What Is a PBX? And Why Your Call Center Needs It Today.

As the owner or manager of your call center, one of the most important parts of your business that you must consider is what type of phone system to get. This is the tool you will utilize most frequently to communicate with vendors, clients, and customers. Knowing this, it is of the utmost importance that you have a reliable business phone system that enhances communication and improves efficiency.

One of the most common phone systems adopted by call centers globally is a PBX. So, what is a PBX hone system? Not many know the true technological complexity that comes with adopting it.

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What Is a PBX Phone System?

The acronym PBX stands for Private Branch Exchange, which is simply a fancy and  technical term for a “business phone system.” As you may know, business phone systems often offer more features and tools than a traditional phone system. You’ll see below, PBX functionality grant businesses a lot more customization and ease of use for their agents & customers alike.

As an important part of any business is communication, both within the organization and with customers and clients, a feature-rich, advanced PBX phone system is of great benefit. A PBX does this in the call center by having features that are aimed for easy flowing customer interactions, thus improving efficiency within your call center. Whether that be from how they are routed to the kind of hold music they hear. Common features included in modern call center PBX phone systems include:

• -IVR (Interactive Voice Response): This functionality is extremely popular for all kinds of inbound call centers. With IVR you can configure where your customers will even up. Upon calling in, customers will hear a greeting that would thank them for calling and add, “If you know your party’s extension number, you may dial it at any time. For sales, press 1.  For service, press 2. For our address and fax number, press 3. For our hours of operation, press 4.”
• -Hold music or customized recordings: Set customizable tunes/messages for callers on hold.
• -Ring Groups: With ring groups, users have one extension number that your customers can call into in order to ring multiple extensions at the same time. This allows companies to have one number for multiple departments.
• -Queues: This feature is used to create an extension number that your customers can dial in order to ring multiple extensions at the same time. It also creates a destination to which you can send calls that will ring those multiple extensions.
• -Call conferencing: ability for users to dial into a number and begin a conference call, creating a destination for users to participate in a conference call.
• -Scheduled callbacks– With this,the system automatically recognizes when agents have dispositioned a call back. The agent will be alerted of the scheduled reminder, thus ensuring personalization on specific cases.
• -Hold music or customized recordings: Set customizable tunes/messages for callers on hold.
• -More control over active calls with call monitoring features: These features can include a manager’s ability to whisper to a agent during a call or even take over a call if needed. Thus ensuring every customer interaction is a successful one.

Customizing a PBX Phone System for Your Business

There are many types of business phone systems to choose from, and the great thing about many PBX phone systems today is that they require little maintenance. They also boast new features can be easily added or removed as your business changes and grows. This is not always the case with traditional analog phone systems, which still run over standard telephone lines and typically require a good deal of equipment, are an extremely costly upfront capital expenditure, and will require occasional maintenance.

Today, most businesses and call centers that utilize a phone system use one that works through a cloud-based VoIP service or use a completely on-premise system. While there are many advantages to both, in today’s age a VoIP based PBX phone system is the most useful for call centers.

A VoIP PBX, provided by call center solutions providers allow for quick upgrades or downgrades of features on an as-need basis. Additionally, these solutions require little equipment to maintain, saving both space and expense.

The audio quality within a PBX system is ideal for clearer communication, and the ability to record calls, save customer information, and provide a better communication experience for the customer from start to finish is instrumental in maintaining business best practices.

PBX phone systems also enable calls to reach anyone, anytime, anywhere on any mobile device (provided those features are applicable), ensuring that phone calls from important clients are never missed and in-house communication runs smoothly without interruption.

In conclusion, a PBX phone system isn’t just beneficial for the business or a call center, but also for the consumer. In an age where consumers want things relatively quickly while also desiring a rewarding experience with the companies they choose to do business with, PBX helps provide excellent communication and customer service, a key factor to a business’s success.