Hosted PBX versus a Premise-based PBX

When it comes time for companies to buy a VoIP phone system, one major question that arises is: “How do I choose between a hosted or premises-based PBX (News - Alert)?” With the abundance of information available on the Web, the reality is that choosing may be simpler than imagined if one focuses on the real issues.

 

One Cambridge, Mass.-based hosted PBX Software-as-a-Service company would lean more towards organizations buying a hosted PBX system.

 

Thinking Phone Networks’ CEO Steven Kokinos, CEO, said, “The hosted model is ideal for many organizations. We are able to help our customers reduce both up-front capital expenses and operating expenses. To do that while providing deep integration across business applications is very compelling for today’s enterprises, especially in challenging economic times.”

 

For those curious to learn what a premises-based PBX is, one industry expert describes it this way: “A premises-based VoIP PBX is located at the customer site. The customer has acquired the equipment and decided to make an investment in human capital to manage and operate it. It is important to note that in an environment with a premise based PBX; the customer does not look to the service provider for any material office features, as all of the features are delivered by the equipment.”

 

Thinking Phone Networks offers a hosted PBX service, called C3Voice, a customer communications with customer management application on a single hosted platform.

 

Hosted VoIP will continue to experience dynamic growth over the next few years, with projected revenues exceeding $2 billion by 2010, In-Stat (News - Alert) reported. In-Stat projects that U.S. hosted VoIP seats in service will continue to grow steadily to over three million in 2010, up from 373,000 in 2006. Cost savings remains the primary attraction to hosted VoIP solutions, but the value associated with business-grade solutions is resonating more strongly among businesses that are willing to pay for them.

 

One of the reasons, however, some companies are debating whether or not to go with a hosted PBX or a premise PBX is that they haven’t internalized what they consider to be important, according to an industry expert.

 

“They have to decide if they ultimately want to be responsible and want to grow an IT infrastructure for their telecommunications needs. Or is it more useful for them, because it’s not necessarily where their expertise resides, to take a look at outsourcing that capability and leveraging the expertise of someone else? Business owners should understand what role they want to play in providing their telecommunication services,” said an industry expert.

 

Thinking Phone Networks’ service eliminates the cost and complexity of a premise-based system. Since the PBX is located centrally within the company’s distributed network, it provides a dependable, scalable voice platform with unique integration possibilities across the entire C3 (News - Alert) Suite.

 

For more information on Thinking Phone Networks, please visit their Web site or check out their Hosted PBX channel here on TMCnet.