Important Points to Remember before Purchasing your Business Phone System

Before purchasing a phone system for your business it is best that you focus your time first in identifying what you really need. Various phone systems in the market today are designed to cater different needs and different businesses. Although there are fully customized systems it is still centered towards your requirements thus it is important that you get it right to avoid costly mistakes and to acquire the best possible communication system.

To help you identify your needs below is a simple list of phone system guide broken down into the different aspects telephony solutions:

 Number of extensions – probably the first thing you need to consider in a phone system is how many people with dedicated extensions are there in your office. Count it accurately and consider all possible additions within a month’s time frame so you can set it up as soon as possible. However, if you are looking to expand or add more extensions within 3 months or more then it is not advisable to purchase the phones just yet.

Number of concurrent calls – The next thing you need to put in mind is the number of concurrent phone calls you expect to make and receive. This is dictated by the number of channels tied up to a number. Let’s say you have 3 incoming lines on 1 number then this means that your number can receive 3 simultaneous calls at any given time. Be sure to get this figure right, too much channels will force you to pay excessive line rental charges whilst not enough lines can cost you a sale if customers kept getting the busy tone.

Telephone numbers – You should also decide at the earliest stage whether you will need a new number, move an existing number from your former provider to the new or perhaps acquire a toll free number.

Features set – The next thing you need to determine is the set of features that you will need, do you need an automatic greeting message, a menu system or perhaps an out of hour’s mode? Jot down all the features that you need in a piece of paper but segregate the features that are nice to have but not necessary.

Target call rates – Obviously the cheaper the call rates the better, however, it is still advisable that you set a realistic target range across local, national, mobile and international calls so you won’t go overboard your budget.