Virtual PBX, VoIP are Transforming Canadian Economy

VoIP-based solutions like virtual PBX offer businesses a host of features and tools that allow them to enhance their operations, as well as their communications, and allot themselves room to grow. That’s because virtual PBX solutions are scalable based on the needs of the company—therefore making them cost effective as well—and they are flexible enough to let employees access the communication tools and information remotely. What’s more, virtual and hosted PBX solutions are a safe and reliable alternative to traditional telephony services, as they are designed with built-in failover and disaster recovery mechanisms to avoid the risk of operational downtime. And beyond the next generation benefits of virtual PBX, they tend to also improve on the basics, such as sound quality.

In Canada, the popularity of virtual PBX and VoIP systems are catching like wildfire across the business sector, particularly small and medium sized businesses (SMBs). For these businesses, the low cost and feature rich packages virtual PBX solutions have to offer is a clear winner; with such a system, SMBs don’t have to lose out on the sophisticated features larger enterprises can afford to deploy, and make themselves look more polished in the process. Sensing the mounting demand for VoIP-based solutions among Canadian SMBs, Primus Telecommunications—one of the largest independent telecommunications service providers in Canada—launched the first widely available Canadian VoIP services in 2004. Since then, VoIP evolution and adoption in Canada has only grown, and so have Primus’ services.

Primus recently announced moves to significantly expand its business VoIP offerings in markets of all sizes, thus quadrupling its overall VoIP footprint in an effort to reach more than 80 percent of businesses across the country. Under the new initiative, Primus is expanding into smaller regional markets within the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec, as well as Atlantic Canada.

"From the start, our objective has been to provide Canadian small and medium-sized businesses with the choice, quality of service, and scalability they require to compete and succeed regionally, nationally and globally," said Brad Fisher, senior vice president of marketing and product at Primus. "This significant expansion will continue to do just that and will allow us to share our exceptional service with more Canadians than ever before."

All over the world, virtual PBX and VoIP-based systems are revolutionizing business communications. According to Michael O'Neil, a principal analyst for InsightaaS.com, the business landscape in Canada is no exception, having been transformed by Internet-based cloud computing services that offer SMBs access to comprehensive solutions at affordable prices. InsightaaS.com’s research has found that cloud infrastructure will shift from less than 10 percent of Canadian IT spending in 2013 to over 50 percent by 2020.

“To capitalize on this market transformation and to level the competitive playing field,” O'Neil said, “small to medium-sized businesses need access to fast, reliable and affordable phone and Internet services − which Primus is now able to offer the majority of businesses across the country."

Edited by Maurice Nagle