For COVID-19 updates, visit the official government website: www.sacoronavirus.co.za

Small Office Home Office (SOHO)
PABX telephone systems

2-5 Users

A Small Office Home Office (SOHO) PABX business telephone system allows you to perform all the functions of a full blown solution without the hefty price tag. Voicemail, Auto Attendant and Call Transferring are just some of the standard features available, ensuring your business never misses a beat or customer.
Which Small Landline PBX Phone System is Right for You?

Which Small Landline PBX Phone System is Right for You?

To assist in answering this question we have laid out a comprehensive purchasing guide for Telephone Switchboard Systems for Small Businesses in South Africa.

Small businesses choosing the correct business telephone system need to bring many factors into account including budget, expansion needs and current installed infrastructure at their office premises.

There are 4 types of SoHo small business telephone systems available, all include Multi Line capabilties:

  • Hybrid IP/Analog PABX Phone Systems
  • VoIP PABX Phone Systems
  • IP PBX Phone Systems
  • Hosted or Cloud PBX Systems
  • Refurbished/Used PABX systems
Determine which system is right for you and your organisation.

Determine which system is right for you and your organisation.

The best way to determine exactly which system is right for you and your organisation is to speak to a PBX business telephone system consultant. Many clients are happy with the cost-effectiveness of well refurbished, used PBX solutions. In other cases, clients expect significant growth in the short term and choose a small business hosted or Cloud IP PABX / PBX solution. Ultimately most modern systems are scalable from 2 – 200 users on a single box. That means that the solution you install has all of the same features and functionality as most large scale corporate solutions, for a much lower price!

Which Business Telephone Lines are Best for a SOHO Company?

Which Business Telephone Lines are Best for a SOHO Company?

Again, this decision is one that needs to be made after considering your unique requirements, location and plans for the future of your organisation. Many small business owners look to VoIP for cost savings, however, the monthly costs of a VoIP solution often outweigh the call cost savings. Other options include normal Telkom landlines, wireless GSM premicell lines and Skype for Business. Over the past 10 years multiple additional options have opened up for South African businesses wishing to move away from Telkom Business PABX Switchboards.

Ultimately, it is important to assess your needs with one of our consultants and then decide on the correct way forward based on the correct connectivity for your new PBX solution.

Other Important Factors to Consider When Choosing Your SOHO Business Telephone System

Other Important Factors to Consider When Choosing Your SOHO Business Telephone System:

Cabling: Before installation, one needs to ensure that the areas requiring phones are correctly cabled. Cabling is a separate cost and needs to be quoted for on any SOHO Business telephone system.

Location: Your location is important, certain areas of South Africa do not have access to the infrastructure required to run VoIP solutions, in these cases we look at LTE VoIP or GSM solutions. Remember there is always a PBX connectivity option it just needs to be customised to your location, budget, and needs.

PBX Handsets: Business Telephone Systems come in 3 basic types:

PBX Handsets: Business Telephone Systems come in 3 basic types:

Analog – Analog handsets require telephone Cat 3 cable and are the cheapest, most basic type of phone. They are extremely reliable and offer basic transfer and call hold features.

Digital – Digital handsets have slightly more features and functionality than a traditional analogue handset, including Incoming caller identification, handling of 2 or more calls simultaneously, speaker and conference facilities and more. They also run on analogue Cat 3 telephone cabling and

IP – IP handsets run on Cat 5 cabling, they have all the features of the above unit and more. IP phones are great for future-proofing your business and creating a unified communication system.

Features to Look Out For
in Your Small Business Telephone System

Services

Call Transfer

Call transferring is one of the main productivity advantages of a SOHO PBX Telephone system. By quickly and professionally moving calls to the correct people in your organisation you create an image of professionalism and productivity that will sit well in the minds of your clientele.

Well-designed systems can transfer calls between people in one office, people in multiple separate offices and even to people in separate countries seamlessly and professionally.

Voice Mail

PABX Voicemail is a popular feature among many small to medium business buyers. Many of our systems come standard with 4 voicemail licenses and more can be added as needed.

PBX Voice mail works in a very similar manner to a cell phone's voicemail, users hear a personalised message and leave a voice note with their message. Once the system picks up that a new voicemail has been left it notifies the user via a light flashing on their handset. Voice mail improves both productivity and customer experience.

Auto Attendant

PABX Auto-attendant is another great feature which is standard or a low-cost add-on for most small business business telephone systems/solutions sold by United Telecoms . Auto attendant effectively gives an automated pre-recorded menu of options allowing calls to be automatically transferred to the relevant department without the need of a human operator doing so.

An example would be: “Welcome to United Telecoms, South Africa’s leading supplier of PABX telephony solutions. For Sales push 1, for Service push 2, for accounts push 3 or hold for the operator.

A well-designed auto attendant impresses professionalism on incoming calls and creates a quicker more efficient call routing experience for all involved.

VoIP Compatibly

VoIP is a buzzword that is currently taking the telecoms world by storm. But what does it mean?

Voip stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, essentially rather than using the traditional copper lines supplied by the incumbent Telkom one uses an internet data line to convert their speech into data which then travels over the broadband line and is converted on the other side to voice.

Almost all telephone system manufacturers today build their solutions as hybrids so you can be assured that your small to medium sized business Phone Solution will include VoIP functionality, I.E they are able to run on both VoIP and traditional lines simultaneously allowing you the best of both worlds. For more information, check out our VoIP page here.

Night bells

Night bells also known as after hours voice recording is a system which leaves an automated pre-recorded message to clients, customers or suppliers calling in after working hours or on holidays.

The professionalism imparted by a well-designed night bell solution ensures that whether you are a 2 man SoHo PABX user or a multinational corporation your clients are handled and informed in the most professional of manners, always informed of what is occurring within your organisation. Important holiday season information can also be imparted via your PBX;s night bell system.

Remote User Connectivity

Remote user connectivity or remote worker telephones or remote IP phones are some of the terms used to describe a feature set available on most modern PABX systems.

Very often our clients have offices in other location with workers who may be working from home, at a foreign site temporarily or for a myriad of other reasons. In these cases, we can offer several options to ensure that they are connected to the PABX solution as though they were in the office.

By using IP phones and a stable internet connection, we can give remote users the same functionality they would have if they were sitting in your offices. Including call transfers, for free, outward dialling via the office voice connectivity and easy voice connectivity to other users linked to the same switchboard at no cost.

Fixed Mobile Convergence

Fixed Mobile convergence is a term used in the PABX –Switchboard telephony world to describe the move to integrate smart phones and mobile devices into one unified solution whereby users can make and receive calls via the centralised PBX solution.

Modern smart phones allow for apps from the various PBX manufacturers to be installed on their devices allowing anyone with access and a good internet connection to treat their smartphone as an extension of the organisations PABX system. Great for dispersed workforces across large areas in reducing costs and improving efficiency.

Telephone Management Systems

Telephone management systems are additional pieces of software attached to the PABX system which records the number of calls made in and out, duration of calls and time of calls per extension. Organisations are then able to generate reports around the number of calls made, numbers showing up repeatedly and pick up instances of abuse where and when they occur.

All our telephone management systems are third-party applications and are added to the PABX system upon request. Basic telephone management functionality does come standard with most phone systems however more advanced systems require additional software on the PABX/PBX.

Voice Mail to Email

Voice mail to email is a great function for any business that has staff members regularly away from their desks for extended periods of time. Salesmen, technicians or executives who spend their time out of the office often miss important calls from customers. This feature addresses that issue.

Voice to email functionality will record the voicemail message, convert it to an audio file and email the audio file to the laptop, smartphone or tablet device of the relevant user. Users open and play their voicemail from their email inbox. Simple, Efficient, Effective.

Unified Communications Functionality

Unified Communications is a term used to describe a fully integrated system of communications inside an organisation. Digital Revelation assists our clients in all their end goals and many of those clients are now looking to create a unified communication solution for their businesses.

  • Communicate with all staff members anywhere in the world for a low or zero cost
  • View presence, IE view instantly from your PC whether colleagues are at their desk and if they are available to chat.
  • Hold video conferencing sessions anywhere, at any time, reducing the need for expensive business travel.
  • Improve customer experience by having one unified solution across multiple branches. No more need to ask the client to phone the “other branch”. Seamlessly transfer calls across branches anywhere in the world.

Conference Calling

With today’s global marketplace conference calling is becoming a must have PBX telephone system feature. Multiple parties can attend a conference call from across the globe to bring together ideas and solutions.

Our systems have the capability of being upgraded to facilitate conference calling for your organisation, ensuring productivity without the need for expensive business travel.

Music On Hold

Music on Hold is a feature very common across PABX solutions, United Telecoms partners with our clients and third party professional voice over companies in assisting our clientele in producing expertly crafted music on hold scripts for your business.

From our small 2 man customers to our largest corporates, music on hold is a great marketing tool to project your organisation's unique story for the short periods a client may await attendance from your staff. Music on hold is standard on most systems and simply requires a pre-recorded MP3 file to be loaded and programmed to the PBX system.

Book a Printer Service

Book a printer service at digital revelation

© 2000-2024 Digital Revelation
All Rights Reserved

Frank: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Pieter: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Fax: 021 551 0955

Sales & Service Throughout South Africa

Website & Hosting by Bartwebsites