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What is Hosted PBX?  

Hosted PBX Defined

A hosted PBX is a virtual phone system that replaces the landline or traditional telephones used in business offices or residential homes. Specifically, a cloud-based hosted PBX solution utilizes VoIP and the internet to make and receive phone calls. 

The PBX service provider also manages all the equipment in a cloud-based data center, delivering secure and reliable phone services via the internet connection. Additionally, these systems offer helpful features and applications, such as web browser-based dashboards similar to the RingCentral Admin Portal, which allow management to configure each employee’s options.

What are the benefits of using a hosted PBX? 

Cost savings are often cited as the primary reason for using a hosted PBX because a business does not have to purchase any physical infrastructure, which eliminates maintenance costs, and requires no upgraded hardware purchases every three to five years. However, other tangible benefits come with using a hosted PBX phone system, such as: 

Greater flexibility & mobility

Hosted PBX phone systems are often flexible and provide opportunities for building mobility in a business. Within remote or distributed teams, employees can connect to the cloud-hosted PBX from anywhere. In-office users can also switch office calls from desk phones to softphones or mobile devices, and answer calls on the go. 

Easy installation & setup

Most hosted PBX systems offer a plug-and-play telephone system that can quickly get a business up and running with minimal impact on operations. The intuitive interface also makes learning how to use the hosted VoIP system easier.

Enhanced customer support

Many businesses that require cross-channel customer support use a hosted PBX system to route calls and other communication methods. For example, a hosted PBX system can handle inbound and outbound calls, emails, and web/chat sessions from any location. Companies needing omnichannel support will also gain from a cloud contact center module. This feature improves customer service responsiveness and resolution times by managing call volume and aligning agents with customers.

Increased redundancy & disaster recovery

Geo redundancy is crucial for virtual phone systems as it guarantees more reliable service during technical failures or natural disasters. Consequently, hosted PBX phone system service providers maintain dedicated resources and servers in various cities worldwide, along with multiple transit providers. These systems feature an automatic software-based failover mechanism that can activate the failover servers and redundant routing, making them operational within seconds.

Real-time monitoring & analysis

Cloud-hosted PBX offers access to advanced features, such as call control, call recording, queues, wallboards, and a visual display of real-time data related to the provided PBX services. This real-time monitoring can also generate reports on each agent’s performance for further analysis, utilizing call metrics like average time per call and the median of all calls.

Data security & reliability

Hosted PBX systems encrypt and store data off-site, making it more difficult for attackers to access. Because the service provider manages and executes the software upgrades, firewalls, and security patches, choosing a PBX system with well-documented data encryption practices and compliance is essential.

Improved collaboration 

A hosted PBX system improves collaboration through unified communication features, such as video conference calls, chat sessions, and audio calls that are accessible anytime and anywhere. Users can also create workspaces for chat sessions or video conference calls to resolve issues.

What are the key features of a hosted PBX?

Hosted PBX systems offer numerous advanced features that would incur extra costs if you use a traditional PSTN phone or are unavailable on landline phones. Specifically, Cloud PBX systems include auto-attendants that route calls without human intervention, call forwarding, voicemail-to-email, conference calls, chat sessions, and other capabilities included in the table below: