Virtual PBX

Introduction

PBX stands for public branch exchange. It is a machine that handles your telephones calls for you. Its main functions are to transfer calls to different individual phones; play music when somebody is put on hold; to play automated voice responses when a call is received; to provide an options menu for the caller etc.

PRICES & Features

ALT2 offers a highly flexible pricing structure that ensures you only pay for what you need.

All prices quoted above are in Great Britain pounds and VAT exclusive.

Setup fee is a one-off fee which will be charged once the system is built. Monthly rental is an on-going monthly charge that the customer has to pay by direct debit every month.

Virtual PBX Basic

The standard Virtual PBX Basic system provides all essential call management features for business. Therefore if you need a simple call management system then Virtual PBX Basic should fulfil your needs. If you require more advanced functionalities, we supply all additional features in a "pick & mix" concept. All additional features are individually priced, so you can just pick what you need to add onto your Virtual PBX Basic system.

What are the features of ALT2 Virtual PBX Basic?

• Maximum 30 agents - up to 30 telephone numbers can be allocated under the system.
• Maximum 20 agent groups - your 30 extensions can be grouped up to 20 agent groups (the answer group / departments).
• Customised greeting - record your own welcome greeting message over the phone. You can update it anytime you want by simply re-recording it again over the phone.
• Voicemail to email - all voicemails will be sent as a WAV files to your appointed email address
• 30 simultaneous calls on the system - You can have the 30 simultaneous calls (combination of live/queued calls. E.g. 5 live calls and 25 queued calls, or, 10 live calls and 20 queues calls) on the system.
• Linear divert on busy or no answer within agent group - making sure the calls are distributed to available agents.
• Daily report - Statistics updated daily. Standard reports will include: Daily call report with total calls for the day, hourly call report and caller report.

Additional Features Pricing

• Call Transfer and On Hold - transfer incoming calls between extensions and put an incoming call on hold.
• Agent Group Announcement - system voice announcement to inform the agents of which option the caller pressed on the options menu. So agents can greet callers accordingly (e.g. This is John from Sales Department how can I help?); or to differentiate calls when the agent has been appointed to answer more than one department's calls.
• Queue Position Announcement - to announce caller's position in queue when all agents are unavailable to take the call. Caller then can estimate the queue time and make a decision to keep queuing or call back later.
• Auto Q&A - you can design a series of questions to collect voice answers from callers. All answers will be sent as a WAV file to your appointed email address. This is particularly useful for product brochure request (i.e. to design a series of questions to collect caller's postal address and the type of brochure requests) or direct debit information collection (i.e. a series of questions to collect caller's updated bank details). This will save a lot of your administration time and cost.
• Voice Interactive Menu (Single Level) - one level of options menu.
• Voice Interactive Menu (Multiple Level) - multi level options menu.

About Virtual PBX

A traditional PBX machine and integrated system is very expensive to buy, install and run. Typical costs for a package can range from £5,000 to £15,000, depending on the size of the network required, plus a yearly maintenance contract ranging from £500 to £1,500 per year.

But all these expenses can be cut down to virtually nothing by using a virtual PBX. It has all the functions of a PBX and more but removes the need of installed hardware. This cuts down the cost of engineer call out fees if you ever need to do some changes to your system, increase the flexibility of expanding functions, and cuts down extra installation fee if you ever move premises.

FAQ

Why would you choose to use a virtual PBX rather than a physical call management system (traditional PBX)?

It is much cheaper to set up and in most cases, probably cheaper to run and maintain. It also takes much less time for a virtual PBX system to be set up because it is “virtual” (usually within 48 hours depending upon the size of the project). It has all the benefits of a PBX system but removes the problems of PBX hardware. And it works just like any traditional PBX and more.

What can a virtual PBX do for you?

There is an endless list of the benefits that a virtual PBX can bring to you.

Although Entacall can provide a Virtual PBX solution for up to 5000 employees, we find virtual PBX is most popular for small to medium sized companies who do not want (or find it risky) to invest thousands of pounds on a one-off fee for a PBX.

Virtual PBX has all the functions that a traditional PBX has - and more!! It allows your firm to have an auto attendance function (e.g. Welcome to ABC Ltd.! For Sales please press 1, for Accounts please press 2, for Support please press 3) which presents a professional image to your customers. – It allows your firm to seem larger than it is!!

It also gives you a professional answering service. Your customers no longer needs to hear a busy tone when you are on the phone. You can choose to have music played, or a count down voice (e.g. you are the 3rd in the queue, thank you for waiting and we’ll be with you very shortly…etc.), or even a third party receptionist to take a message for you!

Productivity can even increase as a result of the use of a virtual PBX system. This is because you no longer have to run around to pick up calls on nearby desks that were meant for you but were dialed to a colleague by mistake.

What is the difference between a virtual PBX and a traditional PBX system?

The most obvious difference is the absence of the bulky equipment lying in an air-conditioned room as with a traditional PBX. Another difference is that customers can change aspects of the virtual service to practically instantly as there is no equipment to deal with.

What are the standard features of Entacall’s virtual PBX system?

• Integrated voice response: a voice response when a call is received and a menu option for the caller to choose from
• Queuing
• Changeable greetings
• Call transfer
• Music on hold
• Information on hold

Plus all the other features you will find with a traditional PBX system.

What do my customers experience when calling my VPBX enabled telephone system?

When we setup your Virtual PBX system we allocate a ‘main’ 0870 non geographic number for your company. Calls to this number are then routed across the VPBX in the manner you require. If you have requested it, your callers can receive a welcome message, be diverted when numbers are engaged, visit voicemail, or even select from your own menu system.

Inbound calls are managed rapidly and efficiently in this way, and you have high degrees of flexibility and a wide range of features with an our Virtual PBX.