6 Things To Look For When Choosing A Telecom System

A business telecom system includes phone lines and switchboard software, as well as the actual telephone system itself, broadband, and business mobile. Choosing the wrong system or supplier can throttle your business because of our total dependency on electronic communications for the majority of business activities.

The wrong telephony system may quickly prove unsuitable. Inadequate functionality, poor signal coverage and unresponsive support are just some of the potential problems if you are not careful. Things to look for include:

1) Integration Potential

Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) is a useful feature that delivers increased functionality and productivity for making, receiving and monitoring phone calls. Popular examples include Screen Popping, where a caller's details are automatically retrieved from a database and presented on-screen. Backend processes include call routing by a server, voice recording and telephony usage reporting. . It is important for your telephony to have the capability of integrating with new systems as your business expands.

2) Flexible Contracts

This is especially important when choosing a new phone system as a precaution against being locked into the wrong system. You want flexibility to move office, merge with another company, upgrade to newer technology etc.

3) An Out Clause

Termination without penalty is the ideal to aim for but get as close to this as possible.

4) Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

When equipment or services fail, you want assurances that the provider will attend to it quickly and also guarantee a fix within a specified maximum time period. Beware weasel words such as “best endeavours” or “in a timely manner”. You want to see specific numbers of days or hours and it should be in writing.

5) Proactive Account Management

When you need help or advice, your account manager for whichever system or service should be available and demonstrate a positive attitude to going the extra mile to ensure a good resolution.

6) Dependable Support

Generally speaking, smaller suppliers tend to be more conscious of giving extremely good customer satisfaction and depend less on impersonal call centres. One reason is owners are more likely to be directly involved on a day to day basis. Another is that they depend far more on personal recommendations by customers when seeking new business. Regardless of size, you want the reassurance that you and your business will be properly looked after when the need arises and you want to see evidence of excellent post-sales support.

Telephony Services From GPS Telecoms

All phone systems that we supply are capable of full integration with other systems. It’s something we strive to achieve so as to future proof your investment.