Is it Possible to Outgrow an Open Source PBX?

Author: Jim Machi – VP of Marketing, Sangoma

Many small businesses have started with an open source PBX like FreePBX or another one based on Asterisk. But once you have that in place, is it possible that you might need to move to a more business-oriented solution– one that is supported? In other words, is it possible you might outgrow what you started with?

Open source PBXs are perfect… for the right customer. If you as a customer are programming oriented, then digging into an open source PBX is great. And it might be fun to go download new releases and pick the specific phones you want and keep the system updated with the latest security upgrades.

But let’s say your business grows. And you have less time for that than you used to. Or the techie guy who first said, “hey, let’s do this open source thing,” has moved on, leaving you with an unsupported mess!

Certainly in that case it would make sense to upgrade to a commercial system, so that someone else handles the updates, the support, the specific upgrades required, and has a choice of phones and SBCs that work with the unit. The system can still be open source-based and can behave like you are used to, but you’d have more time to run the business. In other words, it could be a supported open source communications system.

Or let’s say you need other features beyond what the open source version offers. You might want specific routing capability. You might want to add on applications beyond simple phone calls. You might want to add smartphone support via a smartphone client. You need MORE.

In all these cases, it makes sense that you would “outgrow” what you are currently using. We’ve had customers start with an Asterisk-based PBX, moved to FreePBX from Sangoma (also based on Asterisk), and then from there moved to the Sangoma commercially-supported PBX version PBXact.

It definitely makes sense for a growing business.

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