Today there is a better alternative available to the traditional PBX phone. This alternative is hosted PBX systems. PBX stands for Private Branch eXchange. With traditional PBX, an incoming call can be routed through switchboard hardware to different extensions throughout the company. This hardware is usually kept somewhere on company premises.
When a call is placed to a company with a hosted PBX service, it goes to the carrier’s central office, gets processed through the hardware at their site and then it’s sent to your phone extensions. So, Hosted PBX is an IP-based PBX (Internet Protocol) service that is hosted by someone else and provides call routing for your company.
This means that hosted PBX customers don’t buy, install or maintain any PBX equipment at their site. This can save a lot of time and money. Companies want to concentrate on their business and not on their telephone and email systems. And the expense for upgrading and maintaining these systems are huge and come with many IT challenges. Many small to mid-size companies can’t spend the money for a call center, so a hosted PBX system might be the right choice for them.
Hosted PBX offers rich features, excellent quality and wide coverage. These features are more advanced than traditional PBX and they are easy to manage. This is because the hosted PBX services provide users with excellent web management. Most of the services provide a platform that makes it easy for users to create new accounts, make extensions and manage call queues with the web interface.
Other benefits of hosted PBX include managing incoming calls such as voicemail, faxes, automated messages, conferences, touchtone menus, call records and those phone calls that need to go to the next available person in a department.
It is relatively easy to manage voice mail with a hosted PBX system. With this service you can also utilize your current voice mail facility. If a call comes on your mobile phone and you don’t answer it, it will automatically roll onto voice mail. Generally, hosted PBX services have better control over simple call transfers and they can also manage a higher number of phone calls.
The various ways to handle calls include forwarding them to voice mail, granting permissions from the attending person on the other end and automated voice mail recording. With busy lines and unanswered calls, voice mail can be easily setup and it performs well.
Besides all the great call routing functions, other great advantages attached to the hosted PBX systems are lower entry costs, support costs, reliability, improved scalability and flexibility. Hosted PBX also allows greater ease of management and it is better when you need flexibility with your telephony. Let’s look at some of these advantages.
Lower Entry Costs
Since you are using the host’s infrastructure, your start-up costs for a hosted PBX service will be lower than if you purchased your own phone system.
Lower Supporting Costs
You can manage some support yourself, like adding users or lines by either going online or making a phone call. For some of these operations, you don’t have to wait for the phone guy to show up.
Reliability
With hosted PBX, there is usually round-the-clock support. Also, for disaster recovery, there is full data access and redundancy.
Improved Scalability
You can get the exact number of lines that you need for your company. It’s easy to add and remove lines as your company grows or contracts.
Flexibility and Productivity
Hosted PBX system has an advantage over the traditional PBX systems in many ways. It provides features that traditional PBX doesn’t have and there is more flexibility with it.
Routing calls to phones actually allow you to ring on any phone by calling the extension. Such calls can be made on the mobile phones of your employees who are traveling and cannot access their company phone. This keeps all the traveling employees in constant touch with the office and they can transfer calls as usual. If you have employees who travel a lot, then hosted PBX might be the best system for you.
The biggest considerations in company expenses are capital expenses and operating expenses. Employing a hosted PBX service eliminates most of the capital expenses and reduces operating expenses. Keeping your communication capabilities up to date without hampering your ability to focus on your business is vital. Hosted PBX will provide all of the technology, features and benefits found in expensive PBX systems at a much lower cost and might be a viable option for your business.
Author’s Note: This article also published here.
…
Nermine Shaker is a Partner at THE SYGNAL GROUP, a telecom consulting firm that offers telecom expense management, telecom auditing and VoIP management to businesses of all sizes. Find out how to lower your telecom expenses at http://www.SygnalGroup.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.TelecomExpertise.com/
Read more articles written by Nermine Shaker
Related posts:
- Hosted PBX – What Is It and Do I Want One?
You know how important telecommunication services are to your business. They let you communicate efficiently with colleagues, workers and customers. They also allow you to serve your customers’ needs directly by giving them direct access to your goods and services. Telecom services also provide one of the major components of... - Video Conferencing — Will It Work for My Company?
One of the wonders of modern technology is the ability to use audio and video services to facilitate discussions between people in different locations. This ability, known as video conferencing, can be a major convenience in a world where communication across the globe is necessary. It can be vital when... - Five Ways to Make Your Company Slogan Catchy or Your Tag Line Terrific
Whether you call it a company slogan, a tag line, a strapline, a logline, a branding statement, a positioning statement, a motto or a memory hook, this refers to a phrase that follows the company name in website headers, in print ads, on business cards and everywhere else. Ideally, the... - Why Is Business VoIP So Popular?
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol and is quickly becoming a fixture in the corporate world. Ask why and you’ll get a barrage of answers, ranging from the money companies save to various packages that can be added on for little additional costs. Those who tout VoIP promise many... - Business Turnaround: Reorganize Your Company and Focus on Its Profitable Areas
After you have determined the root cause of your company’s problems, you must now reorganize to make your company profitable. All companies have strengths and weaknesses, and it would be wise to recognize which areas are assets to you and which need improvement. Identify Assets and Liabilities A good business... - Frequent Mistake #3 While Naming a New Company or New Product
“Your business name must be bold.” Look around the Internet, and you’ll often find this advice. Your business name must grab people’s attention. Sometimes this is a valid guideline, especially if you are in the entertainment, gadget or fashion industries. Too often, however, I see this rule lead business owners... - How to Recognize a Bad SEO Company
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is about getting potential customers to visit your website. It is also about building a quality website full of great content. It uses keywords appropriately and gets links “naturally” because people love what you have on your site. SEO companies can provide very useful services including... - The #2 Most Common Mistake In Naming a New Company or New Product
Most of the time, business owners and organizational marketers look for a new company name or new product name that seems to get the job done. That’s unwise because they don’t take the time to think about possible shortcomings of the name they settle on. Instead, those shortcomings emerge over... - Has Your Company Name Landed You in Legal Hot Water? Renaming Tips
The #1 reason business owners hire my company to create a new business name within a week is they’ve received a cease-and-desist letter from an attorney. Often sent by certified mail, this legal document informs you that you are infringing on the registered trademark of another company, and if you... - Have You Outgrown the Company Name You Started With? Renaming Tips
Although the most common reason clients come to my company for a new business name is a stern warning letter they’ve received from a law firm charging trademark infringement, the second most common reason for renaming is that the company has outgrown its original name in some way. If this... - A Company Catchphrase: Creating a Motto or Slogan That Promotes Your Business
“Reach out and touch someone.” “The ultimate driving machine.” “Finger lickin’ good.” Chances are, you not only know immediately that those slogans come from AT&T, BMW and KFC, in that order. Those catchphrases may also very well have persuaded someone you know to place more long-distance calls, purchase a particular... - Does Your Company Tag Line Pass These Five Crucial Tests?
Judging from the many disastrous slogans that state tourism boards have happily paid tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for, even marketing professionals often use totally subjective criteria to select tag lines. Do we like it? Is it catchy and memorable? Does it make us feel good? I suggest... - Top Mistake #1 When Naming a New Company or New Product
Bear with me, because when I tell you the number one mistake people make when selecting a name for their new company or new product, you are going to be surprised. Ready? The top mistake in choosing a name is deciding on the name you like best. That very obvious-sounding... - Is a Tag Line Absolutely Necessary Along With Your Company Name?
In looking through Entrepreneur Magazine’s most recent Franchise 500 issue, I noticed – and cut out – a number of ads for franchises that struck me as exceptionally well named. So clear and meaningful were these company names that they instantly conveyed exactly what the company did in an appealing... - Crowdsourcing: Three Ways You Can Find a Great New Company or Product Name Free or at Low Cost
Increasingly popular, “crowdsourcing” involves inviting a large number of people to perform a task, with a prize promised to the person or team whose work is selected as the winner. Specialized web sites now exist where you can ask people to compete by creating designs for T-shirts, logos or ads....