If you've had any recent interest in moving your insurance business from a regular phone to a more business-oriented system, chances are you've heard the term "virtual PBX." Being the type to perform your due diligence, you do what any of us do these days – pop on your favorite search engine and type the words in the appropriate box. With or without the quotation marks.
While that seems to work for most things, the odds are by the time you're finished clicking on a few links and reading the results you're more confused than you were when you started. Because unlike Gertrude Stein's famous rose, the term "virtual PBX" is being used interchangeably with "hosted PBX" to describe two very different technologies.
While the net outcome is often similar, the way they approach it is worlds apart. And not understanding the differences could lead you to purchase a PBX system that's wrong for your insurance company – a mistake that will be not only costly, but time-consuming.
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Here's what you need to know to make sure you make the right purchase, and come out smelling like a rose.
The acronym PBX stands for Public Branch Exchange. Essentially, a PBX system connects multiple phone users to each other and to the outside world. Rather than having individual phone numbers, each user has an extension that branches off a single inbound number. PBX systems also include an auto-attendant, voice mail, call forwarding and conference calling capabilities – features that give a small business a more professional appearance.
Traditional PBX systems have been used by small insurance companies and other businesses for many years. Moving to PBX is not a decision that is normally made lightly, however, because installing one of those systems has meant purchasing a lot of very expensive equipment. In addition to replacing all of its current phones with models sold by the PBX supplier, the agency would also have to purchase and install specialized switching equipment, which it would have to house and maintain.
This traditional, equipment-based PBX system would work well as long as all employees worked within the four walls. It could not be extended beyond that point, however, making it less attractive for insurance agencies with home-based workers or remote offices.
That limitation has now been overcome with new technologies that allow users outside the main company office to be included on the phone system. In other words, a home-based agent in Seattle can be contacted using the same phone number as one would use to call the main insurance office in Boston. The remote worker would have an extension on the system and all the features, just as though he or she was in the main office.
Stay tuned to Benefits Selling WEEKLY for the second part in this Tech Tip series.
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