We recently caught up with Greg Brashier, the chief marketing officer (CMO) at Virtual PBX, and he told us that his company’s hosted VoIP solution continues to grow market share. For example, since the company launched its Virtual PBX Complete business VoIP portfolio February 2011 through May 2012, the company saw a 49.9% rise in traffic and it has since continued to grow.
Virtual PBX Complete supports the blending of analog and IP telephony, also incorporating SIP (session initiation protocol) peering. “VoIP Anywhere” was added as an enhancement allowing clients to use mobile and smart devices as VoIP extensions in the system.
BACKGROUND: SMB trends for hosted VoIP services | SIP interoperability and multimedia support: Has it come far enough?
With newly announced pricing, Brashier expects his company’s growth to accelerate: Technology evolution and “economies of scale” have enabled Virtual PBX to reduce plan costs by up to 70%. Unlimited-use plans now start at $18.99 per month per user, while annual usage-based plans start at $8.99 per month.
The annual plans include up to four free VoIP phones, and customers who choose to pay the year in advance can receive up to 10 free VoIP phones. The phone model included with this offer is the Polycom Soundpoint IP 321, with a standard retail price of about $170. For those subscribers who prefer not to use a new VoIP phone, the company also can send calls to standard desk phones, cellphones, satellite phones or softphones.
Our observations: The aggressive service pricing combined with the offer of free VoIP phones will be valuable for the small business customer, especially given the up-front cost of buying new phones. This move by Virtual PBX can help reduce the barrier to entry for their clients, making it easier for businesses to try VoIP.
