Moving premises, taking on an additional site, looking to upgrade your current telephone system, adding homeworkers to your network or simply, out with the old and in with the new – If you are considering making changes in 2011 to your telephone system, you’ll find these tips on choosing the right telephone system a useful and informative read…..
Finding a telephone system to suit your business needs can be a complicated process, often constrained by time to research and your available budget. However, taking the time to carefully plan your requirements and consider what your business requires now from its telephone system and what it may need in the future will enable you to more precisely identify the right features and system capabilities. Where do you start?
Ask yourself what are the key functions and features you need your telephone system to provide.
The list that you identify will include items such as:
- The number of handsets and LCD displays
- The number of extensions including voice and data
- Integration of home-workers/travelling
workers into the system - The number of headsets especially in a call
centre or customer service environment - DDI numbers and Caller ID Auto- attendant facilities to route calls
- Voicemail options
- Free inter-site/inter-company calls
- Music or message on hold
- Intercom facility for security
- Geographic numbers
- Call recording service
- Fax2email capability
- Call queuing, calls transfers and diverts to outside lines
Get a more complete list of items to consider
Some of your answers will direct you immediately to the solution.
For example, if you are moving your business premises outside of the current exchange area and you want to keep the telephone number you have been using, the only solution available to you is an IP/VoIP phone system. Similarly if you have more than one site and you regularly make calls between offices, you can save money on your call charges by adopting an IP telephone system allowing you free calls between sites or offices.
Part of your fact-finding needs to focus to the features you need your telephone system to perform. The more advanced the features, the more advanced the technology needs to be. You will also need to consider how many channels (lines) you require. The number of channels dictates how many telephone calls you can make and receive at the same time.
Which telephone system is right for you?
There are several options to choose from and Trojan Communications knows all of them!
Hosted IP Phone System
With a hosted IP phone system (also referred to as Hosted PBX) there is no need for a telephone system on your premises. Users simply need a high speed internet service such as broadband and an IP phone. Calls are routed through our server giving you the features and benefits of an office PBX without the hardware and maintenance costs.
Non-hosted IP Phone System
Also referred to as IP PBX, benefits from all the advanced features and benefits of a hosted system but calls are routed through a local server installed at your premises.
Hybrid IP Phone System
A hybrid IP Phone System is also a non-hosted solution and utilises traditional telephone lines eg ISDN or analogue.
SIP/IAX Trunks
SIP trunks or IAX trunks allow traditional existing phone installations to use Voice over internet for discounted calls, site to site transfers and geographic call delivery.
For more information and assistance with choosing the right telephone system for your business or for improving the system you already have, contact us on 0247 665 1080 or email us.