Small Business Phone Service Is Turning To Hosted Pbx – 4 Reasons Why

Introduction: As businesses around the world emerge from a devastating economic period, many are reevaluating their office phone systems and looking for new ways to gain a competitive advantage. Small business phone service has always been judged by three financial criteria: initial capital expense, ongoing operating costs, and features. Through the next recovery period office phone systems will continue to be evaluated even more rigorously by these criteria.

Businesses all over the world have already seen business expectations regarding their office phone systems increase over the last 10 years as budgets have steadily decreased. Doing “more with less” and making their existing equipment last longer is not new to CIOs, CFOs or IT administrators, which have been squeezing efficiencies from existing systems and teams since the last economic downturn. The biggest difference? For the unforeseeable future, budget restraints are demanding more cost-effective, yet innovative solutions for office phone systems.

VoIP for business, also known as hosted business PBX is transforming the way IT departments build and deploy small business phone systems during lean times. By offering a fundamentally faster, less risky, and more cost-effective alternative to on-premises application development, hosted small business PBX will forever change the economics of voice communication.

Why choose a Hosted VoIp small business phone service? Choosing the right hosted PBX from a quality service provider makes available a platform that supports innovative voice applications so companies can build a customized business VoIP phone system in record time.

The most innovative and fast growing companies are looking for more efficient and cost-effective alternatives to traditional office phone systems and PBX equipment. The lessons of the last 3 years are clear. Businesses must continue to deliver additional business value in the face of consistent budget cuts. The old models for small business phone service increased complexity and generated additional cost. IT departments of all sizes are “looking to the cloud” to break the cycle. For those that have made the shift to hosted VoIP PBX and for those that are still on the fence, here are the four reasons why thousands of companies are betting that a hosted IP phone system is the right technology strategy for 2010 and beyond:

1. Delivers faster time to value 2. No initial capital outlay 3. Minimizes operational costs 4. Simplifies integration

1. Delivers faster time to value – During economic downturns, saving money monthly and conserving capital becomes more critical than ever. Many projects have been postponed or cancelled if they can’t show an immediate a very quick return on investment. With hosted VoIP small business phone service, a company can start saving money monthly on their small business phone service immediately and exchange their old lease payment on their equipment for a much lower one. One of the most overlooked advantages of installing a VoIP internet phone service is how much faster and less expensive it is to scale to multiple offices. Because a business VoIP phone is based on subscription pricing, there are no additional costs in servers or equipment in each of the offices. All that is needed is an IP phone. This model is the inverse of on-premises PBX equipment, which requires additional infrastructure and resources.

2. No initial capital outlay – A hosted VoIP PBX allows a business to begin with no initial capital outlay and easily scale the office phone system as their business grows. Rather than laying out large sums of money up front as a capital expense, you get to pay as you go and expense the service as an operating expense. This difference makes it a compelling option for CFOs who are intensely focused on financial predictability and project accountability. The pay-as-you-go model minimizes both project and financial risk because customers can scale their office phone systems based on business results and also ensure that vendors are held accountable over the project’s lifetime. There are no large up-front investments that lock a project into a specific technology. That means CFOs can account for the business value generated by the service during the same financial period as costs are incurred. In other words, VoIP internet phone service provides a better way for IT departments and CFOs to match investments in an office phone system with business value or return. Small business phone service based on hosted PBX has the advantage of no up-front costs and therefore lower risk, in addition to leveraging more advanced PBX technology for less money. And because hosted business PBX charges from usually go in the column of business expenses rather than capital expenses, a business can invest in cloud-based projects even while IT budgets are being slashed.

3. Minimizes operational costs – With a hosted PBX there is no software and little hardware to purchase initially. Perhaps even more important,VoIP for business reduces overall maintenance and support substantially over time. With hosted VoIP Internet phone service, multiple environments are immediately available to developers, testers, trainers, and end users. Quality hosted PBX phone services include user administration, security, globalization, and centralized governance, all of which help to reduce project time and cost. Once the phones are installed, the hosted PBX provider manages the burden of operational maintenance. QOS, patches, and upgrades are delivered as part of the service, with minimal demands on IT staff. As a result, the IT team can focus on building business value instead of keeping busy with standard small business phone system maintenance and administration tasks. Efficiencies like these would be difficult if not impossible without a true multi-tenant PBX. Multi-tenant PBX makes possible a pace of innovation and collaboration that’s simply not achievable with on-premises platforms.

For example, instead of providing one upgrade every other year, at considerable expense to the customer, a quality hosted PBX small business phone service delivers three or four major upgrades every year that cost customers nothing. Whenever a feature or innovation is added to the system, everyone on the platform benefits.

4. Simplifies integration – Because a hosted PBX lives online in a secure server (the cloud) integrating your small business phone system is faster, easier, and less risky than ever before. It’s also easy to integrate and extend legacy environments, and with built-in toolsets for connecting to other cloud services including Salesforce, Act!, Microsoft Outlook and Exchange, Google, and Facebook. One of the most exciting trends in hosted IP phone systems is the innovation of phone and voice apps. Much like the apps available for the iPhone, these apps, developed by a growing number of third party developers adds amazing new capabilities to your business PBX.

Summary: In today’s economy, with limited budgets and a highly dynamic market, it’s critical to be able to refocus a small business phone system quickly, with minimal resources. Hosted business PBX architecture works together to speed IT productivity, while automatic upgrades ensure all customers always have access to the latest business PBX innovations.