Hosted PBX services have rapidly increased their market share in the commercial telecommunications sector in just a few years.
Companies profit from hosted PBX systems in many ways; however, more hosted PBX providers are entering the field as the business grows. While this generally lowers costs as more services become available, consumers must be cautious when choosing the right hosted PBX providers. Moreover, given the flood of hosted PBX providers, users must know what they want and need from a cloud-based virtual PBX telephony system.
Thus, before you can fully trust a hosted cloud-based virtual PBX telephony service, you must find a reliable provider first.
This article will explain six essential factors to consider when choosing the right hosted PBX providers.
Startup Costs
Every company is unique, with its own set of requirements, budgets, and objectives. And not every business can afford to invest thousands of dollars in a new cloud-based virtual PBX telephony system.
You should check to determine if your provider, like most hosted PBX providers, is responsible for obtaining all of your system’s necessary equipment, software, and hardware. If this is the case, the initial expenses will most likely be significantly lower than most.
Support Provided
When contacting hosted PBX providers, be sure to provide all of your requirements. These requirements can include the number of lines, the total number of employees in all offices, the location of all employees, broadband specifications, local and long-distance requirements, conference calling, and electronic faxing, call volume, among other things.
In knowing these, you will be able to find success in choosing the right hosted PBX providers with the appropriate tools and capacity for your firm. Accessibility and technical support are two further issues that users should consider. It is critical to be aware of the resources available to you.
Managed Internet Service
There are always risks connected with operating your company’s communications over a public internet connection, often known as an “over the top” connection, no matter what kind of cloud-based virtual PBX telephony system you have.
This form of public connection cannot ensure that your clients, partners, or employees receive high-quality service. You may also have issues with troubleshooting, security, and downtime, in addition to the lack of quality.
Fortunately, hosted PBX providers that offer their own managed internet service can guarantee quality and data security.
Number of IT Employees
Not every company has access to an in-house IT team with expertise in cloud-based virtual PBX telephony. Even organizations with this edge require assistance with their day-to-day IT requirements.
Maintaining your phone system can become a nuisance rather than a need if you do not have this essential resource.
Fortunately, you will not have to hire IT employees or conduct maintenance yourself if you successfully choose the right hosted PBX providers. Moreover, because the system gets hosted off-site, your provider should manage all repairs, maintenance, and outages.
Latency
The delay between sending and receiving data packets in voice communication is known as latency. While latency is common, it usually has less of an impact on regular data, such as web pages and emails, than it does on phone conversations. Because voice calls get made in real-time, even the tiniest delay adds to the conversation’s complexity.
Latency can be caused by a variety of factors, including:
- Distance: Latency for a local call (across town, for example) can be as low as 25-40 milliseconds; meanwhile, the same call across the continent can take up to 60-90 milliseconds. The latency will differ depending on the location. You can combat this by using the strongest available data network and the same provider on both ends.
- Insufficient bandwidth: If a user’s data network is overburdened, latency will rise. Users will be able to overcome this barrier, thanks to increased bandwidth.
- Codec delay: Codecs compress and decompress voice signals as they travel over the network. Uncompressed voice requires about 80 kbps of bandwidth. Compression reduces this to about 20 kbps. Although compression saves bandwidth, it also takes longer and might cause delays.
- Router delay: Voice transmissions over public internet lines have a more circuitous route, slowing transmission for the hosted PBX services. The solution is the same as distance; you should ensure high-quality hosted PBX providers and sufficient bandwidth.
- Firewall delay: A firewall inspects the data packets coming in, which can cause delays. This delay could be due to a firewall that is too small or too old.
You may usually solve all of the problems listed above at the provider’s end. When latency is a recurring issue, a provider can typically rectify this using the appropriate technology and engineering expertise. A quality hosted PBX provider usually has no trouble remedying this situation; therefore, you should investigate whether this is a widespread issue and, if so, how quickly and effectively hosted PBX providers resolve it.
Ownership
Finally, make sure that both local and toll-free numbers are available for ownership with hosted PBX providers.
If, for example, you decide to move hosted PBX providers at some point, you must own the phone number for it to carry over. If the hosted PBX provider owns the number, you will need to get a new number when you leave.
Apart from number ownership, you should know if the hosted PBX provider owns their technology. Hosted PBX providers who own their equipment are typically better able to update and maintain it than those who rely on their tech suppliers.
In addition, if the provider licenses software from a third party, you should inquire about the provider’s relationship with the original creator, as this may suggest how frequently the platform gets upgraded.
Conclusion
While the above mentioned factors do not cover every aspect and detail that should get considered, they cover a wide spectrum of requirements. In the end, businesses must consider all of their interests when choosing the right hosted PBX providers.
Hosted PBX systems can provide various significant benefits; however, to do so, you must ensure that you emerge successful in choosing the right hosted PBX providers.
