The term "virtual PBX", or "virtual telephone system" means that the provider takes care of hosting the PBX itself and applying all the technologies necessary to provide communication services to companies. Calls, notifications and other functions are processed on the PBX server, which is located at the provider's site. And for their services, the provider issues a monthly invoice, which usually includes a certain number of minutes and a number of functions.
Calls can also be charged per minute. The use of virtual PBXs has two main benefits: 1) the company does not incur upfront costs; 2) the company can more accurately calculate and budget monthly expenses. Advanced features may cost extra.
Benefits of Virtual Phone System:
- Installation. Installation costs are less than traditional systems, because apart from the local network and the phones themselves, you do not need to install other equipment.
- Escort. The provider maintains and accompanies all equipment at his own expense.
- Low communication costs. Usually virtual solutions mean packages of "free" minutes. This approach reduces costs and greatly facilitates budgeting.
- Installation speed. Physically, you only need to install telephone sets.
- Flexibility. All phone numbers are portable, so a company can freely change offices or use remote employees without changing numbers. Because you don't install any equipment, the cost and complexity of the move is greatly reduced.
And traditionally we offer you to get acquainted with the stories of three companies that have used virtual PBXs.
Gradwell
Gradwell provides small and medium businesses in England with Internet connection and telephone services. They do this with the help of simple and reliable services and business applications, focusing on organizations of up to 25 people. Today, Gradwell is the largest provider in England with its own telephone system, which has been recruited to support a separate development team. The company has 65 employees and is based in Bath and founded in 1998 by Peter Gradwell. He was a small business owner himself and was unable to find the right phone service for his distributed web development and hosting team. Then Peter decided to develop it for himself, and then offered his hosting clients a broadband IP telephony service with one business number. As a result, the company has grown into the nation's premier telephony provider, and today serves 20 small business customers.
Problem
In 1998, when Gradwell first ventured into IP telephony, it was a relatively new service, and most of the solutions were offered by US companies, and these solutions were created based on American business realities. Gradwell realized that UK companies needed a locally tailored solution, they needed a local support service and the ability to adapt solutions to the requirements of the UK market. A small business needed a high-quality, reliable phone service, with a responsive support team and experts available to help over the phone.
Solution
The company chose ITCenter Voicis Core, which combined with Gradwell's web development expertise, the open source Asterisk software, and Telesswitch's BT network connectivity solution, resulted in a highly reliable and efficient service. The telephone set was a critical component. Employees from small companies wanted the phone to look and feel exactly like a phone, and besides, at that time, software solutions were not very reliable. In search of quality handsets, Gradwell analyzed four manufacturers and selected Snom phones, which they found to be the most reliable and provide high-quality sound. It was 11 years ago. Since then, Gradwell has been supplying its customers with our phones - first the Snom 190, then the D3xx and D7xx series. Gradwell once had phones from six manufacturers in its portfolio, but this often confused customers, and today the provider uses products from only two companies. Gradwell used to provide handsets themselves, but with Snom products, this task has been shifted to the distributor, so today Gradwell can ship phones directly to the customer's site. This reduces delivery times and improves the quality of service.
Orange Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic is the second largest country in the Caribbean. Its area is more than 48 km000, the population is about 2 million, of which 10 million lives in the capital - Santo Domingo. In terms of economic size, the Dominican Republic ranks ninth in Latin America, and it is the largest economy in the Caribbean and Central American region. Previously, the structure of the economy was dominated by agriculture and mining, and today it is based on services. A vivid example is the development of telecommunication systems and transport infrastructure. The Dominican Republic is also the most popular tourist destination in the Caribbean region, which stimulates the tourism industry. For telecommunications companies, the terrain is difficult. On the territory of the country there is the highest peak in the region, Duarte Peak, the largest Lake Enriquillo in the region, which also lies at the lowest elevation above sea level. Mobile phone coverage in the Dominican Republic is good with four operators and Orange's network covers 1% of the country.
Problem
Orange needed a scalable and reliable virtual PBX solution that would have all the features and capabilities of licensed solutions on the market, but at a lower cost to implement. Orange planned to grow its business and was looking for ways to reduce the cost of implementing and deploying a network in the region.
Solution
Working closely with ITCenter, a system integrator with a portfolio of successful projects worldwide, Orange chose the Voicis Core solution. The company was attracted by the ease of adapting the product to the growth of the client base and a wide range of features that are not inferior to the functions of any licensed solution based on a virtual PBX. Cost was the main criterion. Voicis Core did not require Orange to purchase licenses, was also cheaper to install and maintain, and support could be expanded to an unlimited number of users. Initially, the project involved the installation of 1050 telephones. The company chose and 720, which not only had all the necessary features, but were also convenient for deployment of any scale.
Voicis Core enabled Orange to create a highly scalable virtual PBX solution that is highly customizable, has a clear management platform, and an easy deployment process for IP phones. Moreover, it was necessary to pay for adding phones only as they were installed, not to mention the lower cost of the procedure.
Oni
ONI is a Lisbon-based B2B service provider providing solutions such as data centers, cloud services, information security services and information and telecommunication technology integration. Basically, the company works with corporations, public organizations and international telecommunications operators, providing standardized packages of communication services. ONI has invested heavily in a unique network infrastructure that has enabled the company to launch innovative solutions. In 2013, ONI was taken over by Altice Group. Today, ONI's clients include the largest companies in the country, including ANA Airports of Portugal, Portugal Tourism, Travel Abreu in Portugal, as well as international companies such as Verizon Spain, Verizon Portugal and the European Maritime Safety Agency.
Problem
ONI was looking for a solution that would support at least 30 phones. The company needed a virtual PBX or UCaaS solution to provide services to corporations and public organizations. The requirements were as follows: pay as the system grows, centralized management, the ability to create multi-client virtual PBXs, an intuitive interface, low implementation costs, stability and scalability, direct support from the manufacturer, the ability to self-configure and connect your technical sites.
Solution
ONI chose the ITCenter Voicis Core solution with Snom IP IP phones. The ITCenter team has many certifications and awards and is well versed in unified communications and cloud solutions. The system includes D7xx series phones, M9 DECT phones and conference phones. We also used Snom Vision, an application for remote deployment and configuration of IP phones that can automatically configure and manage SIP devices.
Source: habr.com