What is an IP PBX and how does it work?

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Already own, manager of a sales team or head of a company's customer service department, you probably already know by now that technology is the best solution to add value to work, simplify problems and achieve better results. And this is where an IP switchboard comes into play.

This tool is wonderfully tailored to the needs of all types of companies, it does not matter if they are multinationals with headquarters all over the world, SMEs that seek to provide a better service so as not to remain relegated in an increasingly tough market, etc. That is why, In this post we are going to tell you everything about IP switchboards.

What is an IP PBX?

An IP PBX is, in essence, a telephone switchboard similar to a conventional one that, despite this, works through the same LAN networks used by a company's PCs. Thus, phone lines can be used over the Internet instead of traditional ones like analog or ISDN.

How does an IP telephony switchboard work?

The technology used by IP PBXs is known as VOIP (voice over IP) and enables, at the same time transmitting voice, send and receive data. A) Yes, with a switchboard of this type it is possible to talk on the phone, but also the opportunity to make video calls, have a chat system so that workers can streamline communications, have a voice mailbox connected to email and many more functionalities that we do not have conventional switchboards.

Advantages of IP telephony

Some of the benefits of IP PBXs are as follows.

1. Easy setup and configuration

An IP PBX is a software-based system that has applications with simple interfaces. At the same time, most have a configuration interface that is very easy to configure and manage.

2. Simplified infrastructure

An IP telephony switchboard enables a single cabling. In other words, since the system works with the data network, phones are extra network devices, in the same way that a computer would be.

3. Mobile is one more extension

Thanks to IP PBX, commercial mobile phones are a further extension. And there are already mobiles that incorporate the IP-based SIP protocol. At the same time, IP softphones are available on any current smartphone.

Thus, administration and administration are unified in the switchboard, allowing greater control of corporate mobile phones.

4. Lower costs

Pay attention that IP telephony rates are cheaper than those of traditional telephone lines, what benefits companies economically.

At the same time, since the data network is used for voice communication, you avoid having to hire additional lines.

5. Scalability

Conventional PBXs have physical limitations of their hardware, as slots that provide the ability to add additional lines and extensions. If all slots are occupied, the switchboard would have to be expanded or replaced by another with a higher capacity.

Despite this, IP PBXs do not have this limitation, since your software does not have a limited number of slots, it only depends on the capacity of the server or the license assigned to the system.

6. Statistics and monitoring

One of the great advantages of IP PBXs is their databases, in which all the transactions made are stored. When combined with a telephone expense management platform, contracts can be renegotiated, check usage statistics by department or client, consult billing to third parties, etc.

Since the management of the PBX is based on the web, updates are immediate and modifications are quite fast.

Example of using an IP voice switchboard

With a practical example you can better see the operation of an IP switchboard:

Suppose that a company has its headquarters in Madrid and different branches in Spain, but also a new office in Australia. Logically, calls to and from the Australian branch would have an exorbitant price, especially if they are very frequent.

It would not be unusual for the manager of the company to look for a solution to lower communication costs and, in short, to opt for an IP switchboard. With the, I could connect all the branches as if they were in the same place.

As all lines are connected to the switchboard through the Internet, they will only consume data traffic and not the conventional telephone line. This means that calls between offices (including Australia) they would have no cost.

Despite this, if an employee of an office in Spain has to call a supplier in Australia (In other words, an ‘external’ destination) the price increases. If the call to the oceanic country were by the traditional method, would cost around 1 € per minute plus around 0,30 € of call establishment.

Despite this, thanks to IP voice calls from services such as the Microsoft phone system, which enables call control and cloud PBX features with Microsoft Teams the cost would be only 0,04 € per minute. A more than remarkable difference.

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