When it comes time to purchase a new phone system, how do you sift through all the clutter to arrive at what exactly your business needs to consider? To many, this can be daunting and not as clear as it might seem it should be. Some questions such as “how many phones do we need” are probably easier to answer than “how should we integrate VoIP into our processes?” or “What type of licenses might we require?”.
To help you out a little bit, CSM gathered some information given by industry experts. Take a look below, some of their ideas and thoughts may surprise you.
Melissa Swartz at NoJitter.com gives us a Top 10 list of what mistakes to avoid:
1. Needs assessment? What needs assessment?
2. Assuming that all systems have feature parity.
3. Not involving business users in the decision.
4. One-Size-Fits-All Decisions.
5. Skimping on user training.
6. Overlooking analog requirements.
7. Ignoring the underlying infrastructure issues.
8. Skipping the network assessment.
9. Discounting 911 requirements.
10. Not thinking of the long term.
(for a complete list and description of each item, click here to link to the blog post on www.nojitter.com)
Jim Gutsk recently spoke with Business News Daily and offered these ideas:
“Companies are not only marketing products or services, but marketing themselves as well,” Gustke told Business News Daily. “We believe that no matter the size or type, every business should have the tools and solutions needed to present themselves in a professional manner, while maximizing their ability to work efficiently and stay connected to customers and co-workers.”
While some small businesses may believe they can get by with simply using their smartphones for work purposes, Gustke thinks differently. He said even the smallest of businesses can benefit from a central business phone system, because it presents a unified face to customers, employees and partners.
“While it may be intuitive, mobile phone plans are simply not set up to offer the same business features that specifically designed business phone systems offer,” he said. “For example, mobile phones can’t offer a virtual receptionist to answer calls and quickly and easily connect customers with the proper company contacts, or provide important business information like hours and directions.”
James Bucki over at Operations Tech gives us a list of basic features every new phone system should have:
Here are some of the more common features that are available on a business telephone system. Each brand is different, so ask the salesperson for a complete list of options.
(James actually wrote quite a bit more as well, check out his blog entry here)
These great bloggers and experts are simply offering you a few steps to help you begin. If you are looking for a new phone system, give our sister company a call. CSM- 1-800-226-3389 or email them at info@csmsouth.com