Cloud Phone System 101: Understanding Virtual PBX

So, you’ve been tasked with choosing a phone system for your office, but the terms and descriptions don’t make much sense. How is it possible to choose the best when there are so many options? One stellar option to choose is hosted PBX, and the reasons why are rather convincing.

What is PBX and why does it matter? For one, it’s the hub of your phone system. PBX stands for “private branch exchange,” and it is responsible for switching calls between users on local lines while allowing all users to share a certain number of external phone lines. The main purpose of a PBX is to save the cost of requiring a line for each user to the telephone company's central office.

In a hosted or cloud model, there is a nominal investment in telephone sets that are compatible with VoIP, but there are no operating, maintenance or upgrading costs to worry about. Virtual PBX allows businesses added growth flexibility, regardless of size.

In the virtual sense, PBX brings with it cost savings as well as increased productivity.

And virtual PBX is a good choice when a company or organization can’t be bothered with complicated phone systems. There is no longer any need to worry about scalability and upgrades due to capacity requirements. Managing line cards, trunk cards or space in your capacity is not required. Hosted PBX providers handle capacity, performance and configuration of the total VoIP system.

Using virtual PBX, you can ditch the office and go remote. Overhead costs are severely cut because businesses can populate their business workforce with home or remote workers and integrate workers that travel or work from branch offices. This opens up the possibility of specialized professionals, regardless of distance.

Leading research firms suggest that total cost savings in the acquisition, operation and maintenance of virtual operations have been in the 25 percent to 50 percent range.

The need for IP communications in business is a topic that’s always been a hot one in IP telephony news. SMBs in particular need dependable communications because it provides them with enhanced communication tools to better serve their customers and get the most out of their workforce.

With virtual PBX, it’s already there for you, in the cloud, ready for you to use and take advantage of its many benefits. 

Edited by Alisen Downey