Important Things to be Considered while Choosing a Hosted PBX Service

VoIP technology and Hosted PBX services have a critical role in moulding the business communication strategies. To enjoy and exploit the full features and benefits of the hosted PBX system, a proper service provider should be chosen. Nowadays a number of VoIP service providers are available. In this competitive market, it is very hard to choose a right one that serves your business in the desired way. Hence it is not easy and simple to select a right service provider. Considering some factors will help you to select an appropriate hosted PBX service for your business.

There are many things to be noted or kept in mind for choosing the most appropriate hosted PBX service.

  1. Coverage Efficiency

A major thing to be considered is whether the service provider has coverage in your area. That is, find out whether the service provider can port your business telephone number to their service. If they couldn’t provide service in your area, then you cannot use their service. Some of the Canadian hosted PBX service providers deliver their service only to restricted local area. Hence it is crucial to make sure that the service provider you choose has service coverage in your area. It is better to be with a service provider who has a wide coverage area to support expansion plans.

  2. Satisfies the business requirements

Another important thing to be checked is whether the service provider is capable of satisfying your business and communication requirements. For this, first identify your business needs. The needs can be broadly classified into two; business features and call control features.

       Business features include the following;

The business phone system should support you in branding businesses and operations such as multiple phone numbers for marketing purposes, Possible to keep analytics of your call data, Call recording feature for ensuring customer service and also for further training, and additional features such as Multi-party Conferencing, Dashboard Application to control and modify your system, Call analytics, etc.

       Call Control Features consist of the following;

       Features like Call Forwarding, Call Holding, Call Transferring or  Diverting,Caller ID, etc are important nowadays. It is more efficient if the service provider could extend its services to incorporate big business features such as Call Queue’s, Ring Groups, or Apps for advanced phones.

  3. Infrastructure Facility

The Hosted PBX service provider should review your current network infrastructure for flexibility and compatibility. For example, many businesses lack PoE (Power over Ethernet) which transmits power to the devices plugged into the switch. This can be a phone, camera, wireless access-point or other similar IP device. If you don’t have a compatible switch, then collect one or more from the service provider to support the quantity of phones.

  4.  Security

Security is always a major concern hence ensure that the voice network is secure. There are chances of various hazards such as hacking one of your devices or providers devices and using to launch an international calling blitz can, external interruptions or crosstalk, signal failure, etc. therefore high security should be provided for voice transmission. So choose a hosted PBX service provider who can ensure the safety of communications.

  5.  Quality of Service

The most important factor that determines a best hosted PBX provider is the quality of service. A reliable internet connection and network are essential to support VoIP traffic. The key measures of quality are jitter, latency and packet loss.Jitter is defined as a variation in the delay of received packets. Congestion in IP packets causes jitter. The congestion can occur either at the router interfaces or in a provider or carrier network if the circuit has not been provisioned correctly.

Latency refers to a delay in a VoIP call that is, the time it takes for your voice traffic to go from one spot to another. Most companies recommend that the entire voice path, the Internet, the service provider and your own network should have a combined latency of less than 150 ms.

Packet loss is a dangerous thing and it affects VoIP networks very drastically. Even a 1 percentage of packet loss is intolerable.The good hosted PBX provider will have a fair balance of these three metrics. So choose a service provider who efficiently uplifts quality of service by reducing these measures.Selection criteria of a good hosted PBX service provider include many more factors. Taking into account of these factors will help you to get a fully compatible hosted PBX service for your business. 

Cloud Integration is Growing at a Rapid Pace

Businesses today are starting to make changes, and they seem to be making those changes en masse. More and more companies, of all sizes, are starting to choose to use cloud integration and computing for their business. In fact, experts believe that, by 2014, at least 25% of small and mid-sized businesses will have chosen to use virtual integration. Choosing to use a cloud software vendor for many of the different programs they need is going to be a cost effective and easy option, and that’s the reason that cloud integration is really coming along so quickly. Of course, people weren’t always quite so giddy about using a cloud software vendor, and they certainly didn’t understand the idea of virtual integration.

Why People Feared Cloud Integration

People have quite a few different reasons that they give when asked why it took some time to choose a cloud software vendor for applications and to get on board with virtual integration. One of the fears was that they didn’t know how easy the cloud integration actually was, and believed it to be a complex affair. They also weren’t sure about which applications to choose from the cloud software vendor. Sometimes, the businesses wanted to wait until their favorite application and software developers were acting as a cloud software vendor, so they could be sure they were getting access to the applications that they needed.

Cloud Integration Catches On

Times are changing though, and those fears no longer hold as much sway. More and more are turning to cloud integration, and they are finding that it’s easy. The virtual integration is a simple way to make applications available to the business. All manner of applications are available, and it should be possible to find a cloud software vendor that will be able to offer just about anything that the company needs. Cloud integration with great software can even offer the company better and more accurate analytics.

Many small and mid-sized businesses want to have a cloud software vendor that is going to be able to supply them with as many of the solutions they need as possible. They find it easier to work with a single cloud software vendor whenever they can. One of the options that some companies are using today is BroadConnect Telecom's Cloud Business Applications, which has much of what a small business or a medium sized business could conceivably need. Packages that have it all are helping to sway even more businesses to cloud integration. 

For more information on Cloud integration, please feel free to contact one of BroadConnect Telecom's skilled support agents.

Design Tips for Auto Attendants

Commonly referred to as an “IVR” or a “digital receptionist”, the Auto Attendant is one of the most popular features offered to BroadConnect’s Hosted PBX customers. An Auto Attendant is designed to facilitate call transfers without the need for a receptionist.  As callers dial the business number they are greeted by a customizable message directing each caller to dial the extension or department they wish to be connected to. Once the caller has inputted the correct extension, the Auto Attendant automatically routes the call to the correct destination.

BroadConnect’s Auto Attendant offers many rich and business-enhancing features, such as:

• Sub-greeting as an extension of the primary greeting. Such as: local directories, office hours and locations
• Department directories (press 1 for service, press 2 for returns, etc.)
• Dial-by-Name
• Multi-language support.

• Call routing to a live operator

How to Design Your Auto Attendant

• The Auto Attendant layout should clearly indicate what options are available to clients, but, it is important that the greeting now run longer than 15 seconds
• Once of the most important features to never overlook is the live operator support function. Many callers press 0 to bypass the computerized greeting and reach a live receptionist
• Always have the scripting written out before the greeting is recorded
• Be sure to record the greeting in an area that is free from outside noise or interference
• Never use a land-line or mobile phone to record your greeting, such phones do not allow for high definition call quality or clarity

As an added bonus for BroadConnect customers, we offer professional recording services for a one-time fee. Electing to utilize our professional recording services will ensure that your callers are greeted with a recorded message that is in perfect volume and pitch. The recording and all additional system prompts will be unified and polished ensuring that your business appears professional at all times. 

The provisioning team at BroadConnect Telecom is available now to assist you in designing an Auto Attendant that will compliment your businesses communication needs.