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Business Phone System Reviews: I’m looking to upgrade my phone system
We have 100 phones in 3 locations, and need standard business features. Paging features in one location would be necessary. Does anyone have any recommendations as to where I can start? I’m not interested in being solicited by vendors at this point.
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17 Answers
Hi Hailey:
Some questions to think about as you investigate different options:
1. Would you three locations benefit by being connected into one system with a shared voicemail system? Is their frequent calling between the three locations or is their a frequent need to transfer callers from one location to another?
2. What is the status of your existing data network - are your three locations networked together into a wide area network? Would that network have enough bandwidth to carry your voice traffic?
3. Do you have many employees that are frequently out of the office that need to take calls immediately or need to be contacted quickly?
There are several manufacturer websites such as Avaya, Cisco, ShoreTel, Iwatsu, Toshiba that you can do some research on to see what technology is available today. Depending on your location, you might have a telecommunications consultant that could help you put together a RFP based on your present and future voice and data needs.
An evaluation of your present expense for your voice circuits and calls should be done as well even in advance of the equipment search. If there are lines or other circuits that are being billed and not used, it's best to try to obtain any credits back from your existing providers before any changes to a new carrier are made. Also check on existing term agreements for your voice services and equipment service contracts to see when they expire. Many carriers automatically roll-over your contracts (see the fine print in your agreements) so it's best to check your status in advance.
Hope this information helps. Good luck with your investigation.
Without knowing more about your specific situation, I would suggest that you take a look at 3CX (www.3cx.com). You could place a system in each office, and bridge them creating a unified system at a very affordable price.
I liked Ginny's response. I would add a consideration: Do you have a high-volume inbound call processing requirement? This used to be called Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) and is now termed Call Center. It involves a group which is dedicated to sales or customer service or a similar function, and the function does not require a specific individual but rather a general agent able to support the caller. If you require that, you probably want to identify the group and look for some idea of a busy hour call volume to that group, which is independent of anything else going on in the company.
I would ad AdTran as a possible system. They have a great reputation from their previous offerings and have a nice and relatively inexpensive NetVanta UC server capable of supporting your needs for SIP voice and UC/voicemail applications while supporting SIP and/or ISDN facilities and some analog (fax, 911 support, etc).
Cordially,
dt
Hailey,
Depending on whether the business is in "growth mode" or "stay the course" mode, I would point you in two different directions. You can get by with lower cost in the latter instance. If growth of the business is a key consideration, I would begin this effort with an assessment of how users could be more efficient and effective and then overlay appropriate telecom hardware/software/service options. Voice and messaging applications can enable considerable business capability, assuming the organization is capable of change and motivated for improvement. Good luck.
Hailey,
My company can offer you a robust, versatile hosted IP Phone system for about $39 per month per extension will the features and functionality you require. Please call me at your earliest convenience.
All the best,
Darren Prine
Director of Strategic Partnerships
Northwinds Contact Solutions
5425 E Bell Rd, Ste 141
Phoenix, AZ 85254
Work: 602.515.0395
Mobile: 480.251.9160
Fax: 602.515.0391
Email: dprine@thenorthwinds.com
IM: CallCenterHero (Skype)
My Blogs: http://www.managedserviceproviders.biz/topics/call-center/
Hello Hailey,
In addition to Ginny's response I would add that I would recommend taking your time to make a good, solid decision based on where the business is and expected to go.
The first real step is to think about what is needed. What are the benefits, features and goals of the business?
1- What are your needs?
- mobility
- paging
- multiple extensions
- voip
- app integration
- redundancy and / or site resiliency
- UC functionality
- on hold music
- conferencing
- call forwarding
- speakerphones
- receptionist consoles
2- Remote connections needed? Will people need softphones or be working remotely?
3- Is the new system easily expanded and upgraded (ability to support new technologies and adding lines)
4- What is the support like - costs, coverage
5- connectivity options
- Voip (can save considerable costs, also mature and stable these days)
- traditional lines
- virtual / hosted pbx
- proprietary or open-source
- hardware or software
6- Long term manageability and cost factors
Also speak to similar business that utilize the systems you are considering to see how they work in their business. See what they feel are strengths and potential weaknesses or issues.
The vendors you consider should be able to provide these to you.
As well as other references on the company / vendor itself and it’s financial and long term stability.
Good Luck
Hi Hailey,
Since no one has thought to ask you about your original question of wanting to upgrade your existing system, let's start there. what do you currently have? IT's possible that it could be upgraded and you not have to replace everything.
Next, I'd suggest Mitel, even though I'm not a dealer, I do have a connection to a dealer. Mitel has been around for over 30 years that I know of, and have lead the industry in new technology that alot of these others are mentioning. They have great quality products and are used by alot of larger fortune 500/100 companies. Check them out mitel.com and if you want more information or when you're ready to solicit quotes let me know and I'll get you in touch.
Hi Hailey,
If you want, you can check out a free report I've written called "The 7 Most Costly Mistakes Companies Make When Choosing A New Phone System… And How To Avoid Them." A lot of people I've worked with have found it helpful when they were in the planning phase of choosing a new phone system.
You can get it on my website here:
http://smbtechnologytoolkit.com/2010/free-phone-system-report/
Good Luck!
Hailey, good afternoon my name is Todd Spigel from Carousel Industries we are one of the largest business partners for Avaya. You should look into a Avaya IP office system great growth and over 300 features built in the box. Thanks Todd Spigel
(800)-401-0760 x5473
tspigel@carouselindustries.com
Vocatech Inc. 877-488-6228
Business Class Hosted PBX Telephone System, We are affiliated with Boradsoft, Level3, and Polycom,
Let's talk 718.395.1553
Sam
Vocatech Inc.
I would recommend ShoreTel. We upgraded our phone system about 5 years ago to ShoreTel and it has been a decision I've never regretted. The ShoreTel Call Manager, ease of management, scalability, and cost are some of the reasons ShoreTel is worth exploring.
Hailey,
Before you even begin to look at vendors here's a quick checklist which I think you should take a look at.
http://www.idgconnect.com/index.cfm?event=showdownload&cid=115&pk=8450
It's a useful starting place in my opinion.
If you need any assistance feel free to contact me.
Hailey - If you are looking to upgrade what you have currently, you need to consider end of life scenarios, maintenance and management of the multiple systems, across multiple locations. Not to mention, the financial and human resources required to support them. You may want to consider a Hosted/Managed solution. It will address many areas:
Technology obsolescence
Complex Technology Management
Cost Containment Objectives
Create Efficiency and Productivity
Provide Business Continuity
Allow for Unified Communications and Collaboration Tools
Unified Messaging
Remote/Virtual Office Options
And the list goes on
Take a look at the link I have provided for you. It will give you some idea's to think about.
http://cypresscom.net/solutions/
In your case, you would want to evaluate the C4 IP or C3 IP options.
If you would like to speak further, please contact me at: datkinson@cypresscom.net
Have a great day.
Respectfully,
David
As you can see from the other responses the value proposition with a hosted system is great. There are several hosted platforms in the marketplace. you can expect to pay around $40 per person all in for a Broadsoft type solution and around $30 for other types of platforms. The ALL will provide you with a state of the art phone system that can be software upgraded for many years in the future. The best think is with most of the, at least all the SIP based providers, if you are unhappy you can switch to another service provider easily.
Wanting to honor your request for no solicitations there are several national hosted PBX providers all can offer you great services. VoiceNEXT a company I founded is one of them. I would be more than happy to answer any question you might have.
Thanks
Mike Galkin
Founder VoiceNEXT.com
Hailey,
A lot of the advice that has gone before me is great. However, I would recommend that you find a consultant (or two) who have knowledge of traditional premise based phone systems and VoIP offerings.
There are a lot of variables and unfortunately many consultants who have grown up in the traditional telecom world have a biased opinion of IP telephony. The reverse happens to also be true.
That is why you need help to ferret out the best solution for your needs. There are a lot of variables that come into play.
For instance, there is a hybrid solution that would allow you to pool the lines from all of your locations thereby reducing the total number of lines that you need and also reducing the cost per line considerably as well. This would give you the benefit of a premise based solution with the redundancy and benefits of a hosted VoIP solution.
Choose your advisor(s) carefully
For general research, I'd recommend visiting the websites of a few vendors. Since you're multi-site, I'd recommend looking at ShoreTel for sure. One of the key things for multi-site is to look at how easy it is to administer all sites from one location. How easy is it to have a totally unified directory across sites, and what about remote site survivability. I'm sure you're aware that there are many, many brands of systems and all of them have 100's of features - for many businesses, the key things will be easy mobility, ease of accessing the system from anywhere at any time, and a powerful desktop interface that gives you the ability to save time and be more productive. I've looked at several systems and I think ShoreTel is the best - but I'm sure others will think differently.
Good luck!
Hailey,
What phone solution did you end up going wtih?
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