Telephony for the small business

Plus you don’t have to stick to dedicated telephone equipment and specialist telecoms vendors. Software packages are widely available to turn an ordinary PC or industry-standard server into an IP-based PBX, many designed for use by small business: Asterisk Business Edition from Digium, the 3CX Phone system and Swyxware from Swyx, to name just three.

That said, deploying a VoIP exchange is far from trivial and, unless you’re completely sold on the benefits of VoIP, probably best considered only when moving office or when you otherwise need to upgrade or replace an existing PBX.

You’ll also need custom ISDN adapters to link your exchange to the PSTN, although you can use VoIP technology to connect your in-house exchange to public gateways hosted by commercial service providers.

Alternatively, the same service providers can host the entire PBX. Indeed, companies such as Coms, Gradwell, Telappliant and others offer hosted PBX services where all you need is internet connectivity and either IP handsets or softphones, with everything else provided and managed for you in the internet cloud.

Ditch the handset, get a softphone
IP telephony can help save money, but even if you have only a few users, it can still be expensive putting a phone on every desk. So why not abandon traditional handsets altogether and use the PC already on the desk instead?

The only hardware required is a headset, with quality products available for just a few pounds. You can even get wireless ones, although these will cost more.

The software needn’t break the bank either. What you need is a softphone, typically, bundled with most in-house IP PBX package but also available separately, one of the most popular being X-Lite from Counter Path.

X-Lite can be downloaded for free and used with any Sip-based telephony system. Using this you can make and receive calls, put callers on hold, transfer calls and so on, just like a 'real' phone. You can even check your voicemail, record calls and import contact lists from Outlook.

Note, however, that free softphones will have their limits. X-Lite, for example, can only be used with one Sip (Session Initiation Protocol) account, although this restriction can be lifted if you’re prepared to pay for a commercial version.

IP telephony - the small business options
Lured by promises of lower phone bills and greater flexibility you may be thinking of going down the IP telephony route. Here’s our guide to what the options are.

Do nothing
Your business won’t suffer if you stick with conventional phone technology. You can often save on phone bills without the need to upgrade your hardware by shopping around for better deals from BT and other service providers.

Add VoIP to your existing setup
You don’t need to rip out and replace your existing telephone system to take advantage of VoIP. The same technology can also be used alongside a conventional PBX to link offices and save money on long-distance calls.

Install your own IP solution
Where there are clear benefits or where your existing telephone system really does need replacing, it’s worth considering an IP-based solution. There are lots of hardware and software products to choose from, some entirely IP based, others employing a mix of IP and traditional circuit-switched technologies.

Connect to the cloud
You don’t need to deploy your own in-house PBX to take advantage of VoIP with a growing number of hosted products available where the software involved is set up and managed for you remotely. You just pay to use it, with users connected to the exchange and calls routed via your broadband internet links.

Some service providers will supply a pre-configured handset to go with the hosted PBX with typically no major up-front costs. In most case you simply pay a monthly charge for each subscriber plus the cost of any calls you make other than to other VoIP users which are usually free.

A very flexible option for the growing company, especially if you need to move offices to cope with that growth, a hosted PBX solution is well worth investigating. As are all the options we’ve covered here in this short guide to telephony for the small business.