Phone System Buyer’s Guide – IP-PBX Series 2017

CommsTrader’s definitive guide to buying a new telephone system

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phone system buyers guide
Unified Communications

Published: March 31, 2017

Rob Scott

Rob Scott

Publisher

If you’re looking to buy a new phone system for your office, then you’ll need to know what features you need, and what to compare when researching which telephone system brand to buy.

The UK Phone System Market

Telecoms Speak

Here’s a few things you’ll need to know before you get in touch with phone system suppliers or sales representatives.

  1. What is a PBX?
  2. What is Unified Communications?
  3. Compare ‘on-premise’ and ‘cloud’ based systems
  4. UC versus UC&C
  5. What is UCaaS?

Business Telephone Lines & Calls

Internet – the key ingredient for VoIP

Getting Started

  • How Many External lines will you need? Are you a high traffic operation, medium or relatively low?
  • Which telephone numbers do you wish to retain? Or will you be ordering new numbers? Will each user have their own direct dial in (DDI) number?
  • How Many Internal Users will you need? Count up how many phones you’ll need. Don’t forget to include meeting rooms and public phones.
  • Scalability – do you need additional capacity to accommodate your company’s growth?
  • Locations – Do you have remote workers or dispersed office locations?
  • How will you deploy the new system? In the vendor’s cloud, your company’s own cloud or on-premise? Read our PBX versus Cloud article for a more in-depth understanding
  • How will you pay for the new system? Read our CAPEX versus OPEX guide
  • Return on Investment – You can save money by deploying a modern unified communications platform, which in turn can pay for your new system over a period of time, or at least part of it.

Once you have gathered the basics above you’ll need to consider which ‘system’ and ‘user’ applications you’ll require to make the most of your new phone system.

Here’s a list of the most modern telephone system features:

Phone System Features

Here’s a list of common features, there are many more, this will help you select the types of features you require for your business.

  • Call Manager – If you choose to host your own IP-PBX then which model will you choose? Most vendors have different models for different size businesses. Be sure to select the system that will accommodate your future growth plans. A Call Managers are also named a PBX, Controller, Central Control Unit, Chassis or Server.
  • Management – Do you wish to manage the system yourself in-house? If you do, then try to select the platform which offers a simple to use interface. Ensure the company you select is able to provide system administrator training on how to manage the system day to day. Your IT person is normally best placed to manage your system, alternatively your new provider will normally offer this service as part of an on-going support plan.
  • Voice Messaging
    • Will you need voice mail boxes for users and departments?
    • When voice messages are left do you want them forwarded to email? (commonly called unified messaging or email forwarding)
    • Does your company require an auto attendant when callers ring into your main number(s)? e.g “Press 1 for sales, 2 for accounts”
    • Call Waiting announcements – this is a useful feature but it depends on how long your callers wait to be answered e.g “Please hold your call is important to us”
  • Audio & Web Conferencing – For multi-party call conferences. Commonly known as a dial-in conference bridge. Nowadays many systems also offer video and team collaboration as part of the package.
  • Call Recording – Do you want to record your calls? If so, all calls or just certain users? If you record your calls and take credit card payments over the phone, you’ll need to ensure you meet PCI compliance guidelines.
  • Call Reporting – a call logger will allow you to pull historical reports on your user’s call activity. There’s lots of clear business benefits for call reporting in a business!
  • Contact Centre – You don’t have to be a fully fledge call centre to have a bit of contact centre technology in your business. In fact most organisations use contact centre solutions for customer service teams, help desks, telesales and more. If you require tight control of staff productivity and customer service levels then its worth researching more on contact centre features and benefits
  • Multi Media (Multi-channel) – This is normally an additional layer or option on your contact centre solution. Multi-media contact centre technology allows you to handle not just telephone calls but video, chat SMS, fax, email and social media!
  • WFO – Stands for workforce optimisation and it’s software contact centres use to manage the forecasting, scheduling and real-time tracking of your agents and available resources.
  • Automated Dialling – If you’re looking to supercharge your outbound calling rates then automated dialling solutions will certainly add more horse power to your connected call rates. Various technologies exist nowadays, they commonly fall into the following types; predictive, power and progressive diallers. If you’re simply after ‘click to call’ technology then take a look at ‘UC Desktop Client’  or ‘CRM Integration’ below, it’s typically included in this.
  • API – Many phone systems offer the ability for you to develop your own applications for custom integration. Some software developers kits (SDKs) offer more functionality that others, so choose wisely and involve your software developer in the decision making process!
  • Toll Fraud – Just like the firewall that protects your office, you’ll need to make sure your new phone system is protected. Toll fraud and telephone hacking is on the rise so be sure to cover this off with your new phone system supplier.

User Experience (UX)

A modern phone system can vastly improve staff productivity and efficiency in a business, therefore providing a clear return on investment (ROI) for your company. A modern phone system has many user features, tools and applications that help your business and workforce operate better.

  • Reception Console – Do you have a dedicated receptionist or someone that handles the majority of calls in your business? If so, you may want to invest in an Operators Console / Reception Console. Reception consoles can either be an extension module which contains a quantity of extra back-lit buttons (one for each person in the business), or it can be a software based console which is installed on the Receptionist’s computer.
  • UC Desktop Client – UC stands for Unified Communications and if you’re looking to get more features out of your telephone, then choose a phone system that comes with a PC desktop application. The software resides on your PC (or Mac) and typically offers features like; click to call, call logs, chat, presence, voice mail access and contacts directory. Some more advanced desktop client applications offer a VoIP soft-phone and video calls, which allows you to take your laptop wit you on the move. Perfect for remote working.
  • CRM Integration – If your business runs a CRM (Customer relationship management) software platform like Salesforce.com or Microsoft Dynamics, then you can often integrate your telephones. Features include: click to call, inbound and outbound screen popping, call logging and recording. The benefits of integrating your CRM with your business phone system is productivity, commonly used in contact centres and busy telesales offices.
  • UC Mobile Client – Similar to the above UC desktop client software, a UC mobile client can be installed on your smart-phone devices and tablets. Once installed, users have full mobility whilst staying connected to the office phone system. This application is perfect for remote workers, especially if they travel a lot.
  • Team Collaboration – Team collaboration software is very popular in organisations today. It allows teams to setup virtual meeting rooms for messaging, chat, file sharing, video conferencing, screen sharing and much more. Why spend time travelling to a meeting if you can conduct it just as well from your desk.
  • IP Phones (fully featured) – Fully featured IP phones are proprietary IP telephone sets manufactured specifically by the vendor for greater feature richness. They work in the same way as SIP phones and endpoints, just with more features.
  • SIP Endpoints – SIP phones and endpoints are built on the SIP open standard. SIP phones can typically connect to any SIP compatible phone system. This provides you with greater flexibility and can often drive the cost down, because SIP phones are normally lower cost than fully featured IP Phones.
  • DECT Phones – DECT stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications and its a European standard. Most home cordless phones use DECT technology. In business, DECT technology is used to connect users with cordless telephones to telephone systems. For example; warehouses, schools, manufacturing etc.
  • WiFi Phones – Wi-Fi based phones are similar to DECT phones but they use your office’s Wi-Fi network instead. There are advantages and disadvantages for both technologies. Explore DECT versus Wi-Fi technology.
  • Conference Phones – If you have meeting rooms or large tables where you need to meet for voice conferences, then buying the right conference phone can be much more effective than everyone huddling around a regular desktop telephone!
  • Phones Accessories – You can add all types of accessories to your telephones, here are some examples:
    • Cordless Headset
    • Cordless Handset
    • Programmable Key Module (PKM)
    • Keyboard
    • Bluetooth Dongle
    • Wi-Fi Dongle
  • WebRTC – a new technology which allows users to handle voice and video calls through an internet browser without the need to install any software. Read our Web RTC guide.

When selecting a new phone system, always try to select the one that feels easy to use, this will encourage user adoption of new features and ways of working.

We hope this guide helps you get started with buying a new telephone system for your business! Comment below if you have any questions or feedback! Share it, if you found it useful. 🙂

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