MANAGED VOICE BUSINESS SERVICES
UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS
The technology isn’t new but the scope of options, functions and ways to buy have radically changed.
What is the best business phone system? There are so many great systems out there the only way to really go wrong is choose one that is mis-aligned with your budget or needs.
What kind of phone system do I need? First Call is providing an overview of four options.
BUSINESS PHONE SYSTEMS
MANAGED VOICE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS
ON-PREMISE PHONE SYSTEMS
PBX PHONE SYSTEM
A PBX (private branch exchange) system is basically a box that sits at one or more of your physical locations where all the brains of the phone system exist. Commonly referred to as an on-premise phone system. There are many manufacturers of PBX systems and they have been around a long time. Don’t let their longevity dissuade you. PBX systems are reliable, feature-rich, mobile-friendly, remote workforce capable, scalable, cost-effective, easily managed, and constantly evolving to meet the demands of organizations and their workforce.
FLEXIBLE BUSINESS PHONE SYSTEM
EASILY MOVE, ADD OR CHANGE HEADSETS
CHANGING EMPLOYEES?
ADD A HANDSET
Employee is moving desks
Employee is going to work from home?
Adding a branch office?
All the changes can be made via the cloud from anywhere even though the PBX phone system is physically on-premise.
PBX PHONE SYSTEMS
FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS
Most systems also allow organizations to license advanced features for multi-site integration for organizations with growing footprints and branch offices, call analytics and reporting, call center functionality automatic call distribution, multiple language support, etc.
Where PBX’s begin to fall short is in Interactive Voice Response (IVR) where technology is using speech recognition to handle and direct callers needs. IVR is common with banking, utilities etc and usually requires 3rd party solutions. Another gap PBX’s face is integrating with cloud-based software applications like SalesForce, Microsoft 365/Teams, or ServiceNow.
Finally, PBX’s are not good at one major and growing need: video conferencing. The majority of the PBX technologies from the PBX server to the handsets are built for voice, not video communications.
PBX PHONES
CALL QUALITY &
MAINTENANCE
PBX phone systems offer high call quality and work with your IP networks to deliver consistent quality of service.
A PBX can connect to traditional phone lines or IP services commonly referred to as SIP or VOIP. Either way your users and callers will experience one good call after another whether making calls between phones in the office or a world away. The only real risk to call quality is bad cabling in a facility or a poor internet connection. Bad cabling can and should be fixed. If you have a poor internet connection then simply connecting the PBX to traditional copper phone lines is going to be the correct approach and really is going to steer you towards a PBX as the other options available are highly dependent on quality internet broadband.
Modern PBX’s are very low maintenance. The hardware is simple with no moving parts and typically have a mean time between failure of over 12 years. Said differently the hardware is tough stuff that keeps on ticking.
The software is updated with feature releases and patches remotely via a cloud service. Not a lot for a local administrator to due assuming the organization maintains their rights to software updates with their vendor of choice. Maintaining these rights and services is usually low cost and is oftentimes built into the overall fees versus a separate charge.
PBX USERS
FEATURES &
FUNCTIONS
PBX phone systems have rich set of features and functions that deliver the core of what users want with sound quality and ease of use but also full capabilities with:
Mobile Phone/Smart Phones/Soft Phones
PC’s and Mac’s for Call Management
3 Party Conferencing
Voicemail to Email
Caller ID
Do Not Disturb
Paging
Call Transferring, Parking, and Pickup
Call Forwarding
User Directory
Call Recording
Call History
PBX PHONE OPTIONS
COST OF
OWNERSHIP
PBX’s have kind of gotten a bad rap on this front but its really not deserved. Here is why. Most PBX’s organizations purchase or lease with a buyout at the end. Its become a little out of fashion to buy a phone system because buyers are concerned the technology they are buying will become out of date in 3-5 years and they’ll have to start all over again. That may be true but its unlikely. Most organizations with less than 150 employees aren’t changing radically over a 5-10 year period. Their growth is 8-10% per year and PBX’s are actually staying quite current with technology trends (other than video) without having to go through replacements. So, when you pencil out a PBX over a 5-7 year period (which is still conservative) they actually end up costing you less than other options.
Generally an organization should budget $400-$700 per handset for a turnkey solution with maintenance for 5 years when considering a PBX. The more handsets involved the lower the per handset cost will be as labor and centralized hardware is spread out.
First Call sells and delivers PBX’s as well as other options. We are always happy to “do the math” for our clients across our solutions to insure they are not only getting the right technology but also that the dollars are optimized for their needs.
A new class of mobile-first business phones
PBX DELIVERY METHOD
MICROSOFT PHONE SYSTEMS
(SOMETIMES CALLED A MICROSOFT TEAMS PHONE SYSTEM)
MICROSOFT PHONE SYSTEM
Organizations big and small should consider Microsoft 365 Business Voice as their phone system of choice if a couple of factors are true:
– Already are using Microsoft 365 for email, Microsoft Office Applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and like Microsoft Teams for meetings, chat and collaboration and video.
– Want to make and take calls using the Microsoft Teams application to any one in the world versus via a 3rd party local app or browser based soft phone.
– The organization has clarity on the traditional phone system features it requires and has reviewed the capabilities with a qualified consultant to determine any gaps in Microsoft Business Voice.
ABOUT MICROSOFT PHONE SYSTEMS
As you might guess there is no box in the wiring closet…
Microsoft is a cloud company and its voice strategy is fully aligned with that model. It launched in 2017 as Microsoft basically become a worldwide telephone company and had made investments and acquisitions like Skype. Initially, there were some call quality issues and some pretty rudimentary tools/interfaces to manage and configure it. Early on key features were missing like auto attendants, call queuing, etc.
Fast forward to 2020. Having been a Microsoft Partner for 20 years we can attest – rarely does Microsoft get it right out of the gate. Give them 3 tries or 3 years and then lookout. Today the system is feature-rich, elegant, easy as falling down to use, scales beautifully, and is true Unified Communications (UC).
MICROSOFT UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS
AS A SERVICE
So many organizations have been working to unify communications for businesses. Unified Communications (UC) is technology that allows you to take all the forms of communication: voice, video, chat/text, voicemails, email and enable them for the user via a single service and interface that works on different devices PC, Mac, Android, Apple etc.
Microsoft has done it with Teams and Business Voice and its both an amazing technology and user experience. That doesn’t mean its for everyone. Some people don’t want or need unified communications for their business. They want traditional phone system functionality, reliability and maybe a few bells and whistles like voicemail to email. If this sounds like you the Microsoft Phone System is probably not your bag.
HANDSETS ARE OPTIONAL
The handsets range from plain to downright sexy with big color touch screens, HD cameras built-in and amazing sound quality.
Many users though are ditching their handsets for good. They simply use the Microsoft Teams app on their PC/Mac and on their smartphone. The app combined with either a headset or built-in mic/speaker gives them everything they need to make, take and manage calls/voicemails.
WHAT ABOUT CONFERENCE ROOMS & MEETINGS SPACES?
These solutions can cover small intimate spaces or large ones. They can be as simple as a conference room phone to touch panels, dynamic cameras and multiple microphones and audio speakers placed strategically in the room.
Another nice thing is these solutions will work with other meeting platforms so if you need to connect into a Zoom, GoToMeeting or WebEx they work just like traditional voice and video solutions.
MICROSOFT PHONE SYSTEMS
FEATURES & FUNCTIONS
Phone Numbers
Moves/Adds/Changes
All the work IT teams used to have to do when an employee moves desks, or offices, or wants to work from home etc goes away. Its cloud-based so as an employee moves as long as they have their preferred device and an internet connection the solution continues to work.
Call Quality
Microsoft continues to build out its voice capabilities in the United States and globally. That said Microsoft does not require that is the voice carrier. There are a number of 3rd party national and global carriers you can work with who offer higher levels of call quality guarantees.
As a consumer, you have tremendous choice and can also leverage 3rd parties for redundancy and voice continuity to insure you are not 100% dependent on the Microsoft Cloud.
Maintenance
What if the internet fails?
Professional fees are going to completely depend on the number of users and scope of migration. Professional services rates are going to range between $100/hour to $200/hour depending on your market.
Finally, user hardware could be as low as $0 if an organization already has compatible hardware or simply prefers not to use handsets. Many users will be perfectly happy not having a desk phone to clutter up their desk at work or at home.
MICROSOFT PHONE SYSTEM
COST OF OWNERSHIP
Microsoft 365 subscription
Professional Services
Microsoft Business Voice Software Subscription
Microsoft or 3rd Party Voice Carrier (Calling Plan)
Similar to how you pay the phone company for a traditional phone system to be able to make and take domestic and/or international calls, an organization needs a call or carrier plan either from Microsoft or a 3rd party carrier to do the same thing when using the Microsoft Business Voice system.
User hardware
Headsets, handsets, conference phones, webcams etc. These can typically be purchased or provided as a service from your vendor of choice.
SMALL BUSINESS PHONE SYSTEMS
SMALL BUSINESS PHONE SYSTEMS
Small businesses can also just use their cell phones or get a key system to share a few lines within a single facility.
The best thing to do is get some advice from a qualified and trusted vendor. Be honest with them about what your needs are now and how your needs might change in the future to avoid getting married to something that isn’t a long term fit.
Also be wary of any long term telephone line / carrier contracts. If you do need traditional phone lines or SIP trunks try and keep the contract short and flexible so you don’t end up stuck with the wrong technology or service for a long period of time.
CLOUD BUSINESS PHONE SYSTEMS
CLOUD-BASED PHONE SYSTEMS
By choosing a national vendor does this mean there is no local relationship or support?
It depends. There are companies that work directly with the customer. There are other companies that work with partners.
First Call recommends providers like 8×8 or Nextiva because they are heavy hitters nationally and internationally but also because they leverage local partners to ensure they deliver the best of both worlds to their clients.
CLOUD-BASED PHONE SYSTEMS
FEATURES & FUNCTIONS
Moves/Adds/Changes
Most cloud phone systems have a lot of options because they want to serve the customer in the most flexible way possible. Example: a manufacturing company might have very simple needs on the manufacturing floor, more traditional needs in the office and then complex needs in their customer service department and field sales. The cloud phone system provider will have various licensing subscriptions to get the right set of tools to the right user at the right price for the company.
Call Quality
Just like the other solutions the quality of the local network and local internet connection the user has will impact call quality but these solutions are getting more and more capable at handling even poor internet with their compression technologies.
Maintenance
CLOUD-BASED PHONE USER
FEATURES & FUNCTIONS
Cloud Phone Systems can provide more sophisticated analytics, mobility features, video and integrate with a wide variety of handsets across any number of manufacturers. Or the option to not use a handset at all!
They even have capabilities to integrate with local overhead paging systems and other access control systems – previously this was beyond their capacity.
CLOUD PHONE SYSTEM
COST OF OWNERSHIP
There are two main things to understand when considering a Cloud Phone System investment:
Subscription Cost
Start-up Costs
We strongly recommend that organizations not fall for the free setup. It sounds good but ultimately it will place more work and more stress on your people than the vendor – the result and experience will be less than optimal.
Subscriptions for the service and the carrier fees can be as low as $12/mo per user. The average cost is $20/mo per user but advanced features like Call Center, Contact Center, and/or Analytics can run upwards of $60/mo per user.
Business Cloud Phones
Cloud Phone System Delivery Method
Good vendors have a very well-defined onboarding process that includes pre-programming, shipping and go-live processes. All of this work is done remotely and unless there is a local partner anything locally will need to be self-performed by the customer. This can be acceptable in straightforward, small implementations but its not recommended for anything beyond that.
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