Business Telephone System Upgrade Guidelines: In this rapidly evolving world, keeping up to date with different communication platforms has become a challenge of businesses in itself. Traditional communication channels like telephones, though crucial, are increasingly losing the center stage as the go-to medium for customers to connect with organizations.
In fact, the communication scenario is evolving so rapidly that the usual time a business takes to upgrade their phone communication system, that is, seven to ten years is no longer enough to keep up. Adding to the issue, upgrading business communication infrastructure is typically a time and cost-intensive process with significant resources being spent on training the manpower with the latest technology.
Organizations that recognize this disparity are upgrading to phone systems such as IP PBX and other cloud-based telecommunication systems which enables easy modifications to adapt to changing market needs and landscape. If you are still unsure if you need to upgrade your business telephone system to IP PBX system, read our article on IP PBX advantages to get a brief on how it can benefit your business and boost your overall productivity.
Having said that, partnering with a really good business telephone system provider usually goes a long way in successful implementation and ease in prolonged usage of the service. We have listed out some of the key factors for you to evaluate and determine whether a Business Telecommunication provider is the right for your Business.
Reliability and track record
Reliability comes first on this list and should also be the first thing in your mind when you are selecting a vendor. If a Business telephone system vendor comes with a track record with poor reviews and botchy implementation and service, then nothing else matters. You are bound to have a poor experience throughout your time working with them.
To measure the track record, look into the vendors existing customer base and what they say. Though most IP PBX providers don’t provide their client details, it may be worth probing into their business to avoid future pains. White papers and case studies, such as CNN News18 Election Day Counting Campaign, provides a clear indicator of the capability and resourcefulness of an IP PBX vendor.
Customer service and training
A Business Telecommunication is a complex system which requires a dedicated team handling and maintaining the whole set up after it is implemented. Vendors without the after-sales customer support are usually hard to work with and eventually may have to move to other vendors which provide good support in future.
With the vendors who provide round the clock support, you can feel rest assured that your business communication will be taken care of, as they have dedicated personnel and resources just to take care of exceptional problems that arise occasionally. In addition to that, IP PBX providers should also be willing to give assistance in training your current staff to handle the day to day functionality of your PBX system.
Features & Toolsets
The features and Toolsets usually act as the differentiating factor between various PBX providers. It has the highest impact on cost, next to the number of connections and locations of your business. Your Business is unique and so are your requirements. So it is crucial to research and decide what kind of solutions and features fit your needs.
Since VoIP systems run on internet connection and each telephone node acts as an independent computer, this opens up a whole lot of possibilities of what you can do with your business phone network. Speech Recognition, Integrated Analytics, Interactive Voice Response, 3rd Party CRM integration and an unlimited number of smart extensions that will help boost productivity and cut costs in other aspects of your organisation.
A good IP PBX provider should not only be able to support such integrations and features but provide necessary updates and features on their own to support your business needs. Only those vendors who have the necessary expertise and in house talent, such as Haloocom, will be able to provide you with such modifications.
Level of Integration
As discussed in the beginning, telephones are not the only mode of communication in today’s business environment. Emails, SMSs and IM Chat systems have also started playing a major role. To bring everything under one roof, an IP PBX provider must be able to integrate all forms of communication in a single service.
A vendor with dedicated API support as well as the ability to bringing third party business apps such as CRM software, productivity tools ERPs can effectively pull this off. With the integration in place, you will be able to control and monitor everything under the same interface. After all, the business telephone system no longer means just telephone communication networks.
Security
Though IP PBX systems are designed to be secure, there are still a lot of issues which can compromise the overall security of your Business Communication system. To get a comprehensive security overview, look into the Local Area Network (LAN) connectivity, Wide Area Network (WAN) connectivity your network and service provider network, data centre setup and endpoints.
Check also if the vendor has built the whole system inhouse or is providing his service through open source VoIP software. As the source code of open source software is accessible to anyone, many would have already worked through every nuance of the code, making it easy to hack.
Hardware Quality
Often overlooked aspect while selecting a vendor is the hardware quality. Many get excited by features and customisations, only to be disappointed by the frequent breakdowns and inability to utilise all the features to the full extent because of hardware limitations. According to the study from Softchoice, almost 78% of employees using collaboration technology, such as IP PBX systems, frequently experience technical difficulties.” Hardware is an equally important part of the equation to have complete Business Communication Experience.
Upgrading your Business Communication to IP PBX can have tremendous advantages, but only if it is implemented and backed by a capable provider. If you would like to know more and discuss how IP PBX can transform your office communication, give us a call to 9972732222 or write to knowmore@halooocom.in