Glossary
What is a cloud PBX?
Extensions, menus, ring groups and queues, without a phone system in your office.
The short answer
What is a cloud PBX?
A cloud PBX is a business phone system that runs on a provider's servers instead of a box in your office. It does what an office PBX does, including extensions, an auto attendant, ring groups, call queues, transfers, voicemail and business-hours rules, and you manage it from a web dashboard. Calls travel over the internet (VoIP), so phones can be desk phones, computers or mobile apps anywhere. It's also called a hosted or virtual PBX.
What a cloud PBX includes
The features are the same ones an office phone system has. What changes is who runs it and where the phones can be.
- Extensions for each person or department, on desk phones, computers or mobile apps.
- An auto attendant or IVR menu on the main number.
- Ring groups, call queues and transfers.
- Voicemail, business-hours schedules and forwarding rules.
- A web dashboard to change all of it, with no technician on site.
Example
A beauty salon with two branches moves to a cloud PBX. Both branches share one main number with a short menu, each branch has its own ring group, and the owner changes the holiday hours for both from her phone.
Cloud PBX and an AI receptionist
A cloud PBX routes calls; it doesn't talk to callers. Daber AI works alongside one rather than replacing it: forward unanswered or after-hours calls from the PBX to the agent's number, send one branch of your menu to it, or connect over SIP where your provider offers a SIP trunk. Phone systems such as RingCentral and Voicenter work with Daber AI through call forwarding, or over SIP where the provider offers a SIP trunk.
Questions
What is the difference between a cloud PBX and an on-premise PBX?
An on-premise PBX is hardware in your office that you buy and maintain, connected to phone lines or a SIP trunk. A cloud PBX is run by the provider, usually for a monthly fee per user, and you manage it from a browser. The calling features are similar.
Do I have to replace my phone system to add an AI receptionist?
No. With Daber AI you keep your phone system and your number, and send calls to the agent by call forwarding or over SIP. You can start with only unanswered calls or only after-hours calls, and widen it once you've seen the results.
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