Phone Systems - Do You Know How to Pick the Right System to Increase Productivity of Your Office?

By Daljeet Sidhu

A phone system is one of the most important and necessary purchases for your business. The right phone system can increase employee productivity and enhance the perception of your business for your customers, clients and stakeholders. Let us first review some common phone system terminology.

• Ports are the number of connections that can be handled by your phone system and include both incoming lines and extensions.
• Trunks or Lines are the number of outside telephone lines.
• Cabinet, also known as central office (CO), key system unit (KSU), central unit or base, is the main box used for holding the phone system.
• Extensions are used for both internal and external communication. They refer to the unique numbers used for identifying phones, modems and fax machines. Extensions are internal to the business and connect to the outside world via the cabinet.
• Computer telephony integration (CTI) consists of a set of applications that enable integration of your phone system with a computer. CTI provides features like incoming call routing, one click dialing, video conferencing, telephone directory and caller identification in addition to allowing the computer to receive voice, data and fax calls.

Types of Phone systems
KSU-less systems are the cheapest and offer limited features. They are usually suitable for small businesses with less than ten employees. KSU-less system does not need a cabinet as the telephones have all the routing software installed in them. A KSU-system has certain limitations. These systems are not compatible with Key and PBX systems and may offer little utility if your business expands and upgrades to a better phone system. Additionally, these systems are not supported by vendors and you will have to take care of their servicing and installation.

Key Systems or Key Telephone Systems are suitable for medium-scale businesses with less than forty employees. A set of buttons corresponding to the number of available phone lines are provided with each phone. These phone systems can be easily upgraded but they offer little customization abilities in comparison to other systems.

Private Branch Exchange (PBX) offer a wide range of features, and can be easily upgraded and customized. Though most expensive, they enable cost reduction as you scale, making them most suitable for large businesses with over 100 employees.

Hybrid systems - These systems combine the cost-effectiveness of key systems with the range of features of PBX systems.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) uses the internet for call routing and forwarding. It provides a cost-effective and portable substitute for KS and KSU-less systems. The router can be taken from place to place and plugged into any internet connection. However, each time the geographic location of the router is changed, you must inform your VoIP service provider, so that emergency calls can be routed to the nearest call centre. The biggest disadvantage of VoIP systems is their complete dependence on the internet connection. A poor connection deteriorates call quality, whereas connection loss can cause the system to fail altogether. Remember to discuss security and encryption issues with your provider before purchasing a VoIP phone system.

How to pick a phone system?
First assess your current and future business needs to estimate the required system size, expected business expansion in two-three years, available budget, and the required phone features and accessories like voice mail, caller id, one-touch dial, forwarding and conferencing. Lines and extensions are the key factors that determine the system size. After you have clearly identified your needs find a phone system that meets all your requirements.

How much would a phone system cost?
Prices of key and hybrid systems usually range from $350-$1000 per user, that of PBX systems from $800-$1000 per user and KSU less systems from $130-$225 per phone. Prices depend on various factors like telephone cabinet, the actual phones, add-ons, training, service, programming, and future modifications.

Before purchasing a phone system, take into consideration the total cost of ownership. Customizable, expandable, reliable, and upgradable phone systems have a higher initial cost per user but prove economical in the long run.

How to pick a phone vendor?
Your telephone vendor usually takes care of supply, installation and programming of phone systems.

Select a vendor who has completed a number of installations of your chosen system. Such a dealer will be more familiar with the problems that can occur and their solution. Seek demonstrations of different phone systems to determine the best one for your business. Most dealers will agree to train your employees in the use of the phone system.

Vendors also provide a combination of warranties with your phone system. A service level agreement determines the vendors' response time to a phone system problem. Additionally, the vendor should provide you with regular hardware and software updates. Always check references before making your purchase, especially inquire about the vendors' quality of service and experience.

 

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What Business Telephone Systems Offer

By Alex Tipu

Business telephone systems have become affordable, and vital for all the offices around the world. In order to get in touch with your staff and customers, business telephone systems can be used as the best mode to communicate. It does not matter how big or small your company is, only a sophisticated phone system will help in creating a better image of the company.

In order to build a strong business image, opting for a good business phone system package is a reliable and affordable way to do so. All of its features can be used without installation of expensive equipments. Various telecom engineers working in phone companies can provide you with technical support during installation of business telephone systems.

Business telephone systems offer loads of features and options. Primarily, business phones are user friendly and easy to operate. Features related to making calls are, conference calling, and call waiting. With conference calling, many users can be contacted and can talk simultaneously. Call waiting feature will indicate another incoming call during the time a call is in progress.

Business telephone systems also offer find-me/follow-me call forwarding, that helps in finding a particular number and forward the call to that person. It is same as transferring a call from one department to another department. Some advanced features include voice to email/ fax to email. These features can make the work of an office assistant more simple and rather error free.

Auto-attendant is the most useful and interesting feature that a business telephone system offers. Messages given by auto-attendant feature are pre-recorded. For example, a recorded business greeting or an interactive voice response can be customised as per the need of the organisation.

With all these amazing features, a strong and superior communication interface can be established in terms of inbound and outbound communication of an organisation. A caller will experience no hassle while contacting a particular person in the organisation. Your organisation may not have a single phone line, but quite a few of them for different purposes. An efficient business telephone system will make sure that no customers are left unattended and all the calls are answered with great efficiency.

Business telephone systems come along with a feature of call forwarding or missed-calls alerts. With call forwarding, you can manage your business from any part of the world, no matter where you are.

The advanced feature of call forwarding directs the caller to leave a message in your voicemail box after a certain number of rings.

Convenience is what is brought about by the business telephone systems. If your office employees are very busy in carrying out some important task, then they do not have to worry about answering telephone calls all the time. Each time a call is missed, it will be saved in the database of the phone, and with the help of the recorded voice message, and a particular caller can be reached. This way, a very flexible and hassle free environment can be created. The technology is advancing very rapidly, and nobody knows what new features these phone systems will bring for businesses.

 

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used telephone systems available at Fonex.com.au

Small Business Phone Systems For Your Business

By Tina Stinpa

You should definitely get a digital phone, as opposed to an analog system. Refurbished phones can help you save money as well. Just make sure that each refurbished phone is a 2 line phone, because your phones must be able to handle multiple incoming and outgoing calls at once.

Make local phone calls with any of your two line phones. With your 2 line phones you should look into telephone VOIP phones.

Larger multi-line systems, such as the NEC telephone systems, are great if you have a larger office and need large office telephone systems. Your digital system will cut down on your phone prices because your IP telephone doesn't require separate phone lines coming from the PBX telephone carrier. Your business telephone program will have an office telephone that will work as a local telephone and a two line phone when needed. You should look into the NEC phone, the Toshiba system, and the Cisco phone system as options.

You can look into buying an office telephone setup from Samsung or Toshiba as well. These larger systems require a lot of set up, and can be quite costly, but if you plan it out correctly, you can save a lot of money.

Chicago telephone setups, such as the nec dterm phone, are used by people in the telephone biz to service those who need a telephone billing setup. Vodavi, Samsung, or Inter tel phone systems are available for people who want to run a telephone business. You can purchase iwatsu, lucent, nec, comdial, att, inter tel, toshiba, lucent, intertel, or atlas.

Companies seem to really like the Comdial setups, but they are in the same category as Intertel telelphones. The comdial impact phone is something you should seriously consider.

The phone system price of the best small business phone system can be pretty expensive. You should look for a digital system that works for hotel phones.

If you need a system, office systems you investigate should also have cordless phone capability. A 2 line cordless system, with cordless capabilities, are commonly used as hotel telephones and can commonly be used as small business telephone systems. The best system may be way too expensive because the best phone systems, such as those that you can purchase from your telephone phone supplier who has business phones for sale might be designed for higher-end uses, such as hotels.

 

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used telephone systems available at Fonex.com.au