PBX for the Small Business

A Customer Center entry from October 2, 2007
by Mae Kowalke - TMCnet Associate Editor for Channels

Many telephony vendors are now offering software-based PBX solutions designed specifically for small businesses. Such PBX products have been developed after careful consideration of the challenges small businesses face. PBX vendors have considered such factors as cost, setup, maintenance and features.

For many small businesses, the first of these—cost—is the most important when choosing a PBX. Although the robustness of IP-based telephony is appealing, without a low enough price tag such a PBX is simply out of reach. In the past, the cost of building hardware PBX products meant it simply wasn’t possible to offer high-end features to the small business market. This aspect of PBX offerings has now changed.

A second consideration faced by small businesses is how easy a new PBX will be to set up. In a sense, this aspect of a PBX is part of its cost. Many small businesses do not have the resources to handle complex PBX setup. Often the PBX will be installed, configured and maintained by IT staff with no specific telephony experience. This means that the PBX must be quick and easy to install and configure.

Once a PBX is installed, of course, it must then be maintained. Ease of maintenance is very important if a PBX is to meet the needs of a small business. As mentioned above, many small businesses use their IT staff to manage the PBX. Often, there are not resources to retrain IT staff with specialized knowledge necessary to run a complex PBX. This is why PBX solutions featuring intuitive, graphical user interface controls are so popular.

Perhaps the biggest change to PBX offerings in recent years is that the cost of advanced features has come down so much. Since software is generally much cheaper to develop than hardware, the PBX of the 21st century offers robust features within reach of the small business. These PBX features are designed to help the business operate more efficiently without breaking the bank.

Some of the PBX features small businesses should look for are voice and data integration and call monitoring/recording. The features available with today’s PBX solutions meet the needs of everyone at a small business, from receptionist to sales staff. Such PBX features are even more impressive because they are so affordable. Even a small business can now afford to get the best PBX features available.

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Mae Kowalke previously wrote for Cleveland Magazine in Ohio and The Burlington Free Press in Vermont. To see more of her articles please visit Mae Kowalke’s columnist page.

— October 2, 2007