A profitable purchase of telephony for business requires careful analysis and planning. In order not to make a mistake and make the right choice, you need to take into account many factors. Below is an overview of several of them.
Contents of the article
Business needs
Of course, first of all, you should choose business telephony based on the needs of that business. But what should be taken into account and how should the analysis be carried out? You can start from the following procedure (naturally, it can be adapted to the needs of your organization and its features, if necessary).
Analysis of the current situation
If you already have some telephony, look at country code +45, denmark phone numbers for the month. Pay attention to the number of incoming and outgoing calls, their duration and peaks of activity. This will be useful when choosing a provider and telephony plan.
During the analysis, it is worth evaluating the following factors:
- Peak hours . Identify the times of day when the number of calls is highest. This will help you understand how many lines you need to provide quality communication during these hours. You can also analyze longer periods.
- Estimate the number of business phone users . Calculate the number of employees who will use the system. Keep in mind that not everyone will be online at the same time, but it is important to have enough lines to handle peak loads.
- Consider the types of calls . Determine what percentage of calls will be internal (between employees) and external (with clients). This may affect the choice of tariff plan. By the way, when choosing a provider, it makes sense to choose in favor of those companies that offer free calls between subscribers
If the company does not have any telephony, and the system is essentially being created from scratch, there is also a way out. And not just one. Many business telephony providers offer services to assess the cost of implementing and owning a communication solution. Look for a provider with such services. You can also compare with similar companies. If possible, find out how other companies in your industry estimate their call volumes. This can give you an idea of your potential volume. How to do this? There are many options: from surveying employees who previously worked for other companies to ordering analytical data from specialized companies.
Testing
If possible, order a trial period from the chosen provider to evaluate the actual volume of calls and quality of communication. Many business telephony providers are quite willing to provide free (or with a minimal, “symbolic” fee) trial periods to clients who want to buy the service. As a rule, the services are provided without significant restrictions compared to those that the business receives when buying telephony.
Experience shows that for many businesses, such test periods are enough to understand whether they are on the right track when choosing business telephony or not.
Forecasting change (and growth in particular)
Before ordering telephony for business, evaluate the possible growth of the company in the coming years. If there is a possibility of this, it is worth choosing a provider and a system that is easy to scale.
If the company operates in a field characterized by “seasonality” and periods when the load on operators (managers) will change, you should pay attention to a provider where you can quickly connect/disconnect the necessary services, add/remove capacity, etc. This, firstly, will allow you to quickly adapt to periodically changing conditions, and secondly, you will be able to get communication for business on truly favorable terms for yourself, effectively manage telephony costs.
Choosing between traditional and VoIP (IP) telephony
The choice between traditional and IP telephony depends on the specific needs of the business, budget and technical capabilities. If reliability and simplicity (although it is quite relative) are most important, traditional telephony may be preferable. If flexibility, scalability, functionality and cost savings are important, then IP telephony will be a more suitable option. However, statistics show that the number of companies choosing IP telephony for business is growing inexorably. Thus, according to TMT Consulting, the volume of the virtual PBX market by the end of 2023 increased by 20.8% compared to the previous year.
If we talk in more detail about the features of each option, they look like this:
- Traditional telephony: uses analog or digital phone lines. Relies on physical infrastructure such as telephone wires. Usually requires the installation of specialized equipment such as a PBX.
- IP telephony: uses the Internet protocol (IP) and IP networks to transmit data. It is dependent on an Internet connection. This dependence provides the ability to use various devices with network access for negotiations. It can be integrated with external applications and systems (e.g. CRM, ERP, etc.).
As for the advantages, then:
- For regular business telephony, they are: reliability (traditional telephone networks are usually more resilient to failures), connection quality (often provides stable sound quality, especially in conditions of poor Internet connection), ease of use (users are familiar with traditional phones, and training is not required).
- For IP telephony for business, they are as follows: reduced communication costs (lower costs for calls, especially for international calls), flexibility and excellent scalability (easy to add lines and users without having to purchase physical equipment), advanced features (includes features such as voicemail, conference calls, data transfer and integration with other services, etc.).
The disadvantages of traditional telephony most often include high costs: purchasing, installing and maintaining specialized equipment, as well as keeping an in-house specialist, can be expensive. We can also talk about the limited functionality (for example, in this case, there are fewer opportunities for integration with other systems and applications). Many also note the lesser flexibility of such systems; they are more difficult to scale and adapt to changing business needs.
Accordingly how to use text messages to collect debts? for the office has the opposite picture with disadvantages. VoIP is lower costs for purchasing and operating the solution, as well as for communication. It is flexibility and scalability (you can easily add new lines and users without the need for physical installation of equipment). And of course, do not forget about the wide range of additional functions and capabilities (voice mail, conference calls, data transfer, integration with other services, etc.).
You can also consider a third way, which is a Hybrid PBX, which combines all the advantages of both a local telephone system and a ar numbers virtual one, starting with storing data within the company’s information circuit, ending with the ability to quickly scale and integrate with any business applications.
Comparison of different providers
After you decide what kind of telephony you need for your office, you need to decide on a provider. When choosing an IP telephony provider for small and large businesses, you should follow approximately the same recommendations. Explore the offers of several providers: tariffs, quality of communication, additional services and other points, taking into account the needs of the company.
When choosing, pay attention to the following points:
- Feature Set : Make sure the provider offers the features you need, such as voicemail, conferencing, and integration with various external customers and data providers, as well as the ability to manage additional features and capabilities.
- Quality of support . Make sure that support is available at a time convenient for you. Check through what channels you can contact support (phone, chat, email): the more, the better.
- Transparency and flexibility . Study the pricing structure, including the cost per minute, subscription fee and additional charges. It should be possible to choose a tariff plan and “refine” it depending on the needs of the business.
Security is no less important. Find out what security measures the provider uses to protect data and calls, whether there are effective means of protection against DDoS attacks and other cyber threats.
It is also worth paying attention to the analysis of reviews and the reputation of the business telephony provider. Study the reviews of current and former clients about the provider. Check the company’s rating on specialized sites and forums: there are quite a few of them now
