Telephony is the cornerstone of many businesses. If a potential customer
cannot contact you over the telephone, they will likely move onto the
next company in the phonebook and try them instead. More importantly
than just having a phone system that can get somebody on the end of the
line is a well implemented system that can quickly direct a person to
exactly who they need to talk to wherever they may be.
There are a large number of different systems available for most any
business sector and because of this it is a very good idea to have a
clear understanding of what your current business needs are in a phone
system. A major factor can be expandability since PBX (private branch
exchange) phone systems may remain the high-end business technology of
choice for many more years. Thus, it s important to invest in a phone
system that will be able to accommodate any changes that might occur in
your business during that period.
Sizing of telephony systems is generally fairly modular. As an example,
standard sizing follows the pattern of 3 lines with 8 phones, 8 lines
with 16 phones, 12 lines with 24 phones and so on. A more recent sizing
method of phone systems has been sizing by number of ports. For example a
32 line system could have any combination of phones and incoming lines.
The balance of phones to lines is typically determined by how many
lines or extensions the manufacturer puts onto their boards. With this
in mind, when selecting a phone system, the purchaser should look into
how much potential expansion of the system will inconvenience your
business and how much expansion would be likely to cost.
VoIP (voice over internet protocol) is another way of setting up the
connection, and essentially entails hosting your phone systems over an
internet connection. For many companies, VoIP works out a lot cheaper in
the long run. There have previously been service quality issues in the
past, with inadequate internet connections affecting the quality of the
phone line. So in this respect, often people simply replace multiple
phone lines for a large data connection. It does however make sense to
look at PBX systems which accommodate IP connections and handsets to
allow for future change.
Other fairly important things to consider are the number of locations
you will need to hook up to your system, accommodating mobile users who
will spend a large amount of their time out of the office as well as any
additional services you may require as a part of your PBX. Obvious
things you would expect from a phone system would include voicemail,
call holding and conferencing since these are fairly integral to many
businesses. Other considerations that are perhaps a little less
important include speed dials, redialling and call forwarding.
There are also things that you may not know about but could greatly
benefit your business, such as sharing the same phone network over
multiple business sites. This can help companies who may have multiple
call centres or offices spread over several cities by allowing the whole
system to function as a single unit. Or computer telephony integration,
(CTI).While CTI can vary largely depending on the complexity, from full
integration to a simple level it may be the ability to dial numbers
viewed on a computer screen. A more complex system might tie customer
relationship management software in with the phone system to produce a
highly integrated and efficient system. Another ability that is an
absolute must have for people on the move, who may be in any number of
locations from day to day, is a follow me system, which can reroute
calls to a specific person around what they might be doing. For example,
they may be driving somewhere and direct their calls to an in car phone
or their mobile.
In the telephony market today, there is a solution to cater to just
about every user. It would be well worth contacting a specialist in
telephony to see how improvements could be made to your communications
and maybe even change the way you do business.
by:
No comments:
Post a Comment