Virtual PBX

Looking for a big-company telephone system without the huge price tag? Virtual PBX might be the way to go. With a virtual PBX – also known as a hosted phone system or hosted PBX -- the bulk of the call handling is done at the vendor's data center, not a telephone closet in your office.

Here's a quick look how you can decide if a virtual PBX is right for you.

What is a virtual PBX?
Start your evaluation by understanding the difference between a traditional phone system and a virtual PBX. With a traditional PBX, calls come into your business and go to the back room or telecom closet where the PBX hardware and servers are located. That equipment provides all the necessary routing, voice mail, and then passes the call on to the right extension.

With a virtual PBX, your incoming calls are connected to the hosted provider's data center, instead of your office. Your callers still here a custom message that you record, but the auto-attendant delivering it is at the vendor's location.

Callers can leave messages, dial extensions directly, choose a name from a directory, or pick from a menu of departments and recorded messages. All of this is handled at the data center: the call doesn’t reach your office until the call is routed to a live person.

Advantages
There several reasons for the increasing popularity of virtual PBX systems:

• A virtual PBX can bring multiple offices together, offering the same set of features to all your locations, no matter where they are.
• Likewise, traveling employees are able to get their calls just like they would at the office.
• Because there's no hardware to install, virtual PBX systems have much lower up-front costs than traditional PBX systems.
• Virtual PBX providers also make ease of management a priority, allowing you to make common changes through simple web-based interfaces.

Disadvantages and requirements
There are few special requirements for setting up a virtual PBX service. Because calls are sent from the data center to your office using VoIP technology, you'll need a broadband Internet connection. Not all connections are equal – cable modems won't suffice, and even low-end DSL can be problematic for supporting a busy virtual PBX.

This introduces the added drawback that if your Internet connection fails for any reason, you'll also lose access to your phone system. However, in most cases calls will still be answered and sent to voicemail as if nothing's wrong, since that initial call handling is done at the provider's data center. Those data centers have significant standby generators, multiple servers, and other precautions to offer outstanding reliability – almost always more that you'd see on a PBX located in your office.

While virtual PBX systems have few up-front costs for hardware, you will need phones that are IP capable. In the long run, though, virtual PBX services can provide lower total cost of ownership than on-premise systems: the burden for upgrading and expanding the system is on the provider, eliminating the need for buying a new phone system every five to seven years.

Make sure you get the full service
There are other companies out there selling inexpensive software services that work with your existing phone system, adding some PBX features without replacing your current hardware. They may also refer to their product as a "virtual PBX," which can be confusing since the product isn't really the same. When talking to potential dealers, make sure you're clear on whether they're offering a complete phone system or something that overlays your existing equipment. Ready to start comparing virtual PBX companies? Submit a free request for hosted PBX service quotes and leading providers will contact you.