Does My Business Need a PBX?
Short for Private Branch Exchange, a PBX is a private telephone network for your business. Users of the PBX share outside lines for making telephone calls external to the PBX.
Most companies use a PBX because it is significantly less expensive than connecting an external phone line to every telephone in the organization, a scenario where inter-office calls may actually accrue charges from your phone company. Additionally, it is easier to call within the PBX because just an extension of 3 to 5 digits is needed to place the call.
The advances made in VOIP technology, and the ever dwindling price of hardware have enabled the PBX to be more flexible, less expensive, and easier to manage than has ever been possible before. In the past, a PBX system might have been prohibitively expensive for smaller companies and start ups.
With more up to date PBX's, your business can start saving right away by doing away with high long distance bills and hassle. Your business could run a PBX in-house and present a professional image to your customers and vendors, without the traditional headaches and high cost associated with the PBX technology of the past.
Of course, the PBX includes many other features besides just connecting calls. These include Digital Receptionist, Music on Hold, Time-based Behavior, Voicemail to your email inbox, Support for analog phones (including cordless phones), Support for VOIP Phones, Message Waiting Indicator, One Touch Voice-Mail Retrieval, Unlimited Nested IVR Menus, Call Transfer, and powerful on-line tool suites for both administrators and users, and much more!
Where Does VOIP Fit In?
The PBX inter-operates seamlessly with traditional standards-based telephony systems and VOIP systems, so you can call anyone in the world regardless of their phone, PBX, or phone company.
At its most basic, Voice over IP (Sometimes called IP Telephony, or Voice Over Internet) enables the use of the Internet as a transmission medium for telephone calls. Instead of going over phone lines, your call travels over Internet lines.
The significance to your business is that VOIP allows for a phone system to run at the cost of your Internet access. That means no more long distance bills and dealing with big phone companies.
Setting up your PBX couldn't be any easier when you use VOIP because no additional hardware is needed. You can set up your PBX to use VOIP in a matter of minutes, without calling out the expensive consultants.
Your PBX supports the most commonly used VOIP protocol, SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). SIP is the technology choice for real-time communication session control throughout the Internet, corporate networks, and within next generation wireless networks.
