What is a PBX?
A PBX (private branch exchange) is a private telephone system that connects a company's internal extensions and links them to outside phone lines.
What a PBX does
A PBX gives every employee an extension, routes incoming calls to the right person or team, and shares a pool of outside lines among many users. Typical features include call transfer, hold, voicemail, conference calls and an IVR menu.
A PBX comes in two forms. An on-premises PBX is hardware in the company's building. A hosted or cloud PBX runs at a provider and is reached over the internet. Both do the same job; they differ in who owns the equipment and who maintains it.
Why it matters for sales teams
A company may already have a PBX or a cloud phone system for everyday calls. An outbound sales team can add a sales dialer on top, because a PBX is built for routing calls between people, not for working through call lists, logging to a CRM or dialing at volume.
When a rep calls a company's main number, they usually reach that company's PBX first, and often its menu or receptionist. That is one reason reps prefer a direct dial over a switchboard number.