Small Office Phone Systems

• Your new businesses phone system is the life line to the outside world. If you set this up so that everything works professionally, you can give the appearance of a well seasoned professional company. A poor phone system that drops calls and does not work is one of the biggest turn offs and deterrents to business. The following article is a great resource and was written by Phil Kemmerer at TOTLCOM. This provides some of the best phone system tips and information that I have found on how to do a basic evaluation before purchasing a phone system for your small office or home based business.

• Small- to mid-size businesses should consider the following points for increased success :

• Know how many lines in and out you need -- For many companies, one of the largest ongoing financial burdens is for local and long distance telephone service. However, in addition to usage charges, there's a set monthly fee for each line, so how many lines a company has becomes a critical cost element. Other important considerations are whether the calls are complete in a timely manner and the quality of the connections.

• Today's business phones are advanced software-driven devices. The difference is computer telephony integration (CTI). You need to work with a systems integrator and incorporator who understands both voice and data and the synergistic effect produced by the convergence of the two technologies.

• Know your long distance costs -- Is your long distance carrier billing you incorrectly under your service contract? For many companies, the answer is too often yes. To ferret this cost savings out, have a telecom system integrator that understands long distance service contracts audit your long distance traffic every six months and compare it to the terms of your long distance service contract.

• Be wary of signing a long-term contract with a carrier, because you could be locked in when rates are being reduced.

• Don't just order more lines, ask why -- Ninety percent of companies can reconfigure their trunk bandwidth to save money. The reason is that over the years, usually different people at different times were responsible for ordering incoming lines. They just ordered lines as your company grew, and when the phone bill comes, it's paid. No questions asked. A competent telecom systems integrator should ask you why you need each existing line, and what you are trying to accomplish by adding a new one.

• In addition, when your company meets a certain dollar level of billing, you need to work with an integrator that will move you to a different technology to reduce your long distance costs. For example, installing a system with a T1 line capability may save you up to 30% on your long distance charges once you hit a certain level.

• Know your long distance choices -- Most large telecom providers have made exclusive alliances with one long distance carrier. Typically, this is not to your benefit. Instead, consider working with an integrator that has relationships with all the long distance carriers and assumes a disinterested third-party position on your behalf. The integrator can analyze your long distance traffic and recommend the carrier that best serves that traffic.

• Connecting your offices -- If your company has multiple offices or facilities and utilizes a wide area network (WAN) to exchange data between locations, you should be able to eliminate the costs of the telephone lines by running voice simultaneously across the existing data network. By converging voice and data over the same network, the savings can be significant. In addition, your employees will have the ability to transfer calls to extensions within the entire organization, no matter what office the employee is located in.

• System capacity for expansion -- When buying telecommunications technology for your business, assess whether the technology will have the ability to double its capacity in the next two years and triple capacity in the next five years. Ideally, the system will allow for growth without having to replace hardware. Also determine if the system contains a proprietary switch (processors and software) that ties you to a particular provider, or if it has open architecture, which allows for upgrades and enhancements from different system providers with the best technology available. To lock in maintenance and remodeling costs, purchase a system with a minimum of a five-year warranty.

• System capability. -- Today's small- to mid-size business needs to portray to its customers that it is customer-centered and provides exemplary service. To accomplish that, it should have voice mail, e-mail, a Web page, centralized faxing to the desktop, direct inward dialing, and extension-to-extension dialing within the organization, all provided over the same platform or switch. Remember, image is everything to your customers.

• Adopting a new technology must give your company a competitive advantage and increase your profitability. Without both factors, there is no value in embracing it. In telecommunications, the bottom line is to save money and improve customer service by having the right telecom system and utilizing it to its full potential. Know your phones, and your company will know success.