PBX: A Vital Tool for Businesses of All Sizes
A Customer Center entry from November 5, 2007
by Mae Kowalke - TMCnet Associate Editor for Channels
No business today, regardless of size, can stay competitive for long without a PBX. A PBX, or private branch exchange, is a business phone system. PBXs offer basic features like extensions and voicemail and advanced PBX functionality such as find me/follow me and auto-attendant.
Such PBX features ensure that a company, no matter how big or small, can provide excellent customer service. A PBX is therefore key to doing business in a global marketplace, since customers have more choices than ever. If a client isn’t happy, he or she can defect to a competitor; this is why companies spend big bucks on PBXs.
But a PBX need not break the bank. With more and more voice services delivered using IP technology, PBXs have really come down in price. Companies can now buy a full-featured PBX for prices so low they’re affordable for very small businesses. The affordability of today’s PBXs means even a company with only a few employees can compete on a global scale.
Today’s PBX helps companies appear bigger than they are, and provider excellent customer service at the same time. With a modern PBX, there’s no reason why an important call ever need be missed. Intelligent PBX usage ensures that every customers is served promptly and by the most appropriate person.
Since the 21st century PBX is mobility-enabled, employees can access voicemails and phone system features from any location. This flexibility of the modern PBX is vital for companies with distributed offices, mobile workforces or small staffs that do a lot of traveling. The PBX is now an anywhere, anytime communications tool.
Any company that considered buying a PBX in the past, but decided against it because of pricing or features conflicts, should take another look. The PBX of today is quite different from the PBX of yesterday. You could say the PBX has come of age.
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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.
— November 5, 2007
