subject: Hosted PBX Service Can Help a Small Business Provide 24/7 Phone Support for Its Customers by:James Waldrop [print this page] As the business world places more and more emphasis on customer service, small businesses are under ever increasing pressure to be available to their customers 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Most small businesses do not have the budget to staff telephones around the clock. In some cases, owners and other key managers accept the burden of long hours of answering the phones. Hosted PBX or Hosted VoIP services increase the flexibility of a business' communication system and ease the burden of staffing phones 24 hours a day.
Hosted PBX services are based on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology. It does not matter whether telephones are placed in offices next to each other, across town or on the other side of the world with VoIP. In most cases, the telephone only needs access to a quality broadband Internet connection.
Busy small business workers can take their phones with them as the move from office to home and beyond. Telephones can be placed in the homes turning employees into telecommuters. Besides saving the company on office space, rent, utilities, furniture and more, telecommuters can work very flexible hours including split shifts since they are not burdened with a commute.
Some Hosted VoIP providers offer a Mobile PBX feature which integrates mobile phones with the user's desk phone. Mobile PBX can ring the desk phone and mobile phone simultaneously. Which ever device answers, gets the call. Mobile users can transfer and process calls similarly to using a desk phone. With Mobile PBX, no one has to be in the office to answer customer calls.
Voicemail and automated attendants are made available as part of a Hosted PBX service. Automated attendants can direct calls to employees and departments 24 hours a day. Voicemail systems can take messages all day as well. Many voicemail boxes will notify users when a message is left. Companies can use special voicemail boxes as emergency boxes that alert employees who are on-call when a message is left.
In this economy, customer service has become imperative to the survival and growth of most companies. Small businesses usually do not have the manpower and resources to compete with larger companies who can staff telephone answering points 24 hours a day. Small businesses can turn to VoIP technology and Hosted PBX services. Today employees wear many hats, Hosted PBX customers can process calls 24 hours a day with minimal staff because of its inherent flexibility. With Hosted PBX services, companies compete with an advantage while surpassing the quality of customer service offered by their larger competitors.
