Making the proper PBX choice
Every business needs a phone system to operate optimally and communicate effectively with each other and their customers, however with the abundance of PBX Phone System options available, choosing a suitable Cloud PBX provider can seem complicated and somewhat overwhelming, especially as a South African business.
To help simplify your decision, we at DSL Telecom through our extensive first-hand Cloud PBX System experience, have gathered up what we consider to be the leading Cloud PBX competitors in the South African professional marketplace and delved into what sets them apart with some insightful PBX comparisons.
But first, let's take a look at what factors you'd want to to consider when comparing Cloud PBX Systems as well as some of the exciting Phone System features.
4 Crucial factors to consider when comparing Cloud PBX Systems
Here are 4 factors to consider when selecting your Cloud Phone System and comparing Cloud PBX comparisons.
#1 Will the Cloud PBX Solution support your business needs?
When selecting a Cloud PBX provider, you should be aware of all your business needs, i.e. number of lines, number of all employees in all offices, location of all employees, broadband specifications, local/long distance needs, conference calling, call volumes and so forth. In knowing these, you'll be able to select a provider who has the appropriate tools and capacity for your business. Another area that should be addressed is accessibility and technical support.
#2 What about sufficient bandwidth?
Since adequate bandwidth is critical to Cloud PBX systems in order to carry both voice traffic and other data, you'll require sizeable bandwidth for your PBX system. Therefore, the size and data requirement of your company dictates how much bandwidth will be required to adequately run a Cloud PBX service. Your company's exact bandwidth requirements depend directly on your call volume, codec, your packets per second capability, and your total packet size over the WAN. Once this information is accounted for, you'll be able to calculate an approximation of the bandwidth needed.
#3 User training
When choosing your business's ideal PBX Phone System, it's important to choose a Cloud PBX Solution that offers hands-on employee training during the initial installation right through to the training of new employees if required. With this, users will benefit from system proficiency, which ultimately leads to a better utilisation of the system, features, and functions.
#4 Scalability and flexibility
As your business grows larger or smaller, it's imperative that you choose a Cloud Phone System that's designed to easily scale users up and down as your business requires. In addition, you should look for a Cloud PBX that offers the optimum amount of flexibility within their service. Aside from support and training, users should be sure that the provider’s service is able to apply to employees that are both in and out of the office.
All the features you need to grow your business
One of the biggest selling points of Cloud PBX Systems is the availability of advanced features which are most often advertised prominently by PBX Competitors hoping to attract new clients. Since PBX features are provided as a service, there is no equipment, installation or maintenance required for any of these advanced PBX features.
Here's an in-depth PBX comparison into our best picks for Cloud PBX Systems for South African Businesses:
Customisable phone solutions for businesses - Pros:
- Locally developed platform based on open source technology
- Cloud platform
- Prepaid or postpaid billing
- 30+ features to monitor and manage your users and agent
-Mobile-ready, web-based technology + up to 3 devices per extension
-Multiple plans to meet your business requirements
Cons:
- Limited range of devices compatible with MS Teams
- Native video compatibilities not available
- 6 month data retention
- No Unified Comms application suite
Yeastar PBX - A converged cloud phone system to wrap a suite of services around - Pros:
- Integrated PBX appliance of custom software installation
- An easy approach to fill the UC (Unifications Communications) gap with Linkus UC Clients
- Enjoy a consistent communications experience with web, mobile and desktop office extensions
- Easily integrates with CRM, collaboration tools and other 3rd-party business platforms
- An economical call centre solution
Cons:- Limited devices supported in the auto provisioning option. .- Incompatibility with some devices but easily solvable if consulted with the technical support staff of the brand.
3CX PBX is an open-platform, cloud business phone system - Pros:
- Self host with popular cloud providers offering
- Standard Linux VPS. (Google Cloud, Amazon Lightsail, Microsoft Azure & more)
- Easily move your PBX between cloud providers with
- inbuilt backup & restore
- Pay a low monthly fee per PBX rather than an inflated price per extension.
- No long-term contracts
- Save on monthly call costs using SIP trunks
- The set up can seem a little daunting, especially if you plan to take it on internally.
- Limited integration options with other applications.
- Requires a video call feature.
DSL Telecom's Fully-featured South African Cloud Phone System that keeps you connected anywhere, anytime - Pros:
- No long-term contracts, cancel with 30 days notice
- Use your own smartphone or PC with the free Linkus softphone application.
- Integrates with multiple CRMs and Zoho apps.
- Effective local help-desk support to customers on all plans
- 50+ advanced features to monitor and manage your users and agents
- Compatible with most SIP account providers
Vox Verto Supreme is an all-inclusive cloud-based cloud PBX-Pros:
- Full feature set at a single per user price
- Pure IP Centrex solution allowing customers to benefit from competitive voice rates
- Scalable and flexible - pay per use
- Flexible contract terms available
- PBX features such as voicemail, conferencing, music on hold, automated attendant and automatic call distribution included with the option to add more
- Excellent SLA agreements are mandatory at a low cost per user to ensure excellent service and uptime
Cons:
Vox Verto Supreme is an all-inclusive cloud-based cloud PBX-Pros:
- Full feature set at a single per user price
- Pure IP Centrex solution allowing customers to benefit from competitive voice rates
- Scalable and flexible - pay per use
- Flexible contract terms available
- PBX features such as voicemail, conferencing, music on hold, automated attendant and automatic call distribution included with the option to add more
- Excellent SLA agreements are mandatory at a low cost per user to ensure excellent service and uptime
Cons:
- Limited features included as standard
- SLA packages are not included but mandatory.
Our top pick for South African businesses
If we take a closer look at all the above Cloud PBX competitors, it can't be argued that the DSL Telecom Cloud PBX system offers truly outstanding value, promising to reduce costs, connect seamlessly, and get more done - even when on the go. In today's business climate, agility, flexibility and great value are all massive factors to consider as competitive advantages. DSL Telecom' Cloud Phone System really does tick all the boxes.