Don't Ignore These Tips When Selecting a New Phone System

Selecting a new phone system may not be the most exciting thing on your list, but it’s an important step if staying connected is critical to your small business. Now that you know it’s time to upgrade, where do you start? You know you need to do research and evaluate the providers available, but how can you be sure you’ll land on the right business VoIP provider?

First, it’s important to understand your needs. Are all of your employees in-house or do you also support remote individuals? Does conferencing play a large part, both with team members and customers located across the country or across the world? Do you want to be able to provide a unified look and feel to your number, keeping everyone on the same platform but allowing them to use their own mobile device?

Understanding usage patterns and behaviors among your staff is critical before examining business VoIP options. This allows you to develop your needs and wants list before you start considering providers. If you want to make that step a little less painful, talk to other small business owners and learn about their experiences – both good and bad. They have the best insight on the provider experience, giving you a narrow list for your consideration.

PC Magazine recently published a post with insights on things you need to consider before selecting your business VoIP system. Of course plans and pricing have to play into the mix as you’ll want the best value for your investment. Be sure you’re comparing like services and only considering plans that have the features and capabilities that you actually need. Anything else could increase the pricing unnecessarily.

Next, consider the mobile support and application integration you’re going to need. That includes any customized applications to support your proprietary software or environment. As companies become more mobile, you’re going to need to ensure your business VoIP solution will evolve with you, supporting any innovation you’re considering in the near future. That means call routing and management capabilities have to expand past your physical environment, and support the way you need to communicate.

Finally, examine the support any provider offers. Talk to current customers, especially those who aren’t on the list offered by the provider. (A little research can help you identify other users. Something as simple as posting the question on social media will do the trick.) Ask about the challenging situations that demanded immediate attention and the outcome of those situations. If the answers satisfy your need for support, the provider is worth consideration.

Nextiva is one business VoIP provider that continues to demonstrate its value in all of these areas. While the company has built a strong reputation in the market as a whole, it’s still important to put it through the same process to determine if the company’s offering is the right fit.