VoIP, Microsoft Teams and business phone systems
VoIP (voice over internet protocol) carries phone calls over your data network instead of copper lines. Arke Technologies designs, deploys and supports VoIP phone systems, cloud PBX and Microsoft Teams calling and meetings for organisations, public bodies and schools across South Africa, under one contract with SLA reporting.
What VoIP is, and how a VoIP call works
VoIP stands for voice over internet protocol. A VoIP phone turns your voice into data packets and sends them across your network and internet link to a VoIP service provider, which connects the call to other phones and to the public telephone network. To the person you call, a VoIP call looks like any other call, and it can come from an ordinary geographic number (010 or 011, for example) or a non-geographic 087 number. VoIP is one of the platforms our business software team designs and supports.
Because VoIP and internet share the same link, call quality depends on your network, which is why we check it before anything moves. Moving a landline to VoIP normally lets you keep the number by porting it, and the phone system no longer depends on a copper line. For a wider primer, read VoIP for business in South Africa.
PBX phone systems: the private branch exchange explained
To define PBX simply: a private branch exchange (PBX) is the switchboard inside an organisation's phone system. It gives every person an extension, routes incoming calls to the right desk or department, runs hunt groups and queues, handles transfers, voicemail and after-hours messages, and connects internal extensions to outside lines. PABX (private automatic branch exchange) is an older name for the same thing.
A telephone PBX system used to be a box on the wall wired to analogue handsets. Today most PBX systems are IP PBXs that run VoIP, on a server on site or in the cloud, and reach outside lines through SIP trunks: many calls over one internet link instead of a bundle of copper lines. Open-source and free PBX software exists, but the real cost is the design, security and support around it, because a badly secured PBX can be abused for fraudulent calls billed to you.
Microsoft Teams for work: meetings, calling and apps
Microsoft Teams is Microsoft's hub for chat, meetings, calling and shared files, licensed through Microsoft 365 (still widely called O365). Files shared in Teams are stored in SharePoint and OneDrive, so Teams governance and SharePoint and intranet design are planned together.
The Microsoft Teams app runs on Windows, on a Mac or MacBook Air, and on iOS and Android; Microsoft Teams online runs in a browser from the Microsoft Teams website, with nothing to install. Guests join a Microsoft Teams meeting from the link in their invitation, and Microsoft Teams apps add approvals, forms, task boards and your own line-of-business apps to a channel.
What we set up and manage in Teams:
- Administration. Teams admin centre policies for meetings, messaging, external access and guests.
- Structure. Naming, ownership and lifecycle rules, so abandoned teams do not pile up.
- Recording and retention. Recording, transcription and retention settings that match your POPIA position.
- Teams Phone and rooms. Numbers, auto attendants, call queues and handsets, and Teams Rooms with interactive displays supplied through Server Hub.
Teams is included in many Microsoft 365 plans and licensed separately on others, so we check your plan first. Teams Phone needs an add-on licence on most plans, and Teams Rooms devices need a room licence; we confirm the mix through Microsoft 365 licensing. On Google Workspace, Google Meet covers meetings and a cloud PBX covers calling.
VoIP phones, cordless handsets and the VoIP app
A VoIP phone system can use any mix of devices. We specify, configure and deploy each one, and manage them centrally.
Desk VoIP phones. For reception, finance and heavy phone users, powered from a PoE switch, so the switch's backup power matters as much as the handset.- VoIP cordless handsets. DECT handsets for warehouses, clinics and school offices, where staff move around a site.
- Yealink VoIP phones. Desk IP phones and DECT cordless handsets, supplied through our trading division, Server Hub.
- Conference phones. For meeting rooms that do not need video.
- A VoIP app (softphone). The same extension on a laptop or mobile phone, for staff away from the office.
- VoIP phones for home-based staff. A desk phone at home, registered to the office system, for people who work from home full time.
- Analogue adapters. For gate intercoms, lifts, alarm panels and fax lines.
Network hardware such as PoE switches comes through Server Hub, and business fibre and LTE through our connectivity division, Fibre Boyz, so your VoIP and internet sit with one supplier.
Contact centres, IVR and CRM integration
An interactive voice response (IVR) system answers calls with a recorded menu ("press 1 for accounts") and routes callers to the right queue, or answers routine questions without an agent. A good IVR is short, tested with real callers, and always offers a route to a person. For busier teams we set up contact-centre call flows: queues, call-backs, wallboards, call recording, and reports on answer times and abandoned calls.
The phone system is more useful when it talks to your CRM. Integrating VoIP with Salesforce, HubSpot or Zoho shows the caller's record when the phone rings and logs every call against the account. Our CRM and systems integration teams do that work alongside the telephony design.
What a VoIP phone system costs, and what drives it
Last reviewed: September 2026.
- Licences or seats. A cloud PBX is usually priced per user or extension per month; Teams Phone adds a licence per user on top of Microsoft 365 on most plans.
- Call charges. Per-minute rates or bundles, which depend on how often you call mobiles, landlines and international numbers.
- SIP trunk channels. How many calls you need to carry at once.
- Handsets and headsets. Desk, cordless and conference devices, or softphones with no hardware cost.
- Network work. PoE switches, Wi-Fi, cabling and backup power, if the site is not ready.
- Setup and migration. Design, porting, configuration and training, quoted as a project.
- Support. Ongoing administration under an SLA, priced per user per month.
We do not publish rates. We quote in writing after the call-flow audit, with once-off and monthly costs shown separately, so you can compare the contract-term cost with your current PBX and lines.
Choosing among VoIP service providers in South Africa
There are many VoIP providers in South Africa, and headline call rates are the easiest thing to compare and the least useful. Ask each VoIP service provider:
- Who supports the whole path, from handset to internet link, when call quality drops?
- Who holds the admin credentials, number records and call-flow documentation, and how do you leave?
- Where are call recordings stored, and who can access them?
- What happens to calls during load-shedding or an internet outage?
- How long is the contract, and can you port your numbers out if you leave?
We answer each of these in writing in our proposal.
Governance, compliance and procurement
- Governance and reporting. A named service lead, written change control for call flows and numbering, escalation paths, and a monthly service review covering tickets, call quality and licence use.
- POPIA. Call recordings and voicemail are personal information, so we set retention periods, access controls and caller notices your Information Officer can account for. See POPIA compliance.
- Security. Hardened PBX and Teams settings, multi-factor authentication for administrators, and limits on international and premium-rate dialling to prevent call fraud.
- Public sector and boards. We work to PFMA and MFMA procurement and reporting disciplines, keep audit-ready documentation and report in a form that supports King IV Principle 12.
- Procurement fit. Level 1 B-BBEE contributor (sworn affidavit available on request), giving buyers 135% procurement recognition. Company documents, our CSD supplier number and SARS tax compliance status are available on request, and we complete standard bidding documents when a bid requires them. Buy through a proposal and purchase order, an SLA or a tender response; see our company facts.
- Continuity. Admin credentials, number records, call-flow designs and recordings stay yours, documented so another team could run them. If you move on, we hand over in an orderly exit.