Every single business, large or small needs a telephone system as without communication they simply cannot function. Choosing the right telephone system for a business’ needs is not always straightforward, however. Here are some tips to ensure you specify the right system with all the features you’ll need for your business.

There are several different kinds of telephone system, including PBX, virtual PBX and Voice over IP (VoiP), each with their own features and benefits. Choosing the right one for your business can seem complicated, but if you get your plan in place at the beginning, you’ll find shopping for your telephone system a lot easier.

Your Business Needs

Think about your basic needs. How many employees do you have – and how many do you envisage having in three years time? Typically every employee should have an extension with remote access voicemail at the very least.

Thinking ahead to how many employees you’ll have in the future allows you to future proof your telephone system and could save you money in the long run. You might also want to consider additional features like mobile options (such as Blackberry’s or smartphones), call forwarding, route-to-fax and conferencing features.

Small businesses with two to five employees will require only a basic package but larger businesses or those small ones looking to expand may require some additional features.

Options for Bigger Businesses

If you have a lot of employees then answering the telephone is a vital customer facing task and one that may become an issue in a busy and well staffed office. Features you might want to consider to help with this issue include auto attendant, in-house conferencing and call hunt.

Auto Attendant can handle calls without the need for a member of staff to answer, freeing up their time to focus on their jobs. It provides a list of options for callers to choose from and provides, where possible, that information automatically. This could be business hours, directions and business information. In addition, Auto Attendant can route calls to the appropriate staff member based on selections made by the caller.

This kind of automated options system can also make your business appear to be much larger to the customer than it possibly is.

In-House Conferencing is ideal for those companies that do a lot of telephone conferencing as it can prove more cost effective than using third party suppliers.

Finally, Call Hunt will automatically route an unanswered call to another staff member to ensure that your customers’ calls are answered in a timely fashion, thus improving customer service right across the board.

Expanding Businesses

Whatever phone system you decide to choose, ALWAYS bear in mind how fast you expect your business to grow. Choosing a package that can be easily expanded and at the lowest possible cost is vital if you want to avoid a huge IT and voice bill down the road.

Lastly, outsourcing your communications, as well as your IT and data requirements, provides a huge amount of peace of mind through the services these IT support companies give you.

Twenty four hour maintenance reduces downtime of your telephone network and computer systems, meaning you will always provide the best customer service possible and your business will run more smoothly and profitably.

Author Bio: Ian Grainger is writing on behalf of Efuse, providers of IT support and voice and communications systems and maintenance in Manchester and the North West.

Category: Business Management
Keywords: telephone systems, voice, communications, IT support