Here is a good list of five reasons to decide if your company is ready for an IP PBX system:

Checklist: Are You Ready for an IP Phone System? – VoIP News.

When you’re looking for ways to stay in touch in your business, you want to consider all of your options. As a smaller business, you might have different needs from those larger businesses with larger budgets, so money is a big issue as well. But just because you’re unable to pay a lot to talk to other sin your company, that doesn’t mean you need to scrimp on your communication services. IP PBX is becoming a favored choice of small businesses who want to become businesses someday. Here’s how they differ from the traditional PBXs.

For a long time, PBXs were the standard way of communicating with others. These Private Bank Exchanges allows people within a company to dial each other directly instead of having to dial an outside line just to talk to someone down the hall. This PBX system allowed companies to save money on phone calls. When you’re a business that makes a lot of internal phone calls, these savings add up. In addition to allowing people to make local phone calls, faxes were also covered by the PBX system, helping to continue to save money with reduced local call rates. These PBX systems soon included call forwarding and switchboard facilities to help manage call volumes.

While PBX systems made sense for a while, things have changed since the invention of the Internet. Since customers and employees are no longer in the same office all the time, it became obvious that a new communication system was necessary. With the IP PBX system, you still get all of the services that the traditional PBX system included, but over a larger network. Instead of just communicating within an office, you can communicate over the Internet network, helping to save money on long distance calls and communications. No longer do you have to limit your use of the phone when it comes to contacting others. You can even incorporate your cell phone into the system for ultimate portability.

But in addition to helping cut costs on long distance communications, the IP PBX system also allows you to carry your communication system with you. By providing online services and voice mail storage, you can manage your phone calls from anywhere with an internet connection. You can also choose from a large array of services like call forwarding, voice mail management and even voice mails being sent to your email address. Other services include being able to use Caller ID, text mail notifications for voice mails, and even fax support. This is a system that will treat a small business like a multi-million dollar corporation, which gives you the upper edge in your market.

No matter what you need from your communication system, the IP PBX system seems to provide more without costing more than you can afford. With versatility, mobility, and affordability, this phone system can help your business keep up with the competition as well as move your business to wherever your market might go.

What Features are Commonly Found on IP PBXs?

While each IP PBX system is going to be customized for its user, there are a few commonly used features that more small businesses choose. In order to make your system the best it can be, it will be helpful to find out more about these features and how they can help you manage your business’ communication.

• Unlimited Extensions – If you want to organize the calls that come into your business a bit more efficiently, you can set up individual extensions for each of your departments. This way, other employees can easily get to the person they need, helping to boost the efficiency of their work time.
• Unlimited Voicemail Boxes – Since not everyone is going to be able to be on the phone at every hour of the day, unlimited voice mail boxes will help to organize and to handle messages that come in after hours or during busier times.
• Cell Phone Integration – When you already have a cell phone for your business, the cell phone integration of the IP PBX system will help you to continue to use it, but also to be able to access the IP PBX system as a whole.
• Caller ID Customization – If you want to know who’s calling before you pick up the phone, the Caller ID customization will help you. By allowing you to organize frequent callers, you can see whose calls might need to be prioritized.
• Time of Day Routing – At certain times of the day, you may need calls to be routed to one phone number instead of another. With IP PBX, you can easily set up a system that manages the calls and routes them to various extensions.
• Voicemail to Email – When you are away from your desk or from the office, the voicemail to email feature can help you to still see your messages without being on the phone. With a smartphone, you can continue to stay on top of your business’ communication.
• SMS Voicemail notification – Text messages to alert you of new voicemails are also helpful for the small business owner on the go. You will be alerted as you wish, helping you to get back to important calls more quickly.
• Voicemail Web Access – Being able to check your voicemails online can also provide you with the ability to listen to the calls to see what their importance may be. Or if you have messages which are not perceptible by the voicemail to email feature, you can still listen to see what you can hear, helping you continue to maintain contact.
• Fax Support – When you need to send faxes, you will still be able to do so with an IP PBX system. With fax support, faxes can not only be sent, but also read via the Web.

No matter what features you might want, IP PBX offers from than you thought you needed as a small business. But securing your growth as a company means you need to have all of the tools bigger companies have – and IP PBX provides them.

If you’re a small business, you know how important it is to save as much money as possible. No matter how well you do, typically, small businesses have a smaller margin of error in which to do their work. Small mistakes can add up to big problems for your company, but when you use IP PBX systems, you can actually save money, making your budget far more manageable than it may have been in the past. When every penny counts, you need to look into what IP PBX systems can do for you.

Communication is the key to being a successful business – no matter how big or small your company is. With IP PBX, you can make your communication budget a bit more manageable. This is also known as Internet Protocol Private Branch Exchange – IP PBX. The system is a business telephone system which will help you to communicate over a network online, helping to boost call quality as well as the connection abilities. You will be able to take advantage of a variety of different features from your business line, which can only help you to manage your clients – both now and in the future.

But what many people don’t realize about the IP PBX system is that the versatility of the system allows you to save money. If you’re a business who does a lot of international calling or just long distance calling, this phone system will dramatically reduce your costs. Instead of having to pay for calls out of your area, you will simply pay one fee for your services – no matter who you call. This is made possible by the fact that calling over the Internet allows you to connect to others over wires and signals which traverse the globe. You aren’t using any more technology than you would with a VoIP system.

With the IP PBX system, you are also able to take advantage of a number of features that a traditional calling system would not afford you. For example, you might enjoy the ability to have multiple voice mail boxes for different employees and departments – that’s possible with the IP PBX system. Or you might want to have the ability to create a calling center – this can also be organized with this telephone system. Your voice mails can even come to your email box in order to help you prioritize your communications. Integrating your cell phone with this system is also possible, as is fax support.

Your small business can have all of the tools a big corporation has without the big price tag those larger companies can afford. You will be able to create your own intranet to help you manage your costs and your interactions with others. And to make things even better, the mobility of this system means you are never out of touch. That in and of itself is something that is worth more than anything you might pay for a phone service alone.

VoiceServe’s complete VoIP telephony solution, VoIPSwitch, enables any Window® computer to become a virtual VoIP telephone switching system, with all the major components required by resellers, ITSPs and VoIP providers. With over 16,000 systems installed globally, to date, VoiceServe’s software enables businesses to become VoIP providers in just days.

via VoiceServe Receives Best of Show Award at ITEXPO East 2010 for Best Service Provider Solution | Business Wire.

What VoIP service worked for you best? Which would you recommend to your friends and colleagues?

Currently the top contenders are:

• IPsmarx SIP Based Calling Card Platform by IPsmarx Technology
• Asterisk by Digium
• IXC Softswitch by IXC
• Fonolo by Fonolo
• Phybridge Uniphyer by Phybridge Inc.
• Truphone by Truphone
• FreePBX by FreePBX
• 3CX by 3CX

Vote here: VoIP Product of the year 2009.

TalkSwitch is giving the phones away for free! For each 280vs, 284vs or 288vs system that you buy, you get two free TS-200s, a value of $238 at MSRP.

via Phone Systems for Small Business – VoIP, PBX and IP PBX.

Switchvox SMB is a powerful IP PBX that integrates an easy-to-use web interface with innovative UC features such as fax, chat and video calling. The introduction of Switchvox 4.5 and new Phone Feature Packs extend the power of the Switchvox to Polycom phone handsets for maximum control of the communications system.

via Digium Enhances Users’ Experience with New Version of Switchvox Unified Communications Solutions | Eclipse Developer’s Journal.

The WIN Pro IP PBX (PL-60700), the company’s Asterisk-ready platform for IP PBX applications, now includes a/b/g Wi-Fi support.

via IP PBX Platform Adds Wi-Fi.

NEC Electronics America deployed two VoSKY Exchange Pro VIT-1/E1 gateways at its headquarters office in Santa Clara, California, to enable its 300-plus employees to make high-quality calls over Skype within the US and internationally. Calls are made using conventional desktop PBX handsets, and the gateways automatically route calls over Skype according to NEC Electronics America’s dialing plan.

via VoSKY’s PBX-to-Skype Exchange Helps NEC Electronics Cut Phone Charges by up to 50% — SUNNYVALE, Calif., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire/ –.

ITSP Cbeyond Eases into Hosted IP PBX – www.voipplanet.com.

The BBB gave Broadvox the highest rating possible: an A+!

via Broadvox Earns Accreditation from Better Business Bureau – VoIP Monitor.

The Open Source IP PBX: A Growing Trend.