As a business or company expands, so do its telephone requirements. As more and more employees are added, a business telephone system will need to be set up. This is necessary because one or two phones cannot possibly deal with all of the calls that will be placed and received on a daily basis. There a few ways you can go when choosing a business telephone system.
Business telephone systems are designed so that anyone at any telephone connected to the system is able to access the lines. Almost all systems these days offer supplementary services such as voicemail and data transfer. In the early days of business telephoning, key systems were the method of choice. Someone would manually switch calls from line to line and the telephone on the receiving end would feature buttons that allowed the selection of whatever line on which the call was coming in. Relays then performed the switching tasks, but even these have mostly been supplanted by large-scale integrated circuits (LSIC). The cost of utilizing a key system has been largely diminished using LSIC technology. Caller ID, speed dialing, and automatic call accounting are also facilitated using LSIC.
Key business telephone systems have become integrated with private branch exchange systems (PBX) with the advent of integrated services digital network (ISDN). Two or more connections that carry voice, data, video, fax, or other combinations are facilitated on one line using ISDN. It used to be that only the large and costly PBX systems could support ISDN, but key systems have advanced to the point at which they are able to do so. This has created what is known as a hybrid system that can carry digital and analog signals. Analog, however, is becoming scarcer as time passes. Hybrid systems offer an advantage over strictly key systems in that they add functionality found on PBX systems to the hands-on approach of the key.
Private branch exchange (PBX) telephone systems are often utilized by larger companies and business offices. An outside local carrier does not handle the internal calls for the office. The PBX does this, and although it is more expensive than key and hybrid systems, money is saved on internal calling because it is internalized. Trunk lines connect the lines involved in a PBX to public switches. Unlike key systems, all of the switching is completed by an automated system, and no one needs to manually perform the switching tasks. The complexity and number of features a private branch exchange offers comes with an increased price tag, but it is probably worth it for larger offices that require multiple services.
At the end of the day, whichever business telephone system you choose depends on the size and needs of your company. Small scale businesses do not require the large number of features that large corporations do and can more easily get by with a key or hybrid system. Private branch exchanges and their many features are more suitable for the greater needs of big businesses.
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