Brightlio Blog

Cloud PBX’s, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) offerings are becoming increasingly popular.  A rich feature set, 99.999% reliability, and simplified deployment for a distributed workforce are all drivers for increased adoption.

Customers looking for a business phone system in San Diego, California, should look closely at cloud PBX, UCaaS, and CCaaS systems for their next cloud communications platform. If you’re exploring options, Brightlio is here to help.

From PBX to UCaaS: A Communication Evolution

In the ever-evolving landscape of business communication, it’s instructional to understand how we’ve arrived at our current state of the business phone system. From traditional analogue PBX systems, we’ve journeyed through the realm of cloud hosted PBX solutions. Now we’re in an era of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). This progression signifies the constant striving towards more efficient, seamless, and cost-effective business phone service.

In this section, we’ll delve into this transformation, exploring the characteristics of each business phone system.

Traditional PBX Systems

A Private Branch Exchange, or PBX, is the control plane of business phone system.  It allows phone system users to communicate with one another and the outside world over the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).  The PBX is able to route incoming calls to different extensions within the company, and allows for free calls within the organization, even if team members are across multiple locations.

Traditional PBX systems require on-site hardware and infrastructure, which means they often come with higher upfront costs for installation and ongoing maintenance costs. While traditional business phone systems are analog and use POTS lines, the latest technology uses Voice over IP (VoIP), delivering voice communications over Internet Protocol.

Cloud Hosted PBX Systems

A cloud PBX is a VoIP-enabled PBX, with the control plane moved from the customer premise to a provider’s cloud.  Typically, cloud PBX providers will have the VoIP PBX in multiple colocation facilities for redundancy and lower latency. This is a significant advantage over traditional on-premise systems where redundancy is delivered at a high cost.  A cloud PBX is also referred to as a hosted PBX.

These systems offer standard voice features such as call routing, voicemail, and call forwarding. Plus, they’re scalable and flexible, enabling you to adjust to the changing needs of your business.

Unified Communications as a Service

Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) adds to the core telephony features of the cloud communication platform with additional functions. These include:

• Video Conferencing: Enables face-to-face meetings with team members, customers, and partners, regardless of location.
• Instant Messaging/Chat: Real-time text-based communication within the team.
• Email Integration: Synchronizes your email system within the unified platform.
• Screen Sharing: Allows one user to share their screen with others, enhancing collaborative efforts.
• File Sharing and Collaboration: Allows team members to share and co-edit documents in real-time.
• Voicemail-to-Email: Transcribes voicemails to text and sends them to the user’s email.
• Contact Center Features: Includes functionalities like automatic call distribution, call recording, and customer relationship management (CRM) integration.
• Mobile App: Offers a mobile application to access all communication tools from a smartphone or tablet, enabling mobility.
• Call Control Features: Includes hold, mute, transfer, and other call management features.
• Integration Capabilities: Seamlessly integrates with other business applications and tools, streamlining workflows.

These features together make UCaaS a comprehensive, all-in-one solution for business communication and collaboration needs.

Cloud PBX vs. UCaaS – What’s the difference?

The primary difference between a cloud PBX and UCaaS is the scope of their functionality. If your San Diego business is focused on modernizing its voice communication system and wants a cost-effective, flexible solution, a cloud PBX could be the way to go.

However, if you’re seeking a comprehensive communication solution that offers not just voice capabilities but also includes a suite of collaboration tools, UCaaS is a better choice.

Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS)

In addition to UCaaS functionality, many of Brightlio’s customers in San Diego elect to include Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) features. CCaaS solutions add to the features of UCaaS to improve the customer experience. It adds some game-changing features that streamline communication and help deliver top-notch customer service.

CCaaS is a major step up from traditional Unified Communications as a Service. It’s like adding a turbo boost to your business communication strategy, offering an array of advanced features designed to supercharge your customer service interactions. A major benefit is the seamless integration with a Cloud PBX provider, which brings superior scalability and flexibility to your operations.

The Benefits of CCaaS

Here are the key benefits and features of CCaaS:

• Scalability and Flexibility: CCaaS lets your team manage high volumes of customer interactions with ease. Whether your team is in a San Diego office or working remotely, they can maintain top-notch service levels.
• Integrated Cloud PBX: The inclusion of Cloud PBX within the CCaaS package ensures smoother handling of inbound and outbound communications, and supports your growth by scaling as needed.
• Intelligent Call Routing: This key feature ensures every customer call reaches the right agent at the right time, improving customer satisfaction.
• Voicemail-to-Email: Missed calls aren’t lost opportunities anymore. This feature delivers voicemails directly to the agent’s email, ensuring every customer query is attended to.
• Advanced Analytics: Get detailed insights into customer interactions, helping your team refine their approach and deliver better customer service.

CCaaS solutions integrate with customer CRM systems like Salesforce, Zendesk, Zoho, HubSpot and more for call tracking and customer experience monitoring.  CCaaS solutions are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence for improved customer outcomes.

If you’re seeking to enhance your UCaaS solution with the benefits of a Cloud PBX and superior team collaboration features, CCaaS is a top choice. It’s geared to help improve customer satisfaction and drive your San Diego business forward.

Unified Communications Solutions to Consider in San Diego

For customers in San Diego looking for a cloud PBX or UCaaS solution, we have a couple of recommendations: Vonage and Dialpad.

Vonage

Vonage offers fantastic unified communication and contact center solutions that appeal to small to medium-sized businesses, all the way up to larger enterprises. Their solutions are reliable and competitively priced. They also have their own SD-WAN solution called SmartWAN. This delivers a more efficient WAN and better call and video quality.

A couple of integrations really make Vonage stand out from their peers. If your organization uses Microsoft Teams, Vonage can help improve quality and reliability. Their platform integrates with Teams allowing customers to access Vonage’s cloud PBX features through Teams, providing improved call quality and 99.999% reliability.

Vonage also offers the best Salesforce.com integration in the industry. Their Salesforce phone integration is built into the browser for automated call logging, click-to-dial, call tagging, notes, and inbound/outbound screen pops.

Vonage’s Conversion Analyzer call transcription solution allows lead scoring, sales training, and reporting inside Salesforce.  Contact Center analytics also live in Salesforce, giving clients a single tool to manage contact center KPIs and customer satisfaction scores.

Dialpad

Dialpad is another unified communications solution our clients in San Diego love. Their UCaaS platform combines voice, messaging, and meetings into a single platform. They then layer on AI-enabled contact center features delivering a complete customer engagement suite.

Dialpad’s AI features are really where they stand out. AI transcribes customer conversations in real time. It then analyzes the conversation for customer sentiment and provides real-time coaching to contact center team members.

AI Contact Center also provides excellent visibility and reporting. It integrates directly with applications like Zendesk and Hubspot to provide customer interaction visibility to all team members. It also includes customer satisfaction scores on all calls and predictive insights to improve customer satisfaction.

Why Brightlio?

Brightlio is a cloud PBX, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) provider focused on providing business phone systems in San Diego.  We have two decades of experience in the telephony market and offer our clients with best of breed solutions from UCaaS and VoIP provider services in San Diego.  Brightlio partners with industry-leading UCaaS providers like Vonage, 8×8, RingCentral, and DialPad.

Brightlio also provides colocation services in San Diego, as well as network connectivity, SD-WAN, and advisory services. If you are looking for cloud computing services, we also have you covered. We offer public cloud services via AWS and Azure. Our broad technology portfolio allows us to offer a complete technology solution for your needs.

If you need a cloud PBX in San Diego, contact Brightlio today.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Cloud PBX phone system and how does it work?

A Cloud PBX phone system is a modern iteration of traditional PBX (Private Branch Exchange) systems. Rather than using physical hardware, a Cloud PBX utilizes the internet to manage business phone services. A hosted PBX provider takes care of all services over the internet, which allows businesses to make and receive phone calls without requiring on-site hardware. As a result, businesses gain a significant amount of flexibility, being able to manage multiple phone numbers and call routing from any location with an internet connection.

What benefits can Cloud Hosted PBX providers offer to businesses?

Cloud hosted PBX providers offer numerous benefits that can lead to cost savings and enhanced operational efficiency. Firstly, businesses save on upfront costs and ongoing maintenance expenses associated with traditional PBX hardware. Also, Cloud PBX systems are highly scalable – as your business grows, you can easily add more lines or features. Moreover, the flexibility of cloud-based systems means your team can make and receive phone calls from anywhere, which is particularly valuable for remote work or multi-location operations.

How does a VoIP phone system tie into Cloud PBX and UCaaS?

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is a technology that enables voice calls to be made over the internet rather than through traditional phone lines. A VoIP phone system is a crucial component of both Cloud PBX and Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). In a Cloud PBX setup, VoIP allows businesses to make calls using their internet connection. In UCaaS, VoIP becomes part of a larger suite of communication and collaboration tools, which might also include video meetings, instant messaging, and file sharing capabilities.

How does a Cloud PBX phone system compare to Unified Communications in terms of features and cost savings?

While both Cloud PBX and Unified Communications (UCaaS) leverage internet-based phone systems, they offer different sets of capabilities. A Cloud PBX system provides fundamental phone services, including the ability to manage multiple phone numbers, route calls, and receive voicemails. On the other hand, UCaaS extends these capabilities by integrating additional communication and collaboration tools such as video meetings, instant messaging, and screen sharing.

Regarding cost savings, both systems can save businesses money compared to traditional PBXs. However, UCaaS may provide additional savings by bundling various communication tools into a single service.