| What is Traditional Telephony? | | | | for voice offering tangible savings from line rental |
| Businesses requiring a telephone system have | | | | reductions and improved operational efficiencies. |
| traditionally had to have a physical device installed into | | | | |
| their premises. This system, or PBX (Private Branch | | | | Why Hosted Telephony rather than Site Based? |
| Exchange), connects to all the phones within that site | | | | Opting for a Hosted IP Telephony (VoIP) service |
| on one side, and connects to the PSTN (Public | | | | rather than a PBX at each site will offer significant |
| Switched Telephone Network) on the other - | | | | reductions in capital expenditure as quite simply, it's |
| enabling calls to and from that site to be made. The | | | | no longer necessary to buy those PBX's. The solution |
| PBX sat in the middle then provides all of the | | | | will also benefit from being run over a single, |
| functionality required by the business, such as the | | | | converged IP network. A hosted solution also offers |
| ability to transfer and forward calls, voicemail services | | | | substantial benefits in terms of ensuring business |
| and more advanced features such as call queues or | | | | continuity. In the event connectivity to an office is |
| auto-attendants. | | | | lost, or an office becomes unavailable (perhaps |
| | | | | through fire or flood), calls can now be managed |
| Traditional Telephony for Multi-sited Businesses | | | | from within our network and diverted to an alternate |
| With traditional site based telephony, a PBX is | | | | office, a number of home-workers or even mobile |
| required at each and every site from the | | | | phones. No longer is the continuation of your business |
| headquarters to the smallest satellite office. This will | | | | dependent on a single site. |
| be of significant cost to the organisation in terms of | | | | |
| the hardware purchase, the installation and ongoing | | | | Cost Benefits |
| maintenance. This estate of PBXs across the country | | | | As well as savings made on hardware, separate |
| will then need to managed and administered (for | | | | networks, maintenance and specialist resources, a |
| example carrying out moves/adds/changes) requiring | | | | hosted solution offers more. With a traditional PBX, |
| either a 3rd party resource or an in-house specialist, | | | | the capacity for that system needs to be scoped in |
| again at a cost to the business. | | | | advance, ensuring it will meet the needs of that |
| | | | | business in years to come. This is inefficient and |
| Traditional Connectivity | | | | forces the business into paying for capacity they will |
| Each PBX requires a connection to 'the outside world' | | | | not use for potentially years. PBX systems also often |
| so it can make and receive calls outside of the office. | | | | have hidden costs when it does come time to |
| Typically a PBX will be connected by analogue or | | | | upgrade. Hosted IP Telephony (VoIP) offers a clear |
| ISDN lines which attract a monthly rental and call | | | | upgrade path with fixed, 'pay as you grow' cost |
| charges from the service provider. | | | | increases enabling the solution to scale with the |
| | | | | business meaning you only pay for what you need, |
| What is Hosted IP Telephony (VoIP)? | | | | when you need it. In addition, as all sites are linked |
| Hosted IP Telephony (VoIP) provides the 'telephone | | | | over a single IP network, there are no charges for |
| system' functionality required by the business without | | | | calls made between sites. |
| having to have a PBX on-site. The intelligence is | | | | |
| hosted within the 'Cloud' on carrier grade IP voice | | | | Operational Benefits |
| platforms and is delivered to the organisation's | | | | With a Hosted IP Telephony (VoIP) solution, it is no |
| various sites across a converged IP network. | | | | longer necessary to have specialist resources brought |
| A Hosted IP Telephony (VoIP) solution uses IP | | | | in to make changes to the telephone system. Moves |
| (Internet Protocol) rather than analogue or ISDN lines. | | | | adds/changes can now be carried out with ease via |
| This means that a single IP network can now be | | | | an intuitive web portal, from any PC connected to |
| used for both your telephony requirements and your | | | | the Internet. No longer is obsolescence a concern; |
| data / Internet requirements as part of a Converged | | | | the worry of having expensive hardware becoming |
| Network. This means that it is no longer necessary | | | | unsupported can be a thing of the past with a |
| to have one network for data and another network | | | | hosted solution. |