Why to shift from traditional phone system to IP PBX?

The traditional phone system has become obsolete with the technological advancements. The shift of the business strategy to e-commerce has also brought about a change in the business communications. Now, all sorts of business communications ranging from initial enquiries to the purchase and support of a product take place online. In order to be readily available to answer a customer query, a business firm needs to maintain a seamless communication channel so that a smooth flow of communication can be maintained.

The problem with the traditional phone systems is that no record of the waiting calls is maintained, hence no provision to call back. The voicemail feature is not present which further reduces the chances of converting business calls since no track of the missed calls is kept. Moreover, marketing of the product is mostly done via the medium of communications. The traditional phone systems use circuit-switched network which involves transmission through analog signals. This type of communication is more expensive, especially when it comes to international calling.

When you decide to switch from traditional PBX to IP PBX, the following things bother you:

What will happen to the old phone system?

IP PBX is a corporate telephone system which has the ability to interoperate with the traditional PSTN phone lines. Though communication via internet requires packet-switched network and transmission is in the form of digital signals, this system can be integrated with the traditional phone. To convert the analog signals to digital, we use an ATA and thus, can use the existing phone setup with the new system.

What changes have to be introduced to the office data network?

With the usage of IP telephony system, your office LAN will have to carry greater traffic since all communications will take place via the network. Moreover, the latency and jitter have to be reduced in order to provide good Quality of Service.

What are the monetary savings offered?

If Hosted PBX service is used, then significant cost savings can be achieved since most of the hardware is maintained off-premise by the service provider. The capital and operational costs involved in the setup and maintenance of the equipment are reduced. Moreover, PBX VoIP drastically reduces calling costs. The international calling costs are impressively low and usually free internal calling is provided between extensions. So, this service can help you save up to 80% on your international calling bills. This system also provides you scalability and the users are flexible to add or delete the number of extensions as per the business needs. So, you pay for exactly what you use.

How can response to customers be improved?

If this system is integrated with Hosted PBX systems, then it will be easier to provide better and quicker customer response. The various advanced calling features such as call return, call hunt, call parking, Interactive Voice Response, Direct Inward Dialing, etc. help you manage your business communications quite efficiently. The calls are managed efficiently in a queue and are directed to their respective departments via the ACD.

How can employee productivity be improved?

Since the IT hassles involved in the setup and maintenance of the system are reduced, the time in dealing with these issues is saved and that time can be utilized in dealing with the customer issues. The handling of calls is easy. The employees can work from home and can be available to business calls 24x7 since all the business communications can be accessed from wherever you are. All these things increase the employee productivity.

IP PBX integrated with Hosted PBX services can help achieve greater profitability while minimizing the expenditure because of the latest smart calling features provided at exceptionally low rates. Virtual PBX is beneficial since it is scalable and flexible to user requirements, the employees can carry on business activities from wherever they are and the physical constraints are eliminated. Thus, the shift from traditional phone system to this system is obvious since all the advanced features are provided with the advantage of reduced cost and complexity.