Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Choosing the Perfect Business Phone System For Your Business

Business phone system is a must in every organization to improve its productivity, no matter how big or small the company is. It helps maintain high-end communication within the company as well as its clients and customers. Business phones provides complete and hassle free customer care solution putting your business in the competitive edge.

Business phone systems are available in the market providing different features like VoIP, call forwarding, voicemail, call recording, email integration, caller groups, call reporting, auto attendant and many more. You can choose a business phone system based on the size of your company and the number of extensions you need.

There are four different models of business phone systems which are available in the market that you can choose from. These are key systems, Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems, KSU-less phones and Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VoIP). Each has different features and capacity to accommodate different number of extensions to meet the varying needs of different business organization.

Key phone systems are controlled by the Key System Unit (KSU). These business phone systems come with extra features which are not present in the ordinary phones. The key phone systems allow an individual to call another person in the office extension and permit one user to stay on hold. These business phone systems can support extensions ranging from five to forty. Therefore they are the best options for business organizations which are small and medium sized. The costs of the key phone systems vary depending on their features.

Private Branch Exchange (PBX) systems are for businesses that requires more features, advanced functions and support for more than forty extensions. Previous models of private branch exchange (PBX) systems were too big, but now with the help of advanced technology, these systems are available in sizes which can be placed on a desk.

Moreover, these systems also have all the basic features. Some of them can also be completely programmed. However, these business phone systems involve high costs per user. Therefore, they are suitable for large business organizations only.

The KSU - less phone systems can support up to a maximum of 10 extensions. During installation they are not wired permanently into an office. Therefore they can be shifted from one place to another without much difficulty, whenever required. Some of these phone systems have the features available with the PBX and key phone systems. Therefore, the small business organizations with few employees prefer to get them installed in the office. They are available at comparatively cheaper prices too.

Voice over Internet Protocol or popularly known as VoIP, with its cost effective existence, has become the popular choice of businesses worldwide. Many small business telephone systems on the market today are equipped to handle VoIP telephone lines through either a simple hardware or software upgrade. An upgrade may include adding an Ethernet (or media) port to the system or if already equipped, simply enabling this port through software activation. Simply plugging this unit into your company LAN and perhaps minor firewall configuration you can now start saving on land line costs by calling out over less expensive VoIP lines.

Multi-line business telephone can benefit as well but through a 3rd party VoIP gateway. This gateway converts a VoIP line (sometimes called a "Trunk") to a standard telephone port. You will need as many gateways as you want lines, (or opt for a multi-port unit).

However you may have to plan on spending some time configuring and adjusting the settings of the unit to obtain the proper volume levels while minimizing echo and other artifacts that may be induced when converting the signal from a standard Analog telephone line to SIP or other VoIP protocol. Many high end units come with built in (hardware or software) echo cancellers and noise suppressors which minimize these adjustments (and work very well) but increase the cost of the gateway dramatically.

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