As if running a startup wasn’t stressful enough, trying to work within the confines of a high-maintenance phone system—with its copper wires and lack of flexibility—can put a small-business owner over the edge. A simpler, beginner-friendly mode to telephony is a better solution for SMBs that want to communicate with the efficiency of a Fortune 500 company. Thanks to the high demand for more Internet-compatible communications tools, that solution is now available in the form of a virtual PBX.

When you run a small business, you’re going to experience communications limitations if you’re using a legacy phone system. Here are three of the most common pain points and how a virtual PBX can resolve them:

Customer satisfaction

SMBs are the underdogs of the business world; therefore, they need to establish their reputations and credibility straight from the get-go to stay afloat in today’s competitive marketplace. Developing a trustworthy reputation will come, in part, from the customer service measures you deploy. With a virtual PBX, SMBs can create a customized IVR system with a personalized greeting and menu options. Implementing such customer service features—often associated with calling, say, the Target hotline—will make your business seem bigger and more experienced, which are two qualities consumers take into consideration when judging a company.

Staying connected on the go

The beauty of small businesses is in their diversity. In fact, many small businesses don’t take place in an office setting like those of midsize or enterprise-level companies. Take a visiting nurse agency as an example: Employees travel from one patient’s home to another, and must continually stay in contact with their colleagues--for routine recording-keeping, such as clocking in arrival and departure times, to reporting health updates and emergency situations. For SMBs such as this, a virtual PBX can help employees stay connected to their main office as well as to other mobile co-workers by way of an app on their smartphones.

Keeping bills to a minimum

Virtual PBXs free SMBs from high telecom fees due to their entirely Internet-based operability. Think about it: When you’re first starting up a business, you want to steer clear of extraneous expenses. With a completely virtualized phone system, which includes modern features like dedicated phone lines and a wealth of unified communications (UC) tools, businesses can focus on saving money instead of shelling out funds on telecom repair or maintenance fees. In time, once an SMB has expanded its employee base and geographical locations, it will be able to absorb more telephony fees and integrate more system options, like introducing an on-premises PBX for headquarters, which many enterprise and midsize companies find beneficial.

Who says SMBs can’t communicate like an international enterprise? With a Small Business PBX like 3CX the sky’s the limit for how far you can expand your business.