Hosted PBX (News - Alert) phones are changing how small and medium-sized businesses serve their customers, grow their business, and support their employees.

According to officials of Vocalocity (News - Alert), a vendor in the space, delivering the same enterprise- level phone system capabilities large businesses use at a much lower cost, “hosted PBX is helping SMBs save money while putting their customer services on par with much larger organizations.”

Large enterprises, of course, get to enjoy the cost advantages and capabilities of enterprise IP telephony. On-site IP Private Branch eXchange systems can require significant initial investment and ongoing operational costs that put them out of reach for SMBs, which have generally had to make do with what Vocalocity officials say are “inflexible, expensive traditional phone systems or residential-grade voice over IP with limited functionality and flexibility, and less than business-grade performance.”

Vocalocity is offering what company officials say is “a cost-effective, feature-rich alternative to on-premises IP PBXs and traditional analog phone systems expressly designed for the needs of small and medium-sized businesses.” Called VocalocityPBX, it’s a hosted PBX product, offering “state-of-the-art features, seamless scalability, and unparalleled ease-of- use all in a low-risk, low total cost of ownership package.”

It might be worth looking into, since as Vocalocity officials say, “perception is reality when it comes to the customer experience. The phone system can make or break a company’s efforts to provide a professional, efficient experience to its customers. It can mean the difference between appearing to be a mom-and-pop shop or a much larger, established enterprise with the resources to satisfy the customers’ needs.”

So while it’s nice to get an inexpensive system, choosing an office phone system should be based on much more than cost alone. Naturally cost is a major reason why SMBs are switching from traditional office phone systems to hosted IP telephony, but Vocalocity officials say “many SMBs are unaware of the equally important, additional advantages of using the latest technology for voice communications.”

IP telephony – voice communications over an Internet connection – is becoming the standard for business communications, large and small, and VoIP enables a broader array of features than traditional analog phone systems to improve productivity, enhance customer satisfaction, and deliver exceptional business intelligence.

So the lower cost and robust features offered by VoIP is making a positive impact to the bottom line of SMBs, as well as bringing them features they might not otherwise be able to afford.