There has been an explosion of hosted PBX and VoIP solutions over the last 15 years. This has meant that voice and data have become intertwined, providing businesses all over the world with affordable communication solutions that can be scaled up should the need arise, and systems that require little to no maintenance. While all this sounds good, it can be challenging to know which hosted PBX provider to align your company with. In this post, we’ll provide you with a checklist you can use when shopping around for your ideal VoIP company.
Reliability
VoIP and hosted PBX depend on a highly efficient and reliable data infrastructure. Whether you’re running a small business or head a large corporation, you need a reliable solution that’s always going to be on 24/7 to minimize or eliminate any downtime. When you’ve identified your ideal package or company, ask them about the reliability of their systems as well as records that support their claims. Don’t take their word for it – the numbers and data don’t lie, so always ask for these.
Ease of Customization
Because no two businesses are the same, you want to ensure that you purchase a hosted PBX system that you can tweak and make your own. This is vital if you’re ever going to get the best out of your VoIP solutions. For instance, you should be able to change things like voicemail signature, on-hold music, automatic message retrieval and the number of people on a conference call on the fly. More customization usually means ease of use and flexibility.
Support Availability
It’s important to know what kind of support you’ll be getting with hosted PBX. For the most part, you’ll have a satellite or remote support center that is available to you on a daily basis, regardless whether it’s a weekday or the weekend. That being said, you want to ask around and get to know what type of support comes bundled with the service and whether it’s in line with your company strategy and overall mission.
Overall Cost
Sometimes, the cost of signing up for hosted PBX and VoIP can seem like a steal. However, it’s not uncommon for these costs to balloon over the years when you find yourself, for example, forced to purchase extra equipment on account of the need to scale up or sign up for bundles that would allow you to take your VoIP-enabled phone anywhere in the world. Ask your company of choice to provide you with a hypothetical price breakdown of what you can expect to spend in the next 4 or 5 years, taking into account your company’s current and future projected size.
