Choosing a phone system for your small business

Communication is vital in today’s business environment. If you are a small or medium sized enterprise (SME) then choosing the right phone system for your business is of vital importance. For both external and incoming client and sales calls and internal telephone communication between employees it is important to find the right telephone system for your needs. There are several factors to consider.

Basic Setup

Every business is different. It is important to not only consider your current setup but also what your future needs will be. Do you make and take a lot of external calls to current clients or potential customers? This will influence the number of lines you will need. A very small business may only need a couple of telephone lines and POTS. However a larger business may need a PBX system, voice over IP or even virtual PBX.

Extra Features

Once the structure and fundamental components of your telephone system have been decided, you will need to think about that other features your business needs.

• Does each employee need their own telephone or can they be shared?
• Do you need to provide voice mail for everybody?
• How will incoming calls be routed?
• Do you need an incoming call queuing system?
• If your business is spread over several sites will you need to make a lot of conference calls?

As well as telephone calls most offices also need internet access and fax facilities. Expandability is also a factor to consider.

Maintenance

As communication is so important in a modern business, it is important to consider what would happen if your telephone system went down. Regular maintenance and testing can help alleviate this but no system is perfect. What would your business do without the ability to take or make calls? How long could you wait for a service engineer to arrive at your office to fix any problems?

If all this sounds daunting, then there are several expert companies on hand to advise your business on choosing the correct phone system. Once your needs have been assessed they will also install your telephone systems and often maintain it and provide help in emergencies. To get an idea of the kind of service these companies offer visit http://www.microcare-systems.co.uk/telecoms_overview.html