What is PBX? A good start to a great customer experience
A private telephone network to simplify how business calls are placed and received with dedicated lines to the telephone exchange. It offers key call center capabilities.
What is PBX? Is it the Right Choice for you in 2021?
What is PBX?
PBX or private branch exchange is a telecommunications device used by businesses to route the calls made within, to, and from their phone network. The PBX phone systems connect lines to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). Also, they route incoming and outgoing calls based on pre-set rules programmed into it.
Components of PBX phone systems
A PBX phone system has the following components:
1. Private Branch Exchange Server: The main component of PBX phone systems. It handles everything from call routing to voicemail.
2. Voicemail server: This is where recorded voices for automated greetings, and all voicemail is stored.
3. Gateway: This connects the PBX to the PSTN transporting call signals to and from the business to the telecom network.
4. Analogue phones: These phones are used by agents to make and receive calls. They are connected to the PBX via phone lines.
Why do Businesses Use a PBX System Today?
Free internal communication
One of the primary advantages of a PBX phone system is the fact that they share a trunk line with internal phones. This results in free internal communication.
Lesser number of phone lines required
Reduces the number of phone lines that need to be purchased. For 50 agents, businesses need to buy only 7-10 phone lines since all communication is optimized by the PBX.
Extra features for handling high call volumes
PBX phone systems offer additional features for call management that allow businesses to handle high call volumes in an organized manner.
Configure call flows to an extent
Optimise call branching to the right teams or agents to the extent that the PBX infrastructure allows. Cloud PBX doesn’t have limits on infrastructure to configure call flows.
Easy call transfers
Get customers to the right department with essential types of call transfers offered by major PBX system providers.
Are PBX Business Phone Systems Still Relevant Today?
Infrastructure Heavy
PBX phone systems are infrastructure-heavy. They require components like PBX server, physical wires, voicemail server, etc to be bought and stored on-premises.
Prone to downtime
They’re prone to downtime. If there’s anything wrong with the primary server, the entire phone system comes to a standstill.
Expensive to set up
They are extremely expensive to set up and maintain as compared to the alternative, cloud phone systems. Most businesses take years to break even on this investment.
Difficult to maintain
They are difficult to maintain and offer low flexibility and control. It requires hours to add or remove a single agent and maintenance is dependant on the vendor’s support.
No Analytics
PBX systems don’t offer the analytics and visibility a cloud phone system does. This gives businesses no insight into their communication patterns and trends, making it hard to optimize processes.
Alternatives to PBX Phone Systems
Business communication needs have evolved and so have the channels that enable them. Here are three alternatives to PBX phone systems that better serve the needs of business communication today:
Cloud PBX Phone Systems
Most of the PBX infrastructure is hosted on cloud, and all you need are phones. In this setup, you don’t need to buy bulky, expensive hardware. You can even route calls directly to agents’ mobile phones using cloud phone systems, enabling your agents to work remotely. This gives you the complete functionality of on-prem PBX along with a whole slew of innovative features.
On-Prem VoIP Phone Systems
The infrastructure on the on-prem VoIP phone systems is similar to PBX phone systems. The difference is that all communication happens over the Internet instead of the PSTN and that you can transfer a whole lot more than just voice via these channels. These systems also offer better features.
Cloud VoIP Phone Systems
This again offers the complete functionality of on-prem VoIP phone systems, with additional features. You get the best of both worlds – no infrastructure required (except VoIP phones) and access to all the functionality of an on-prem VoIP phone system.
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Cloud PBX systems support today’s digital-first approach
Quick & Cost-Effective Setup, Zero Maintenance
No spending on infrastructure like hardware, handsets or license required. All you need is a computer and an internet connection. Zero set up & maintenance costs.
Scale In Real-Time
Get access to unlimited channels, virtual numbers and users to match the pace of your business growth. Never worry about the infrastructure.
Enable Remote Work In Minutes
Connect the solution to your employees’ personal devices so they can make and receive calls from anywhere, at any time. Track performance in real-time.
Customise Your Customer Communication
Use easy drag-and-drop UI to build call flows to match your business needs, set up automatic greetings, out-of-working hour alerts and much more.
On-The-Fly Updates, Latest Security Protocols
Skip personnel-specific on-site updates to software with updates to the cloud system to every user in real-time. Safeguard customer data with industry-leading SOPs.
Create a Single Source of Truth
Integrate cloud telephony with your CRM, Helpdesk or Servicedesk tool to unify customer data for personalised customer engagement. Enable app click to call for agents.
Exhaustive Customer Insights
Get key call & SMS analytics, understand the performance of conversations and find ways to optimise customer engagement.
Enhanced Customer Privacy
Allow agent-customer interactions without revealing either’s contact details to prevent infringement of customer privacy & future legal hassle.
Why do businesses need a Hosted PBX phone system?
Any business, with a customer facing team, that wants to streamline customer communication requires easy to use, cost-effective, reliable and scalable phone system. Find out why businesses need a Hosted PBX in this video.
E-book: Cloud telephony in a Nutshell
If you’re unclear about how cloud telephony can help your business (like hosted EPABX or PBX systems, start here. In this ebook, we talk in detail about the various options businesses are faced when they consider using cloud telephony for their business. And we decode each one of those and help you make a decision that is right for your business.
The Exotel Advantage
Why Exotel is considered as the most reliable cloud communications company in India and Southeast Asia
Highly Secure
ISO 27001:2013 certified information security management system
Patented Solutions
Gain competitive advantage from patented products
Superior Quality
Best success rates, voice quality and reduced latency
Scale at Ease
Grow at will, expand without worrying about infrastructure
Superior Reliability
Best in class uptimes of 99.94% including operator uptimes
Best Support
24×7 customer support via phone, email and Twitter
Find out how Exotel can work for you. Set up a call.
We take away some of the biggest pain points of traditional systems like EPABX.
