What Are the Types of Business Telephone System?

Just like enterprise IT, the world of business communication systems can be a minefield to navigate. Nonetheless, communications are at the heart of a functional team, and it’s imperative that you have a system you can rely on. The first and most important step is to decide what sort of business telephone system you need.

1. Key Telephones: A key telephone system is the simplest and oldest form, and it used to be at the very top of the business communications industry. However, while VoIP might be rapidly taking over, key system units (KSUs) are still popular in smaller businesses, since they are simple and affordable and do everything that the typical small business needs. Clarity and reliability are also comparable with VoIP phones, particularly if you’re using digital technology. These conventional systems can typically support offices with ten or more employees, although it still doesn’t offer nearly the same degree of flexibility as VoIP does.

2. Private Branch Exchange (PBX): Enterprise-ready PBX systems are typically designed with much larger offices in mind, particularly call centers that need to be able to manage dozens or even hundreds of calls at once. A PBX features its own internal switching network, allowing it to operate largely independently of the normal public phone system. For the most part, the circuit-switched network provides much the same level of functionality as VoIP, despite VoIP generally being considered the future of telephony. However, most modern PBX providers also support VoIP as part of a unified communications (UC) infrastructure.

3. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) : As the name suggests, VoIP uses the Internet, rather than the traditional landline or PBX, for carrying out calls. VoIP offers an unprecedented level of scalability and performance, albeit only as much as your internet service provider and available bandwidth allows. Nonetheless, VoIP solutions are becoming increasingly popular owing to their flexibility and cost-effectiveness. Hosted VoIP solutions mean that all equipment, save for the handsets themselves, is hosted off-site and managed by the service provider. These services are ideal for businesses of any size, since they provide clear payment models that are typically priced by the number of users.