesses still using legacy systems are facing higher maintenance expenses, rising carrier charges, unplanned repair costs, and greater difficulty supporting hybrid work environments.
The operational impact extends beyond direct telecom spending. Employees at legacy-dependent businesses reported losing close to an hour each week to telecommunications-related workarounds, while managers frequently associated older phone infrastructure with lower productivity on communication-heavy tasks.
The findings suggest that the financial case for replacing legacy business phone systems is becoming stronger. Aging hardware, carrier pricing, limited integrations, and changing workplace requirements are increasing the effective cost of maintaining older technology, making migration to a modern platform through a New Jersey VoIP company an increasingly practical consideration for businesses evaluating their communications infrastructure.
Key Findings
Approximately 4 in 10 New Jersey businesses continued to operate legacy telephone infrastructure during 2025. The research also identified several financial and operational trends associated with maintaining these older systems.
- Legacy telephony maintenance and support costs increased approximately 18% between 2022 and 2025.
- Median annual total cost of ownership reached approximately $4,800 to $6,200 per 50-employee location.
- Employees lost an estimated 47 to 62 minutes per week dealing with phone-system limitations and workarounds.
- 31% of legacy-system users experienced at least one unexpected repair or upgrade expense during the previous 12 months.
- 41% of legacy users reported measurable coordination delays caused by limited mobile access, remote-work functionality, or analytics.
- Legacy adoption was highest among manufacturing, logistics, and midsized organizations.
Together, these findings indicate that the burden associated with legacy telecommunications is shifting from primarily a technology issue to a broader operational and financial concern. Businesses may therefore need to evaluate phone systems in terms of total operational impact rather than only monthly telecom spending.
Approximately 40% of New Jersey Businesses Still Use Legacy Phone Systems
Despite significant cloud migration over the past decade, approximately 39% of New Jersey businesses continued to rely on some form of legacy telecommunications infrastructure in 2025. This means older phone technology remains a significant part of the state’s business communications environment.
For the purposes of this report, legacy systems include traditional PBX hardware, analog telephone lines, and non-cloud VoIP systems that have typically been operating for more than seven to ten years. These systems may still perform basic calling functions but often lack the mobility, integrations, analytics, and administrative features available through modern platforms.
The estimated prevalence is based on a composite statewide dataset representing approximately 1,850 businesses, weighted according to business size and industry. The modeled results are consistent with broader technology adoption patterns observed among businesses throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.
Adoption varies significantly depending on company size and industry. Organizations with highly distributed workforces, dedicated IT budgets, or significant cloud infrastructure have generally migrated faster, while businesses with large investments in existing hardware have often delayed replacement.
Legacy Phone System Costs Are Rising
One of the most significant findings is the increasing cost of maintaining aging telecommunications infrastructure. Businesses that continue operating older phone systems are often seeing expenses rise even though the underlying technology provides little additional functionality.
Between 2022 and 2025, estimated annual maintenance and support costs for New Jersey businesses using legacy phone systems increased approximately 18%. These increases reflect a combination of aging equipment, support costs, replacement components, and carrier-related expenses.
The median annual total cost of ownership for a 50-employee location reached approximately $4,800 to $6,200 in 2025, compared with approximately $3,900 in 2022. The increase means businesses may now be spending substantially more to maintain the same telecommunications environment they operated several years earlier.
These costs can include:
- Hardware maintenance and replacement
- Telephone line and trunk charges
- PBX support contracts
- Technician visits
- Replacement components
- Software or firmware support
- Outage-related expenses
- Emergency repairs
The increasing cost profile reflects a common challenge with aging technology. As equipment becomes obsolete, replacement components become harder to source and the number of technicians experienced with older platforms declines.
At the same time, businesses may continue paying for telecommunications infrastructure that provides fewer capabilities than modern cloud systems. Higher costs therefore do not necessarily translate into better performance or additional functionality.
Unexpected Repairs Create Additional Costs
Legacy phone systems can also produce unpredictable capital and operating expenses. These unexpected costs make it more difficult for businesses to accurately forecast annual telecommunications spending.
Businesses reporting unexpected repair or upgrade events incurred approximately $1,400 to $2,100 per incident on average. Approximately 31% of businesses using legacy systems experienced at least one such event during the prior 12 months.
Unexpected expenditures frequently occur when hardware fails, replacement equipment is no longer readily available, or an organization is forced to upgrade multiple components simultaneously. In some cases, a relatively minor equipment failure can trigger a much larger upgrade because compatible replacement hardware is no longer available.
These incidents make budgeting more difficult because organizations may be maintaining a relatively stable telecommunications expense until a major piece of infrastructure unexpectedly requires replacement. For businesses operating multiple locations, the risk can increase because hardware age and configuration may differ considerably between sites.
Carrier Line and Trunk Charges Continue to Increase
Legacy telephone infrastructure also exposes businesses to increasing carrier-related expenses. Organizations using older services may remain dependent on analog lines, PRI circuits, or other traditional telecom products whose pricing continues to rise.
Traditional line and trunk charges increased an estimated 9% to 12% year over year among New Jersey businesses represented in the research. These increases significantly exceeded general inflation during portions of the period studied.
Organizations relying on analog lines, PRI circuits, or other traditional telecom services can therefore face increasing recurring expenses even when the functionality of their communications systems remains unchanged. Businesses may effectively pay more each year simply to maintain the same level of service.
The result is an unusual technology cost dynamic. Businesses may pay progressively more each year for infrastructure that becomes less capable relative to newer alternatives.
Employees Lose Nearly an Hour Per Week to Legacy Phone Limitations
The financial impact of legacy communications infrastructure extends beyond maintenance and telephone bills. Employee time spent navigating inefficient communications processes can create a significant indirect cost.
Employees at businesses using legacy systems reported spending approximately 47 to 62 minutes per week dealing with phone-related workarounds. Much of this time is spread across small interruptions that may be difficult for businesses to identify individually.
Common problems included:
- Poor or inconsistent call quality
- Dropped connections
- Limited mobile functionality
- Difficulty transferring calls remotely
- Incompatibility with collaboration software
- Limited CRM integration
- Manual call routing
- Problems moving between office and remote environments
Individually, many of these interruptions are relatively small. Across an entire workforce, however, they can represent substantial lost time.
For example, a 50-person business losing an average of one hour per employee each week could potentially experience approximately 2,500 employee-hours per year of telecommunications-related friction. Not every minute represents completely lost productivity, but the calculation illustrates how seemingly minor communications inefficiencies can compound across an organization.
Managers Report Lower Productivity
Approximately 28% of surveyed managers estimated that legacy communications systems contributed to 3% to 5% lower productivity on tasks that depended heavily on communication. Managers were particularly likely to report inefficiencies in workflows involving frequent customer, employee, or vendor interaction.
These activities included:
- Client conversations
- Sales calls
- Internal coordination
- Customer service
- Remote employee handoffs
- Vendor communication
- Scheduling
The productivity difference appears to stem less from the ability to make or receive a basic phone call and more from the additional functionality surrounding modern business communications. Employees increasingly expect communications tools to integrate directly with the other applications they use during the workday.
Cloud-native systems increasingly combine calling, messaging, mobile applications, analytics, CRM integrations, conferencing, call routing, voicemail transcription, and other capabilities within a single communications environment. Legacy platforms frequently require employees to perform these tasks separately or manually.
Customer-Facing Teams Experience Longer Handle Times
Customer-facing employees experienced another measurable difference. Longer interaction times can affect both customer experience and the amount of work a team can handle during a normal business day.
Average customer interaction handle times were approximately 1.4 to 1.8 minutes longer among comparable New Jersey businesses operating legacy phone systems compared with businesses using cloud-native platforms. Several factors can contribute to the difference, including transferring customers between employees, manually searching for customer information, navigating separate systems, or dealing with dropped and poor-quality calls.
An additional minute or two may appear insignificant during an individual interaction. In organizations handling hundreds or thousands of customer conversations each month, however, the accumulated difference can become substantial.
Longer handle times can affect staffing requirements, customer experience, call queues, and employee workload. The impact can become particularly significant for sales, support, scheduling, and customer-service teams that spend much of the workday on the phone.
Legacy Systems Can Complicate Hybrid Work
Changing workplace patterns have exposed additional limitations in older communications infrastructure. Systems designed primarily for employees working from a centralized office can be more difficult to adapt to remote and hybrid environments.
Approximately 41% of businesses using legacy systems reported that limited mobile access, remote functionality, or advanced analytics created measurable coordination delays during hybrid work periods. These limitations can create additional steps whenever employees need to answer business calls or collaborate outside the office.
Traditional phone systems were generally designed around a centralized workplace. Employees had physical desk phones connected to a corporate telephone system located inside an office.
Modern organizations operate differently. Employees may work from home, travel between locations, answer calls through mobile devices, participate in video meetings, or collaborate with colleagues across multiple offices.
Cloud communications platforms allow a business phone identity to follow employees across these environments. Older systems often require call forwarding, separate mobile numbers, VPN configurations, or other workarounds.
Legacy System Usage Varies Significantly by Industry
The prevalence of legacy phone infrastructure differs considerably across industries. Businesses with large physical facilities, specialized workflows, or significant investments in existing equipment tend to maintain older communications systems longer.
Manufacturing and Logistics
Approximately 48% to 52% of New Jersey manufacturing and logistics businesses were estimated to still operate legacy telecommunications systems. This was the highest estimated adoption rate among the major industries included in the research.
These businesses frequently maintain physical facilities for long periods and may have substantial investments in existing infrastructure. Telephone systems can therefore remain in service significantly longer than other business technology.
Healthcare and Professional Services
Approximately 41% to 45% of healthcare and professional-services organizations continued to rely on legacy platforms. These organizations often operate complex communications workflows that can make migrations more involved.
Migration complexity can be a contributing factor. These organizations may have call workflows, compliance requirements, integrations, or established processes that make replacing communications infrastructure more complicated.
Retail and Hospitality
Approximately 37% to 40% of retail and hospitality businesses continued to operate legacy systems. The challenge is often amplified when a company operates several locations with different telecommunications configurations.
Organizations with multiple physical locations can face particular migration challenges because telecommunications infrastructure may differ significantly between individual sites. A single organization may therefore operate a mixture of newer and older communications systems at the same time.
Finance and Insurance
Legacy system adoption among finance and insurance businesses was lower, at approximately 29% to 33%. These organizations have generally adopted cloud communications faster than many manufacturing and service-sector businesses.
Greater technology investment and increasing demand for remote communications have contributed to faster cloud adoption in these industries. Centralized administration and integration capabilities can also make modern systems more attractive to financial organizations with multiple teams or locations.
Technology and IT-Related Professional Services
Technology-oriented businesses recorded the lowest legacy adoption rate, at approximately 18% to 22%. These organizations are often among the earliest adopters of cloud-based business technologies.
These organizations tend to have greater internal familiarity with cloud infrastructure and may recognize modernization opportunities earlier than businesses in other industries. They may also have fewer concerns about migrating applications and communications services away from on-premises infrastructure.
Midsized Businesses Have the Highest Legacy Adoption
Company size also plays an important role in cloud telecommunications adoption. The highest rates of legacy use appear among midsized organizations rather than the smallest or largest businesses.
Estimated legacy usage by company size was:
- 1–19 employees: 34% to 38%
- 20–99 employees: 42% to 46%
- 100–499 employees: 45% to 49%
- 500+ employees: 28% to 32%
The highest adoption of legacy systems appears among companies with approximately 20 to 499 employees. These organizations often have enough users and infrastructure to make a communications migration more complex, but they may lack the dedicated migration resources available to large enterprises.
These organizations are large enough to have previously invested heavily in on-premises PBX infrastructure but may not have the technology budgets or migration resources available to larger enterprises. That combination can encourage businesses to extend the life of existing systems even as maintenance costs rise.
Businesses with more than 500 employees show significantly higher cloud migration rates. Larger organizations are more likely to maintain dedicated IT departments, formal technology refresh cycles, and budgets allocated specifically for communications modernization.
Very small businesses can also migrate more easily because they typically have fewer extensions, devices, locations, and integrations to replace. Their smaller environments can reduce both the technical complexity and the financial risk associated with migration.
The Hidden Cost of Delaying Migration
Businesses evaluating their telephone systems frequently compare the monthly cost of a cloud platform with their existing telecommunications bill. That comparison can underestimate the true cost of continuing to operate a legacy platform.
A more complete calculation should consider:
- Carrier line charges
- Hardware replacement
- Maintenance contracts
- Technician support
- Emergency repairs
- Employee workarounds
- Downtime
- Lost productivity
- Remote-work limitations
- Integration limitations
- Administrative overhead
When these costs are included, an older phone system that appears inexpensive on a monthly bill may have a significantly higher effective cost. The difference becomes more pronounced when downtime, employee time, and unexpected repairs are incorporated into the calculation.
The economics of migration therefore depend not only on whether the existing system continues to function but also on the cost required to keep it functioning. Businesses may find that delaying replacement shifts spending from predictable technology investments toward increasingly unpredictable maintenance expenses.
Cloud Communications Are Becoming the Default Migration Path
The majority of recent migrations represented in the 2025 dataset involved cloud-based communications or UCaaS platforms. Businesses are increasingly choosing systems that can support office, mobile, and remote employees through the same communications environment.
Migration activity was particularly strong among businesses with more than 100 employees, where remote access, scalability, analytics, integrations, and centralized administration can provide substantial operational benefits. Larger organizations can also benefit from managing multiple offices and users through a single platform.
Modern cloud phone systems allow businesses to replace locally maintained PBX hardware with communications services delivered through internet-based infrastructure. This approach reduces the need to maintain physical telephone infrastructure at every office location.
Depending on the provider and configuration, businesses can gain access to features such as:
- Desktop and mobile applications
- Advanced call routing
- Auto attendants
- Voicemail transcription
- Call analytics
- CRM integrations
- Video conferencing
- Messaging
- Remote administration
- Multi-location management
The shift also changes the cost structure of business telecommunications. Instead of maintaining aging equipment and carrier infrastructure independently, businesses typically pay a predictable per-user or per-service subscription.
What the Findings Mean for New Jersey Businesses
The research indicates that legacy telecommunications infrastructure remains widespread throughout New Jersey, but maintaining these systems is becoming progressively more expensive. Businesses may therefore need to look beyond whether their current phone system still technically works.
For many businesses, the primary question is no longer whether an existing telephone system can continue operating. The more useful question is whether continuing to operate that system represents the most efficient use of technology resources.
Businesses evaluating their communications environment should consider both direct telecommunications expenses and the indirect operational costs associated with older infrastructure. Repair frequency, employee workarounds, carrier pricing, remote accessibility, and system integrations should all be included in the evaluation.
Organizations experiencing frequent repairs, increasing carrier bills, remote-work limitations, poor integrations, or recurring employee workarounds may have reached the point where modernization provides a measurable financial benefit. A full cost comparison can help determine whether continued maintenance or migration represents the stronger long-term option.
About AVX Cloud
AVX Cloud provides cloud-based business communications solutions designed to help New Jersey organizations modernize aging telephone infrastructure and move away from traditional on-premises systems. Its services are intended for businesses looking to improve flexibility, simplify communications management, and replace aging phone technology.
The company works with businesses evaluating VoIP and cloud communications platforms, including organizations looking to reduce telecommunications complexity, support remote employees, consolidate multiple locations, or replace aging PBX equipment. AVX Cloud can also help organizations evaluate existing communications environments and identify opportunities to modernize infrastructure.
For businesses still operating legacy telecommunications infrastructure, assessing the complete cost of the current environment can provide a useful starting point for determining whether migration is financially and operationally justified. Comparing current expenses with the capabilities and cost structure of modern cloud communications can provide a clearer picture of the potential return on modernization.