91% of companies prefer virtual PBXs

SoftDoit, the leading software comparator in Spain and Latin America, has presented the conclusions of its first report on the “Current Situation of PBX Software” in which several companies have participated and in which masvoz has played a prominent role. This report reveals that more than 80% of the PBX software providers have increased their sales during 2016, that in more than half the cases the increase was more than 30% and that 9 out of 10 users prefer the virtual PBXs to the physical ones.

In 2016, 81.8% of the PBX software suppliers experienced a remarkable increase in sales, of which 53.6% increased their sales by over 20%. Thus, all suppliers believe that growth will continue in 2017: 45.5% expect it to grow above 30%, while 27.3% believe that growth will be between 20% and 30%.

Current Preferences

With regard to the current preferences of customers and suppliers of PBX software:

• 4% prefer cloud-hosted software while 63.6% opt for a hybrid hosting solution between the cloud and the company’s own servers.

• 5% prefer payment for use, while 18.2% prefers the single payment and 36.4% makes both payment formulas available to their customers.

• As regards the time it takes for a PBX software client to change solution, 67% takes between 2 and 5 years, 27.3% between 5 and 8, and 18.2% wait 8 years or plus. Only 9.1% change each year.

• 91% of customers prefer virtual PBXs, compared to 9% who opt for a physical PBX solution, with the savings of migrating to IP telephony the main reason.

• As for number of extensions, almost half, 45.5% request between 5 and 9 extensions, 36.4%, 10 to 29, and 18.2%, from 30 to 49.

• As far as the functions most valued by customers are concerned, 81.8% prefers the diversion by schedules and by prefix, 72.2% more value an interactive voice response and complete call statistics and, with 63.6%, functions like call queues, mobile extensions and recordings.

Future Trends in PBX Functionalities

Asked the suppliers about what they believe will be the trends in the future of PBX software, have highlighted, among others:

• Greater integration with previous systems.
• Absolute integration of mobile and fixed communications.
• Unification of the functionalities oriented to improve the customer experience and the image of the company.
• Integrated virtual management of the PBX.
• Increase and improve the software security.
• Integration with CRM and other computer tools.
• Total convergence: a single extension of the switchboard from both the fixed station and the mobile phone.