What is a Private Branch Exchange Phone System?

A Private Branch Exchange phone system, or PBX, is a type of phone system. It is generally used within businesses and other organizations to maximize telephone communication at a minimal price. When you have potentially hundreds of calls coming in and going out, not to mention all the interoffice correspondence, phone lines can become undeniably inefficient and pricey. Here’s a look at what a private branch exchange phone system entails.

What’s the Point of PBX Systems?

With a normal landline, calls connect to a switchboard at the end of the cable. If you use this system for a business, you need several lines to link from the office to the switchboard, which gets expensive. This is where a PBX system comes in. There are a lot of different types of PBX systems, and they are becoming more involved with customizable features.

While they may still be less expensive than standard phone lines for all, they can still get pretty pricey depending on what you want your PBX to do. For a simpler PBX for a smaller office, you may pay less than $100 a month for a complete phone system. The point of a private branch exchange phone system is to provide a means of managing incoming, outgoing, and interoffice phone lines at a much less expensive rate than a standard phone system for the office.

What Exactly Does a PBX Do?

A PBX line lets you receive and make calls, as you would expect. You can have more phones than you do lines. Plus, you may also be able talk to other groups that use the same service provider for free. But you can certainly talk to everyone else in your office and all the other users of your PBX system without having to arrange for a phone line per person and without extra charge. PBX systems come with a variety of other features as well.

According to Askozia, the phone calls are performed “using different communication channels like Voice over IP, ISDN or analog.” Most PBX systems have voice mail setups, call recording, automatic call distribution (ACD) queues that allow each customer to be responded to in order of their call, interactive voice menus (IVRs) for callers (i.e. For english press one, for Spanish, press two), and the ability to make transfers between employees or departments.

Newer IP-PBX systems can make things even easier. They run through your local computer network (LAN), so you don’t even actually need an external telephone network. Make sure to investigate different companies before making a choice. You may find different features from different companies that suit your office better.