Virtual PBX - Affordable Virtual Office Solution

Traditional PBX systems are expensive for small businesses and they are difficult to set up. To maintain communication expenses within an affordable budget, most businesses go for virtual office solutions. Virtual PBX systems are affordable virtual office solutions that can promote your established business by providing various call management functions. Small and medium sized businesses can now benefit from professional telephone answering solutions at low cost.

Virtual PBX systems are affordable for every type of business including small businesses, start-up companies, sole traders or home professionals. No overhead expenses and additional staff problems are associated with virtual office service. As the communication services are provided through hosted system, virtual office solutions do not require additional equipment to be installed at the client’s premises.

The hosted PBX system works with advanced VOIP connection. From initial call receiving to call routing and call transfer, virtual PBX offers many advanced communication features. The hosted service provides custom menu options for callers. Dial by name and dial by extension enable the customers to reach the right person they desire to contact. If the user is unavailable, the system will transfer the calls to other personal extensions or cell phone.

Auto attendant in the virtual PBX system interacts with the callers and routes the callers to the desired extension. It also plays customized professional greetings for callers. You can customize the auto attendant to make different announcements at different times of the day. Users can receive advantageous features such as voice mail, fax to mail, voice and fax mail notifications and many more. With streamlined infrastructure, businesses can improve their scalability and operations.

Virtual PBX is a perfectly affordable virtual office solution with minimum maintenance cost. By utilizing all advanced functionalities, a start-up or small business can create a big image among the clients. Various communication service providers offer local phone numbers and toll free phone number services through virtual PBX. Through virtual office solution, you can establish a local business presence or a nationwide presence in a cost-effective manner.

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A little insight into the PBX world

When I try to explain what I do to people, the most common reaction is a blank face with the question “what is a PBX?” If you fall into the category of people who do not know what a PBX system is, then today is your lucky day.

PBX, which stands for private branch exchange, is a telephone exchange that works for a specific group of phones (for example a business) rather than an entire phone carrier (for example AT&T).

Historically the term PBX applied to process that the operators would use back when they would have to manually connect the caller via a switchboard. As technology improved the PBX phone system required a lot of expensive equipment as well as a person to maintain the system. But now in the 21st century, we have hosted PBX phone systems.

Our hosted PBX phone systems allow customers to enjoy all of the features that go with the standard PBX systems but for a fraction of the cost. A few of the most common features are…
• Auto Attendant
• Dial by Name Directory
• Call Forwarding
• Custom Greetings (we can even do a professional recording for you)
• Music on Hold
• Daytime and Afterhours Greetings
• Voicemail
• Find Me/ Follow Me

AccessDirect allows for even small businesses who previously could not afford to spend the tens of thousands of dollars it costs to purchase the equipment, to have the opportunity to sound larger.

It's Like Magic

Lately I have noticed a surge in callers wanting to utilize our service as a busy no answer service. Basically what that means is the office had the first chance to answer the call and if the line either goes unanswered or is busy it will roll over to us for voicemail. I think today alone I have helped three customers set the necessary features up with their local phone company.

This feature also works great for companies who use their phones for outbound calls but still wish to utilize their Auto Attendant. Here at AccessDirect, we have a full time auto attendant but use individual lines to call out on. I have noticed that because so many people have Caller ID, they call back on the same number that called them rather than calling the number left in the message. Using the busy no answer feature any calls that come in on my desk phone if unanswered are rolled over to the auto attendant. This saves the hassle of trying to get the voicemail set up on each desk phone in the company as well as on each person’s extension on the auto attendant. Now all messages for Sally are all in her single voicemail box and the same goes for Joe.

But Bob wants his office’s busy no answer just to feed into one voicemail box for him instead of an auto attendant. Not a problem. Busy no answer works with all types of programs. You tell us how you want your package to work and we will make it happen. It’s like magic.

Evolution of Communication

Chances are you probably have one of those fancy “smart phones” that will almost fold your laundry for you and chances are that you spent a good chunk of change on it. That being said why would you want to go out and spend an arm and a leg on a voicemail system that doesn’t even work with your phone. Lucky for you we offer a service that requires no equipment (expensive or otherwise) and works with your fancy “smart phone” as well as your standard copper landline and it even works with your voice over IP (VoIP) line.

Yesterday I had a guy in the Insurance Industry tell me that he needed the Blackberry for his company, and he wanted to make sure that his existing program would work with it. He had previously been utilizing a pager for emergency purposes; yes we can still send pages to customers who don’t wish to use cell phones or text messages. Here at AccessDirect we know that not everyone jumps on the bandwagon with new technology and on the other hand several people do so we support all kinds of technology from pagers to cell phones to Blackberrys.

No matter which technology you prefer, we have a package for you and your company that will make sure you appear to be with the “here and now.” Give us a call and let us bring your company into the 21st century.

Tall, Dark, and Handsome

I am the typical 20something, single woman looking for the proverbial 'perfect' man. I mean, I don't ask for much. He's gotta be taller than my 5'10", ruggedly handsome, insanely funny, the guitar and vocal skills of Keith Urban, a love for small animals and children.....and the list goes on. And no matter how much eHarmony promises me to 'find that special someone', I will never be able to customize my ideal. He will still come with all of his inherent flaws.

When it comes to my voicemail system, however, I am the master designer. AccessDirect is so versatile, it can bend and flex to whatever mold I need. Not only are there customizable packages that include everything from fax to email service, find-me extensions, information only extensions, and your basic voice mailbox, but I'm also able to pick the number I would like.

In a world of sub-standard beaus, it's reassuring to know I can still be in control in at least one area of my life.

A Makeover Story

One of my favorite shows to watch is Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I love how they take deserving people who are working hard to provide for their family and completely change their lives. The show provides the family with bigger opportunities than they were able to accomplish on their own. And that's what my job does.

Today I programmed two auto attendants, which isn't really out of the ordinary. What is incredible about the programs were they were both for one gentleman who is working hard at building two companies. I feel privileged to create a program in which I am providing more opportunity than he is able to do on his own. Now with his programs he will be less likely to miss an important phone call with his find-me extensions and those he does miss will be able to leave a message in his voice mailbox. In tough economic times, these advantages could be the difference in success and failure for a small business.

I may not be Ty Pennington, but I get to participate in my own extreme makeover; the business edition.

Add the personal touch to your voicemail...

Today I programmed a busy no answer voicemail box for a law office. The way this voicemail box works is when the phone rings the specified number of times, say 4, then it rolls over to the voicemail number. This sounds great and all but what happens if you are already on the line and then someone calls? Luckily the forward will work on a busy too that way all of your calls that you can’t answer go to voicemail.

The Direct Messaging package is great for the one the business owner who wants to attempt to answer his or her phone instead of letting it go directly to voicemail. It allows for the personal touch that will keep your customers coming back to you instead of that other company who never answers the phone. Once again, this package includes my favorite, fax to email. We provide a unified messaging system where all of your messages are located in two places. One place is your email that is accessible anywhere you can access your email including smart phones; and of course on our server. And to top it off you can get all of these wonderful features starting at just $9.95 per month and can be set up usually within 24 hours.

We can work with your existing numbers and your current phones. And if you get the package set up and realize that it is not exactly what you were looking for, we are more than happy to help you customize it to make it exactly the right package for you. If you have any other questions about how our system works feel free to check out our FAQ’s section.

Making your business prosper

Of course every small business owner will want his or her business to prosper and grow. So what is the most essential thing for the business to have? That's easy, customers. But what happens when your potential customer calls and you can't answer the phone? You lose the potential customer. But wait there is a solution; you get a voicemail service that provides you with a professional image when you can't. That's where AccessDirect comes in!

We offer several solutions for businesses of any size. For example we have the Direct Receptionist package which includes up to five extensions. This package is really popular with small businesses who want to sound bigger. You can have a one person business sound like there is a bunch of people working in the company and the best part of that is all of the calls can still be routed to the same person.

We also have the Direct Enterprise package for the company that is already larger than the one person business discussed earlier. This package supports up to hundreds of extensions depending on the needs of the business. `

All of our packages allow for customizability of features. My personal favorite feature is the fax to email which I talked about in my last post but my next favorite would have to be the voicemail delivery to my email. It's great because you don't have to call your phone to check your messages all the time to make sure your didn't miss any important calls and even better, as soon as you get the email you can click on the attachment and listen to the entire message immediately.

What's in a Name?

"That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet."
-Juliet

Auto attendant, virtual receptionist, hosted pbx. All the same, but what exactly is in these names? Shakespeare alluded to the fact that a name posed does not change the essence of an object. A label does not negate the benefit. So perhaps the question to ask is, what is the benefit?

To understand the benefit, you must first understand the essence. Essentially, the job of a virtual receptionist is to greet current and potential clients with a professional recording, direct callers to the desired department, and deliver messages within seconds of being left.

The perks of an auto attendant are vast. It creates a professional, polished appearance, enables small businesses to seem larger, connect a nationwide corporation through one number, and have messages and faxes delivered to multiple email addresses. The fragrance of this 'flower' will linger, regardless of the name you call the program.