Toshiba Phone Systems and More

What makes a phone system great? Is it the features that is has? Is it the ease of use, maybe how reliable it is! I was reading a blog post today by ramonray:  http://tinyurl.com/bzvlgr and it got me thinking.

Features are important but a lot of times the ones that could help you the most don’t get used! Ease of use is big, if you can’t use the phone system to its capacity then what good are all the features? If the phone system is not reliable like with poor VoIP quality then your customers are not going to want to talk to you.

So what makes a phone system great? How about the service company that installed it? All the things mentioned are important and the best way to get all of these is to do business with a GREAT service company! A great service company will make sure that you know how to use all the features, that the system is installed properly to ensure it is always running right! Great service companies make good phone systems GREAT!

Ask your self three things about your service company, 1. are their Techs certified on the products? 2. do they invest in continuing education from the manufacture? 3. Do they know the product well?

So what do you think? Is it the box or the people behind it? What makes a phone system great?

Planning ahead is probably the most important thing to do with an upcoming office move. Check out this post as it relates to finding a mover. 

But when you coordinate an office move you need to think of your office technology equipment. We had a customer once call us the day before they we set to move and had just realized that they didn’t consider an office phone system in the new location. We had to scramble to get them a new pbx phone system and get in there and cable for them before they moved. They are a doctors office so their office phone system is critical to their business. We did help them but it’s not the way we like to do business.  So if your are planning an office move, here are 7 things to consider BEFORE you move.

1. Establish a realistic deadline and timeline-if your new space is new construction build in 2-4 weeks cushion into your move in date. This will give you time consider either moving your existing pbx phone system or looking at purchasing a new office phone system. There are many productivity enhancements available today that perhaps weren’t available when you bought your existing system or it wasn’t important then to do more with less. Things such as unified messaging, VoIP,  voice and data convergence and integration between a phone system and computer are all ways to work more effectively. An office move might be just the right time to consider these helpful changes.

2. Select an Experienced, Reputable Telecommunications Company-Ask vendors for references. Ask your peers who they use. Customer service and technical support as well as the experience of the telecommunications partner you pick are equalling as important as the products you purchase. Most products these days all have similar features, with the exception of the productivity enhancing tools,  so how you will be serviced during and after your move is critical. Picking a vendor who is a “partner” not just vendor can mean the difference between a smooth move or a disaster.

3. Evaluate your local, long distance and internet services-Again now is a good time to look at whether you are getting the best deal  on the appropriate services for your business. Today companies are looking to save anywhere they can, this is an area that you may not have thought about since you first got your services, but you may be over paying.

4.  Don’t forget about the voice and data cabling-whether you are moving to an existing space or building new, now is the time to consider your present and future cabling needs. Ask potential vendors to visit your new site and give you their imput on number of drops and whether now is a good time for voice and data convergence of your infrastructure.

5. Is it time to upgrade our IT equipment-the way servers and PC’s have evolved over the past few years, now might be the time to look at moving to that faster server with more memory. Make sure your vendor is talking to you about real time data backup solutions, and I don’t mean tape, you want to actually be able to restore your data should you have a disaster. The other critical item is your network security with all the new viruses and threats generated daily and all the compliancy issues a company has to deal with, ignorance is not an excuse to leave your network vulnerable. Make sure your vendor has experience and ask for a project plan to make sure you know what you’re paying for.

6. Protect your stuff-Now that you’re moving into a new office space,  you may want to keep an eye on things. Again with the “do more with less” mentality- consider installing a video surveillance system to not only watch your employees and assets but also as a deterrent to crime.

If you can find a telecommunications partner that can provide you all of the services in one place, that’s even better. It’s hard having to deal with and coordinate a large number of vendors and contractors especially if you have other duties within your company. Often the responsibilities for the office move are put on an office manager or facilities manager, finding a good communications partner that can take ownership of the technology piece of your move will take a large burden off of you and make your move a success. Don’t forget to notify your vendors and clients of your new contact information so they can find you after you move.

If you are planning an upcoming office move and would like to talk with an experienced telecommunications partner in the CT area, contact me    or give us a call 866-887-5792 so we can help you plan a successful move.

There is a lot of talk recently about how Hosted VoIP has come of age, and that it brings a lot of features to small and medium size businesses. It may be bias but for me being in the business of selling Premise based equipment I think that going hosted is not the only way to take advantage of the great features of VoIP!

Small and Medium size business want to have a competitive edge, they need to be concerned with costs, and most importantly they need have services that are reliable. VoIP brings a lot of those needs together but there are trade offs we done with a hosted solution. With a hosted solution all of your eggs are in one basket. If your broadband service that feeds the Hosted VoIP goes down you go down! Now before you say it let me say Yes you can have a back-up circuit but guess what that costs more money! If you share your broadband for VoIP with your Internet services then you have to worry about having enough band width! Another concern is cost, with hosted VoIP the services are paid for monthly and they never reduce or go away!Also you only have one choice in most cases for your LD carrier and that typically is the host!

Now let’s look at the argument for Premise based. First Premise based equipment can give you just as much VoIP features as a hosted solution can. There can be VoIP phones for users both local and remote, there can be VoIP carrier services from a variety for carriers. Features likefind me/follow me , voicemail as email, and remote worker support are all available from Premise based solutions. Additional features like external paging and desktop integration with your CRM package are also available. If your broadband goes down you can also have copper lines integrated as a fail over and not skip a beat making and taking calls from your VoIP phone on your desk! The cost of equipment can show a ROI in months , in many cases. After that you would only be paying for services rather than services plus features.

I’m not saying that hosted is bad, I’m saying take a good hard look at Premise based first, it can work. This post was inspired by a Q&A with Bruce Chatterley http://tinyurl.com/7don5w . Tell me what you think. Can there be a case made for both or is there one clear winner in the VoIP arena?

VoIP for BusinessVoip for business can do many things. Watch the video to learn more