More often than not, the needs of the business world demand much more powerful and professional-grade tools than their counterparts in the home. This can ring especially true in the area of communications, where reliable connections and a broad range of features can mean the difference between winning new business and missing out on valuable opportunities. And when it comes to office phone systems, having all the tools workers need to keep communications clear, open and freely flowing, both inside and outside the office walls, can be critical to a business’s success.
The Power of PBX
The Private Branch Exchange (PBX), one of the most popular types of business phone systems in widespread use today, reliably and efficiently meets businesses’ voice-communications needs by delivering an array of enterprise-class calling tools and features via a private, devoted telephone network set up specifically for use within a company or organization. Among its many advantages, a PBX system allows users to easily communicate both internally with business colleagues and externally with the outside world by direct-dialing phone numbers and extensions. Further, to lower expenses, PBX enables businesses to have more phones connected to the system than there are phone lines devoted to the system.
PBX systems can also deliver a long list of powerful, business-class features, often on an a la carte basis. These features can include:
- Call hold
- On-hold music
- Call transfer
- Call forwarding
- Caller ID
- Corporate auto attendant
- Incoming call management
- Voicemail recording and reviewing
- Call queues to assist with handling heavy call loads
- Teleconferencing capabilities
- Interactive voice menus that can handle a range of regular queries with little or no human interaction required
- And more
The IP Advantage of a Hosted PBX System
Broadening the benefits and possibilities of the traditional PBX system, a Hosted PBX system harnesses the power of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to deliver all the functionality of a traditional PBX system over an internet connection. This allows business owners to get all of the advantages of PBX at a lower total cost of ownership (TCO), as the business is spared the up-front costs of having to buy all the hardware and software required to run a traditional PBX system in-house. It also minimizes the amount of on-site equipment and infrastructure that needs to be installed in the office, along with reducing maintenance needs and freeing up office space.
In addition, Hosted PBX solutions can help users overcome a number of the common shortfalls of traditional PBX systems, such as limits on the number of outside phone lines (trunks) that can be accessed and constraints on the number of internal extensions available, as well as how many internal devices can be connected to the system. The Hosted PBX solution also allows for a number of benefits made possible by its internet connectivity, including:
- Ring groups
- Digital receptionists
- Reporting capabilities
- Easy and cost-efficient scalability
- Voicemail-to-email capabilities
- Automatic call distribution
- Regular, hassle-free system updates
- Easier integration of remote employees via a virtual, accessible-from-anywhere office phone system
- Simple system control and management via an online portal
All said, a Hosted PBX system can help owners of both large and small businesses implement a powerful office phone system with a wide array of enterprise-class features and functionality, all without having to invest in the hardware, software and technical expertise needed to run a traditional PBX system on-site.
Looking to improve your business’s phone system while simultaneously reducing costs? FTC’s Hosted PBX offers an array of powerful, enterprise-class calling features at an attractive monthly rate.
