It is essential for a small business that their phone system doesn’t hold them back. This article is a guide to give you all the information about the types of business phone systems available in the market. So, you can make the right decision for yourself. It is important to remember that the best phone system is not necessarily the one with the lowest cost choice or with the best features. The ultimate business phone system is just the one which is in line with your requirements and that it can scale with the growth of your business.
Also, you will be happy to know that you have plenty of options to select from like the VoIP system, PBX system, cloud-based systems, virtual systems, and on-site systems. Generally, modern businesses utilize VoIP with a backup traditional telephone landline for emergency situations whenever the VoIP system is unavailable because of connectivity problems. Even though more and more businesses are now using cloud-based business phone systems because of its extensive functions and low cost.
Just keep in mind that not all phone systems are going to be right for your business. However, don’t worry after reading this article you will have a good idea of which phone system is right for your business.
Office phone system Types
In order to understand which phone system is right for your business, you have to be aware of all the different choices which are available. Whilst reading through all of their features, you will start to distinguish whether the phone system matches your business needs or not.
- Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Phone Systems
The VoIP phone systems allow you to make calls through the IP network. Instead of using a telephone provider, VoIP just uses an IP network and an internet connection to deliver the communication.
In addition, the VoIP phone technology simply integrates with different devices like mobile and computers to provide valuable features like voicemail which are sent to your email when you do not have access to your business telephone system. The fact that the VoIP system operates like a software provides it more functionality due to features which can be added easily and enhanced to the code, which saves you a lot of money and time.
However, you will be more prone to technological problems since VoIP depends heavily on the Internet. The dysconnectivity and power outages can cause decreased quality of call, or in most extreme cases, you would be unable to be contacted. Because of their lower cost, the VoIP service providers do not generally include phone directory listings, emergency services and some other features which the traditional phones have. However, these features are not usually related to businesses and still you have access to the features on your phones.
- PBX Phone Systems
The Private Branch Exchange or PBX system is the traditional type of business phone where your communication network stays private within your business and also it is connected to the PSTN (Private Switched Telephone Network). Every employee requires their business phone, usually with an extension which is expensive when you have a high number of workers. Other than buying hardware, also you will be paying monthly fees to your provider.
But, one of the major advantages of the hosted PBX system is their consistency, since they don’t rely on the internet connection to function. Also, you receive a consistent high-quality sound with other basic business telephone facilities without the connectivity problems faced by the VoIP and cloud PBX phone systems.
- IP-PBX phone Systems
IP-PBX phone systems are particularly a hybrid between the VoIP phone technology and PBX systems. It uses VoIP technology on software-based phones along with hardware phones like conference phones. Officially, IP-PBX phone systems still are private branch exchange, but phone calls can be made via either VoIP phone or the regular PBX system.
This means that IP-PBX phone systems are much more flexible, cheap and they are small business friendly versions of the PBX system. They provide the constancy of the PBX system with the extra audio, video and IM facilities of VoIP phone technology. These systems are a good transitional telephone system between the traditional on-site systems and the cloud-based phone systems. Hence, you can continue to use the business phones which you are adapted to whilst also adding in the newer functions.
- Cloud-Based phone Systems
A cloud-based phone system is a VoIP system which is hosted on the cloud and is a complete phone system along with complete UC facilities through UCaaS. They are comparatively low-maintenance and are quite easy to set up with fixed monthly charges and you are allowed to call with the free VoIP number. Your provider manages your network equipment and maintenance, allowing you to make phone calls from your business telephone, mobile device, and computers. Also, what you will find is that more of your money and time is freed up since you no longer need to run your business phone system.
Also, it should be noted that often cloud-based phone systems result in your heavily depending on your provider. This means that you eventually have less control over the data security. However, it is Highly doubtful that your service provider wouldn’t have good security measures along with fraud protection.
- On-Site phone Systems
On-site phone systems are one of the costliest options since they not just need you to buy hardware, but it also needs your employees to have capable IT skills for maintenance. The complete phone system and the network are set on your site, it means that you are actually in control of management.
On the contrary, an on-site phone system provides a high level of security since your communication and data is stored at your business location. you are not prone to data fraud or hacks and you can change the level of data protection.
Business Phone System Providers
- VoIPbusiness
- 8×8
- RingCentral
- Mitel
- Cisco
- BT
- NFON
- Lily Comms
- Sipgate
- VoIPStudio
