How to Choose the Right Phone System for Your Small Business
Introduction
Intuitively, a phone system might seem easier to get set up than an IT system, but in reality it needs as much planning and support as your line-of-business applications, e-mail systems, servers, and laptops.
And in some respects, even more. E-mail, CRM applications, laptops, and mobile devices are flexible systems with disposable and replaceable components. Each part performs a basic function, with many other easily accessible options to get a task done if what you have can't do it. But even the most modern phone systems are fixed and inflexible, with features locked in as they are, and no good options to work around anything that's missing or doesn't work as you need.
For a small business, getting saddled with the wrong phone system can significantly impact your operations. Your employees may be distracted by poor voice quality, too much complexity performing tasks like transferring calls, or features that just don't work. Outages or accidental disconnections can mean missed calls from clients. In the worst situations, employees give up and use their own cell phones, meaning you're paying for nothing.
Planning for Your System
Here are the main factors to consider when designing your phone system:
- Features such as: conference/three-way calling, transfers (blind and attended), voicemail-to-email, SMS, users easily turning call forwarding on and off, direct numbers (DID), compatible desk phones, mobile app (soft phone), configurable caller ID, multi-level auto-attendant (IVR), and night/day mode.
- Availability.
- Audio quality.
- Reliability and uptime.
- Cost.
That's quite a bit to balance. Also, determining these requires the ability to assess technical aspects of the offerings and match them to your operational needs. Here's some more detail on assessing the above factors.
Features
You should find out from potential system providers which of the features you need are supported, and exactly how they work. Go back to the mention above about how inflexible phone systems can be. If the method for transferring or setting up a three-way call just doesn't suit your preferred manner of operating, in most cases there is no way to reconfigure or fix it. You're stuck with how the phone system works and the desk phones you might have paid a lot of money for. And what's tough is it's difficult to do a full trial in operations with a new phone system, especially if you want to port an existing business phone number into it. If any physical lines need to be brought into your location, the service provider almost certainly won't offer any trial or a free cancellation option.
Availability
Some service providers simply can't offer lines in a given physical location. If they do, they might require a lead time of several weeks. Some might offer services but only over another provider's lines, which could lead to administrative complexity in resolving problems in the future. Or they might possibly require a multi-year contract or an installation fee if they have to install lines near your location.
Audio Quality
This refers to the natural clarity of voices on the phone line, lack of any delays (even a half a second can throw us off from our natural human timing in conversation), no echo, and no periods where the sound gets corrupted or drops out. Some providers offer a Service-Level Agreement (SLA) that guarantees a certain level of quality, which comes at a higher cost.
If the price of an SLA is out of reach, your next best option is to go with a configuration that is known to work, considering the network equipment at your office, the phone provider's capabilities, and the link to the phone provider's network. Nothing beats a copper line or digital line from your office directly into the phone provider's system. Whenever your lines are connected into the phone system over the Internet, audio quality problems become more likely, and are outside the control of you and your phone system provider. This may be the only option if your employees are scattered or work remotely, and you need them to use phones in their home, through their laptops on the road, or with a mobile app, which of course can only connect via the Internet.
Reliability and uptime
A phone system going completely offline is quite rare. But, it can happen. Some companies use their phones mostly for convenience and it won't be a disaster if they go out for a few hours, so long as their e-mail and chat work. But if near 100% uptime is a requirement for you, providers offer SLAs that guarantee that, again, for a higher cost. Also consider that if your phone lines are delivered to your office through another provider's connection, then both the phone provider's systems and the separate company that provides your connection to it will both need to be as reliable as you need your phone service to be.
Cost
Cost involves more than equipment purchases and the monthly service fees you pay to your providers. Sophisticated systems may require an expert for regular maintenance, including backing up the configuration data and voicemails so this isn't all lost in case of a system failure.
Your Options
Who can help you? Who should help you? Well, you can call one of the following:
- A local area utility provider, such as AT&T, Frontier, or Spectrum.
- Internet-only ("cloud") telephone service to run over existing Internet connections.
- A local one-stop telecommunications company that can combine the above two.
Let's learn about each option, and then at the end we'll discuss the best way to choose.
Local Utility Provider
Direct local providers will set up your phone lines and provide your desk phones, the wiring connection to your office(s), and technical support. All usually offer a "business" grade system or "enterprise". Enterprise will have more features and guaranteed reliability, but at a much higher cost. To go with any of these, you'll typically have to call each local provider in your area to get their offers, compare pricing and features, and then sign up.
With a full solution from a local utility, you can expect quality, reliable service, or at the very least prompt resolution of problems since all aspects of the system are under their control. This generally will have fewer features than Internet phone systems, or custom solutions built by an independent provider, though.
Internet phone system
This will be the lowest cost, but with the lowest level of quality and reliability. This can work if your company is not very dependent on phone calls, but you still want to provide a business phone number for your employees to use.
This type of system is usually referred to as a "cloud" phone system, meaning there is no one particular location for your phone system itself, and your employees' extensions might connect to one of many servers maintained by the phone service provider anywhere in the world. Because of this, there is no way to know, or for you to control, what path your voice data will travel through the Internet before it actually gets into the standard telephone network. If the voice data is traversing congested paths, you will have quality problems.
And there is no SLA you can get for any small business Internet phone system to guarantee reliability, for the simple fact that the phone system provider has no control over your Internet connection. Even if you have an SLA with the provider of your Internet link that guarantees all voice data will be given highest priority, this only applies to transport from your office and through your Internet access provider's network until it goes onto the Internet backbone. After that, no one can guarantee your voice data can bypass congestion.
Internet phone systems, however, will be relatively flexible as far as assigning phones and phone numbers, as no aspect of your phone system will be tied to any particular location.
Features can vary greatly between providers. The more expensive plans can offer quite functional systems with auto-attendants, conferencing, transferring, etc. Less expensive plans may nominally have these features, but users might be frustrated by substandard implementation.
As with local utility providers, you'll generally call each cloud provider yourself, evaluate their options, pick a plan, and sign up.
Local One-Stop Telecommunications Company
Independent telecommunications service providers exist to provide you the solution you need. They will assess your requirements and set you up with the phone system provider and equipment that best suits you. They act as a broker, but of course can sell the hardware as well. Some have their own in-house solution they will customize for you to the extent possible. Others partner with a range of utility providers, cloud providers, and telephone equipment manufacturers to build your ideal solution, which you can pay for all on one bill.
With a local independent provider, you may be able to get the flexibility of an Internet-based phone system without the quality problems caused by conveying voice data throughout the Internet. They can do this by hosting your phone system in the same geographical area as your office, connected to the Internet with high-bandwidth links. This way, your employees' phones can reach the phone system server over the Internet without having to traverse too many major gateways or get on the Internet backbone, which will minimize incidents of quality problems due to Internet congestion.
Many decades in the past, every business phone system was composed of hardware you kept in your office, called a PBX. Local phone utility companies only provided the phone lines from their building (called the local exchange) into your PBX. All your desk phones would be wired into the PBX, and a technician configured your extensions and voicemail in the PBX. Local utility providers now try to offer the same features you would have in an in-house PBX—without needing one—by having all your desk phones connect directly into their systems over the lines from your office into their local exchange building. And of course Internet phone system providers have done this since inception, but over the Internet. So, in cases where your requirements and constraints demand in-house hardware, you'll need a local telecommunications company to get you set up. This includes selecting the right PBX, installing it physically in your office, and working with the company that will provide the phone lines to configure them to work with your centralized hardware.
How to Get Set Up Right
If you contact your local utility, they'll offer what they can offer if they service your area. Cloud service providers will do the same, but can cover any of your employees wherever they have Internet access.
As mentioned, an independent telecommunications company can help develop a solution for you. One problem to look out for is if you approach a one-stop company for a recommendation, they're going to be inclined to offer what works for them to provide, which may not be what is best for you. And the dirty truth is that, since they know how difficult it is to change phone systems, once they have you signed up, you might have to live with any inadequacies. This is why it's so important you scope the system and ensure all features are as you will need before making the move.
Something else to look out for if you go with a local indepedent provider: Some of the older such companies, who have had the same customers using the same platform for decades, have not upgraded the security on their systems, which could make it very easy for someone to break in. Your phone system getting taken over by malicious actors can be devastating to your company.
One thing you'll notice, whoever you work with, is they'll often ask for your IT systems manager. The local utilities for sure like to know someone is there to manage your network firewall, switches, inside wiring, and any Wi-Fi devices you have, as well as provide initial diagnosis when a user complains about problems with the Internet or phones, to avoid opening a ticket with the utility when the problem isn't with them. Cloud service providers don't ask so much, since they're all about simplicity and self-service, and don't want to be involved in your Internet access setup.
Independents sometimes offer IT management services themselves, but it's not typical to truly see these combined in one company. See, until recently, phone systems had no connection to your computer network and servers, or even Internet connection. And, even as that has been changing, many phone system manufacturers and vendors are still very restrictive on who can resell, configure, and support their equipment, closely protecting even their technical documentation from anyone who hasn't committed to selling their gear. Because of the effort it takes to make this commitment, phone system sales and service companies have traditionally had to focus only on phones, or they couldn't meet their quotas.
Modern phone systems are all now basically computer servers, and phones connect by some sort of data network rather than hard copper wires. So your best bet for getting your phone system set up is to have a qualified and competent IT systems manager guide the process—especially one with experience in a wide range of phone systems going back many years, such as J.D. Fox Micro.
A good IT provider sees your phone system as just another server to deploy, configure, secure, and back up. And it's even easier to manage as it's for a single and basic purpose, regardless of the new underlying technologies employed: traditional phone system operations. And when your IT systems manager is already responsible for all other aspects of your IT system—Internet access, firewalls, network switches, file servers, workstations, laptops, software applications, data backups, and user satisfaction— that's definitely who can ensure your phone system cooperates with your IT system. And going forward, whenever there is an issue to address, you won't have to figure out whether to call your IT service provider or phone system manager first, or worry about them blaming each other's components for causing the problem.
Even if it's best you purchase a proprietary phone system that requires you go through a dedicated reseller, you can still use J.D. Fox Micro as your primary manager, and as your liaison for opening trouble tickets with the phone system service provider. This arrangement has worked well for many years for clients of J.D. Fox Micro.
Take Action
Contact J.D. Fox Micro today to get the right phone system for your company and never worry about it again!
If you'd like to read about what you should consider if you plan to use SMS on a cloud-hosted business phone system, read the article Business SMS Now Requires Registration.