Unless you are a small business owner who runs a truly small operation and handle everything yourself, you probably have employees working for you. These employees are definitely going to need to contact others, and one or two telephones will not get the job done. Almost every business, small to large, requires a telephone system. What are the options?
A business telephone system allows access to lines from any telephone on the business system. Additional features such as voicemail and data transfer are often part of the system. Key systems were some of the earliest utilized by businesses. They are comprised of manual switching between lines and the telephone itself features buttons which select the line to be used. As time has gone on, large-scale integrated circuits have replaced relays to facilitate line switching. This technology has greatly reduced the cost of operating a key system and offers features such as caller ID, speed dialing, and automatic call accounting.
The development of integrated services digital network (ISDN) has given rise to a business telephone system that integrates key systems with private branch exchange systems (PBX). ISDN is able to transfer at least two connections carrying any combination of voice, data, video, or fax using just one line. Key systems have developed to the point where they can support ISDN, which once was only capable on the larger, more expensive PBX systems. Hybrid systems support both digital and analog signals, although analog versions are becoming less prominent. A hybrid system offers the hands-on control of a key system while supporting the features and capabilities of a PBX system on a smaller scale.
The private branch exchange business telephone system is not operated by an outside carrier, but within a particular business or office itself. All of the internal lines located inside are then connected to the public switch using trunk lines. All of this switching is performed automatically, eliminating the tedium of manual switching. PBX systems offer more convenience, which means more complexity; therefore, they are not as cheap to maintain as key and hybrid systems. They do, however, greatly reduce the cost of internal calling since no outside local phone service is needed to do so. PBXs support many more voice and data transfers at one time because of their higher complexity.
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.
Next : Phone Systems