Choosing A Business Phone System

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The telephone system that a company uses can sometimes be as important as the product or service it offers

. How many times have you had to call the company of a product that you have bought for technical or support help? What about intra-office communication, including having conference calls with a team in another city (or country for that matter)? The phone system may be more important then you may think. Therefore, it is absolutely critical to select a telephone system that best fits your business and its unique demands.

The world of corporate communications is very large and complex, with hundreds of companies, both small and large, offering varying solutions. You can buy a traditional PBX system and have it located on-site, buy an IP PBX and rely on your company's data connection to take care of phone calls, or pick a Hosted PBX solution, where the provider manages the equipment off-site, and you manage everything via a web interface. With these drastically different options, it is crucial to know the important features of each choice to choose the service that best works with your company.

PBXes

PBX units have been the standard, corporate communications service solution that most companies select when they require a telephone system. A PBX is the center of an office phone network, linking all of the phones in the office together and to the PSTN network. It also provides for an assortment of phone system features like auto-attendant, call transferring and extension-to-extension dialing. However, PBXes are often very expensive, and need to be located in the office. Moreover, an IT specialist is needed to manage and operate them.

PBXes are the best answer for large businesses that have most of their employees in one location. These firms can afford the high cost of purchasing and maintaining the PBX, and having the unit in the same place as the employees who are using it is useful.

IP PBXes

IP PBXes are similar to conventional PBX phone systems, the difference being they employ the Internet to make phone calls. There is still a centralized box that links all telephones that needs to be housed on-site. Unlike traditional PBXes, IP PBXes support VoIP, which gives firms all of the associated benefits. Traditional phone devices can be used, along with the newer IP telephones.

The inclusion of Voice over IP allows greater flexibility and lower costs when compared to old-fashioned PBXes. Smaller businesses may still find IP PBXes too expensive, however.

Hosted PBX or Virtual PBX

Hosted PBXes are relatively new to the market, and are probably the most ground-breaking in leveling the playing field for businesses, both large and small. These kinds of providers offer drastically cheaper prices for the same group of features, allowing businesses both small and large to use professional telephone services. Hosted PBXes use VoIP. This takes away the requirement for different phone lines in your office location, because the data connection is used to make phone calls. VoIP calls are cheap, and create useful features, like voicemail-to-email. However, this service only works with IP telephones.

Hosted PBX providers also manage and operate the PBX equipment themselves. Businesses who sign up for the service can set up features like auto attendants and groups through a web interface, without having to mess around with the PBX. This characteristic of hosted PBXes means a much greater degree of flexibility, allowing businesses to grow or shrink their phone network as necessary, without calling on a specialist. It also gets rid of the headaches associated with maintaining a cumbersome and intricate piece of equipment, which is a plus for any company!

All the aforementioned qualities of hosted PBXes drive down the cost of having an enterprise-grade phone system. Hosted PBXes are ideal for small and medium-sized businesses that have employees distributed over various places. Although employees may be in different cities, the hosted PBX will link them all as if they are in one centralized office, allowing the company to present a unified image to its clients.

by: Gen Wright

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