What is a virtual PBX
A PBX is a company's telephone system that connects internal numbers to external telephone lines and mobile networks(in general, all the work phone numbers of your employees in general). A virtual PBX is a service that replaces a physical office telephone exchange. The client receives a software IP-PBX for use.
In the case of a traditional PBX, the hardware is located on the client side, and in the case of a virtual station - all the equipment and software deployed by the operator, the client connects to the PBX via the Internet.
So, why does a business need a PBX?
Create an image of a reliable company
Imagine that you have decided to order yourself... kitchen furniture. You type “buy kitchen set” into the search engine, and the search engine returned online store sites. Some sites provide a city phone number and the numbers of all departments, while others only provide a cell phone number. Who would you call first?
Often, startups and young businesses may simply not have an office; employees work from home and use Cell Phones, and on the websites young entrepreneurs indicate personal mobile numbers. In such a situation, cloud telephony will help improve the image - create the image of a large company that can be trusted. You receive landline numbers and can also create private rooms for your “departments” (even if you don’t have any). This feature can be especially useful when communicating with large corporate clients.
Clients will not have time to leave for competitors
Imagine that you decide... to change your hairstyle. To do this, you need to sign up for a beauty salon. You have chosen a hairdresser; three numbers are listed on its website. You call the first - busy, the second - busy, the third - no one answered. You close the site and go look for another beauty salon.
Cloud telephony allows you to receive calls using one number on as many devices as you want. One employee could not answer, another will answer.
I literally started a business “from home.” There was no money for a full-fledged IT system, so I simply bought a SIM card with a direct phone number and worked like that for some time. The business grew and began hiring managers. There is a need for multichannel. Publishing a dozen issues on a website is stupid. The client will call one or two times, it will be busy - and he will go to competitors. The solution is to organize IP telephony and PBX.
Saving
Previously, to connect to city numbers, you had to run telephone lines to your office or buy corporate SIM cards from mobile operators. Now all you need is a laptop and an Internet connection.
It was unwise to host the PBX on our own equipment in the office (expensive maintenance, possible interruptions in electricity and communications), so we placed it in the cloud. Renting a cloud costs us less than 1,000 rubles per month, including storage of conversation records for the last year. Another 2000 rubles - subscription fee for a multi-channel direct telephone number (495), and a backup channel. Unlimited calls to landline numbers are already included in the price, calls to cell phones cost about 1.5 rubles per minute.
At the initial stage, your own telephony server may be unprofitable (costs start at 100 thousand rubles). This is where a cloud IP PBX comes to the rescue: to get started, you don’t need to buy additional equipment, or carry out additional telephone network in the office. The cost varies depending on the number of users, but on average starts from 700 rubles for a PBX in the cloud. Also, to operate a PBX on the cloud, it is enough to have a stable Internet connection and softphone(softphone), among which there are both paid and free options or IP phones.
Monitor employees and optimize business processes
A modern virtual PBX is software with many functions: built-in statistics for each call with the ability to analyze, recording and storage of conversations, voice greeting for incoming calls, distribution of calls to all managers and a waiting queue, virtual fax and voice mail. Almost any cloud PBX can be integrated with CRM; such integration opens up many possibilities: you see a client card when incoming call, the call automatically goes to the responsible manager, you can create telephone alerts about new services, etc.
I began to listen to managers’ conversations with clients and partners, analyze, identify weak points in the conversation and teach managers how to avoid mistakes and follow the script. The quality of conversations has increased significantly, and as a result, the conversion from incoming calls to clients has increased. Adequate analytics have appeared on the number of incoming/outgoing calls, their duration, and the average number of telephone contacts with a client.
Now you have a record of all conversations
Several times, recording a conversation has saved businesses hundreds of thousands of rubles. For example, a partner fined us for replacing a tourist, justifying this fine with the conditions of the hotel in Bulgaria. We called the hotel in Bulgaria directly, and they told us that there were no fines. We sent the recording to our partner and he canceled the fine. Many conflict situations with tourists were avoided simply by referring to the fact that we had a recording of the conversation.
Travel and stay connected
Thanks to a virtual PBX, you can make outgoing calls (the number is defined as an office number) and receive incoming calls anywhere in the world where there is Internet. And your employees can answer an incoming office call from home.
If you suddenly decide to move to Thailand, your clients won’t even notice. Where there is Internet, there is your telephony.
An added benefit is a “free” phone when traveling abroad.
You don't need to be a programmer or engineer to set up a PBX
Previously for installation telephone line the company went through the following stages: application, cable laying, telephony setup and its integration into business processes. And if there was a need to change the settings, we had to call specialists and waste time. It was impossible to evenly distribute the load among call center operators and organize a “waiting” queue. With the advent cloud technologies the process has been simplified to three steps: registration in the service, payment and setup, which takes no more than 10 minutes.
Customize everything for yourself
A virtual PBX is software that you can integrate with other services - which means adding all the functions and features you need.
Here is an example of such “individual settings”:
You own a real estate agency. You have many real estate agents, whose work has its own characteristics:
- - They are constantly on the move and need to be controlled, otherwise it is very difficult to organize several viewings of objects per day.
- - If a dishonest agent gains access to a database of real estate objects or clients, then he can use this for his own personal purposes - make transactions “on the side”, taking the profit for himself.
One of these agencies became a client of the cloud PBX AltegroCloud - this is a virtual office integrated with CRM, corporate mobile communications and geolocation. Here's the solution AltegroCloud made for a real estate agency:
- - Realtors who work in the city and are constantly on the move do not see the direct numbers of home owners when receiving incoming calls to their mobile phones. Instead of a phone number it is used digital code client to call.
- - A call to the owner of the apartment or a young family is possible only with a work SIM card and only if the conversation is recorded. There is no other possibility, because the real number is hidden. In this scenario, the chances of conducting a “gray” transaction are reduced to a minimum.
- - In case of cancellation of a transaction, the owner of the agency can study in detail all the events related to this transaction, including recordings of conversations.
- - If the client’s assigned agent suddenly changes, there is no need to remember his contacts. A call to a single number will automatically go to the new employee’s cell phone.
Now the AltegroCloud team is testing new services - a geolocation service tied to an employee’s mobile phone, with full history calls and marks on the map. Soon AltegroCloud clients will be able to see online where a particular employee is and call him from the office by clicking on an icon on the map.
If you have your own stories beneficial use virtual PBX - leave them in the comments.
This is a remote telephone exchange, a platform for smart business tools. The subscriber needs a device to make calls and a stable Internet, and the PBX itself is located by the operator. Communication between the subscriber’s and operator’s equipment takes place via Internet channels.
Cloud PBX is a cheap telephony for business in any niche: online shopping, legal consulting, real estate sales, banking sector, cargo transportation, etc. (it is included in all MTT Solutions).
Helps business develop
Saves employee time – automates processes and independently connects with clients.
Doesn't drop calls. Customers do not disappear due to a “busy” phone, but calmly wait for their turn.
You can connect remote employees. All their actions on the phone will be reflected in the overall call statistics.
Spends less subscriber money. There is no need to buy additional equipment to connect.
It includes:
Virtual number (one or several). These are the usual landline phones or 8800, without reference to the address.
Ready-made jobs. These are ready-made settings with a dedicated number for an individual employee.
SIM-cards. They turn their personal smartphone into a convenient tool: they do not need the Internet to record calls in general statistics.
Web-widgets. They involve the site visitor and push them to take the desired action.
Virtual station functions
- Free corporate communications via internal channels.
- Recording conversations. They are stored in the subscriber’s personal account, where they can be listened to at any time.
- Multichannel numbers. Receive hundreds of calls in 1 second - none of them will be dropped.
- Smart forwarding. The call can be sent to everyone at once or through a specified chain.
- A call queue where customers wait for an answer.
- IVR-menu and voice mail.
How to connect and configure
Connection takes less than a day and takes place in 3 stages:
You leave a request on our website or by phone.
An operator will call you and assign a personal manager. You will choose a tariff together.
Signing an agreement, after which you become an MTT subscriber.
After connecting, you need to do minimal setup. We have created a simple video instruction about the settings in your personal account.
Virtual PBX = Cloud PBX
In fact, the hardware is located by the operator. The subscriber only needs a stable Internet, preferably dedicated separately for telephony. But for normal operation telephony is enough mobile3G.
Virtual and cloud PBX are different names for the same platform. They emphasize its remote nature and refer to the general name of the popular technology – “cloud”. We use both of these names because they are equally popular.
Supports CRM integration
Connect your customer base to telephony to improve service. MTT supports integration with all leading systems: Bitrix, 1C, AmoCRM.
When an incoming call is made, the manager will see a client card with personal data: name, phone number, special notes, details of previous transactions, client status, etc. Maintaining a client database does not require much effort - most of the work is done by the computer.
Intro
New means of communication are constantly emerging. However, most people still prefer to resolve issues over the phone. At the same time, conventional mini-PBXs have not satisfied business needs for a long time: they are limited in functionality and throughput, and are unreasonably expensive. Today there is a more flexible and universal solution - a virtual PBX.Virtual services and real benefits
According to the analytical agency iKS-Consulting, the share of fixed telephony is decreasing every year (last year it decreased by another 7%), while the IP telephony market in all its variants is growing very quickly (by 17 - 25% annually). In absolute figures, growth in the virtual PBX market in 2016 is expected to reach 3.8 billion rubles. With all the variety of business models, any company can be classified into one of two groups. In the first, the cost of goods or services is kept as low as possible - literally just above cost - and profits are generated through sales volume. One hundred rubles per subscriber is not money, but a million subscribers turns it into a tangible one hundred million in regular income. Moreover, the first million clients will attract the second and third, after which the cost of services can be reduced a little more. Companies of the second type do not strive to attract clients (then they will have to work harder and generally think about development), but simply inflate the cost of services many times over. Their motto is simple: buy less? We sell for more! As long as there is a monopoly or conditions close to it, this approach allows the company to stay afloat and even have customers (in every sense). However, the market is constantly being reshaped, and a greedy company will not be able to withstand fair competition.How do you make a profit from free services?
In the rapidly growing IP telephony market, one of the most notable players is the Zadarma project. It has been working in the CIS countries and Europe for ten years. What is attractive about it, first of all, is its transparent (and ethical) monetization scheme: the company makes profit through external outgoing calls from its clients, servicing hotline numbers and providing direct landline numbers. The cost of billing is traditionally kept as low as possible; many functions are generally offered for free. A powerful infrastructure helps keep prices competitive (Zadarma has 4 data centers in different countries) and many years of experience. Over ten years, partnerships have been established with all major telecom operators.Third-party experience is not very informative, so the company gives all new clients free minutes upon registration so that they can independently check the quality of the connection.
Cloud PBX is the basis of modern telephony
The implementation of a classic PBX takes a long time. Requires selection of equipment, its purchase, delivery, installation, configuration and further maintenance. At the same time, new cables are laid and other inconveniences are created. IN general case Employees sit without normal communication for two or three weeks and lose clients. Cloud PBX is available immediately. All technical problems remain on the provider’s side, and the company receives a ready-made service on the day of the request. With a regular PBX, new employees almost always have to wait for a new telephone to be purchased for them and an internal number to be allocated. SIP telephony grows with the company: unlike hardware PBX, cloud-based PBX is scaled as needed by simply adding virtualized resources. Providing virtual PBXs is just one of the areas of development of the Zadarma project. They allow you to combine the advantages of Internet services with the simplicity of a classic telephone exchange. They are also called “cloud”, since the main part of the hardware functions on the side of the service provider, and the client receives the service in its pure form. The telephone device in a virtual PBX can be either a physical phone with VoIP support or an application running on anything. SIP support appeared in the fourth Android versions, so calls through a virtual PBX can be made from a smartphone and without having to buy additional handsets. The cloud PBX is managed through a web interface, which means it is accessible from any device connected to the Internet. People's habits change more slowly than technology, so hybrid services are required at all times. They help smooth out the next shock of the tide of progress, acting as a bridge between the past and the future. One of these services was IP telephony, the further development of which was SIP (virtual, or “cloud” PBX). This service is as universal as possible, so you can imagine many scenarios for its practical use. For example, some government agencies still send documents by fax. Should I buy a fax machine because of this? Of course not! Software faxes have existed for a long time, which are easy to implement in the same cloud PBX. Need a customizable answering machine with high line capacity? Smart forwarding? Dual-mode Caller ID? Today, all this is easily virtualized.The total number of Zadarma clients in forty countries reaches half a million
Cloud PBX from Zadarma provides the following basic functions:- Free telephone service for anything on the day of registration. Connection takes only five minutes: just register, go to Personal Area, buy a direct number and press the only button “Enable PBX”;
- connecting several offices with a single telephone network. It doesn’t matter at all where these offices are located and how many there are;
- moving an office to any city or country while maintaining the same telephone number;
- the ability to quickly and cheaply create a call center - for example, to conduct surveys or provide technical support for a new product;
- smart call forwarding both within the office and to external devices– for example, on a mobile phone. Alternatively, conditional forwarding can occur to another number if the first number has not been picked up for 20 seconds.
- API interface that allows you to connect the virtual PBX service with any CRM systems and programs for call centers.
Virtual service as an ideal machine
In the theory of inventions there is the concept of an ideal machine. This is a device that performs its intended functions as efficiently as possible, but at the same time works completely unnoticed and requires virtually no maintenance. A virtual PBX fully satisfies this definition. With the complete absence of specialized equipment on the client side, it provides more functions than an expensive and difficult to configure office mini-PBX. Moreover, virtualized services have better load balancing and ensure maximum fault tolerance due to the fact that they are already implemented on top technologies at the data center level. How cloud service, a virtual PBX combines the strengths of traditional means of communication and new technologies. Its task is to maintain simplicity for the user and, at the same time, add as many features as possible. Among them are not only all imaginable voice services and smart call routing, but also detailed statistics, something that no office PBX can provide. The collected statistics clearly show the shortcomings of the current customer service scheme and interactions between employees. Thanks to this data, you can more effectively distribute job responsibilities and optimize call routes. Even expensive physical PBXs begin to miss calls when the load is above average. This is due to limitations in the capabilities of call forwarding, which are often processed by the secretary in a semi-automatic mode. A virtual PBX initially has much more throughput and is not limited in any way by routing. It can be configured according to different scenarios: from forwarding to the next available number in the list, to a group of internal numbers, to a mobile phone, or even to a third-party VoIP messenger. Therefore, through a virtual PBX you can receive a call anywhere - you don’t have to be at your workplace and use a specific handset. You will no longer miss an important call, and clients will no longer be annoyed by long waits for an available specialist.Cloud PBX lifehacks
- For each internal phone You can set up your own “white list” of numbers. Calls from them will be immediately transferred to the subscriber, bypassing the voice menu and standard greetings.
- If you don't use mobile internet on a smartphone, the phone can still be used with a virtual PBX. Just set up forwarding to your mobile number or voicemail. While you're connected to corporate network via Wi-Fi, the smartphone will work like a regular SIP phone. Outside the office, he will continue to receive calls to the office (for example, direct Moscow) number. This way you won't miss a single call.
Any conceivable option for routing calls in a cloud PBX can be configured and, if necessary, changed to another. In the Zadarma project, the number of incoming call scenarios has been increased to 30. To change them, you don’t have to reconfigure different devices and you don’t have to physically switch anything.
Sky-high heights: immediately and for nothing
Cloud telephony helps optimize costs, since it is not tied to either location or number of ports. You can immediately get a 100-channel number for the price of an old mobile phone and connect employees to it from anywhere where there is Internet. They don’t even have to come to the office to do this. Virtualization is especially good for getting started quickly. For example, you are opening your first office and are very limited in funds, and time is running out. A virtual PBX helps ensure fast telephone installation for anything - if only there is an Internet connection. It is not necessary to pull optical fiber or twisted pair: At a minimum, Wi-Fi or 3G will do for the first time. Using cloud telephony, you can organize voice communication between the company's employees and its clients. At the same time, you will immediately have a large range of additional services - such as a direct landline number in one of seventy countries or free for customers (Toll Free) hotline with an 800 number in any of 55 countries of the world. For example, British numbers 44-800 and 44-808 are connected free of charge and cost only 160 rubles. per month. A room in Ireland will cost 120 rubles per month. You probably pay more for a mobile phone. A direct Moscow number will generally be free for you if the total duration of incoming calls to it exceeds 700 minutes per month. Calls between internal numbers of your PBX are always free.Cost optimization
A regular PBX is a hardware set tied to a specific location and a bunch of physical restrictions. Today your company has just opened and nine internal numbers are enough for it, but you are buying a 16-port PBX “for growth.” How many rooms will you need in a month? In six months? No one will say this in advance, and you will always have to adapt to standard schemes: 24/32/48/64... With a high probability, when expanding your office PBX, you will not be able to simply install additional modules and purchase additional licenses. Usually you have to change the PBX itself to a more powerful one. When you move an office, you will have to take the mini-PBX with you and reconfigure it in a new location, and when you open an additional branch, you will have to buy another one for it. When using a PBX, the cost of a call depends on its type, and long-distance calls are not cheap. With a virtual PBX, there is no fundamental difference where you call: all traffic is routed via the Internet and costs a penny. Domestic traffic is generally free, even international! A classic office PBX can only connect subscribers and offer them a simple choice of voice menu accompanied by mournful melodies. Virtual PBX from Zadarma is a modern service with a lot of both familiar and non-obvious features:- voice menu (IVR) with flexible settings;
- easy call transfer manually or according to a predetermined script;
- quick call interception (just pick up the handset and press two numbers);
- recording conversations (simultaneously on multiple numbers);
- large volume voicemail (Voicemail System);
- automatic fax reception;
- assigning short numbers for calls to the most frequently called subscribers;
- automatic answering machine programmed according to a schedule (auto-calendar);
- automatic messages and actions for a given incoming number(auto attendant);
- connecting an alternative line
- detailed and visual statistics on all calls
- program interface (API) for integration with other services.
From technology change to paradigm shift
Business people are distinguished by a clear understanding of goals, the ability to independently set and solve them in an optimal way. However, many who consider themselves businessmen are captured by classic misconceptions. They often perceive the purchase of a thing as an intermediate stage in achieving a goal, while they do not need the thing itself, but the functions it performs. If the head of a corporation needs to fly to business meetings in other cities, then it is not at all necessary to buy an airplane for this. It will just be an expensive toy that will never pay for itself. A turbo jet in corporate colors will please your ego and give +100500 points to charisma, but will not help the company develop - rather, it will take the lion's share of the funds for its maintenance. Of course, the example of a private jet is somewhat grotesque, but the same principle holds true on a smaller scale. If you are not a techno-fetishist, then you are unlikely to need a huge server that stands and hums in a separate room with a split, turning electricity meters into compact fans. Most likely, your company needs some specific IT services, and today it will be much more efficient to implement them in the cloud. The situation is similar with other common things, including telephone communication. The purchase of traditional PBXs can be considered an unreasonable expense by most companies. The company requires a stable and convenient connection to communicate business processes, and not the equipment itself, which costs significant one-time costs and is rapidly becoming obsolete. It’s high time to move office telephone exchanges to the cloud along with other non-core services for the company.Connect the number of the desired region and start receiving calls from potential clients without opening an office.
Optimization of receiving incoming calls
Flexible PBX settings allow you to use remote staff or a regional call center to process calls from metropolitan regions
RENDER.RU is the largest information resource in Russia on computer graphics.
Virtual numbers 495 helped organize a virtual representative office of the company in Moscow. Flexible voice menu settings organize the redirection of 100% of calls to the numbers of the necessary specialists, increasing the quality of service for the company’s clients.
Uniting mobile and office employees into a single network with a single company number
Even when calling from an employee’s mobile phone, the client’s company number is determined. And your employees are always available to customers.
Many numbers - single call center
ATS "Telfin.Office" calls to different numbers company, will show employees exactly which number and region the call came from.
Impericom is an official dealer of popular manufacturers of geodetic, laser and measuring equipment.
Thanks to the Telfin.Office ATS, the Impericom company is available to clients day and night and is ready to advise the buyer by phone. After 18:00, redirection is triggered to mobile sellers, and on weekends - to the head of the sales department. In the event of force majeure, such as a power outage, customers can still reach us without any problems.
Unified corporate telephone network
Improving the quality of customer service
Wide range of control tools from call recording to “Monitoring” and “Call Evaluation” modules
Milavitsa Mos is a well-known chain of lingerie brand stores in Russia.
A unified corporate telephone network with free communication between store and office employees ensures savings on communications. A corporate telephone number for communication with all company employees, including remote ones, simplifies and speeds up work. Call recording makes it easier to monitor compliance with customer service standards when communicating over the phone.
Integrations with CRM
Call recordings
History of interaction with clients. Monitoring the work of employees, training newcomers best examples and analysis of completed calls.
DARTA company is a team of professionals in the field of online advertising and website development.
DARTA combined a virtual PBX and CRM, which made it possible to accurately and promptly conduct reporting on clients. Now all the necessary information on clients is stored in one place. Customer analytics helps control sales levels.
Connecting home and mobile phones to the network
Internet telephony connects all offices and individual employees into a single telephone network. Transferring and forwarding calls evenly distributes the workload of staff.
Reducing the number of unanswered calls
The Telfin.Office virtual PBX instantly connects the caller to one of the available dispatchers. If all employees are busy, the system keeps the customer on line, informing about promotions and special offers companies.
"Phaeton" is a 24-hour taxi service that also offers rental of trucks, minivans, and foreign cars with a driver.
Virtual phone numbers helped organize remote jobs. Customers call regular local telephone numbers, but calls can be handled by an operator located in any of the company's offices - sometimes even working from home.
All calls within the network are free, employees from the office in St. Petersburg communicate freely with colleagues located in Nizhny Novgorod or Moscow.
Integration with CRM
Calls directly from CRM, a card with information about the client that pops up on the monitor screen when there is an incoming call, creating a new contact automatically, call history directly in the client card and many other useful features.
Unified corporate telephony
The virtual PBX "Telfin.Office" unites office, mobile, and remote employees into a single network with employee short numbers.
Edoque is a home delivery service for fruits and vegetables.
We optimized and automated business processes, uniting all employees and business systems into a single network. Integration of RetailCRM and virtual PBX “Telfin.Office” makes it easier to record orders and monitor their quality execution.