Warning Signs that Your PBX Phone System is Outdated

Any business will find great use of a phone system, as it can save them large amounts of money on calls every month. However, old technologies are bound to face many technical difficulties and high maintenance costs when used for years. Suppose your business has been using a PBX phone system over the years. In that case, you may have experienced some shortcomings in its performance or higher bills at the end of each month. There are many warning signs that your PBX system has become outdated that should entice you to migrate to a VoIP system.

In this blog, we will discuss those warning signs to help you recognize whether your PBX phone system has gotten outdated or not and present you with our top recommendations for the best VoIP phone systems.
 

Warning Signs that Your PBX Phone System is Outdated

1. You are facing high costs

The first warning sign you should look out for is high hardware and maintenance costs. Businesses may not recognize that upgrading to a VoIP phone system can save them up to 60% on their monthly costs.

BPX phone systems may leave you with high maintenance and hardware costs, in addition to the need to refer to a telecom expert to make any kind of change to your system.
 

2. Your phone system has run out of capacity

One of the shortcomings of a PBX system is that its capacity may run out, which won't allow you to add new lines to the system and expand. Your PBX system may cost you a lot too in purchasing new licenses and lines, and continuing your investment in outdated technology will only add more to your costs in the long run.
 

3. Your business is in need of extra security

If your business is in need of extra security for its calls and data, then upgrading your PBX phone system to VoIP is the best call you can make. VoIP phone systems offer several layers of security and protection as all calls are encrypted with SLA certification and more security measures.
 

4. Your remote workers are having a hard time

If your remote workers are having a hard time communicating and working from home or outside the office, then it is definitely time to upgrade your phone system to VoIP. After the pandemic, many businesses were forced into switching to remote work, but also many faced a hard time in doing so as their systems were not cloud-based.

Any cloud-based system allows its users to use it from anywhere, and so a VoIP phone system is a great and useful upgrade that will simplify work and communication for remote workers.

5. Your business is expanding to new locations

If your business is growing and expanding to new locations, then by no doubt, upgrading to a VoIP phone system is the best decision to make. Opting for old technology like PBX for a new location and purchasing new lines and licenses will definitely cost a fortune.
 

6. You are experiencing inefficiencies during power outages

A very convincing reason to upgrade your PBX phone system to a VoIP one is its ability to continue working through power outages. There are several ways your VoIP phone system can still keep working during a power outage; we have discussed those ways in a separate blog; read about them here.
 

PBX vs. VoIP

Before getting into the best VoIP phone systems that you can upgrade to, let us present you with a comparison between PBX phone systems and VoIP phone systems.

 

Best VoIP Phone Systems

1. Ooma

Ooma is the best VoIP phone system that we recommend upgrading to from a PBX phone system. It offers all the features and capabilities you would need to streamline your work and provide richer communication to your clients and customers.

Ooma is a scalable VoIP phone system that supports all business types and sizes, as it offers tailored plans that fit their needs. Ooma offers four subscription plans, where each comes with a set of features and functionalities.

Try Ooma today!

Here is a brief summary of each plan and what it offers:

Ooma Office: $19.95/month per user

The Office plan is the basic plan from Ooma; it is great for small businesses as it provides all the common features they would expect to find, which include:

• Call forwarding
• Call waiting
• Virtual faxes
• Text messages
• Virtual receptionist
• 3-click provisioning
• Forward calls during device outages
• One virtual fax per user
• Intercom
• Multi-device ring
• SMS messaging
• Overhead paging

Ooma Office Pro: $24.95/month per user

The Office Pro plan is a more enhanced version of the basic Office plan; it provides some extra features for small businesses that are expanding and growing. Extra features include:

• Video conferencing
• Call recording
• Voicemail transcription
• Caller info match
• Call analytics
• Call through Ooma's desktop app
• 3-click provision
• 24/7 customer support
• 99.999% uptime with SLA
• LTE Primary and Failover connectivity
• Advanced business phone features

Ooma Enterprise: $27.99/month per user

The Enterprise plan, as its name suggests, is more suited towards larger businesses or enterprises. It packs all the features in previous plans, in addition to some handy extras that include:

• White glove install and training
• International coverage
• SIP trunking
• PRI replacement
• Hybrid deployments
• Easy SaaS integration
• Dedicated customer success tea
• Customizable solution options
• Call parking
• Analytics dashboard
• Call conferencing

Ooma Enterprise Call Center: $49.99/month per user

The Enterprise Call Center is the fully-featured package that Ooma offers. It contains all the previously mentioned features with more specific extras such as:

• Graphic interactive voice response
• Intelligent call routing
• Call builder

Try Ooma today!

2. RingCentral

As for our second recommendation, we present you with RingCentral. Similar to Ooma, RingCentral also scales with your business and grows with it. It can provide you with all the capabilities you are looking for, no matter your business size or type.

Call Now: 888-520-8463

Some of the business types that RingCentral supports include:

• Retail
• Legal and accounting services
• Government
• Education
• Healthcare
• Financial services

RingCentral is a complete cloud-based communication system that promises a 99.99% uptime. You are gifted with a mobile application as well, where you can access your data and make and receive calls.

RingCentral offers four subscription plans for its VoIP phone system:

Essentials: $19.99 per month, billed annually

The Essentials plan is great for small businesses with up to 20 users. It provides all the basic and necessary features businesses would need, such as:

• Team messaging
• Unlimited calls within the United States and Canada
• Unlimited business SMS
• Voicemail-to-text
• Document sharing
• High-definition audio quality
• Toll-free and business phone numbers
   

Standard: $27.99 per month, billed annually

The Standard plan is also great for small companies looking for more functionalities in their business VoIP phone system. It includes all the Essentials plan features, plus the following:

• Business phone numbers in more than 100 countries
• Unlimited internet fax
• Unlimited audio conferencing
• Up to 24-hour meetings
• Video meetings with up to 100 participants
• 24/7 service support
• Quality-of-service reports
• Collaborative software integrations such as Google Workspace, Slack, and Microsoft 365
• High-definition video quality
   

Call Now: 888-520-8463

Premium: $34.99 per month, billed annually

The Premium plan is more suited towards medium-sized businesses with at least 100 users. This plan allows for CRM software integrations and provides further features and capabilities, which include the following:

• Up to eight-digit extensions, with site codes
• Automatic call recording
• Single sign-on
• Hot desking
• Admin and management for multiple sites
• Advanced call handling
• Video meetings with up to 200 participants
• CRM integrations like Salesforce, Canvas, and Zendesk
• Custom integrations and platforms for developers
   

Ultimate: $49.99 per month, billed annually

The Ultimate plan is the fully-featured package that packs all the previously mentioned features that come with previous plans. It is great for enterprises and large businesses that need advanced features.

Click Here for a Free Demo!

3. Nextiva

Finally, for our last recommendation, we present you with Nextiva. Nextiva is a great option to upgrade from a PBX phone system due to its inclusive features and cost-friendly plans. Nextiva tailored four subscription plans; each comes with a set of features. Some of its features include the following:

• Auto-attendant
• Mobile app
• Outlook and Google Contacts integrations
• Ticket Management
• Customer Analytics
• Service Productivity
• Unlimited calling within the U.S. and Canada
• Free local and toll-free number
• Voicemail-to-email

Take a Look at Nextiva Plans

As for its plans, you are offered the following:

Essential Plan: $18.95/month/ user

Professional Plan: $22.95/month/user

Enterprise Plan: $32.95/month/user

Ultimate Plan: $57.95/month/user

Take a Look at Nextiva Plans

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