Business Telephone Systems

Often seen as the main core communications method for businesses to contact customers or be contacted themselves, the business telephone system has come a long way since their introduction in the 1960’s. labelled a Private Branch Exchange (PBX), initially they were the realm of large corporations due to their expense and size.

However, through the development of electronics over the years and progress in miniaturisation as well as software development, they are now rarely more than the size of a medium suitcase but can service thousands of users with all of their features and functionality.

With the development of faster and more affordable broadband services over the last 10 years, there has been the development of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies where systems utilise a data connection to transmit voice rather than the traditional analogue or digital systems. This has allowed flexibility to be introduced into the PBX system by allowing users to be remote or home working as well as multiple sites and systems networked together for seamless and integrated call, system and user management, similar to IT systems.

PBX systems currently can be split into two main types –

• on premises or onsite systems which have the hardware located on the business premises and is under the direct control and management of the business
• Hosted or cloud-based systems where the PBX is hosted or located on a cloud-based computing platform and can be managed by the network provider as well as the end client business.

Whichever of these current solutions an end client uses, the same ethos still remains in that the right solution should meet the needs and requirements of the business involved.