Hosted PBX - An Alternative to Traditional Hardware PBX

The hosted PBX system, introduced in late 1997, basically delivers PBX functionality over the PSTN or the internet. With a hosted PBX system, the user gets all the features of the telephone and the voicemail system without having to invest on PBX equipment. Hosted PBX has many advantages compared to a traditional PBX system. With hosted PBX system, the advanced functionalities of a hardware PBX system are provided to the user through a hosted server. Since the user is free from the hassles of maintaining the equipments, the system is also called virtual phone PBX system.

Hosted PBX system provides the customer with all the features of the telephone and voicemail systems. The basic functionalities offered by a hosted PBX system include transfer of call between extensions, custom messages for users holding the line, real time system management, providing detailed call records, custom business greeting for calls, directing multiple calls with employee extension and more. The customer should get the services from a service provider that provides the functions suiting their company requirements. The major benefits of a PBX system include its easy handling and maintenance and features such as automatic voice call facility, fax, fax mail, call screening, caller id tool, web administration, voice mail, toll free enhancement, pager notification, call by extension and multiple voice mailboxes. A good PBX system should help the company increase productivity and enhance its identity, with cost under control.

Hosted PBX is the ideal choice for companies with distributed employees. A Hosted PBX system with distributed administration and unlimited call capacity offers ideal solutions for a small business organization. With hosted PBX system, the customer can utilize the basic functionalities of a hardware PBX at cost-effective rates and with greater flexibility. With a technology comparatively easy to use and manage, more companies are turning towards hosted PBX systems.

Hosted PBX - An Alternative to Traditional Hardware PBX

The hosted PBX system, introduced in late 1997, basically delivers PBX functionality over the PSTN or the internet. With a hosted PBX system, the user gets all the features of the telephone and the voicemail system without having to invest on PBX equipment. Hosted PBX has many advantages compared to a traditional PBX system. With hosted PBX system, the advanced functionalities of a hardware PBX system are provided to the user through a hosted server. Since the user is free from the hassles of maintaining the equipments, the system is also called virtual phone PBX system.

Hosted PBX system provides the customer with all the features of the telephone and voicemail systems. The basic functionalities offered by a hosted PBX system include transfer of call between extensions, custom messages for users holding the line, real time system management, providing detailed call records, custom business greeting for calls, directing multiple calls with employee extension and more. The customer should get the services from a service provider that provides the functions suiting their company requirements. The major benefits of a PBX system include its easy handling and maintenance and features such as automatic voice call facility, fax, fax mail, call screening, caller id tool, web administration, voice mail, toll free enhancement, pager notification, call by extension and multiple voice mailboxes. A good PBX system should help the company increase productivity and enhance its identity, with cost under control.

Hosted PBX is the ideal choice for companies with distributed employees. A Hosted PBX system with distributed administration and unlimited call capacity offers ideal solutions for a small business organization. With hosted PBX system, the customer can utilize the basic functionalities of a hardware PBX at cost-effective rates and with greater flexibility. With a technology comparatively easy to use and manage, more companies are turning towards hosted PBX systems.

How Hosted PBX can benefit your business

Choosing a hosted PBX service provides advantages in several areas where traditional PBX phone systems are weakest. Hosted PBX delivers PBX functionality as a service, available over telephone and/or the internet. The first hosted PBX was introduced in late 1997. Users contract for PBX services from a hosted PBX provider. Today, it is possible to get hosted PBX service with more features than were available from the first systems of this class, or to contract with companies that provide less functionality for more simple needs.

Now using a Hosted PBX Phone System you can have all of the features of the best telephone and voicemail systems, with no equipment to buy, maintain or outgrow. The hardest mainstream features to get in a hosted system are real Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) instead of simple hunt groups, flexible company directories, call transfers between extensions (or to an operator or an ACD queue), and real-time system monitoring. There are many other advanced functions that only a few providers have been able to make available. Web-based administration tools are the norm for hosted PBX services. Adding new users, changing extensions, and changing hunt groups or call queues is as easy as a point and click.

A Hosted PBX phone system can be configured to utilize your current voicemail, for example, transferring calls to your cell phone and letting the call roll into your cell phone voicemail if not answered. A hosted PBX usually can handle a higher number of calls. If the caller enters an extension they will be prompted to stay on the line while their call is transferred. If you answer you will have the opportunity to accept/reject the call. After accepting a call you can transfer the caller back to voice mail or to another extension. If the lines are busy or not answered the caller will hear the voice mail greeting for that extension and be able to leave a message. In addition, hardware PBX buyers are on usually a tight budget and buy small systems that can't grow. But there is no capital outlay for hosted PBX services, and extensions can be changed as needs change. Hosted PBX customers pay only for what they need.

There are other advantages that a hosted system has. The most important is the ability to route calls to any phone, rather than just phones wired to the PBX inside the office. Other major advantages of hosted PBX include lower entry cost, support costs, greater ease of management, flexibility, and improved scalability. No longer will your traveling employees feel out of touch. The right hosted PBX service can make their cell phone into a seamless part of the company telecommunications infrastructure: calls to their extension will ring through to their cell, and they'll be able to transfer and forward calls as usual.

Advantages of a Hosted PBX

A hosted PBX service has a different set of advantages in comparison to a traditional telephone service or purchasing an office telephone system. A hosted system is maintained by the service provider. A hosted PBX service is evidently the better choice for companies with distributed employees and those that want to limit initial capital outlay. In short, a hosted PBX provides SMBs with the features of traditional PBXs—plus some new features that traditional hardware couldn’t deliver—at an affordable price.

• Cost savings - You do not need to make a large upfront investment by purchasing an office telephone system and there is no need to maintain it. With a virtual PBX solution the office telephone system is operated by your provider.

• Geographical Flexibility - Employees can work from anywhere when your office phone system is virtual. You can have employees working from home, other offices, mobile phones, and even overseas.

• Local Presence - Virtual PBX systems allow you to get local virtual numbers in cities where you are not physically located which allows you to create a virtual presence or open a virtual office in New York or the UK.

• Credibility - For small businesses a virtual system can give them instant credibility by presenting their customers with a professional sounding telephone solution. Traditional telephone systems are generally cost prohibitive for smaller organizations.

• Scalability - Traditional phone systems are limited by how many users they can handle as well as how many lines you have purchased from your local telephone provider. Virtual systems can expand and grow with your business as you need them to.

• Quick Setup - A virtual PBX solution can have you up and running very quickly compared to a traditional telephone system.

Our PBX system being hosted is implemented virtually using dedicated phone connections. You need not maintain any additional expensive PBX equipment in your office. Hence, the cost involved is comparatively very low. Our virtual PBX system come loaded with features such as voicemail, fax mail, auto attendant and follow me call forwarding.

Now Even The Smallest Company Can Afford To Sound Big!

More small businesses are discovering the benefits of Virtual PBX — a technology that provides even very small firms with telephone system features such as auto attendants, voice-mail, unified messaging and find-me-follow-me capability. Big corporations typically pay thousands, or tens of thousands, of dollars for the exact same features. Small businesses can use a virtual PBX for a fraction of the cost. This technology allows small and medium sized businesses to have a sophisticated telephone system without the investment in telephone equipment.

The benefits of a virtual PBX service include unlimited long distance, lower costs, the ability to use voice over ip (voip) based telephones which allow you to receive calls anywhere. The auto-attendant is a central part of the Virtual PBX system. This is the part of the system that initially answers the incoming calls, eliminating the need for a full-time receptionist. Callers hear a custom business greeting, and then are given options for routing their calls.

Key ideas behind a Virtual PBX service:

• Your telephone system is "hosted" or operated by your provider
• Works with your existing telephone service or completely replaces it
• Can be used with landlines, mobile phones, voip service or might include voip service

AccessDirect offers its wide-ranging Virtual PBX Service for startups, small and medium home-based businesses. Our virtual phone services are the most comprehensive and cost-effective communication service that you can ever get from today’s telephony market. Our virtual PBX service enables small enterprises to work much like Fortune 500 companies, without any conventional overheads. With our virtual PBX phone service, you are not just getting a PBX phone but a world-class business phone system with all the added features that you would expect on a conventional expensive phone system owned by large companies.

What are toll free numbers?

Toll-free numbers enable callers to reach business organizations, business partners, service providers and even friends or relatives without being charged for the call. The subscriber (i.e. the called party) has to pay the charge for using a toll free number, instead of the calling party. Numbers of this kind begin with three digit codes like 800, 888, 877 and 866 as their prefixes.

Toll free numbers are very popular and having succeeded for businesses, particularly in the areas of customer care services, advertising and marketing. These numbers lets your potential customers and clients with a convenient and inexpensive way to contact you. Toll free numbers are also widely being used for personal use. For an instance, parents can subscribe a toll free number and give it to their youngsters who are away at school or college, enabling hat youngsters to call you anytime without having to pay for the call. Moreover, toll free numbers can be dialed directly to your office or personal phone extensions.

Contact a toll free number provider if you like to have a toll free number for your business or personal purposes. There are number of toll free service providers in the United States. Usually these service providers forward all the calls to your present location. No additional on-site equipments or phone lines have to be installed or maintained in order to receive the calls from your office desk. The call routing process may take merely few seconds and will be virtually transparent to the callers. Toll free numbers does not have any geographical limitations.

People like these numbers for the reason that they are free to call. Business personnel’s like them because, by providing a toll free number they can attract large number of customers from all over the nation. Companies also like to have a toll free number because they are publishable and portable. Just by publishing these numbers they can establish their business presence throughout the nation. Another major reason for their popularity is that its affordability and accessibility. Earlier they were expensive and difficult to get. Currently, they are inexpensive, handy and are good enough to create a significant corporate image even for a smallest home based business in the suburbs. Another remarkable feature of a toll free number is its portability. In case, if you are relocating your office to a new location, you can notify your service provider. Calls to your toll free numbers will be routed to the new location.

A local number is convenient if you need a business presence in the local regions you work. But if you want to extend the business reach beyond your local area, a toll free number is an absolute necessity for business.

The popularity of customers in search for toll free numbers is rising in an incomparable rate. Considering the possibility of the shortage for 888, 877 and 866 numbers in the future additional toll free area codes 855, 844, 833 and 822 are also reserved.

This article has been published by AccessDirect, providers of Hosted PBX phone System. We also provide toll free numbers including the popular 800, 888, 877 and 866. You can also get local numbers having the local access codes of important cities in the United States. Visit us at www.messagingservice.com.

Are 877 Numbers Toll Free?

Business regardless of their sizes and geographical location, are taking advantages over the rise in popularity of toll free numbers. Studies prove that more than 90% of Americans use toll free numbers. Demand for new 888 toll free numbers for both business and personal purposes rated above 240, 000 requests per month. That's more than 2,900,000 new 888 toll free numbers per year. To overcome the shortage in 888 numbers 877 toll free number were launched. But it never became popular as, the 800 toll free number. Most of the citizens had a misconception that 800 was the only toll free number. People are familiar with the 800 toll free numbers since they have been using it for the last 40 years. They were not fully aware that 888, the recently released 866 and 877 were toll free numbers to call.

Recently conducted survey shows that 85% of Americans now be aware of 877 as being toll free numbers. 877 toll free numbers are extremely supportive for businesses that are in search for a nationwide presence. Toll free 877 numbers that are affordable and accessible will help you enhance your business profits and enable you to strengthen customer relations. Probably companies associate a toll free number with large companies; as a result there are specialized service providers of toll free numbers across the globe. 877 toll free numbers are ideal for companies that are physically located outside of the United States and need a business presence in the diverse regions of United States. 877 toll free numbers that you get from a dedicated service provide would result in attracting new businesses.

Enhance your customer care services, sales etc by not missing a single phone call. Toll free service providers ensure you that it connects your customers and prospects to you by tracking your alternate phone numbers. In case you are not available in the office, calls will be automatically routed to your residence number or cell phone number. Generally toll free numbers that you get from a dedicated toll free number provider will be supported by a hosted PBX phone system. These phone systems will be capable of performing all the major features of a conventional PBX system owned by large companies. Some of the key features usually seen on hosted PBX systems are auto attendant, voicemail, fax to email, follow me call forwarding, dial by name, dial by number, virtual receptionist, zero out to live operator, music on hold and caller ID . The added features of a hosted PBX system lets you provide your callers with the same kind of interface as is experienced while calling a big conglomerate. Likewise, you can receive voicemails and faxes on this 877 toll free number. Faxes get forwarded to your email inbox and you can view them using any web browser. Just by publishing an 877 toll free number, your company can get a good clientele base and a prestigious business address in the renowned cities of United States.

This article has been published by AccessDirect, providers of Hosted PBX phone System featuring ACD system, Auto Attendant, Voice Mail, email fax service, follow me call forwarding, answering service,
virtual receptionist, and business voicemail. We also provide virtual phone numbers, local numbers, toll free 800 numbers, New York 212 numbers, and Virtual Los Angeles numbers. Visit us at www.messagingservice.com.

Routing Official Calls to Your Cell Phone

Find me Follow me Call forwarding is a standalone feature that is usually found only on hosted PBX system, and not often seen in conventional PBX systems. As the term "find me follow me" suggests, the customer’s location is detected and the calls are traced using a list of pre-determined numbers. This kind of call routing ensures that employees of a company never miss any official calls even if they are not in the office. Phone numbers other than the office extensions i.e. cell phone numbers or residence numbers can be included in the pre-defined directory.

In a hosted PBX system, a phone number is linked with a person and not any other onsite equipments. An employee can program a list of phone numbers through which he/she can be reached. Calls intended to the employee’s official number will be routed directly to his/her alternate numbers such as cell phone, new location or residence numbers, according to the order in the list. The call forwarding system will try each number on the list until it finds you. If you are not available at any of the numbers, the caller is diverted to a customized voicemail system. The caller will be requested to leave a message in the voicemail box. You can even listen to your voice messages by logging into your voice mail box. Response to voice messages from important clients or customers can be promptly initiated. This kind of professional approach in call handling should create a great impression among your callers.

Call forwarding is extremely helpful for companies whose employees are always on the move or working in multiple sites. Employees working in multiple sites and who are constantly on travel usually miss their important official calls, since their callers do not have any idea about their exact location. It is here the follow me call forwarding plays a major role by routing all these calls to the employee’s cell phone. For example, you are about to go for a business trip and you are expecting a call from an important customer. Don’t worry; you can set Call Forwarding System with the phone number of the expected caller to ring to your cell phone. When the person calls, call forwarding system identifies the phone number and forwards only that expected call. Or else, if you want all your official calls forwarded to your cell phone, you can do that also. Thus you will not miss any official calls even if you are traveling. Though you are attending the calls from your alternate numbers, your caller will be under the impression that you are handling the call from your office.

This article has been published by AccessDirect, providers of Virtual phone PBX System featuring Automatic Call Distribution, Auto Attendant, Voice Mail, email fax service, follow me call forwarding. We also provide local numbers and toll free 800 numbers. Visit us at www.messagingservice.com.