Companies are increasingly looking to the Virtual PBX for their business communications solutions. We have developed a comprehensive list of all the business reasons to switch to a Virtual PBX, otherwise known as a cloud PBX. After reviewing this list, it will become clear why your business might consider switching to a Virtual PBX system.

Management

Scalability: A traditional PBX offering comes in various sizes. You typically need to buy more than you need, anticipating future growth. A Virtual PBX is nearly infinitely scalable, growing one user at a time.

Eliminate Multiple Vendors: No more finger pointing between the PBX provider and the telephone company.

Eliminate Vendor Lock-In: The lifespan of a premise-based PBX is from 5 to 12 years. During that time, you are locked into the product and vendor. In the Virtual PBX world, you can change vendors much easier.

Ties Business Locations Together: Everyone in the company is on the same system. With no need for PBX hardware at each location, the cost drops dramatically.

Quick Deployment: A Virtual PBX can be set up in a matter of days, compared to 30-60 days for a premise PBX.

Company Image: A Hosted PBX provides the sophisticated communications capabilities before only available to large enterprises. It also signals to your customers that your company is progressive and well-managed.

Eliminate Management Distraction: A Virtual PBX is managed by someone else at a reasonable cost, allowing you focus more time on your business.

Green: A virtual PBX consumes very little power in comparison to a Premise PBX.

Reporting: Hosted PBX providers offer robust call reporting capabilities, allowing management to keep an eye on key metrics.

Flexibility

Wider Choice of Phones: Virtually all cloud PBX providers work on the SIP (Session Initiated Protocol) standard. That means that any SIP phone can be used on any Virtual PBX.

Easier Upsizing and Downsizing: Phones can easily be added or removed from service.

Financial

Eliminates Costly Voice Circuits: All voice travels over your data circuit on a Hosted PBX, so you get rid of the dedicated PRI and Analog Lines from the old phone company.

Share your Data Circuit: Get more value out of your data circuit(s) by using it both for voice and data.

Lower Cost International Calls: A Virtual PBX uses VoIP technology. International phone calls cost less with VoIP.

Lower Total Cost of Ownership: Virtual PBXs eliminate old expensive voice circuits and don’t require annual support plans.

No Lease Payments: Since there is a much smaller initial purchase price (phones, no PBX), most companies can afford to pay outright, avoiding monthly lease payments.

No Annual Support Plans: Since there is no PBX equipment or software on premise, there is no maintenance or support plan cost.

Prefer Phone System as Operating Expense: Businesses today value the ability to expense telecom costs rather than do a capital purchase (CapEx).

Cost is More Predictable: Virtual PBX providers offer unlimited domestic phone calls for a flat cost.

No Software to Upgrade: Software upgrades are done in the cloud PBX provider’s data center and are free and available to all customers.

Lower IT Costs: A Virtual PBX eliminates IT costs for the upkeep and administration of a PBX.

Reduce Your Electric Bill: Since there is no PBX, there are no PBX electricity costs.

Bill Consolidation: A Virtual PBX solution has one bill for all services. All of your old phone bills for monthly service, vendor field visits, and maintenance contract renewals go away.

Features and Capabilities

Advanced Features and Capabilities: Virtual PBXs are feature-rich, and upgrades are frequent.

Mobile Workforce Support: Allows mobile users to make and receive phone calls through the company’s phone system.

One Number: People can be reached anywhere and anytime using only one telephone number.

Call Center: Cloud PBXs provide inexpensive call center capabilities, priced by the agent instead of costly software licenses and modules on a PBX.

Softphones: Virtual PBXs support softphones that turn a computer, laptop or tablet into a business telephone.

Unified Communications: Hosted PBX solutions deliver voice mail and faxes to a user’s inbox, consolidating their messages in one place.

Integration with other Cloud Applications: Most Virtual PBXs have integrations with other cloud applications. If you need a custom integration, it’s far less expensive and easier with a Virtual PBX than a Premise PBX.

Local Phone Numbers: Your phone number(s) can be in any area code in the country with a Hosted PBX.

Phone Number Portability: Virtual PBXs allow you to keep your existing phone numbers when you move over to the new service.

Improved Customer Response: All of your locations and remote users are on the same system so answering and transferring calls is easy.

Branches and Remote Workers

Seamless Teleworker Connectivity: People working from remote locations have the same access to all of the communications features and functionality as people have in the office.

User Experience: All users, regardless of location have the same user interface for communications.

Temporary Remote Workers: An individual can be set-up to work remotely in a very short time. This is valuable for contractors, and employees who have a need to work from home or other location away from the office.

IT Department

Easier Administration: Virtual PBXs require only simple administrative skills.

Uses Less IT Resources: There is no on-premise PBX hardware to maintain.

No Hardware to Maintain: All of the equipment resides in the cloud PBX provider’s data centers.

Doesn’t Require Space in Data Room: A cloud PBX does not require space in your data room.

Doesn’t Require Battery Backup System: Since there is no PBX hardware with hosted voice, there is no requirement for a battery backup system.

Disaster Recovery

Emergency Failover: In the event of an outage or emergency in your office, a Hosted PBX will continue to function.

Eliminates Single Point of Failure: A traditional PBX is quite vulnerable to failure. A defective phone line, power outage, PBX failure or damage to your building all brings your communications to a halt. The cloud PBX would continue to function in any of those scenarios.

Employees Easily Re-Located: To move an employee, they simply unplug their phone, take it to their new location and plug it in. Within a couple of minutes, the phone is working at the new location.

Summary

As you can see, business phone system’s capabilties have been enhanced dramatically with the Virtual PBX. The combination of savings, flexibility, and increased features makes a move to a cloud PBX compelling.