| Chris Brennan | | | | consultants and expensive, proprietary |
| | | | phones. |
| Start-ups, small growing firms and even | | | | |
| home-based businesses are underserved by the | | | | Limited Small Business Solutions |
| telecommunications industry. But there are | | | | |
| telephone systems that fit if you know where | | | | So where are small companies without phone |
| to look. | | | | systems getting their voicemail? How are they |
| | | | handling incoming calls? How do they |
| | | | integrate teleworkers and mobile workers? |
| | | | They may use Centrex services; telephone |
| While galloping technological advancements | | | | company voicemail and separate lines for each |
| have ushered in amazing new features and | | | | phone user, which add a big boost to the |
| inversely lower prices for most office | | | | monthly phone bills. While telephone |
| equipment, full-featured phone systems have | | | | companies all over the country are all too |
| remained largely out of reach for small | | | | happy to offer increasingly complex business |
| companies. You can afford a photo-realistic | | | | services, the additional billing can add up |
| slimline desktop color printer now for a | | | | over time to prohibitive levels. |
| fraction of what it cost just a few years | | | | |
| ago, and you can beam your appointment book | | | | And there's no real integration with offsite |
| back and forth from your wristwatch to your | | | | workers other than simple call forwarding. |
| laptop for under a hundred bucks, but the | | | | The proliferation of cell phones in the |
| prices of telephone systems have not | | | | majority of small businesses has, |
| decreased at the same rate. Most small | | | | paradoxically, made staying in touch with |
| companies are forced to cobble together | | | | customers and collaborators even more |
| telephone solutions with a combination of | | | | difficult. Businesses have to give customers |
| multi-line telephones, answering machines and | | | | and co-workers different phone numbers for |
| costly monthly telephone company services. | | | | the office and mobile phones, each with |
| | | | separate voicemail systems, both of which are |
| True phone systems are far more powerful, | | | | costing the company extra money every month. |
| offering flexible automated call answering | | | | |
| features, call messaging and call routing | | | | Finding Phone Systems that Fit Small Business |
| that can improve a company's professional | | | | |
| image, control communication costs and | | | | Not all of the news is bad, though. A select |
| increase connectivity and responsiveness. | | | | few companies have realized that the very |
| | | | small business is underserved, and they've |
| It is widely acknowledged that small business | | | | been producing small business systems that |
| is the engine of job creation and economic | | | | make sense. There are excellent systems to be |
| health today. With a sophisticated, mobile | | | | had in the market, if you know what to look |
| workforce and limited resources for dedicated | | | | for. The smart new generation of small |
| phone answering staff, small business needs | | | | business phone systems have all of the |
| advanced phone systems as much as its larger | | | | features of their larger counterparts without |
| counterparts do. Yet according to a recent | | | | the big business prices. |
| Yankee Group study, 58 per cent of small | | | | |
| firms in the United States don't have a phone | | | | When shopping for a system, look for the |
| system at all. More than 5 million businesses | | | | ability to easily install and configure it on |
| have fewer than 20 employees, so there's a | | | | your own. Installation can cost a significant |
| big market for phone systems, but the leaders | | | | percentage of the total cost of traditional |
| in the phone industry have never been able to | | | | phone systems. User-configurable systems |
| produce products to fit the bill. | | | | allow you to control the way your phone |
| | | | system works without having to pay the |
| Why? The answer lies in the size; small | | | | manufacturer or a third-party technician to |
| business is too small for the big traditional | | | | do it for you. The best of the new small |
| telephone systems, and the scaled-down | | | | business phone systems enable you to do it |
| solutions that the industry has produced so | | | | yourself and save. |
| far still have price tags that are too big | | | | |
| for small business budgets. Big phone systems | | | | Another important feature to look for is cell |
| just don't work for very small companies, and | | | | phone and remote phone integration. If you |
| the fewer the phone users, the more difficult | | | | have teleworkers and mobile workers, you need |
| the fit. | | | | to be able to collaborate smoothly without |
| | | | giving out dozens of different numbers to |
| Private Branch Exchanges | | | | your clients. There are small business |
| | | | systems on the market that can connect all of |
| Large corporations use Private Branch | | | | your phones through one central system with |
| Exchanges, or PBXs, which allow many phone | | | | one number. |
| users to share a system with fewer telephone | | | | |
| company lines, based on the idea that not | | | | Expandability is crucial too. Make sure that |
| everybody uses their local phone extension at | | | | the system you buy today can grow to |
| the same time. | | | | accommodate the changes in your company |
| | | | tomorrow. And the changes in the industry - |
| PBXs inherently offer the best telephone | | | | with the emergence of Voice over IP |
| system functionality available. As anyone who | | | | technology and new advanced Internet |
| has ever worked in a corporation knows, PBXs | | | | telephony services, your phone system needs |
| handle calls impressively with features such | | | | to be ready to connect to the IP network |
| as ring groups, call cascades, auto | | | | while maintaining your connections to the |
| attendants, voicemail and more. But PBXs have | | | | traditional telephone network. Look for |
| traditionally been massive systems for | | | | hybrid systems that are built with SIP |
| thousands of users. When PBX manufacturers | | | | standards to ensure compatibility and avoid |
| started to turn their attention to small | | | | obsolescence. |
| companies, they found it difficult to scale | | | | |
| the concept down. The big companies that make | | | | One promising entry in the field is the |
| PBXs are not focused on very small business, | | | | TalkSwitch system by Centrepoint |
| so they don't fully understand the space. | | | | Technologies. TalkSwitch is a hybrid phone |
| | | | system that offers IP and traditional |
| The result has been a little like a major | | | | telephony, and it's designed specifically for |
| auto manufacturer stripping a car of two of | | | | businesses with as few as one and as many as |
| its wheels and most of its body and then | | | | 32 phone users per location. Available online |
| trying to enter the bicycle market; the | | | | and through resellers, system integrators and |
| results are ungainly and overly expensive. | | | | interconnects, the compact, user-friendly |
| Small business phone systems from the major | | | | TalkSwitch is a prime example of the next |
| PBX manufacturers tend to be intimidating and | | | | wave of systems that provide the power of PBX |
| difficult to use, difficult to install and | | | | at prices that small business can afford. |
| usually require technical staff or | | | | |