AeroCom’s Technology of the Month: Hosted PBX… What is it?

 
Hosted PBX is a service where the call platform and PBX features are hosted at the service provider location. Therefore, the business end users can connect via IP to the provider for voice service. Hosted PBX’s are typically provided by the telephone company, using equipment located in the premises of the telephone company’s exchange. There are many benefits to using Hosted PBX rather than a traditional phone system. The main benefit is cost. A Hosted PBX system costs a company much less to set-up than an on-premise PBX. Another benefit to a Hosted PBX system is that service providers will take care of all the set-up and installation- meaning, you do not need to be a telecom or VoIP expert in order to set up Hosted PBX!

In addition to the features available from premises-based PBX systems, hosted-PBX also:

• Allows a single number to be presented for the entire company, despite its being geographically distributed. A company could even choose to have no premises, with workers connected from home using their domestic telephones but receiving the same features as any PBX user.
• Allows multimodal access, where employees access the network via a variety of telecommunications systems, including POTS, ISDN, cellular phones, and VOIP. This allows one extension to ring in multiple locations (either concurrently or sequentially).
• Supports integration with custom toll plans (that allow intra company calls, even from private premises, to be dialed at a cheaper rate) and integrated billing and accounting (where calls made on a private line but on the company’s behalf are billed centrally to the company).
• Eliminates the need for companies to manage or pay for on-site hardware maintenance.
• Allows scalability so that a larger system is not needed if new employees are hired, and so that resources are not wasted if the number of employees is reduced.