What a Hosted PBX Phone System Can Do For Your Business
Once upon a time, enterprise-level phone systems were a luxury that only large companies could afford. With the advent of hosted PBX solutions, even small to mid-market businesses can reap the benefits of cloud communications. We’ll discuss what a hosted PBX phone system can do for your business, and how you can make the most of all the features that come with it.
From a customer’s perspective, there’s nothing more unnerving than calling a business and receiving a busy signal, a full voicemail box, or worse—no answer at all. But for many small to mid-sized businesses, this is simply the reality of a traditional phone system.
Before the boom of cloud communications solutions, these businesses had no choice but to stick with their legacy phone systems. The cost of purchasing a new PBX and hardware just wasn’t in the budget.
Today’s cloud PBX solutions have changed the telecommunications landscape. With a hosted PBX phone system, only you have to know that you’re a startup or a small business.
In this article, we’ll talk about what a hosted PBX phone system can do for your business, and how you can make the most of the advanced features that come with cloud-based communications.
Benefits of a Hosted PBX Phone System
Hosted PBX phone systems offer a host of benefits to small to medium-sized businesses. Below are just a few of the key features that can help your company grow and thrive:
Immediate and Ongoing Cost Savings
When you choose to purchase a traditional phone system, you’ll be faced with a number of expenses. First, there’s the equipment itself. And in most cases, you’ll need a technical expert to actually install the phone system on your premises. (That’s another hefty fee.) If you don’t have an IT staff member, you may also be responsible for future costs associated with hardware upgrades and fixes.
None of this is applicable when it comes to a hosted PBX phone system. Virtual PBX services do not require upfront capital investment, since all the equipment is leased from your provider. Plus, some service providers actually allow you to use a hosted PBX for free when you purchase a domestic or international toll free number.
Cost-Effective Scalability
As your business grows, you won’t have to purchase additional equipment; simply let your provider now that you need more extensions or phone numbers, and they’ll add them for you. That means that you can easily expand your business’s reach without physically re-locating.
Advanced Calling Features
With a hosted PBX phone system, you’ll receive a wide variety of key phone features that, until recently, were only available to enterprise-level businesses.
Let’s say that your business is missing calls after hours because there’s no one there to answer the phone. With time of day routing, a feature offered with most hosted PBX phone systems, you can configure your number to ring to your cell phone after close of business to ensure that you never miss a call.
In addition to advanced call routing features, many hosted PBX providers also offer call recording, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), sequential ringing, and even web-based voicemail.
Local Presence
Multiple domestic and international numbers can be connected to one hosted PBX phone system, allowing you to connect with customers anywhere in the world.
For example, if your main office is located in New York, and your largest customer base is in Costa Rica, you can simply purchase a domestic toll free number in that country to establish a local presence.
Disaster Recovery
When disaster strikes, the last thing you want to worry about is your phone system’s connectivity. Because a hosted PBX phone system is based in the cloud, your flow of communications won’t be affected by unforeseen events, such as power outages, storms, or fires.
Credibility
For many startups and small businesses, one of the biggest challenges is projecting a reliable, corporate appearance. With features like IVR and automatic call forwarding, hosted PBX phone systems allow small businesses to adopt the appearance a large organization without the cost or hassle.
Hosted PBX Phone Systems for Business
No matter how big or small your company is, there are many benefits to making the switch to a hosted PBX phone system. For more information about hosted PBX services, explore the related articles below: