Intermedia (News - Alert), a hosted Microsoft Exchange provider, declared promising data coming off the first three months of the company's hosted PBX offering. Customer adoption of hosted PBX offers small and big-sized organization business-grade VoIP telephone service integrated with their Exchange e-mail.

The demand for the PBX (News - Alert) has doubled month-over-month since it was launched on Aug. 2. JJ Buckley Fine Wines, one of the first customers to sign on, already reports positive results, including improved employee productivity and customer service.

"We've taken our communications from basic necessities to business class," said Michael Stajer, founder/owner of J Buckley Fine Wines, in a statement. "Without a full-time IT department, I rely on Intermedia's hosted products. With them, we control our e-mail, calendars, contacts, phones and voicemail all from Intermedia's HostPilot Control Panel -- without any of the maintenance or hardware expenses that bigger companies pay for these features. Our employees have unified communications in Microsoft (News - Alert) Outlook including e-mail, phone and instant messaging, all with the business-class features one needs to stay ahead in today's environment."

Intermedia's hosted PBX service allows the customers to access many hosted PBX features such as unlimited domestic calling and extension dialing. It also provides customers with numerous unified communications (UC) features such as Voicemail to E-mail and Click to Call. Companies manage their services from Intermedia's HostPilot Control Panel.

Additional usage stats from Intermedia include:

• Voice Menu, which helps in setting up an automated attendant to answer and route incoming calls, is the most popular and widely used feature by companies using hosted PBX.
• OCS Calling, where calls can be placed to any instant messaging contact in Office Communications Server or any contact in Outlook with the click of a mouse, has more than doubled -- showing a promising acceptance of unified communications amongst SMBs.
• Voicemail to E-mail is the most widely used end-user feature, allowing employees to never check voicemail again.

"We receive over 500 calls a day, half involve sales," added Stajer. "Now that each employee has their own direct dial number, our customers reach the right person faster and have a better experience. With OCS Calling, the caller's name pops up on the screen and our sales force can start pulling up the customer's file as they are answering the call. It has made us more customer-centric. Customer queries are answered in seconds, not minutes. With Find Me/Follow Me, our representatives can walk away from their workstations, go check inventory in the distribution center, and know they won't miss an important call. Our customer relationships have increased and we fill orders in less time."

"We're very pleased with the growth we have seen in the three months since bringing hosted PBX to market," said Jonathan McCormick, COO of Intermedia, in a press release. “Offering affordable Fortune 500-level business communications solutions to small and medium-sized businesses is one of our driving forces and we are eager to see continued growth in the unified communications market, and more importantly, see our customers grow their businesses and increase their productivity."