As businesses discover the benefits of voice-over-IP (VoIP), they are also uncovering another, even more useful evolution of the office phone network: hosted PBX (News - Alert).
It is no secret that the PBX systems that have run most businesses until recently were a pain, a necessary evil. Squirreled away in an office closet somewhere, the PBX system that manages an office telephone network would break, take up space, and demand support and upgrades.
Thanks to the cloud, however, the PBX is becoming a business asset and not just a liability that every business must undertake. Cloud computing now allows for businesses to purchase their PBX as a Web service, known as hosted PBX. This hosted solution eliminates the maintenance and hardware costs of having a business phone network, and at the same time it delivers a plethora of new features and functionality.
Recently VoIPMechanic.com chose its top three hosted VoIP providers, and the list is a good starting point for any business looking to take advantage of what hosted PBX has to offer.
In no particular order, VoIPMechanic.com recommends that businesses look at Vocalcity, Jive Communications, and 8x8.
Vocalocity (News - Alert) hosted PBX solutions allow for easy integration with smartphones. Employees can work with client data, access email and forward calls through the main office with Direct Dial. The company focuses on realtors, insurance companies and other must-be-mobile businesses.
A second solution the site recommends is Jive Communications, which delivers a unified, enterprise-grade communications solution. For the public sector, Jive offers hosted PBX service to education, and government institutions combining voice, data, video, and email into a unified communications system.
Then there is 8x8 (News - Alert), one of the most robust and full-featured hosted PBX options on the market. The company offers complete solutions from sales to support, implementation to operation, and has business plans that can scale to any sized company. The "Home Office" plan is designed with features to suit freelancers, contractors, consultants, notaries, and other on-the-go professionals, there’s an SMB offering that allows for multiple virtual office extensions and area codes, and larger enterprises can use 8x8 for call centers, distributed workforce connection and CRM integration.
As we noted in a previous article, a solution such as 8x8 can not only deliver a strong hosted PBX solution, but it also can help businesses that grow by scaling with those businesses and keeping the telephony side of the business simple no matter how many new employees are added.
“Perhaps you have a fleet of remote workers that, in order to stay productive and efficient, need to be available at all times,” it was noted earlier this month. “Hosted PBX can take care of that, as it brings together a geographically dispersed workforce and puts them together in the ether.”
So whether your business already has VoIP or is new to the technology, it is worth taking a look at the above providers and discovering how a hosted PBX solution can make the office phone more than a necessary evil.
Edited by Alisen Downey