Small Business VoIP Solutions

---

Small business VoIP solutions come in two basic forms. They are both equally viable and the all up costs are comparable. The first step in selecting a small business phone system is to decide between these two alternative routes.

1. A premise based VoIP small business solution.


2. A hosted small business phone service, where an off-site PBX is shared with other users and managed by external specialists.

Solution #1 - Premise Based VoIP PBX

The premise based PBX route was the default option for some 20-30 years. Owning a phone system was equated with owning a PBX. Every business had a PBX or key system. They were located either at the reception or in a broom cupboard.

Historically the purchase of a dedicated private telephone exchange involved significant capital outlay and issues around adding, changing and deleting extensions (ACDs). Technicians were usually involved and additional. However, despite these issues the circuit based TDM PBXs did the job and didn't require a great deal of daily attention. They could be locked up in a cupboard and forgotten about most of the time.

Moving forward to today it's clear that the TDM PBX is about to slip off the end of the technology curve. It has been tweaked for decades, but now a successor is set to take over. It's time to replace the old TDM PBX with a new generation of small business VoIP solutions.

A natural response is to buy a new VoIP PBX and install it where the old TDM PBX had sat. Not only will the cost of phone calls decline but a whole new world of unified communications will immediately open wide.

See also: What are SIP Trunks?

It's Not That Simple!

VoIP phone systems require more care and attention than a hard wired PBX.

• A VoIP PBX is actually software running on a computer server.
• The software requires updating and patching on a regular basis.
• As the server is connected to computer networks it's exposed to the world of viruses and hackers.
• Computers sometimes crash so they need to be backed up.
• How about calls to the outside world that cannot be made over the LAN or WAN? What is the best answer a PSTN gateway or a SIP trunk?
• Unified communications features maybe sexy, but there is still debate over the definition of UC and how it is to integrate applications.

The list can go on but the point is made. A VoIP PBX cannot be locked away in a cupboard and forgotten about in the same way as old PBXs were. Either an in-house administrator is required or arrangements made with a service provider or system integrator to manage the system.

These issues obviously present a challenge to PBX manufacturers and dealers in selling new technology to replace the old models. They have cleverly responded with one more tweak to the TDM PBX. The resulting Hybrid VoIP PBX system is a TDM box with a card or gateway that provides IP connectivity. It doesn't require the same level of management demanded by a pure VoIP PBX and it offers many of the same features. It's the final tweak to an end of life strategy.

Capital investment in small business VoIP solutions carries both a financial and technology risk. New products roll out continuously. VoIP technology is a hot bed of innovation. There is inevitably going to be a shakeout amongst manufacturers over the next few years. Some brand names associated with PBX technology will disappear. The market could well come to be dominated by the giants of the software industry such as Microsoft.

The questions that every small business owner must answer include:

• Do we need to own our own private branch telephone exchange?
• If yes, why?
• How can we hedge the risks?
• Is there an option that's not going to distract us from our core business?
• What are the alternatives?

Solution #2 - Hosted VoIP Business Solution

Small businesses succeed by focusing on their core business. Activities that distract them from that mission are best outsourced to specialists. They also need to be agile and flexible, which means avoiding lock-ins.

Hosted small business VoIP solutions are congruent with these demands:

• No capital investment required.
• No exposure to risk associated with investment in wrong or superseded technology.
• No equipment or software to install or manage.
• Scale up or down as required.
• No lock-ins.

The use of a hosted small business VoIP service involves the management of a service level agreement (SLA), rather than hands on support of technology. In most cases that translates into management by exception. If the choice of service provider is sound the administrative demands should be light.

Business phone systems are a critical channel of communication. The necessity to replace PBX equipment as a result of fire, flood or other natural disaster can take days or even weeks. A local loss of power can also disrupt communication and close down business operations. Considerations such as these can be addressed in selecting a VoIP business phone service by identifying service providers with back up power and off-site disaster recovery facilities.

Small Business VoIP Solutions - Costs

While premise based small business VoIP solutions involve capital expenditure, they typically appear less expensive over a 3-5 year period than hosted options. That will certainly be the case when comparisons are made with Open Source options such as Asterisk. Proprietary options are typically more robust, feature rich and expensive so the cost advantage is less clear.

It's when considerations such as: flexibility, elimination of lock-ins, scaleability, risk management and business continuity are added to the mix that the case tilts in favor of the hosted VoIP option. The king hit in favor of the hosted option is that small business operators don't need to manage the system or update the VoIP PBX software on an on-going basis.

It's very probable that within a few years the great majority of small business VoIP solutions will be hosted and only large enterprises will have their own in-house VoIP infrastructure. Even amongst those organizations there is a drift to the IP centrex model.

---

Related Articles

Buying a Used Phone System - the Pros and Cons

Asterisk Phone System

See also: Skype for Business

Top of Small Business VoIP Solutions