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.
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.