While cost is a major reason why SMBs are switching from traditional office phone systems to IP telephony, many SMBs are unaware of the equally important, additional advantages of leveraging the latest technology for voice communications. IP telephony – voice communications over an Internet connection – is becoming the standard for business communications. VoIP enables a broader array of features than traditional analog phone systems to improve productivity, enhance customer satisfaction, and deliver exceptional business intelligence. Taken together, the lower cost and robust features offered by VoIP is making a positive impact to the bottom line of SMBs.

Getting professional phone system features at an affordable price is now a reality for SMBs using our IP-PBX solution. In contrast to a traditional premises-based PBX phone system, we provide an affordable low maintenance appliance with embedded full featured PBX functionalities that is suitable for smaller companies with less than 100 extensions in a single location.

This eliminates the need to purchase server hardware, installing and maintaining the PBX software and managing a full-featured IP or traditional PBX phone system, which can cost upwards of $10,000 to implement. Our hybrid IP-PBX supports traditional analog PSTN, digital ISDN as well as VoIP to deliver a combination of cost-effectiveness, scalability, and robust features that make it ideal for SMBs. Companies can streamline communications, improve customer responsiveness, and increase employee productivity all while reducing overall telephony costs. Whether an SMB has one employee or a hundred, our IP-PBX delivers the same major business advantages of IP telephony that major enterprises depend upon at a price affordable to much smaller businesses.

Most legacy PABX systems will require a certified dealer to make any changes on the phone systems thus giving companies little control over the configuration of the phone system. With our IP-PBX solution, the configurations are easily administered using a Web-based User Interface. Additional trunks and extensions can be easily added to the system and users can easily change the inbound and outbound routing behavior for the phone system. IVR, Call Queues, Follow Me can be configured though the easy to use user interface providing company IT administrators or their IT solution provider full control and flexibility to configure the phone system to their business needs.

ADVANTAGES

Advantages of on-site IP-PBX versus hosted IP-PBX
While many theories and literature expound on the virtues of a hosted IP-PBX versus on-site IP-PBX, we at Borderless Hub strongly believe that the former is more advantageous for SMBs in the long-run.

No recurring monthly costs
Most SMBs turn to hosted PBX solutions which offer them a lower initial investment for similar feature sets and functionalities enjoyed by the larger enterprises. While it may be true that hosted PBX solutions will provide a lower initial investment since there is no need to purchase hardware outright, the cost of the monthly subscription can be significant for a large number of users since most hosted IP-PBX charge by the number of users.

With an on-site IP-PBX, apart from paying for the initial investment on the hardware, there are no monthly recurring costs on the hardware to be paid for hosting the equipment.

Lower TCO
Assuming the monthly subscription of each user on the IP-PBX is $16 per user. The total cost of ownership for the hosted IP-PBX based on 5 users over 3 years will be $16x5x36 = $2880 which is comparable to the cost of our on-site IP-PBX solution. However, the total cost of ownership for the hosted IP-PBX based on 20 users over 3 years will be $16x20x36 = $11,520 which is significantly higher than our on-site IP-PBX solution.

More control and flexibility
With the hosted IP-PBX, there will also be a lack of flexibility and control since companies are connected to the same solution providing a standard set of features and functionalities. With an on-site IP-PBX, SMBs will have more control and flexibility over their phone system, and additional user extensions can be added to the system without incurring additional costs. User will also be able to define the inbound and outbound call routing and can choose to use multiple service providers for least cost routing which is not likely possible when using the hosted IP-PBX service provider.

Users also get to enjoy the full feature capabilities of the IP-PBX which may not be available on the hosted IP-PBX platform.

Compatibility with PSTN
An on-site PBX can be interfaced with traditional PSTN fixed line infrastructure. This can be a significant advantage in situations where the bandwidth is limited or unreliable. Internal and local calls may be routed away from the broadband connection to reduce the amount of bandwidth required for telephony.

The PSTN fixed lines can also provide failover trunks for the system. If the internet connection is disrupted, phone calls may be diverted through the PSTN to ensure that connectivity is not affected.

Companies who wish to retain their existing PSTN fixed line telephone numbers may do so with an on-site IP-PBX. This may not be possible when using a hosted IP-PBX if the numbers are not portable.