Mobile PBX: What’s the Benefit?
By: DreamWorld Solutions
The current economic climate is forcing many companies to look at drastic ways to reduce their costs and increase their return on investment. The push to squeeze as much as possible out of current resources is not limited to just one department or process. Every part of a business is expected to cut costs and show results. Many have cut staff, moved out of or reduced their office space or reconfigured their business processes. In regards to a companies telecommunication needs, a lot of work is going into the re-evaluation of office telephony systems and the related costs to a business. The adoption of telephony hardware is being eclipsed by complete or partial software solutions. These software solutions allow companies to keep there current hardware and significantly increase the features already they. One of the most advanced and hottest technologies to hit the market as of late is mobile PBX.
Mobile PBX is a hosted service which extends your every day PBX to mobile devices. By providing advanced PBX features on any mobile device, mobile operators can offer a complete enterprise solution. Service providers can offer mobile or corporate mobile PBX with wire line applications, such as hosted PBX and business trunk lines. A mobile PBX feature provider can deliver integrated, feature rich VoIP solutions for the enterprise and even residential users.
Mobile PBX systems are different from other hosted PBX systems because they simply forward data or calls to mobile phones. They do this by allowing the mobile devices to actually control the PBX phone functions including transfer, hold and other features found on a typical PBX phone. Users can manage all their communications without calling into the company telephone system. Mobile PBX systems are commonly priced on a subscription basis, typically seen as per user per month. Along with the many advantages of using Mobile PBX, it is fairly easy to setup because of the minimal amount of new hardware required.
Mobile PBX services enable a business to improve communication and make it more effective for internal teams as well as external partners. Mobile PBX facilitates team work and makes it possible to stay in contact through a mash-up of smart calling and cost management services. Employees have the ability to receive calls, transfer calls and record their calls. Mobile PBX gives a company and their clients the impression of the company never being out of the office. Lawyers, bankers and other professionals can receive calls to their office directly on their cell phones. These calls can be logged for billing or other requirements where tracking is needed. Users can also record their calls for later retrieval through a web user portal. A great benefit to traveling professionals is that they can avoid expensive roaming charges by using a remote call back feature.
Mobile network operators can offer services such as mobile switchboards which allow a company to manage calls for their entire roster through a single company number. This extends the benefits of the fixed company PBX to company staff and can enhance their productivity anytime, anywhere. It is obvious that the flexibility and mobility of Mobile PBX is its most attractive qualities. Imagine the advantage of having customers call just one number to reach a sales person. The salesman could be in the warehouse, off on an on-site job, or in another state. Mobile PBX will automatically route the call to them and the employee can utilize the time spent while not at their desk. If multiple calls are made to the same person, a firm can also use a feature like mobile call queuing.
Companies can enhance user experience and increase productivity with Mobile PBX by allowing for the integration of many communication mediums with in the office. For example, a secretary can tend to a large volume of incoming calls, quickly transfer calls and create conference calls all from her cell phones while she is at lunch.
Mobile PBX as a service may not be much different from your regular office PBX but its mobility provides a highly differentiated service and functionality. These features are incredibly hard to replicate with traditional PBX equipment or newer IP PBXs. Mobile PBX gains an immense advantage over older PBX systems because it solves the problem of discontinuity. It allows the user to be in complete control of communications even when they are out of the office. Many users have commented that they enjoy the increased efficiency associated with greater call access and control while they are on the move.
Integrating a mobile PBX into your current communication network is not as complicated as some might think. Any company that already has a PBX installed in its offices can add mobile PBX capabilities. Including Mobile PBX to your communications network will not only give your employees all that we have discussed, but in addition to these, employees can add any mobile device to the system regardless of the wireless network that they currently use. Mobile PBX also offers security for your mobile calls. When a call is made, it must authenticate with the PBX. So businesses can rest assured that their important business information is in safe hands.
In summary, Mobile PBX allows companies better use of their employee’s time by using cell phones as an extension of their internal communication systems. It increases the organizational availability, productivity and efficiency by extending enterprise PBX and desk phone functionality out to mobile phones and other hand held devices. This mobility feature gives PBX users the freedom to attend business related calls regardless of their geographical location. This is also independent of the user’s telephone device or telecom network. Another added advantage of a mobile PBX system is that it enables business customers to utilize public cell networks instead of expensive VoIP LAN infrastructure. This reduces infrastructure investments and allows employees to use their cell phone as an all in one business device. Cost savings are also realized through reductions in trunk lines, repairs, upgrades and energy costs. For even more cost savings, mobile PBX also enables users to differentiate between business and personal calls.
Overall, mobile PBX has allowed service providers the ability to generate new revenue streams from the fast growing mobile business market segment. As these services become a critical part of their customer’s business communication mix, service providers can hope to see their business customer base grow. As adoption rates continue to increase, customers will start to see advanced services being offered with better rates. All this adds up to mobile productivity and efficiency that any business can bank on.
