Telephony is the cornerstone of many businesses. If a
potential customer cannot contact you over the telephone, they will likely move
onto the next company in the phone book and try them instead. More importantly
than just having a phone system that can get somebody on the end of the line is
a well implemented system that can quickly direct a person to exactly who they
need to talk to wherever they may be.
There are a large
number of different systems available for most any business sector and because
of this it is a very good idea to have a clear understanding of what your
current business needs are in a phone system. A major factor can be
expandability since PBX (private branch exchange) phone systems may remain the
high-end business technology of choice for many more years. Thus, its
important to invest in a phone system that will be able to accommodate any
changes that might occur in your business during that period.
Sizing of
telephony systems is generally fairly modular. As an example, standard sizing
follows the pattern of 3 lines with 8 phones, 8 lines with 16 phones, 12 lines
with 24 phones and so on. A more recent sizing method of phone systems has been
sizing by number of ports. For example a 32 line system could have any
combination of phones and incoming lines. The balance of phones to lines is
typically determined by how many lines or extensions the manufacturer puts onto
their boards. With this in mind, when selecting a phone system, the purchaser should
look into how much potential expansion of the system will inconvenience your
business and how much expansion would be likely to cost.
VoIP (voice over
internet protocol) is another way of setting up the connection, and essentially
entails hosting your phone systems over an internet connection. For many
companies, VIP works out a lot cheaper in the long run. There have previously
been service quality issues in the past, with inadequate internet connections
affecting the quality of the phone line. So in this respect, often people
simply replace multiple phone lines for a large data connection. It does
however make sense to look at PBX systems which accommodate IP connections and
handsets to allow for future change.
Other fairly
important things to consider are the number of locations you will need to hook
up to your system, accommodating mobile users who will spend a large amount of
their time out of the office as well as any additional services you may require
as a part of your PBX. Obvious things you would expect from a phone system
would include voicemail, call holding and conferencing since these are fairly
integral to many businesses. Other considerations that are perhaps a little
less important include speed dials, redialing and call forwarding.
There are also
things that you may not know about but could greatly benefit your business,
such as sharing the same phone network over multiple business sites. This can
help companies who may have multiple call centres or offices spread over
several cities by allowing the whole system to function as a single unit. Or
computer telephony integration, (CTI).While CTI can vary largely depending on
the complexity, from full integration to a simple level it may be the ability
to dial numbers viewed on a computer screen. A more complex system might tie
customer relationship management software in with the phone system to produce a
highly integrated and efficient system. Another ability that is an absolute
must have for people on the move, who may be in any number of locations from
day to day, is a follow me system, which can reroute calls to a specific person
around what they might be doing. For example, they may be driving somewhere and
direct their calls to an in car phone or their mobile.
In the telephony
market today, there is a solution to cater to just about every user. It would
be well worth contacting a specialist in telephony to see how improvements
could be made to your communications and maybe even change the way you do
business!
