Phone lines or PBX
Previously I’ve discussed the impacts of expansion on your business systems and how in the ideal world one should plan ahead. An essential part of any business expansion aside from the impacts on IT is the impact on phone systems.
If your business’s standard phone and fax lines are costing you a small fortune and your business calling activity could be more effective, then it may be time to consider investing in a PBX system.
PBX systems are used in office environments to essentially manage and deliver calls. Another great benefit is the cost effectiveness of not having to connect external phone lines to every phone in an office. With a PBX system, all internal lines connect to a few external lines which are usually sufficient to manage all calling activity. The business can also keep one main phone number for all incoming calls.
The true benefit of a PBX system is that it provides flexibility, especially when your business grows, because the system can easily be customised to suit.
A PBX typically comes included with call features to manage your incoming calls. For instance this could include having all of your calls answered with a custom business greeting with menu options (IVR) to the caller. IVR menus are a great feature to get your business organised and calls directed to the right people.
It’s also easier to place a call or transfer a call to someone within a PBX system (i.e. within an office) because the number dialed is usually a 3 or 4 digit extension number and the call is free.
There are different forms of PBX – the main variety is a physical box that sits in your premises, generally requiring a one off purchase for the equipment. Today there are some great alternatives available that don’t require the outlay of loads of capital.
One example is hosted PBX. This is an offsite service that provides all phone handsets to the business instead of having to purchase a system including equipment outright.
Airnet now offers such a service called Virtual PBX. All the handsets are provided and maintained by Airnet for an affordable monthly basis. The benefit of this is that you get to use the latest equipment available. You also don’t have a hefty upfront expense and there are great calling rates to keep your calling costs down.
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