As the so-called, financial downturn, continues to strangle businesses of all sizes, every business, especially smaller or newer ventures, need highly structured controls over expenditure. Old-fashioned in-house exchange systems which make use of landline phone calls are simply too expensive to run for modern businesses of any size.
Cloud PBX costs as little as 20% of what companies were paying for regular telephone calls. Not only does PBX allow incredibly cheap VoIP voice phone calls, it also offers many other unique advantages including a central hub for connecting different communications devices.
Here are just five of the most important reasons why businesses of any size should consider moving to a third party hosted PBX provider.
1. No Initial Outlay
A business which makes use of hosted PBX-VoIP services simply has to pay a small monthly fee. They do not have too find the capital to cover the several thousand pounds it would cost to first purchase and then install the equipment. Some companies have a slightly different arrangement which will involve a small setup fee usually combined with a lower monthly rate. But even a set-up fee would be a fraction of the cost of purchasing your own PBX installation.
2. Vastly Reduced Overhead Costs
If you were to opt for installing your own PBX server system there would be not only the initial equipment purchase costs. There would also be unattractive ongoing expenses such as maintenance fees, IT staff, office space for the equipment, not to mention the additional electricity costs
3. Scalable Solutions
When your business begins to grow, it may well need additional extensions for each new employee who needs a phone. Business hosted PBX providers will allow you to scale your system as required with just a few mouse clicks. An in-house PBX would be a far more complex affair when it comes to adding new features and extensions.
4. Zero Maintenance
Like most high tech options PBX requires IT staff with the necessary skills and training to operate and maintain successfully. A quality PBX provider such as voipstudio already has the trained staff in place to deal with any issues that may arise.
5. Reliability with The Cloud
A business can easily be ‘out of business’ if their PBX system fails. This is not an issue with cloud telephony systems. The reason for this is because the Cloud is a virtual system it is very easy for your provider to move your PBX system while your service is maintained. All of this can happen quickly and effectively so that your clients will not even notice the interruption of service.
It is very reasonable to say that businesses of varied sizes, but in particular SME’s have switched in large numbers to Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP services. And along with this change of the way business uses telephones, reliable business hosted PBX providers have become inseparable from quality business communications.
Your Professional Image
In essence when a company takes on business hosted PBX it is acquiring a telephone system which is managed by another specialist company. These new telephone systems are wonderful when it comes to assisting any size company in presenting a far more professional image to anyone who contacts them by phone.
This is particularly true of smaller companies and one-man-band operations who wish to enhance the feeling of clients, suppliers, professionals in the same industry that they are dealing with a company which is effective and efficient.
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If you are reading this because you are considering making use of a virtual PBX provider you may well be finding the various options to be somewhat daunting. It is true that there are several providers out there, for example, voipstudio, who can offer a highly diverse and effective range of call features.
Other business hosted PBX providers may offer telephone services which are cheap to run, but fall down when it comes to expanding beyond those basic services. And as you grow you will find that additional features will greatly enhance your company's communications abilities.
So, with this in mind, it is very important that you select a service which is best suited to your needs now, and the possibility of advanced services, if required, in the future. To do this you will need to understand just what the services entail and how you can make the best use of them.
Advantages of hosted PBX
- No high maintenance costs
- Easy to setup
- Instant expansion (adding new extensions)
- Free calls between extensions world wide
- Telephone lines in multiple countries
- Centralised management (important for multiple office/branch companies)
- Calls and features cost saving
What is business hosted PBX
PBX refers to a ‘private branch exchange’. The term private in this case means that this telephone exchange only serves your business. The original design of PBX systems was aimed at assisting companies to organise communications making use of operators who were in-house.
Modern PBX systems are increasingly virtual, with all the technical issues overseen by a third-party company. This is because these telephone systems have become increasingly complex. No longer used simply to connect phone calls, modern PBX can connect all manner of devices. This means that landlines, mobile phones, computers and tablets as well as other devices such as fax machines can all be controlled from one central exchange.
The reason that PBX shifted to being hosted by a third party is because of the new features which claimed too much time from company technical personnel. It has simply become far more cost-effective to employ an outside PBX management company. This also means that all of the main equipment is not on the premises, but will be found at the third-party operators premises, saving on valuable floor space.
Dedicated Third Party PBX
It is far easier for a dedicated company to evolve and supply any new additional features as they are introduced. Such was the case with many helpful initiatives such as, simple messaging, call waiting and in particular call forwarding services. There are also other services that can only be found with virtual PBX hosting including automatic dialing.
There is also no other practical way of effectively integrating so many different advanced features now found in phones, computers and tablets other than through hosted PBX-VoIP services.
As you can see hosted PBX-VoIP solutions make perfect business sense as the benefits are considerable when weighed against the relative low cost. This is not an option in modern business it is an essential.