Why Hosted Phone Services Are the Best for Business

Summary: The business phone system should be equipped well enough to handle a large volume of incoming and outgoing calls apart from directing and re-directing calls appropriately and accurately without mystifying or disconnecting the customers.

 

Is Hosted VoIP better than a regular PBX? Or will anon premise PBX be better suited for my business requirements? The Hosted vs. on premise debate is exciting, and there’s no clear winner. Whether you should choose one or the other for your organization depends mainly on your VoIP/ PBX requirements. Therefore, it is essential to understand the differences between these options.

 

What is a Hosted Solution?

 

As the name suggests, Hosted Phone Service use a third party to provide ‘hosting’ capabilities. As a user, you need not worry about the space and cost of installing the PBX system on your premises.

 

The most significant advantage of hosted solutions is that they have minimal setup and activation costs. Therefore, hosted PBX phone services are considered the perfect business solution for small companies and SOHOs.

 

What do we mean by On-Premise PBX?

 

An On-Premise PBX can either be old-fashioned or one that incorporates VoIP technology. As a business, you must purchase the hardware, and the PBX hardware resides on your premise. Since a third party does not host it, a premise-based PBX has significant implications related to cost and space.

 

Furthermore, you are also responsible for the PBX system’s maintenance.

 

Cost Comparison

 

Office Phone System have much lower setup and operational costs than those that take up space in your office. In addition, many hosted VoIP providers allow you to enjoy Hosted VoIP services for as low as less than $20 per month per user.

 

In contrast, a high up-front cost is involved with a regular PBX, often in the tens of thousands of dollars. Furthermore, you will likely need to incur additional maintenance expenses periodically.

 

Premise Based PBX is no match for the hosted alternative as far as cost-effectiveness is concerned.

 

Scalability

 

Most Hosted VoIP providers can scale your VoIP system in seconds. User administrators are often given access to easy-to-use web interfaces that allow them to add additional users and extensions. Contrary to this, PBXes can be a nightmare regarding scalability, depending on what type of hardware you have. You may need to buy additional lines, get them configured to work with your VoIP PBX, and even test them before you can use them. You will likely need someone to do all this work for you, meaning you will fork over more money every time you add/subtract users.

 

Hosted VoIP solutions can be scaled hassle-free by contacting your hosting provider. However, scaling an on-premise PBX can sometimes be a daunting task.

 

Maintainability

 

Since there is no on-premise equipment for a Hosted VoIP solution, it has minimal (often zero) maintenance costs. You not only save on money but also on space and time as well. Maintainability is a challenge for regular PBX solutions. You need to hire a dedicated PBX Administrator to manage the PBX solution if you don’t already have an IT person. Furthermore, you must ensure that there are no downtimes and outages or issues must be fixed quickly. Hosted VoIP beats PBX hands-down in terms of maintainability.

 

Control & Flexibility

 

The On-Premise PBX offers an organization a higher degree of control and flexibility. Since the PBX is managed in-house, you can control what features can be used and by whom. If you want to add a new feature, you can do so without approaching a third party.

 

Hosted VoIP solutions also offer flexibility in terms of features and settings. As mentioned earlier, some providers lay it all out in an easy-to-use web portal, where you can configure features. However, you will not get the flexibility to make full customizations or add any features not already supported. You depend on your hosted VoIP provider for upgrades. On-Premise PBX offers more control and flexibility as compared to Hosted VoIP solutions.

 

Wrap-Up

 

Having compared Hosted VoIP and the on-premise PBX head-to-head on various metrics, we come back to the same question – Which works better? The answer depends on an organization’s needs. Hosted VoIP is the way to go for SOHOs and small companies. However, companies that demand full customization of their communications system( with deep pockets ) can opt for the premise-based PBX.

 

Veritable boon

 

For small businesses, VOIP looks like a veritable boon, as it can offer free calls, but you should consider several other considerations before choosing VOIP. First, ensure a fast and reliable Internet connection to allow VOIP systems to operate efficiently.

You can have a hosted PBX service (virtual phone system) that offers a wide array of features and flexibility and can be controlled through a web portal. For example, with Unified Messaging, employees can receive critical fax and voicemail communications directly into their email inboxes. In addition, with the voicemail to email solution, important voice messages get automatically forwarded to the secure email inbox.

It is prudent to consult a telecom professional who will assess your precise communication needs and offer a profile of the equipment that could ideally meet your business requirements.

 

Business operational from anywhere 

 

It simply does not matter where you are and from where your business operates. An answering phone gives you the convenience as well as the feasibility of conducting your business from wherever you are your business takes you. Furthermore, as the service is so programmed as to function per the operational schedules of the business per se, the calls automatically get forwarded to the business owner’s phones even though they might not be in their offices.

 

Time-saving options 

 

Small business phone services can obtain highly cost-effective and affordable prices. As the service providers control all operations, the client’s service is devoid of installation, repair, and maintenance charges. All it would need is a dedicated phone line and an Internet connection to have your business be provided with multiple phone line connections within the office network.