Business Telephone Systems : A Short Guide | The Communication Blog

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Business Telephone Systems : A Short Guide

By Mark Walters

Making the right choice when choosing a telephone system is a big decision for your business. There are some important considerations to keep in mind as you shop for a new system.

System Capacity - The majority of business telephone systems can handle about 24 telephone extensions in addition to about 12 incoming lines. In most cases, the components of smaller telephone systems may not be transferable to a larger system if you choose to upgrade in the future. If your business is expanding quickly and you think you will be hiring additional personnel in the coming months or years, it is a good idea to make the investment in a system that can handle your growing business needs.

Direct Lines - The second thing to consider is how many direct lines you will want. If you want direct lines that allow direct dialing, the display of caller ID and the feature of displaying the number no matter which line you pick up on or where it has been transferred from, you need to get a system compatible with ISDN, which is a service most countries are able to provide.

Voicemail - With a direct line service you will often be able to get voicemail for each telephone handset in the office, for some systems you may be able to have more than simple voicemails, such as the ability to forward messages by email or simply to other phones. You will also want to make sure the voicemail capacity is enough to handle the amount of messages, and length of messages, you expect to get.

The Handset - This should go without saying, but when you upgrade your telephone system you will need to get new telephone handsets. The handsets you choose should be right for the type of use you expect to get out of them. You will be offered basic handsets but will have the option to spend a little bit more to upgrade and get handsets that have more features, better build quality and will look better. You may not think it is worth the money but in the end you will be relying on these phones for some time and so it may be worth spending more money to get better quality phones.

Installation - The final thing to consider is the installation process. The company from which you purchase the system upgrade will likely install the system as part of their package, although you can hire a different company to do it for you if you wish. This is not an area to scrimp on because no matter how good the system is you purchase if it is installed in an amateurish fashion it will not work as you need it. The best option is to make sure whoever installs the system will carry out a good job and provide your business with exactly what you need.

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