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"In the face of this constant change, Tippit helps thousands of real phone system buyers make better decisions every day.
We also help buyers assess vendors who can solve their specific business problems. Tippit's ability to track and measure the Telephony buyer's research, evaluation and purchase habits provides a fascinating look into the Telephony market."
Source : Tippit
Enterprise PBX Buyer's Guide: Features and Services That Matter
Enterprise PBX is also known as :
Enterprise PBX,
Enterprise PBX Comparison Guide,
Enterprise Private Branch Exchange,
IP PBX ,
Enterprise PBX Solutions,
Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange,
Enterprise PBX Product Assessments,
Telephonyware Large Enterprise PBX,
Hosted PBX Systems,
Comparison of Leading Enterprise PBX Vendors,
VoIP PBX,
IP Telephony Pbx,
PBX Vendors,
PBX Call Recording,
Enterprise PBX VoIP,
Legacy PBX Customers,
VoIP News Enterprise PBX,
Virtual PBX,
IP PBX Bridge,
Largest Enterprise PBX Comparison Guide,
Enterprise Voip and Provider Solutions.
Contents
- Executive Summary
- Premise PBX Overview
- Market Overview
- The Beneits of Premise PBX
- Basic Features
- Advanced Features
- Cost
- Checklist
- Conclusion
Executive Summary
Premise-based IP PBX (Internet Protocol Private Branch eXchange)
systems are changing how small through large businesses implement
and use their voice communications. They are the modern heirs to the
historic PBX systems that were the ultimate in business communications
for the past thirty years. But premise-based IP PBX systems are cheaper
and far more capable than their predecessors. They also integrate much
better into business networks and data communications which, in turn,
enable new applications that are still being discovered and applied to
common business practices.
Modern premise-based IP PBX systems literally deliver multinational
enterprise capabilities to even small businesses, often at a cost lower
than the far more basic systems they are replacing. This Buyer's Guide
examines the premise-based IP PBX market and tells you what to look
for in a proposed system. It also covers the relative advantages and
disadvantages of a premise-based approach, and in particular, the
advantages of integrating your systems so that they ofer much better
service than previous communications technologies your business
might have employed.
The bottom line with premise-based IP PBX systems is that they can
provide a relatively easy way for businesses of any size to move to VoIP
and get a wide range of new features and capabilities for their phone
systems. If your company is upgrading from a traditional TDM (time-
division multiplexing) phone system, the savings can be substantial,
and the new service will pay for itself almost immediately. In addition,
businesses will want to take the time to then understand the new system
and perhaps invest resources to integrate its capabilities into existing
business processes such as sales and CRM tools.
In this Buyer's Guide, you will ind details on what to look for, how to
buy, what you can expect to pay and how to go about maximizing your
investment in VoIP.
Premise-based PBX Overview
A PBX (Private Branch eXchange) is essentially an automatic switchboard
for telephone systems. It provides the same basic functions for any
business or enterprise that the ranks of telephone operators with handfuls
of wiring plugs did that you will remember seeing in old movies. Those
essential features are to provide switching and connection between any
two (or more) telephone users and make sure the connection remains
in place until it is ended, at which point the system properly terminates
the connection.
Any system that does this automatically for telephone calls within an
organization is a PBX. The reason businesses move to PBXes is to avoid
requiring every employee to have a direct line to the public telephone
system, each of which incurs a connection and a line charge. Instead, a
smaller number of lines get shared by all the users and managed by the
PBX. This saves money and is more eicient.
All IP PBX systems are basically exchange and extension managers
for calls based on Internet protocol ' also known as VoIP and Internet
telephony. The essential advantage they ofer to small- to medium-sized
businesses is the ability to add features that have only been afordable or
available to large businesses up to now. VoIP and Internet telephony are
usually also more cost-efective when looking at long-term operating
costs, due to lower monthly fees and much lower costs to connect and
complete calls.
There are three basic kinds of premise-based phone systems. The
irst kind is called keyless systems or KSU-less systems. They are very
lightweight phone systems designed for organizations with fewer
than 10 employees that also have very basic phone requirements. The
advantage of these systems is that they are very inexpensive and very
easy to set up and run. They are portable and can be moved easily if you
relocate. However, in a typical keyless sytem, you get very little support
and maintenance from your service provider. Also, additional features '
such as those that prevent users from picking up a line in the middle of
another call ' are often impossible to implement. These systems are so
simple that they are not considered PBXes and are in fact being phased
out since more full-featured PBX systems are approaching them in cost
while delivering far more beneits.
The next largest premise-based system is called a key system. These use
a KSU (key system unit) that acts as a central control unit, providing
features and functions ' such as extension management and locking
users of from lines that are in use ' that aren't available on ordinary
phone systems . Key systems are essentially closed, 'black-box' units that
provide 80 percent of a basic PBX system's functions for a lower cost. They
are typically used in businesses with anywhere from 5 to 50 employees
that have only basic business telephony needs. And nowadays, more
often than not, key systems are in fact PBX systems with some of the
functionality turned of, which makes for an easy path for growth and
upgrading should the business need it.
Finally there are full PBX systems, the most common and lexible kind
of business phone system. Even a low-cost premise-based PBX can
now ofer a small business phone services that are indistinguishable
externally from those used by multinational corporations.
Hosted vs. Premise-based PBX
There are two primary types of PBX solutions for business: hosted IP
PBX and premise-based IP PBX. Hosted systems take most of the
switching and intelligence of the system and move it ofsite to a remote
location where it is managed by the service provider. Equipment at an
organization's site is limited to the phones themselves, some dedicated
routing equipment and perhaps a switch to provide emergency access
to the older traditional TDM telephone network.
As a result, hosted systems are usually quicker and cheaper to install
and set up. They ofer a standardized set of services. Because they are
hosted remotely, there is less maintenance for a business and no need to
perform upgrades. The downside is that upgrades often must wait until
the service provider is prepared to ofer them. There is less lexibility
and fewer options in coniguring the system.
In contrast, premise-based PBXes require servers and more switches to
be located at the business site. The organization must also be prepared
to install, manage and upgrade them. The downside is a higher startup
cost, the need to manage and maintain the system and more diiculty
growing the system in the future. On the other hand, the organization
can upgrade to new features at will and has full ability to conigure
and customize the system any way they like, which can be particularly
important when thinking about integrating voice and data networks to
create new applications and extensions of old applications.
Care should be taken when selecting a premise-based IP PBX provider.
With the arrival of open-source options for VoIP and PBX software, a new
breed of premise-based IP PBX providers has arisen, supplying systems at
even lower prices ' and with rapid upgrades in capability. Open-source
options have also given rise to a set of even lower-priced solutions with
very basic service and support besides the 'free' option of rolling your
own using open-source software and basic equipment. One common
misconception of open-source IP PBX solutions is that they are free, but
in fact, any solution requires hardware (phones, server and switches at a
minimum) and will also incur installation and coniguration costs.
The traditional assumption is that hosted IP PBXes are a better solution
for small-to-medium-sized businesses, while premise-based solutions
are better for medium to large companies. But this isn't as much the
case as it was in the past, and the boundaries are becoming blurred.
There are premise-based solutions aimed at companies with as few
as 20 employees, and there are hosted IP PBXes that can scale up to
thousands of users. But this is a crucial area of diferentiation, and great
care should be taken to make sure that any solution can really match up
well to your requirements in terms of size, usage and cost.
Market Overview
The premise-based IP PBX and VoIP market is an extremely competitive
one, with several factors keeping prices very competitive for customers.
One of these is the previously mentioned rise in open-source PBXes.
Another is competition at the low end from the hosted PBX market,
and a third is the rapid rise in the numbers of PBX system suppliers and
resellers competing aggressively for business.
Despite those factors, the primary reason that small and medium
businesses are attracted to VoIP in the irst place remains cost savings '
the inherent advantage of completing all pure VoIP calls (both ends of
the call are on a VoIP platform) for free means that basic phone service
is bound to cost less using VoIP.
Other main reasons that small-to-medium-sized businesses are
adopting VoIP include access to features that are either not available
or are cost-prohibitive on older phone systems. Examples of these
include integration with desktop and oice software such as Outlook,
call routing features, and IVR (interactive voice response) features, all of
which used to be extremely hard to set up and prohibitively expensive
for small businesses.
Premise-based PBX systems may be more complex to install and
maintain than hosted VoIP services, but they are still far simpler and
simultaneously more powerful than previous incarnations of PBX
systems. In fact, the new breed of premise-based PBXes hold their own
very well in the market against the hosted services that would seem to
be a better way to break into VoIP.
Market research and surveys indicate that lower total cost of ownership
and better system management are the primary factors for small
businesses moving to VoIP, but that the technology is still misunderstood
and early miscues such as poor voice quality have led to misperceptions
in the market.
The bottom line is that the "perceived wisdom" about VoIP is that call
quality is poor and the technology is diicult to implement. But the
truth is that more than 80 percent of small businesses surveyed have
responded that they are satisied or highly satisied with their decision
to make the change. In fact, modern VoIP systems have better call quality
than regular phones.
Global IP PBX markets are expected to reach $26.9 billion dollars in the
year 2009, according to WinterGreen Research Inc.
In-Stat reports that "IP PBX players must radically change their historical
business models in ways that replace hardware revenues with software
and services. One leg of such strategies requires IP PBX players to walk
the ine line between cooperation and competition with powerful
players like Microsoft."
In-Stat reports also state:
- Most PBX players have some level of relationship with Microsoft,
and many of these ties have been strengthened in recent months.
- As dual-mode phones that operate on both cellular and 802.11
frequencies begin to hit the market, mobility is becoming an
increasingly important part of IP PBX player strategies.
- Line shipments of IP PBX systems will increase from 19.1 million in
2006 to 37.8 million in 2010.
The report also concludes "the PBX is no longer a standalone system, but
rather just one component of a larger uniied corporate communication
system that includes e-mail, IM/presence, dual-mode phones, video
conferencing. Full IP PBX deployments across the entire scope of the
enterprise remain relatively rare, and smaller businesses are only now
beginning to gain suicient conidence to deploy IP-based systems."
Other market-research reports highlight increased growth in IP PBX
systems globally as the worldwide business market recognizes the
importance of this technology to its future success. The important factor
to recognize for any business that is looking to experience substantial
growth is the comment about uniied communications. Any systems
you purchase and install MUST be capable of interaction with and
integration with other communications and data networks.
The Beneits of Premise IP PBX
The beneits of an IP PBX to any enterprise are similar to and diferent
from the beneits of a VoIP system in general. Obviously, the cost
savings and reduction in basic wiring infrastructure from needing
only one network for communication instead of two are clear. And the
savings from the lower basic cost of completing external calls are also
clear. But IP PBX brings far greater beneits because of manageability,
upgradeability and enhanced feature sets.
The speciic beneits of an IP PBX over traditional phone systems or
PBXes include the following :
- A cleaner and simpler infrastructure.
- Lower operating costs
- Simpliied equipment and maintenance.
- Uniied communications.
- Improved scalability and growth.
- Improved features for business operations.
- Improved technological features and capabilities.
Basic Features
Residential and very low-end VoIP providers often claim to ofer
business-class PBX services, but except for very small organizations,
that just isn't the case. Even the most basic businesses now require a set
of capabilities that would not have been possible even for the largest
corporations 20 years ago.
In addition to the default PBX features like call switching, call completion,
call connection, call termination and accounting, the following should
also be found in any premise-based IP PBX system:
Call Routing Features
- Automated Attendant : An automatic system to answer phones
with the ability to build phone menu systems, add call menus,
transfer to voice mail and create lexible and programmable rules
to handle all of these features.
- Call Menus : Flexible call management menus with user selectable
options ' a more advanced version of the traditional phone tree/
menu systems. A better-quality system will let you have multiple
sets of menus and even change them based on time or on
information gleaned from caller ID.
- Managing Extensions : Features to help the phone system
administrator, such as the ability to add new extensions, remove
unneeded extensions, change extension locations and much more
from a Web-based control panel.
- Call Forwarding : Automatic, programmed or manual call
forwarding to any number.
- Call Transfer: The ability to transfer calls between extensions
without going back to a central switchboard.
- Call Parking : Essentially a group hold ' put the caller on hold in a
waiting area so that any other phone system user can pick the call
up.
Messaging and Management Features
- Voice Mail and Voice Mailboxes : Any IP PBX should allow an
almost ininite number with far more lexibility than regular phone
systems ' more advanced features would include the ability to
record all incoming and outgoing conversations automatically.
- Call Hold: Placing callers properly on hold with no drop of in
queues with user selectable hold music and programmable
options about handling hold time length.
- Conference Calling: Handling multiparty conference calls,
internally and externally.
- Web-Based Management and Administration: To make it quick
and easy to manage your phone system directly from a Web
browser ' this can include the ability to add coniguration and
management functions as well.
- User Directory: Some form of user directory and address book
that is part of the phone system and is centrally updated.
Advanced Features
Other IP PBX features can get extremely speciic, and the precise mix of
features can make a big diference to business operations. Most of these
advanced features come under areas like helping with remote oices
and remote users, or programmability and lexibility of the system.
Management
- Scalability : The ability to rapidly grow or reduce the system under
your control. Better systems can scale to handle hundreds of users.
- Rights Management: Allowing diferent groups of employees
diferent rights within the phone system for management,
administration, usage and more.
- Group Management: Managing groups of callers and call
recipients.
- Call Queue Management: Providing visibility into and the ability
to manage incoming call queues. This can include speciic call
management as well as general system management of rules and
varying loads, hold times and so on.
Programmable Routing and Scheduling
- Call Routing: Setting up programmed rules to route calls based
on lexible criteria like caller ID or time, or even next available
extension in the designated call management group.
- Scheduled Call Routing: Handling incoming calls diferently
based on time received ' and even setting up several systems of
call management that are all diferent depending on time of day or
day of the week.
- Automatic Ring Back Features: Features to automatically return
calls based on various programmable criteria.
- Call Screening : The ability to routinely screen calls as they come
in.
- Call Monitoring : The ability to silently monitor calls as they
progress for purposes like sales training and customer support.
- Barge in : The ability to break in to a call between two other people
' usually related to call monitoring.
Remote User Features
- Branch Oice Support : The ability to manage and remotely
administer extensions at other oices just as easily as if they were
local.
- Features to Support Remote Users as if Local : One of the most
powerful features of IP telephony is the ability to have remotely
located employees work and appear to external and internal
callers as if they are local.
- Hoteling : Allowing users to make any physical phone in the
system act as if it were any other number, so that any user can
make any phone on the system act as if it were their own phone
for any period of time. This feature is particularly useful for
telecommuters.
Unifying/Integrating Oice Systems
- Full Outlook/Email Integration : Incoming calls can be matched
with contact management records and outgoing calls can be
initiated from within Outlook so users can click on contact
management systems records and dial from within Outlook or
other applications.
- Voice mail to Email : Sending all voice mail from a mailbox to an
email account where messages can be opened and listened to on a
PC ' as well as stored and managed.
- Data Network Integration : Some form of integration into your
basic data network so that "click-to-call'" functionality, integration
with oice documents, email systems or even full blown CRM
systems can be added.
- Click-to-Dial : Some form of click-to-dial to go from a number
on a PC screen to a call on the phone without having to dial the
numbers yourself.
Unique Features
- Integrated Voice Response : The system includes the ability for
callers to navigate through menus using a phone keypad or voice
responses.
- Analog and IP Handling : Many IP PBX systems can manage both
VoIP phone and regular telephone systems at the same time '
although not all functionality is available to regular phone users.
This feature is useful for managing merged groups or multiple
sites.
- IP Fax : A fax system integrated into the IP phone system. You
cannot use regular fax machines directly on IP phone networks
without some kind of interface.
- Presence Features and IM Integration : Presence features indicate
the status of a user of the phone system to all other users and even
to external callers if features are supported. These indications can
be as extensive as to indicate location, kind of devices by which
communication can take place, and transfer between routing
methods.
Cost
Premise-based IP PBX systems vary extremely widely in cost and even
more so as you look at wide-scale deployments and future growth and
additions to a system. A basic premise-based box for a relatively small
number of users ' say up to 20 in a single location ' can cost less than
$1,000 excluding the phones themselves. But expansion costs and other
branch locations can change the cost equation dramatically. In addition,
you will have ongoing costs related to connection to the regular phone
system and whatever connection costs are imposed by your backbone
supplier. These ongoing costs are nevertheless going to be considerably
lower than any other form of phone system. They should be lower than
hosted VoIP solutions, and they will be dramatically lower than any older
PBX and telecommunications provider.
Expansion and growth into other locations can incur "hidden" costs, such
as the need to buy expansion boards and cards for PBX server systems
to allow for greater processing power or more switching connections.
These costs are often not quoted directly and can take some sleuthing
to ind. So remember to query any potential provider about expansion
costs and peripheral costs, including add-ons, before you commit to a
contract of any kind.
Phones are an additional cost, but when buying a premise-based IP PBX
system, you often have greater lexibility than in any other arrangement.
You can choose to go with very low-cost, no-name or bottom-of-the-line
phones (which are still perfectly capable) all the way up to top-notch
phones from manufacturers such as Polycom and Siemens that provide
usability beneits (although often at a price premium).
ROI (return on investment) can be very diicult to estimate since it
depends mostly on the system being replaced. If you are upgrading
from an old legacy system, then a premise-based IP PBX is going to save
you a considerable amount in operating costs, depending entirely on
your current call costs.
The diiculty comes if you are comparing hosted IP PBX with a premise-
based IP PBX system, because predicting costs on premise-based
equipment is much harder. With premise-based systems, purchase
and installation costs can be diicult to determine precisely until full
engagement on a purchase, and ongoing maintenance and call-charge
costs can be hard to determine.
The typical scenario is that the longer you keep a system and the more
users you have, the more likely it is that a premise-based solution will
compare favorably.
The bottom line: If you are upgrading from an old phone system, you will
save money no matter what. The real diferentiators for recommending
a premise-based solution are the need for customization, the need for
full control of the system, special applications that must be enabled and
the size of organization; the larger the organization, the more likely a
premise-based solution is the right call.
Premise PBX Checklist
What to ask before you buy.
Before talking to a premise PBX provider, you will need to know the
following about your current situation:
- How many employees are in your organization?
- How many locations do you have that need VoIP service?
- How many remote or mobile users do you have that will not
have a local oice?
- What are your current broadband connection details '
bandwidth, type, lines and so on? Make sure to have as much
information available as possible, including your supplier and
level of service.
- What is your current network load and available unused
bandwidth? Your provider may want to test your network to
determine this information for themselves, and if you don't
have enough you may need a network or broadband upgrade.
- What type of servers does your system run on? Your service
provider may need manufacturer, model number and, most
importantly, operating system details.
- What are your existing phone system details - manufacturer,
number of lines, connections and so on?
- Will you need to or want to keep existing lines?
- Will you only be upgrading part of your organization?
- What is your budget? What are your total project cost limits
and target cost per month per user?
- What is your mix of calling - average amount of internal, local,
long-distance and international calls per month? If you don't
know, have a few months of current phone bills handy.
- What is your percentage of inbound versus outbound calls?
Be sure to specify your business requirements up front and make sure
you know which you are prepared to drop in return for a lower cost. In
practice, you are likely to have a few business-critical features in mind
that, along with basic phone features, are must-haves. Everything else
will be optional, but keep an eye to the future if possible.
Typical issues that change costs involve:
- Do you need an incoming 800 number?
- Do you have a receptionist/phone operator or do you want an
auto-attendant?
- Do you need to be able to make conference calls? How large,
how many and across how many locations?
- Do you need a call center?
- Do you need integrated voice response (voice menus)?
- Do you have someone available to manage the system for your
employees or are they going to have to do it themselves?
- Do you need to integrate with Outlook or other oice systems?
- How fast are you going to need to grow the system and how
frequently?
- What level of service and SLAs (service level agreements) do
you need?
Conclusion
Premise-based IP PBX systems provide small to large businesses with
all the abilities and features that are available to large enterprises
while providing the potential to reduce long-term operating costs
considerably. As with any rapidly growing technology, there are a wide
variety of providers a and range of features at greatly varying prices.
Premise-based PBX systems can cost as little as $700 to install, plus the
cost of phones. Operating costs can be as low as a few dollars a month.
It is more important to make sure that your system has the basic
features that you require now for the operation of your enterprise
and for its future growth than to drive the cost to the absolute bare
minimum. Unless you are already using an eicient IP telephony
system, you will save money no matter what.
In any upgrade to a premise-based IP PBX you should look for :
- Basic operating-cost reductions due to lower call charges, the need
for only one communications network and lower maintenance
costs
- A minimal investment risk, because your enterprise data network
is your new backbone and it is already in place and functioning
efectively
- Straightforward installation costs based on tested, reliable
components connecting to a system your IT personnel already
understand
- Improved eiciency and operations within your organization
- New functionality that can improve your business's efectiveness
It is the last of these points that is most important and critical to
the success of the upgrade. This is where the power of converged
networks ' combined voice and data networks ' really comes into its
own in terms of providing your enterprise with more tools, capabilities
and options that it has previously had. The cost savings are essentially
a bonus.
Tippit, Inc.
514 Bryant Street, San Francisco, CA 94107
Phone: 415-318-7200 / Fax: 415-318-7219
publishers@tippit.com