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8 Questions to Ask Before Buying a Phone System

Purchasing a new phone system is a big decision that can affect your entire business.  Not only is it a big investment, but it can also directly effect your employees productivity levels as well as customer service and satisfaction.  There are many factors to consider when making a decision on a phone system.  Below are 8 questions we think should be answered before making that decision:

  1. What solutions do we currently have in place?  – When are your current contracts set to expire? Where is your equipment in the depreciation cycle? Do you have current systems in place that will need to be integrated with the new phone system?
  2. What are our current costs and what is our budget? – Make sure you consider the costs of future upgrades and support on the new system.
  3. How much are we expecting our business to change and/or grow? – Can you add remote or mobile workers as needed? Can you add new sites that are fully integrated and managed as a single system?
  4. Do we prefer a CapEx model or a monthly subscription OpEx model for our communications? – Do you prefer cloud, onsite, or a hybrid deployment with applications delivered from the cloud?
  5. What pain points do we have with our current system? – What aspects of it do you like/dislike?  What features do you wish you had?
  6. What service and support level is offered by the vendor we are considering? – Who do you call when there is an issue?  What is their response time? Do they provide end-user training during the installation process?
  7. Do we have specific compliance measures we must meet? – For example, PCI, HIPAA, etc.
  8. What features are essential for our business to have and why? – What features are included and what features incur additional charges?

Communications are the lifeblood of any business, which is why choosing the right vendor and communications platform are so important.  Look for providers that focus on customer service and training and ask for customer references.  Choose a system that is reliable, feature-rich but still easy to use and manage, and that will grow with your business in the future.