If you are currently looking for a new phone system for your business, then it’s essential you choose the service that can properly cater to your particular requirements. To help you out, we’ve put together a quick beginner’s guide to finding the right phone system for your business.

What should a business phone system provide?

Any business phone system must be able to demonstrate a certain number of essential capabilities, such as:

• On-hold music and voicemail, which allow for callers to know they are active on the line, and allow them to leave a stored message that’s retrievable, even when people are away from the office.
• Automates features and multiple lines, which can answer the phone for you and direct several callers at once to the appropriate extensions.
• Conference calling, which can allow for multiple people to be on the same call.

What questions should you ask yourself?

There are a number of different types of telephone systems suitable for business use or use within an office. They can differ significantly in terms of cost and technology though, so if you’re thinking of getting a new business phone system, you need to ask yourself some questions first.

• Is a physical phone system, which includes desk phones, the best option for you? Or could your business function as effectively with a virtual phone service instead?
• If physical phones are what you require, what type of service do you need?
• Do you need a traditional landline telephone service, provided by a local or regional phone company?
• Or a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, provided by a large number of providers over the internet?
• If you choose the VoIP then do you need to house the system at the business premises? Or would you need to opt for cloud-based hosting from your service provider?

It’s also worth noting that the market for on-site business phone systems, as a whole, is continually on the decline as an industry. Largely thanks to the more advanced technology, support and features offered by cloud-based and VoIP systems. So, this guide will go into a little more detail when it comes to these.

Now let’s take a look at a few examples of the different types of telephone systems that could be suitable for your business.

Multi-line

As the name suggests, this fairly basic system involves having several lines running through the same unit. Allowing you to answer each phone number individually or send calls to voicemail. It’s important to take into account how many lines a certain system can support when comparing multi-line phone systems. You need to think about how many users you need to cater for, as you don’t want to end up paying extra when you don’t need to.

PBX

A private branch exchange (PBX) phone system, essentially works as a private network for an office. It works by routing any calls, both incoming and outgoing, through the phone lines of the business. Features that are included with this type of phone system include; conference calls, call holding and routing to extensions. This type of business phone system allows for any call switching and routing to be completely centralised, making it more cost-effective than a standard system, and more easily scalable.

Cloud-based

If you wanted to take your entire business phone system infrastructure off-site, then this type of phone system could be for you. For a fee, it’s able to fully handle any call routing and signal processing remotely.

By hosting your business phone system in the cloud, you’ll be able to free up some space in the office, and keep costs down in terms of housing any equipment needed on-site. Any upkeep and maintenance won’t have to be handled by your business, as the system will be hosted on a third-party server.

You will need to choose a reputable hosting company to ensure any maintenance is handled correctly, and things keep running smoothly. This type of business phone system is also more easily scalable, and your virtual office can continue to grow as required, making it a very cost-effective option.

VoIP

These systems operate using broadband internet connections, which can offer a number of benefits over traditional phone lines. They offer a number of advanced features, such as the ability to set up a virtual receptionist to handle calls and forward them to employees. Also, they can connect with systems like CRM (customer relationship manager) software, which can offer things like automatic logging of interactions.

With this type of phone system, your business will be able to take many different calls at the same time without hosting any infrastructure onsite. And similarly to a traditional system, you’ll still be able to have unique phone numbers, and direct calls to specific extensions. Remember that you’ll need a fairly high-speed internet access to allow this type of phone system to properly function.

A VoIP business phone system offers a great number of potential benefits, from reducing your cost and time investment to increasing productivity, along with:

• Lower call costs – due to all communication data being sent over an IP network as opposed to telephone line. Use of the internet to relay domestic and long distance calls is cheaper in general.
• More mobility of service – thanks to their being no physical limitations in terms of moving the service, if you’re business is on-the-go.
• Flexibility of features – which allow you to multi-task with various devices at once. Features can be added or subtracted with ease, allowing the system to grow with your business and ensure it’s as productive as possible.
• Easy conference calls – because on this type of system, all calls use a converged data network instead of dedicated phone lines. This forgoes the need to pay for an additional service to host multiple callers for a conference.
• Better client interaction – especially for businesses that don’t want to waste time answering voicemails. Calls can be forwarded to an office for the first few rings, then transmitted to another device, like a mobile.

At Prism, we can merge your telephone services with your IT support, wireless internet, and cloud computing, to provide you with a tailored and seamless service.

You’ll be able to change your flexible plan any time, to suit your exact business requirements. For more information about our telecommunications services – please get in touch with our team today.

Get in touch with Prism today.

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