How To Choose A New Phone System
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How to choose a new phone system: Phone system checklist
Before even looking at the features of a new phone system or choosing which type of phone system to choose, if you are moving to new premises then you should consider the following as part of your checklist.
Timescales
Ordering new lines, installation and new cabling takes time, so timescales need to be taken into account with your new phone system project. New ISDN or broadband lines can take up to six weeks to be installed (through BT), so the sooner you get your order in for these, the sooner you can have a new system up and running.
Cabling
Always inspect the cabling in your new premises as you may need to add further cabling in order to run your IT and telephony infrastructure. Whilst it maybe cheaper, it is not sensible to leave CAT5 cabling up to electricians, or to take the word of the landlord without your own visual inspection.
System
Phone systems come in various flavours, from analog phone systems to digital phone systems, and from IP phone systems to cloud phone system. Each of these has different capabilities, features and costs discussed in subsequent pages.
Supplier
There are all sorts of common sense ways in which to judge the worth of any company, but the following is worth considering from the telecommuncations perspective:
- Accreditation: are they officially recognised for their expertise by the main venders
- Experience: do they have the proven experience and longevity to be likely to support you for the next few years
- Demonstration: can they show you the equipment prior to purchase and answer your (difficulat) questions about it
- Customer commitment: can they show you their support and helpdesk processes
- Value: do they believe enough in their equipment to offer a free trial before you need to purchase
- Finance: what finance options do they have in place
- Locality: a phone system supplier near to you is better than one far away. If there are issues, you want an engineer to be able to reach you quickly
- Staff: how many or is it a glorified one man band
- Price: regardless of how professional or fantastic your first quotation appears to be, always shop around and ask for like for like comparisons broken down into units and descriptions that suit you rather than suit them. The telecoms business if full of jargon and hard-to-understand bind-in contracts; never accept a quotation that is not completely clear in its pricing and priced in anything other than conventional units of measure or item by item. Beware of the dealer which issues a confusing proposal mixing quarterly rental terms in with line by line items.
Previous: choosing a phone system
Next: Examine your existing infrastructure, then decide
Next Steps:
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Address
Telefonix Voice & Data,
Unit 1 Bourne Mill Business Park
Guildford Road, Farnham
Surrey, GU99PS, England
Tel: +44 01252 333 888
Company Reg: 04351046