As a business owner one of the toughest decisions you have to make is choosing the right business phone system provider for your business. The sheer number of service providers in the market today is both an advantage and a disadvantage. Advantage because the competition will lead to better prices and disadvantage because it may lead to confusion.

To avoid any mishaps in choosing the right business phone system provider for your business it is advisable to take a little more time in deciding and be guided by the following criteria:

Business phone type – The first decision that you have to make is what type of business phone system will be suited for your business. There is the traditional PBX and a hosted PBX however with the today’s market more and more businesses are opting for a hosted solution rather than a conventional platform. This is due to the savings and unparalleled features that the latter has. It is best that you weigh both options and decide based on the benefits and steer away from the lesser of the two.

After you have decided what system type will be best for you, then that’s the only time you can begin the hunt for a service provider.

System quality – One of your top priorities should be the system’s quality. This includes all actual servers and network that makes the phone system running. You can easily determine this by making a series of phone calls to the provider. If no single phone call drops out or faces jitters during the call then you can assume that their system is of quality however the best way to determine the quality is to ask around.

You can log on to forums and blogs that give unbiased evaluation which you can easily find over the internet.

Cost – Obviously one of the strongest dictating factors is the cost; make sure that you compare various quotes before you settle with a provider. However it doesn’t mean that it is wise to settle for the cheapest. Gauge the value for the money with what you will be getting for every buck that you spend with a certain provider.

Customer service – It is quite impossible that you find a business phone solution that will never face any downtime or problem so it is best that you choose a provider is able give provide a decent customer support. Again asking around and logging on to forums can help you determine the quality of support a service provider is giving.

Lock in contracts – It is best that you choose a provider that doesn’t oblige you to sign a lock in contract. This will allow you to switch telcos if you are not happy with their service and don’t you think that if they provide good service customers will stay with them even without a contract right?

In the end the decision all comes down to you, you can seek advice and suggestion but neve let anyone dictate you what to do because as a business owner you know what is best for your company.

You hear always hear it from business meetings, conventions and seminars how important it is to move your business to the cloud. Technologies like Google drive, Skydrive, dropbox and the like are all cloud based solutions that offer the convenience of accessibility. Apart from moving your files online one of the most debated topic about the Cloud is phone systems. VoIP business phone systems are now becoming very popular amongst business owners in all industries because of the advantages that it have over traditional analog phones. The question is, will you move your business phone system in the Cloud?

As a business owner only you can decide whether cloud telephone systems is better for you or not. To help you decide here are the advantages and disadvantages of the technology.

Advantages of Cloud Phone Systems

More affordable call rates - Probably the strongest advantage of the Cloud phones or VoIP is the fact that call are significantly cheaper compared to traditional analog lines. On average you could be saving about 70% on calls across local, national, mobile and International calls.

Cheaper upkeep cost - You probably notice in your bill that there is a monthly charge for each number that you have. On average these charges ranges from $25 to $40 per month depending on your provider. With VoIP lines are about 50% cheaper because it is cheaper to maintain and to run.

Convenience - Since your phones will be in the cloud, you can literally take it anywhere you are provided that you can connect it to the Internet. This will allow you to work virtually anywhere. On top of that your Android or iPhones can serve as an extension simply by downloading an application from your mobile’s app store.

Can be customised - Unlike traditional phone system that will require you to upgrade the hardware or buy a top end PBX just to run the features you want, VoIP can be fully customised without any hardware or upgrade needed. So you can have the features of a top end PBX without even touching at the baseline of its cost.

Merge all your Cloud Systems - A handful of providers can merge your VoIP phones with other Cloud based solutions like a CRM, tracking systems, booking software and websites.

Disadvantages of Cloud Phone Systems

Dependent on the Internet - Call quality will be directly dictated by your Internet. If you have a good Internet then you can expect exceptional call quality but if you have bad Internet connection then you will have problems in call quality. It is then advisable to secure a good and reliable Internet before you use VoIP.

Many unreliable providers - VoIP is easier and cheaper to start as a business compared to an analog telecommunications company. As such, not all providers are reliable and will offer you good service. It is then ideal to take your time and find as much information as you can before signing up with any provider.

You do not have the system in your office - With a traditional PBX the system that runs everything is easily accessible for your IT personnel or contractor to troubleshoot. With VoIP the system is in the Cloud and you do not have access to it. This means that if there are any problems you will rely on your provider to fix it. So, it is again a matter of choosing who ti sign up with. Choose a provider that is known to give exceptional customer service and technical support so if in case of a problem you can be sure that they will fix it in a timely fashion.

A must have for small businesses is good and reliable business phone system. As such business owners like you spend a considerable amount of time to find the best phone system that will meet their requirements and fit in their budget. However the reality is it is easier said than done. Obviously sales representatives will say that their business phone system is the best in the market and will not fill you in with the limitations and downside of what they are selling.

To assist small business owners like you find the ideal business phone system here are the things that you need to watch out for in determining the which is the best for you.

Price vs value - Obviously the price is an important factor for small businesses. It is important that you set a strict budget on what you can spend and make the most out of it. However, this does not imply that the cheapest phone system out there is the most cost effective. On top of the price what you need to give more attention is the value that you will get from your money. Choose the phone system that offers you more over the other whilst still sticking to your budget.

Scalability and flexibility - Avoid spending business money on phones over and over again. It is ideal that you choose a phone that lets you scale it as you need to and is flexible enough so that you do not need to spend on hardware or system upgrades when you need to add more extensions or telephone lines.

Features - Another important aspect of a phone system is the features and the capacity that it offers. It is then ideal to choose a phone system that offers you as many features for free and as many available options so when the time comes that you need that certain features it is readily available and you no longer need to do any upgrades.

Capacity that it offers you - The capacity of the phone system will dictate the number of calling customers your business accommodate. The last thing that you would want is to spend a considerable amount of time and money only to find out that your leads are getting the engaged tone when they call you and goes to another company because of it.

It is ideal that you make a spreadsheet or a simple checklist from a scratch paper about this points and make sure that the phone system that you will purchase will meet it and meet your requirements.

Every month business owners are faced with a daunting decision whether to open their phone bill or not. Having to pay hundreds of dollars if not thousands can really take its toll on any business but the reality is no business can run without any phones. So do you have no choice but to pay that ridiculous amount each month? Well, you do have a choice, technology today are now offering clever and more affordable solution to business owners in terms of communication.

VoIP phone systems are now becoming the number 1 option for many businesses worldwide because of its benefits with savings being on top of the list. By using VoIP instead of your traditional lines you can now say goodbye to that expensive business phone plans that you used to pay and welcome a better yet more affordable business communication system. To give you an idea how much you could be saving just take a look at the breakdown below and you will realize that yes it is possible to save money on telecommunications.

Line rental or service charges - If you open up a bill you will notice that telecommunication companies are charging you somewhere within the likelihood of $40 for a line and you will need multiple lines to accommodate your incoming and outgoing usage. On average a business with 5 phones would need at least 3 lines which equates to $120 for line rental alone. With VoIP line rentals or service charges are cheaper at an average of $15 per month. Some service providers even offer outgoing lines for free so you only need to pay for the incoming ones.

Cheaper call costs - How much does your current telco charge you for a call? 10 cents per minute to local calls? Some additional charges if it exceeds 25 kilometers? And even more for interstate calls? Not to mention the blood pressure rising mobile charges and connection fees! With VoIP calls to landline are fixed and untimed averaging at 15 cents per call and for mobiles calls are somewhere between 16 to 25 cents a mile cheaper compared to the 70 cents per minute you are now paying. To put it into better perspective if you are paying $100 on calls with VoIp you will only be paying somewhere between $20 to $40.

Free features - If you will notice your telco is charging you even for a basic feature like caller ID. With VoIP there these features and a whole lot more are absolutely free of charge.

So if you think that saving money on telecommunication is just a dream then take a look into VoIP phone systems and you will realize that it is possible and dreams do come true.

Every business owner’s dream is to have the best business phone system so they can effectively manage their business and customers. However, not many knows what the best business phone system is like and unfortunately many companies and organisation are now stucked with phones that does half the job they want it to do.

To help you avoid such costly mistakes here are the points that you need to bear in mind in shopping for the best business phone system:

No universal system - A contrary to the popular belief that a one size fits all system will the needs of any business there is really no such thing as a one size fits all system. Because one way or the other there is a variation on what 1 business would need from the other. It may be the business phone plans that comes with it, the features or the Interoperability. So it is you who will define what is the best business phone system for you.

Flexibility - The best business phone system should be flexible so it can accommodate all your needs now and in two years time. It should be like an open source platform wherein you can scale the system as you need it so it will do all the job that you need it to do in a timely manner.

Feature rich - The best phones should also be rigged by countless of call handling features by default and for free. On top of that an array of optional extras should also be available so one way or the other you can acquire everything that you need from one system.

Savings without being cheap - For it to be considered the best it should be cost effective whilst not giving you less or being cheap on you. This means that you should have more features, more lines and better call rates at a significantly lower price than what you are currently paying now otherwise the whole idea of changing it will be useless.

Reliable - Obviously no one wants to have a phone system that is down when you need it. The best business phone system should be up and running 99.9% of the time and if problems occur the support personnel of the provider should easily be contactable and should be able to address the problem within the same day not 24 to 48 hours which is the usual turnaround time for various telecommunications provider.

Softphones are becoming really popular in the world of telecommunications since the dawning of VoIP. Call centers primarily uses it because of its convenience and many small businesses are now starting to use it as well. Using a softphone with your VoIP business phone system is fairly easy you just need to follow these 5 simple instructions and you can try first hand if the solution is for you or not.

1. Choose your softphone - There are many free and paid softphones available in the internet. Choose which one is suitable for your needs and for your operating system. Make sure the you download the compatible version for your computer or mobile device for optimum user experience to avoid any glitches. All softphones will have its own pros and cons so be sure to read the review first before downloading especially if you will using the paid version.

2. Installation - Install the phone just like any other software in your computer or just like any other application to your mobile device. Some antivirus may block the installation so make sure that you disable it whilst installing and enable it once it is completed.

3. Register your account - Call your VoIP business phone system provider and ask them the login details for your extension. Or have them create a new extension for you. Remember what you will need are the following:

●     Username

●     Password

●     Domain or server

Just remember some VoIP providers do not allow to users over a single extension so make sure that you use one endpoint at a time. Otherwise you will just receive an error.

4. Optimize the settings - Tweak the settings of the softphone for optimum VoIP experience. Make sure that you use the audio codec that your VoIP provider supports and leave all other settings in auto so the softphone can use a certain configuration when needed or disable it when not needed.

5. Connect your headset - If you are using a computer you obviously need to connect a headset. A USB headset is advisable with noise cancellation feature is advisable to prevent static interference and to avoid picking up any background noises. For mobile devices such as smartphones headsets are optional the factory headset will be ideal for use but bluetooth headsets are also compatible.

There are also some considerations that you need to take into account. You obviously need to have your computer turned on to make and receive phone calls and for mobile devices you need to keep the application turned on or minimized to receive phone calls at any given time. Additionally, if you plan to use 3G services you need to have full reception to avoid call dropping and it may incur data charges depending on your data plan.

Customizing a business phone system seems a dream for many business owners. Having a phone that does all the job for you according to your specification will indeed be helpful in managing and growing your business. Fortunately with the aid of VoIP business phone system you can now make your dream come true and design a phone system that will suit all your needs without costing a fortune.

If you think you can only customize the ringtone then you are mistaken. A VoIP business phone system can literally be designed from the ground up based on your preferences. To remove your doubts here are the things that you can customize with a VoIP business phone system:

Interactive voice response (IVR) - With a VoIP business phone system you will have the option to record your own or have a voice actor record all your IVR needs like, greeting messages and menu options. Furthermore, since everything will be in the cloud you literally do not have any limit as to how long and how many recordings you can have for your phones.

IVR Switch - With the system you can have a different recordings for different times of the day so you can greet your customers accordingly and have system adapt to what you are doing on different times of the day.

Telephone ring sequence - Literally design how you would like the phones to ring, you can either have all the phones ring at the same time. Have the receptionist’s phone ring first then if she doesn’t answer another extension, a certain group of extension  or all phones in the office. This will depend on you you run your business.

Features - Only use the features that you really need to save on cost. Remember the system is in the cloud so all features are offered as a standard setup or as an optional extra unlike in a traditional system that you are limited to what your hardware can do.

Customize ring diversion - Do you have multiple telephone numbers? You can choose which phones to ring for a specific number or have it ring as per normal but customize a caller ID so you will know which number the call is coming from.

Business phone systems are an integral part of the day to day processes for small businesses. it is responsible for keeping the organization in the office and serves as the primary medium of communication to customers next to personal meetings. With that said it is just essential for small business to acquire the best possible phone system that will do the job whilst still keeping savings in the loop.

In you are now on a hunt for the best possible business phone system for you company then this little checklist will be very helpful for you so you can avoid costly mistakes and a possible disaster.

The cost – Obviously one of the biggest factors will be the cost. There are many business phone system providers out in the market today so it is rare that you won’t find one that fits your budget. Please bear in mind that cost is broken down into several factors firstly the initial setup charges that you need to pay, secondly the monthly fees and lastly is the maintenance that entails it if there are any.

The actual cost is not only the determining factor when it comes to cost. This may sound ironic but there are also other factors involved like the value for money and what exactly will you be getting. Take your car buying experiencing into account, cars have different price ranges and some maybe slightly more expensive because it offers more safety features or luxury to it. With that said, make sure that you consider all the other points below before you determine which is cost effective and which is not.

Capacity and flexibility – Another important factor is the capacity and flexibility of the phone system. By default, does it give you all the lines you need to accommodate all your phone calls? And does it give you the room to expand by adding more lines and extensions without having to upgrade or replace any hardware?

Features – A small business’ sword against the big companies in the market will be the ability to tender excellent customer service, support reliability and smooth overall processes. Phone system features like greeting messages, menu system, message bank and call forwarding options will you achieve this. Be sure to be very meticulous for all the features that comes by default and for the features that you can add later on as your business grows.

Reliability and service satisfaction rating - As a small business who relies on phones it is never acceptable to experience down time. 1 hour without phones could mean you losing profit or even worst bring your business into a shady position. It is then critical for you to do as many research as possible before buying a phone system and signing p with a provider.

Conduct a background check with the provider and just try go get a grasp how they operate and how reliable are their services are. You will easily find comments and suggestions into different forums but make sure that you use decent websites so you can acquire genuine and accurate feedback for real customers.

Industry professionals and entrepreneurs today are looking for a flexible working environment. In fact recent surveys revealed that more and more staff prefer to work on a flexible shift and if possible to work from home. All these may seem to be too much for a business to handle but in reality businesses and staffs will gain equal benefits from such set up.

A flexible working environment such as work at home will promote better efficiency and dedication to work which will lead to higher productivity rate. Cost wise, having your staff work from home can also save you money. How? Obviously the more people in the office the higher your bills will be and since you will have less people on site you can even downsize your office to a smaller space further reducing your overhead costs. But bear in mind though that there are also quite a few considerations that you need to bear in mind before deploying such set up. Below is a list of considerations you need to take into account.

Communication – One of the biggest challenges in a work from home set up is communication. This is where a reliable and effective office telephone system comes to play. You should be able to contact your staff; the same way contact you anytime without the distance boundaries. The main idea to perform duties and tasks as if they are in the office, luckily technology today has paved way for a newer and innovative office telephone system that allows just about that.

A cloud PBX is a solution from VoIP that removes the distance boundaries because it uses the internet and trunks instead a set of hardware. This means phones can be located anywhere in world as long as there is an internet connection and work as if it located under one roof.

Data storage – Since you will be working distant from each other, local file storage will not work anymore. A cloud based storage where you and your staff can view, download, upload and share files is a must have. There is several free cloud storage software in the market today and some CRM also has the capabilities to accommodate such feature.

Time tracker – A method to track your staffs time and progress is also a must have. Not only that it will tell you how much work they’ve put up to pay accordingly but also let you know the challenges they are facing with their work. Additionally, there are some time trackers that will even take screen shots or allow you to view your staff’s screen in real time to remove any doubts in a home based set up.

In general a cloud PBX office telephone system is a great business communication solution. It is able to deliver unimaginable levels of flexibility, tons of amazing features and above reduce overhead cost by as much as 50%. However businesses need to be aware that since it is a VoIP solution the main requirement is the internet, which today is a no brainer because almost everyone can secure a reliable connection. But still it pays if you are able to understand the exact requirements of VoIP solutions to maximize the technology.

Most articles on the web will say that a good internet connection is a must have for a cloud PBX office telephone system to work properly. Well, that is true. However, it raises a question. What is considered good and what’s not? Below are some points to watch out for before deploying a cloud PBX office telephone system or any other VoIP solutions.

Speed – Obviously a sufficient bandwidth is needed to run VoIP solutions, both download and upload speeds are equally important as phones work both ways. Depending on the audio codec built onto it, an IP phone may require 7kbps to 50 kbps. Not much, but remember it is a continuous stream, whilst on a call, so the internet speed you have should be able to accommodate all the requirements of your phone and your computer, if you will be sharing a network. Also some ISPs have bandwidth thresholds, which mean that you can only use a certain amount of data in a month. Be sure to also take this into account.

 Jitter – Is an undesired deviation during a data transmission, the higher the jitter the more likely voices will be delayed during a conversation. In a VoIP call, voices are converted to digital signals that are packetized. Think of as message envelopes, when you say the word Hello, The letter H and put to an envelope and sent, then the letter E and so on. The other party’s phone then transcribes these data into a form that we understand. Jitter causes these data to be delivered in an incorrect manner. For an instance in the word Hello the letter E comes first before the letter H. This is easily solved by IP phones with the use of jitter buffers because all data are sent with a sequence number. However, the more jitter your internet have, the more incorrect data are transmitted leading to delays.

Packet loss – Is the amount of data that are lost during the transmission. The average acceptable packet loss is below 2% because the network, server and other components of VoIP can still fill in the lost data, go higher then you will then start to notice that voices are breaking up.

Consistency of connection – Apart from speed, jitter and packet loss stability is also important. You don’t want an internet connection that goes from 1 megabit to 10 megabit and back to 1 megabit because it can affect the quality of calls.

If you are experiencing the above problems make sure to talk to your ISP because these are often cause by bad fiber connection. Have them check your lines and exchanges. Additionally it is advisable to secure a business grade plan because of the top level support priority and avoid contention because of overly subscribed home grade plans.