Every small business owner wants two things: to increase revenue and decrease costs. The value in hosted VoIP phone systems is immediately apparent to professionals in this case. If your business relies on customer interaction, however, you may be stuck with a costly, traditional phone system – also known as a private branch exchange. These private branch exchanges, or PBXs, are often a step above the traditional switchboards of the 1950s and ’60s, relying on expensive, complicated hardware that can debilitate a business if it goes offline due to power outages or equipment failure. The modern alternative, a hosted VoIP PBX solution, lowers costs by minimizing required equipment and ensures that the phones are always functional, even during disasters.
A hosted phone solution is usually one that is not housed on-premise. By outsourcing it to an alternate location, a small business can protect its phone network from outages and disasters like hurricanes or tornadoes. Hosted VoIP solutions are also generally maintained by a third party, allowing businesses to forego expensive equipment. Lack of bulky phone equipment somewhere in the office also allows businesses to cut back on IT budgets, further improving their bottom line.
By moving away from traditional Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTNs), business owners are able to take advantage of online services and phone features that have been usually reserved for big companies with extensive PBX networks. Everything from automated receptionist services, to customized call routing, to comprehensive data security is now available to businesses that may only have a handful of employees. Because they require little hardware investment, these systems can easily increase the amount of phones in the network as the business grows and expands.
Relying on VoIP instead of traditional landlines to make and receive phone calls has become a popular tactic for small businesses looking to reduce costs while maintaining or even improving the quality of their customer service; in 2008, 80 percent of all new PBX lines installed internationally were VoIP. Since the benefits far outweigh the costs, adoption is likely to spread to all small businesses looking to capitalize on the value in hosted VoIP phone systems.
