Hosted PBX Systems are Virtual-ly Phone Systems

There are many names associated with hosted PBX systems, including virtual PBX, hosted phone systems, hosted VoIP PBX, internet phone service, IP Centrex, business VoIP service (and any other combination of relevant words you can think of!).

A hosted phone system, defined in simple terms, is often very similar in functionality to premise-based IP PBXs, but the primary difference lies in the fact virtual PBXs are hosted remotely by a third party service provider (common brands include Covad and Packet8).

A relevant example is how websites are hosted (by web hosting companies like GoDaddy, Yahoo, and RackSpace). Many small businesses do not purchase and manage a "web server" inside their place of business. Instead, the pay a service provider a monthly fee to do it for them.

Same with Hosted VoIP Systems (if you want)!

The benefits of choosing a hosted PBX phone service can be many, but depend on the perspective of the small business.

If a small business is just starting operations or doesn't have the capital reserves to shell out the average $5,000-$10,000 for a premise-based IP PBX (as many don't) then that's often all they need to hear, since hosted VoIP solutions charge a low monthly fee per seat (per extension), often in the $50-75 range depending on selected a la carte features.

Another advantage of hosted PBX systems is the increased ease and minimized costs associated with setting up remote workers on the same playing field. Before the advent of IP PBX phone systems, remote workers were virtually isolated on an "island" (their home office), and had no way to have a remote extension on the centralized corporate phone system (to be fair, many premise-based PBXs also support remote extensions, often via a VPN tunnel, but the time, energy, and costs involved in setting them up can vary widely).

With hosted PBX systems, the location of the worker is mostly irrelevant - whether in an office cube at HQ or two time zones away in a home office, all workers can have the same type of IP phone within the same corporate extension number sequence.

Oh Yeah, and Then There's Maintenance

One of the most commonly overlooked aspects involved in buying and owning a business class PBX is the ongoing cost of maintenance and support.

Many business owners make the egregious mistake of gathering quotes from two, three, or four vendors (pats on their back for at least doing their "due diligence") then line them side by side and simply select the bid with the lowest number (hey, can't blame them, that's often how our government operates too!)

But, the problem therein stems from the misperception that phone systems are a commoditized product. Not the case! Some offer more features, some require more hands-on maintenance, and so on (we explain the reasons behind this elsewhere on OfficeVoIPSolutions.com).

Bottom line, hosted PBX service providers often bake any ongoing maintenance and support coverage into their monthly per seat pricing - if your virtual PBX stops working, they fix it! As for premise-based PBXs, this *can* be the case too, but there are two potential problems:

1) Often times the buyer doesn't like the extra line item expense of a maintenance contract and chooses to forego it while crossing their fingers their system will never fail (Ha, as if!).

2) They purchase the maintenance coverage, but since it's a premise-based system, which tends to require in-person, hands-on repairs, the service provider must fit the unforeseen maintenance visit into their schedule - and what if your dealer is located hours away?!




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