Businesses are switching over to VoIP since it brings in a slew of benefits such as data, voice, video, and others to digital communication. Every business uses an IP PBX. You can get off the rack IP PBX solutions and you can opt for custom VoIP PBX solutions. The choice is yours. In the first instance, you have access to a tried and tested package. In the second instance, you have a lean and smoothly integrated IP PBX that fits in and does what you need. Custom IP PBX development does have its advantages.
Choice of platform
Happily, for IP PBX users, they have choices about platforms on which the IP PBX development is based. Go the custom route and you can pick the platform or simply specify features of the PBX you want and the developer will pick the most suitable platform.
- Asterisk: The oldest and best known open source telephony platform and also the most widely used. It employs Back to Back user agent architecture that permits codec translation, protocol translation, and a host of features like IVR, speech recognition, and text to speech. However, it is rather limited in the number of concurrent calls it can handle, which is not a problem for small to medium enterprises. Asterisk is particularly recommended when you still use existing PSTN phones and want them integrated into your IP PBX.
- Freeswitch: Freeswitch grew out of Asterisk and is an open software-defined telecom stack that runs on everything from a multi-core server to Raspberry Pi. Its advantage is scalability, recommended for larger enterprises with a higher call volume rate.
- Kamailio: If you want something more complex and customized with more features then your developer would make use of Kamailio that includes the OpenSER SIP express router server. It has plenty of customizable capabilities for architecting unified communication and an extensible API set.
One advantage is that it is compact and can be embedded in small devices. Plus, you have a plug and play modular architecture with more than 150 extensions. Kamailio’s other advantages are NAT traversal (Asterisk struggles with NAT), SIP proxy processing, and serial-parallel forking with least cost routing. You have support for UDP, TCP, TLS, and SCTP as well as IPv4 & 6 and a socket for WebRTC. Given all its positive features, it is likely that your IP PBX custom developer will make use of this platform alongside Asterisk or Freeswitch.
- WebRTC: To be perfectly frank, you could get by with just WebRTC implementation and enjoy audio-video chat and conferencing plus document exchange should your requirements be basic. However, in the majority of instances, IPPBX solution providers usually layer in WebRTC into the IP PBX for enhanced functionality. It is a must-have feature.
In most cases you will find that custom development of IP PBX gets you the benefit of integration of best features from all of the above, choosing one platform as the base.
Then there is the matter of customizing features. Typical IP PBX solutions offer a host of features you may or may not need or even some features that are absent and which you need. Customization gets you precisely what you need for your communication goal.
The option of selecting features
Typical IP PBX solutions offer a host of standard features such as:
- Call back, call forward, call park, call pickup, call transfer
- Do Not Disturb
- Voicemail, voicemail to email
- Busy lamp field
- Least cost routing
- Find me/follow me (improves productivity 77%
- Intercom
- Fax server
- SMS, SMS broadcast and voice broadcast add on options
- Optional CRM integration
- WebRTC inclusion option for conferencing brings in 65% improvement
- IVR auto attendant
- Call record, barge in, voicemail transcription
Small businesses and startups may make do with just a few features that lead to reduced infrastructure cost and operational costs. Custom IP PBX development helps. With a modular set up you can always scale up in the future.
Then there are medium and larger enterprises with existing IP PBX systems that need to be updated or turned into Unified Communication platform. 88% of employees believe UC has better value and ease of use for solo workers and for teamwork. This is one area where IP PBX solution providers can transform communications. Something as simple as a customized dialer and call routing can make a difference to the ease of use for employees, improved efficiency, and cost reductions for you.
Customization is the way to go if you operate enterprise with a large number of departments and branches in various locations in which case it is better to split the IP PBX into a multi-tenant model. This is exactly what GeePee Global did: it opted for a multi-tenant IP PBX model and had granular control of branch operations besides giving each tenant user flexibility to set and configure options.
If you are in the market for VoIP PBX solution then you should look for custom developers who have the capability to make use of the right technologies. Cost is a major consideration as a normal IP PBX for 20 employees sets you back by $ 16000. Custom development significantly reduces costs.
