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5 Factors to Remember When Choosing an Office Phone System

Choosing the right office phone system will make your enterprise more efficient and effective. Although high speed Internet is essential to all modern businesses, an office phone system remains indispensable for ensuring customers can contact you whenever they choose.
There are more options than ever when it comes to a business telephone systems, so selecting the best system for you takes some time and research. Luckily, there are solutions to meet virtually any need – whether you’re an office of five or a national enterprise of 5,000.

In particular, keep these factors in mind:

Reliability
Today’s business phone systems don’t suffer from the signal congestion of legacy solutions. The right choice should be able to easily handle several times your peak usage. Service disruption should be rendered less likely through redundant connections.

Hybrid systems that make use of both digital and VoIP (“voice over IP”) technology have the potential to be the most reliable, since they can adjust to use conventional phone lines or Internet connection according to the demands of the moment.

Clarity
Call clarity is a major problem with traditional analog telephones. The signal quality is only as good as the copper wiring that carries it – that wiring, in turn, could be decades old. Degradation occurs over time and reversing it could cost thousands of dollars in rewiring.

Digital telephone systems are a significant step up in quality, with VoIP delivering the best results.

Scalability
If you are growing fast, your business phone system should be based on VoIP. Upgrading the total number of phone connections in a VoIP system is as simple as a quick software update.

With VoIP, your phone capacity is limited only by the total bandwidth of your data connection. This bandwidth is shared between your Web connections and VoIP usage.

While this may be a bottleneck for some companies, it is worthwhile if you need mobility. Transferring a VoIP phone and its associated services to a new location is as simple as moving it.

Affordability
When it comes to a business telephone system, affordability has two main components: Upfront investment and cost of ownership. Digital systems offer low upfront costs, but require additional spending for future expansion and international calling.

A VoIP system is a significant strategic investment, but often delivers the highest returns in time. Since the backbone of any VoIP phone system is the Internet itself, many calls – including those placed internationally – are free of charge after initial setup.

Flexibility
It took a long time for old-fashioned analog telephones to provide functionality we now consider basic: Hold, mute, speed dial, and three-way calling, for example. Digital systems take it a step further with caller ID, call waiting, and call forwarding.

VoIP business telephone systems offer an array of advanced features.

Enterprises using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) suite to keep track of customer interactions can integrate the software directly with their phone system, making it easier to keep information up to date. Voicemail and call forwarding are fast and seamless.

Of course, not all features are essential to all offices.

There are many kinds of office phone system, with equipment and configuration varying a great deal between vendors. Working with a full service business telephone provider you trust makes it easier to narrow down your options and implement the best one for you.

To find out more, contact us at Atlantic Communications Team today.