I set up 3CX for large corporate clients who use it as their main communication platform for all their branches and offices. These corporations generally have a lot of employees. I set up the preset environment for around 500 to 1,000 extensions per client. One of my customers had upwards of around 3,000 extensions.
3CX has a graphical user interface, and this is awesome because I don't have to have an IT person from my company in my customer's environment to set up and configure 3CX for my client. I just train the customer. The graphical user interface helped me a lot because it gave me more time to focus on my business while my customers can do the things that intersect by themselves.
In 3CX, customization is not as easy as I would like. With 3CX Call Flow Designer, you can set up the flow of a call, deliver it to the department, and automate the process. I can't do many things with this. It could be easier. I would also like to add an SMS feature. Lots of other Brazilian network operators are integrating SMS into their systems. The failover doesn't work as it should either. I expect it to work automatically, but it doesn't. I have to do the same over again myself. This is something worrying about 3CX.
I've been using 3CX for about 18 months or more.
Scaling up is very easy. I had some cases where I started with 24 simultaneous calls and I had to upgrade to 32 simultaneous calls, and it was very easy. I just changed the configuration and designed new extensions.
I used Asterisk, FreeSWITCH, and Issabel previously but switched to 3CX because of the support and the user-friendly graphical interface. With Asterisk, we had to manually set up the extensions due to our configurations. We don't have this situation with 3CX. It has extension provisioning. We just install the 3CX app on our phones or the computer and scan the QR code, then the extension is ready to go. Support is better, too. When I need support from 3CX, I just send an email to support and they answer quickly. With Asterisk, I have to go to community support for assistance most of the time.
The graphical user interface is easy and user-friendly, but configuring the console is kind of difficult to do. I can set up 3CX systems by myself, and it takes around five business days to design, build and deliver.
Many of my customers cut some costs in their local environment using 3CX because they usually use cell phones for communication. And when they switched to an SAP environment, they saw some cost savings.
I like the prices. I think they're fair and reasonable. There aren't any additional costs. With the license I purchased, I have all features that I need. I don't have to buy an add-on or another license.
My advice is that people should first truly understand their needs. 3CX can help you but you'll really need to understand what you need and then buy the right version for you. 3CX is a great system. My business grew a lot with 3CX, so I am very happy with it.
I would rate 3CX eight out of 10.
