Infographic: Hosted PBX or On-Site?

The PBX debate, simplified.

It’s an encouraging sign of progression when a company moves to an IP-PBX (private branch exchange) business phone system. The big question it has to ask itself then is whether to host the PBX solution on its own premises or leave it in the hands of the service provider. There are strong arguments for either option; it’s generally a case of which one is best suited to a particular company.

Irish Telecom created the infographic below that compares on-site PBX and hosted PBX side by side using a variety of key criteria. If you are a manager who likes to have full control over every aspect of the business, and if you have an abundance of resources, hosting the solution yourself is usually the better choice. You can tailor the solution exactly the way you want it and expand it in accordance with your company’s growth. It is also cheaper to manage on-site PBX on an ongoing basis.

However, hosted PBX is more advisable if you’re in charge of a small business, or if the business is in a transitional period. Leaving it up to your service provider will clear one task off your shoulders and allow you to concentrate more on other aspects of managing the business. Also, the service provider will have access to resources that you wouldn’t, while setup costs for hosted PBX are much lower than if you managed the solution yourself.

Before making a decision, weigh up all the pros and cons of each option and apply those arguments to where your company is at. This infographic is intended to be a fair, objective comparison between on-site PBX and hosted PBX by making several clear distinctions between the two options. Take a look below.