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What is hosted PBX?

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Hosted PBX systems are becoming popular solutions for many small to medium-sized businesses who want to stay competitive with advanced technology and the opportunities it provides.  Built, delivered and managed by a third-party service provider, hosted PBX is an IP-based telephony solution provisioned and accessed entirely through the Internet.

Basically, a hosted PBX takes your business communications system out of the office and into the cloud. So long as they can connect to the cloud, your employees – no matter where they are – can stay engaged and productive without physical limitations.

Unlike a traditional private branch exchange (PBX) phone system, which requires installation, ongoing maintenance, training, and costly hardware, a hosted PBX takes many of these issues off your shoulders and provides you with an easy to manage, user-friendly service with a wide range of features offering greater flexibility.

Let’s review some of the most valuable benefits for SMBs.

User-controlled settings

Hosted PBX systems provide online web portals where users configure their settings without relying on IT staff support or enduring complicated technical setup. Training time and costs are minimal with more user-friendly portals accessible from desktop computers and laptops as well as tablets and smartphones.

Scalability for multiple locations

If you are still supporting multiple locations with a legacy phone system, that means having to manage each location’s computer box individually, deal with limits on numbers of lines, and handle hardware maintenance for each location. It also means remote employees cannot use the same features available in-office.

Because the management of hosted PBX happens in the cloud, your business is free from the demands of a traditional phone system. You are also free to add or remove lines as needed for any location. As your business needs change and grow, your host PBX system grows with you, but at a lower overall cost.

Seamless collaboration

So long as there is a reliable connection to the cloud, remote or traveling employees can securely access services and features to maintain productivity without ever having to step into the office. Whether you need voice, video or web interaction, the same IP service quality and features keep you in touch and in step with your team and your customers.

Flexible features

Once upon a time, most businesses found it sufficient to have a phone situated in one location with a few standard features such as hold, transfer, conference, and speaker.

Today, remaining competitive often demands the capability to communicate from a variety of locations and channels. A hosted PBX system allows employees to seamlessly make, receive and transfer calls across locations or devices, depending on the situation. Video conferencing can include any number of individuals with ease. Voicemail can be converted to email (or vice versa), allowing all communication information to flow to the channels that make the most sense for your team.

Automatic updates

It can be difficult to keep up with the frequent changes in business technology, not to mention knowing which most benefit your business. Rather than lose that edge, a hosted PBX will keep your communication system current and notify you of improvements to your VoIP phones and related devices.

Upgrades and updates are simple and often automatic. This means not having to engage busy or expensive IT and phone resources to maintain the best service available.

Business continuity

Accidents happen, as do natural disasters, equipment failures, and cyberattacks. Any of these scenarios could result in downtime when on-site hardware is damaged or compromised. Because a hosted PBX operates from secure and redundant data centers, you are far less likely to experience an interruption in business operation or communication due to loss of voice service.

When a physical phone, computer, or other portal device goes down, calls can be quickly rerouted to another device to ensure continuous service.

What to look for…

Look closely at your current capabilities and determine whether those meet your needs either currently or for your future plans.

Some options you will want to consider include:

  • Ability to convert voicemail to email
  • Videoconferencing
  • Ability to make and receive calls on any device in any location
  • Automatic upgrades
  • Ease of configuration
  • Low maintenance

Your first priority should be running and growing your business, not untangling your phone system. With a hosted PBX, you can enjoy high-quality, reliable service with a wide range of useful features while keeping your attention where it belongs.

ISG Announces Executive Responsibility Changes

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The Twin Valley family of companies announced leadership changes among their C-Level executives, effective for 2014. John Gunn, President and Co-Founder of ISG Technology, will transition from his current role as President and COO to Chief Strategy Officer of ISG Technology. Gunn will focus on supporting and defining the strategy of ISG Technology.  Gunn currently serves and will remain on the board of directors for all three companies.  Ben Foster, current CEO of all Twin Valley companies, will assume the general management of ISG Technology previously handled by Gunn. Foster will remain President and  CEO for the Twin Valley companies.

“When Twin Valley acquired ISG Technology in 2011 the roadmap and evolution of our company was clear to both John and me,” said Foster. “John has served and will continue to serve as a critical business leader and advisor to the Twin Valley family of companies.  This is a carefully planned transition that will enhance our clients’ ability to attain their organizational goals.”

Additionally, Scott Cissna has joined the Twin Valley companies as CFO, effective January 6, 2014.  Cissna brings more than 20 years of finance experience from the telecommunications, cloud services, and wireless industries.  With his broad base of experience ranging from performing sophisticated analysis to building scalable teams, Cissna is an analytical leader and decision maker hired to help navigate the complex, growing, and rapidly changing landscape where the companies operate.

The Twin Valley family of companies is a privately owned business with diversified investments and holdings in the telecommunications and IT space. The company is diversified through three separate operating entities; Twin Valley Telephone, Twin Valley Communications, and ISG Technology.

Twin Valley Telephone and Twin Valley Communications is the largest privately owned independent telecommunications company in the state of Kansas, providing voice and advanced services in rural areas for more than 65 years.  Over state-of-the-art FTTP infrastructure, Twin Valley’s portfolio includes voice, broadband, television, cloud services, hosted voice, wireless, and security.  Through strategic acquisitions and organic growth, the company has experienced a tenfold growth in the past decade.

ISG Technology is a full spectrum Data Center and IT Infrastructure partner uniquely positioned to provide complete solutions from client premises all the way to the cloud. With more than 30 years of experience, ISG has the unique ability to provide IT equipment (IT Infrastructure), cloud services through a regional Network of Data Centers https://isgtech.com/data-centers (Data Center Services), the required connectivity (Bandwidth) to connect it all together, and the ongoing support to help manage client’s IT environments (ITaaS). ISG places a premium on enduring client relationships and reference-ability – attributes only achievable through deep understanding of client business objectives, authoritative vision of what’s possible, and the relentless commitment to deliver successful solutions.

ISG Technology Announces New Data Center in Topeka

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ISG Technology announced today a new Data Center facility being constructed in Topeka, KS.  The new 17,000 square foot building will house both a 10,000 square foot Data Center as well as ISGs local Topeka operations.  The Data Center will be the fourth in ISGs network of Data Centers and is scheduled to be online in early 2013.

The Data Center will offer businesses the ability to co-locate production systems, have off-site disaster recovery or the option of running their business systems in ISGs Cloud.  For those companies that require additional security, the new Data Center will be able to offer private cages and suites.  This provides an added layer of protection to business critical data.

Midwest businesses understand the importance of having an off-site solution for critical business data, states John Gunn, President of ISG Technology.  Whether it’s a fire, power outage or even a server failure, businesses can’t afford to be down. The addition of this Data Center will give businesses access to another state-of-the-art facility for their disaster recovery needs.

In addition to co-location and disaster recovery, the new Data Center in Topeka will be connected to ISG’s Cloud Services Data Center using high bandwidth connections.  With Cloud Services, a business can run specific applications or their entire business system on ISGs virtual server infrastructure.

This is one of the biggest shifts in the IT industry as businesses look to move away from managing and upgrading their own IT equipment so they can focus on running their business, states Gunn. ISG is a proven and trusted Data Center Services partner. While there are many companies announcing their intentions to provide Cloud Services, the Topeka Data Center is a continuance of ISGs nearly decade long commitment to the cloud. We’ve been managing our clients off-site business data for more than 10 years.

ISGs full suite of Data Center Services includes infrastructure as a service to host and manage a businesses complete IT environment, web and email hosting, data backup services, disaster recovery, collocation services and more.

ISGs new Data Center in Topeka will be an addition to their existing network of Data Center facilities.  Currently, ISG operates an underground Data Center in Columbia, Missouri, a Data Center in Wichita, Kansas and offers Data Center services at 1102 Grand in Kansas City.  The Data Centers will be connected by fiber, allowing for communication and DR capabilities between all facilities.

The Topeka data center represents our first major infrastructure investment in ISG that leverages ISGs existing expertise in cloud computing and managed services, added Ben Foster, Chief Executive Officer of ISG Technology & Twin Valley Communications.  ISGs ability to offer small & medium businesses the full spectrum of solutions ranging from complete off-site computing to premise-based solutions has been enhanced by our strategic relationship with Kansas Fiber Network and its partners.  For the first time, clients will be able to deal with one IT vendor for their bandwidth and equipment solutions.  As our clients continue to recognize the potential of the cloud on their business, we will continue to invest in the technology infrastructure that will give them an advantage in their markets.

ISG TECHNOLOGY is an industry leading information technology firm delivering business solutions to organizations of all types.  ISG specializes in all areas of communication and IP technology, including Virtualization and Storage, Unified Communications, Managed Services, Physical Security, Networking and Cloud and Data Center offerings.

Founded in 1982, ISG serves businesses throughout the Midwest, with nine locations in Kansas, Missouri and Oklahoma and more than 160 employees company-wide.  For more information about ISG visit www.isgtech.com or call (877) 334-4ISG (4474).