The way your company handles its business communications is a determining factor in its day-to-day efficiency.

For example, is your business phone system used exclusively to make phone calls, or do you have one unified communications platform that provides every functionality you need? Do you use separate services for messaging, emailing, and video conferencing?

One way or another, your business phone system plays an important role in your daily operations. That’s why we’re going to take a closer look at the ins and outs of enterprise phone systems, starting with what they are and moving on to explore the options you’ve got when it comes to picking the best solution for your business.

An enterprise phone system is the phone service that a large business uses. A business phone system is somewhat different from the one you might find at home. That’s because even a small business generally has more employees than the average household, and businesses often need to use many phone numbers and place multiple calls at the same time.

Whether your phone system has advanced features or not, the most important thing is that it suits your business needs. Those vary between individual enterprise businesses, of course, so it’s important to ensure that you’ve chosen the right communication solutions for you.

Before we proceed, let’s discuss two terms that are going to come up frequently in this guide.

• VoIP - VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is a telephony technology that lets you place calls via the internet instead of using a traditional phone line. It’s versatile and compatible with a lot of different types of phone systems. In particular, it’s very useful in the form of either an enterprise VoIP phone system or enterprise cloud phone system. These let you host your phone system in the cloud.
• PBX - PBX is short for private branch exchange. It is a term commonly used interchangeably with business phone systems. But technically, a PBX only refers to the technology that facilitates the seamless transfer of calls between office phones connected in the same network.

Two Types of PBX

There are two main types of PBXs:

Hardware-based PBX

This is one of the oldest types of business communication systems. It’s hardware-based and relies on copper wires to physically connect each device to a network for call routing. Traditional PBX doesn’t let users place calls via the internet; it’s a legacy, phone line-based setup. That’s the major difference between enterprise hardware-based PBX and other more modern, cloud-based phone solutions.

Cloud PBX

This is a reworked version of traditional PBX. Instead of copper wires, a cloud PBX system routes your calls via the internet. Sometimes, a cloud PBX is also called a hosted enterprise phone system, due to the fact that its infrastructure is hosted off-site by a third-party provider. If you’re using a cloud PBX system, you can ensure that your incoming calls are routed to the right place right away, which means improving customer experience. For example, if someone’s looking to contact sales and they dial your company’s general phone line, they’ll be directed to your sales team quickly, saving them time and effort.

More often than not, VoIP phone systems offer cloud PBX functionalities as part of the package. Here is a comparison between VoIP phone systems using cloud PBX and legacy systems using on-premise PBX.

There are many benefits to VoIP phone systems, but here are three of the most important.

1. They’re cost-effective
2. They’re compatible with VoIP phones
3. They’re future-proof

Let’s look at each in more detail.

1) They’re cost-effective

Implementing a VoIP system is a great way to guarantee cost efficiency in the future. This is true for a few key reasons.

Firstly, VoIP systems are highly scalable. That means that whenever you want to expand your business, your phone system will grow alongside you easily, without needing you to invest a lot more money or time into it.

VoIP phone systems also tend to operate under fixed pricing plans. That means your monthly price doesn’t change when you make more calls or regularly participate in web conferencing—it’s all included in the fixed price you already paid.

Lastly, your enterprise VoIP provider handles the upkeep and maintenance of any hardware or equipment needed to make your VoIP phone work. That means you get to save money in that regard.

2) They’re compatible with VoIP phones

Are you someone who prefers to use a softphone, or who’s got a cloud contract for an IP phone? A VoIP phone system can support you perfectly.

One of the most useful plan features that comes with a VoIP phone system is full compatibility with those kinds of phones. You can keep using your new tech without having to worry about calling rates, since those are included in the monthly fee.

3) They’re future-proof

Traditional PBX is going out of fashion quickly. It’s harder to scale, less compatible with modern tech, and more prone to poor connectivity than VoIP systems, which discourages new users from opting for non-VoIP solutions.

VoIP phones, on the other hand, are ready to handle the challenges of the future. They’re versatile and can work with any hardware—just as they can enable you to work from anywhere. If you have remote or field staff, equipping them with VoIP-ready phones can increase productivity and efficiency.

Sometimes, being able to make calls is enough. Other times, you want to be able to join video meetings, host video webinars, send emails, take part in conference calls, and send SMS—ideally from one system.

In other words, what you’d want in that situation is to unify communications. That’s what UCaaS is for.

With UCaaS, you can configure and implement custom solutions that perfectly suit your business needs. That’s because UCaaS aims to unify all your communications, so any specific apps or software you use can be incorporated into your communications solution.

In short, a UCaaS solution provides a business phone system as part of a wholistic platform that also incorporates all of an organisation’s other communications.

Which features does a unified communications phone system offer?

So far, we’ve covered how and why VoIP-based enterprise phone systems are a significant upgrade over traditional, legacy alternatives. Many businesses, though, need a phone system that works seamlessly with their other communications channels. They look towards UCaaS for the solution.

UCaaS systems incorporate VoIP phone systems, but also come with a lot of further, built-in flexibility. That means they offer multiple communication channels and lots of top features, ranging from online faxing and screen sharing functionalities, to useful integrations that help you streamline your daily workflows. All in one package.

Let’s look at some of the key features and functions of UCaaS solutions:

Phone service with bonus features

Of course, you’ll want to be able to use your phone system to place calls. That doesn’t mean you have to settle for the basics, though.

With a UCaaS system, you can also set up things like call analytics, which gather data and process it into useful charts and visualizations you can use to improve your call performance. You can also use call recording, call transcription, and call logs to more easily keep track of everything that’s being said in your calls.

Smaller features like caller ID are also a big help. They make it easier to implement successful call transfers, which improve call flow.

Video conferencing

VoIP services don’t just have to be about audio. UCaaS users can enjoy integrated video conferencing, too. This can help people from all over the world connect face-to-face.

Being able to receive visual information alongside audio data can be a real lifesaver when it comes to conference calling. Presenters can enhance their talks with visual cues, while listeners can indicate their interest using facial expressions and body language.

Additionally, video conferencing can really make international calling feel more personal. When the people you’re speaking to are far away, connecting meaningfully in real-time can be tough. That’s why video conferencing is an essential tool to streamline communication and boost team collaboration.

Integrations

This is one of the other major features that draws people towards UCaaS as a VoIP system option.

Integrations let you customize your business VoIP system in a cost-effective way. They let you use apps like Hubspot, Microsoft Teams, and Salesforce, as well as other CRM and related business software, from within your UCaaS platform. They let you add as many functionalities as you need.

In other words, integrations can take your cloud phone system to the next level.

Call center functionalities

Most, if not all, large businesses, digital businesses, and enterprises have some kind of contact center department serving their customers. UCaaS systems can help you manage yours more effectively.

Contact center software that your customer support teams need can integrate seamlessly into your UCaaS system. You can compare plans from different UCaaS providers to find one that includes built-in contact center functionality if this is something you need.

Your UCaaS system can help with lots of things related to customer communications. For example, it can automatically manage your call queues for your agents via a combination of interactive voice response (IVR) systems and automatic call distribution (ACD), handling all call forwarding and eliminating the need for a human operator to intercede.

Virtual receptionists

An interactive virtual receptionist or auto attendant, is enormously helpful in handling your incoming calls. It directs callers to the right place, reducing the risk of anyone hanging up before reaching an agent and/or leaving an angry voicemail stating they couldn’t reach anyone.

That’s why many new UCaaS users purposely pick out a service provider that can offer them a built-in automatic attendants.

Ready to upgrade your business’s communications system? Reach out to our sales team today to get more information on 8x8’s enterprise phone system offerings and other office communications solutions.