The continuing success of the telephone aside, there is still a problem when to finding a voice-based communication system for business: the phone system will, at some point, no longer work for you. Nobody’s saying that you should expect your business telephone service to work for you forever; but it certainly would be more convenient if you can keep it with you for several years, right?
But keeping up with the demands of your business is no longer easy for any old company phone system. The world changes so quickly, and organizations have responded to this by evolving and adapting rapidly. All those tweaks translate to different communication requirements; inevitably, you’ll have to make adjustments to the way your phone works – or replace it completely. These days, it’s likely that you’ll need to change your phone service provider every few months. That’s inefficient, and potentially expensive.
So how can you make it last?
Get A Flexible Phone System From The Get-Go
Obvious, you say? Well, you’ll be surprised how often this is neglected in favor of shiny and cool business phone features – or shiny and cool devices. Newsflash: those things mean nothing if they can’t work the way you need them to. Your telephone system should be able to keep up with your evolving needs.
It’s not as if it’s all that hard to find a great business phone system that you can modify to your heart’s content – VoIP telephony solutions like RingCentral have existed for years, and they’re only getting better (not to mention they’re fairly affordable). Bonus points if you can find a professional who can help you build an INTEGRATED voice communication system that lets you use a service like GoogleVoice with other, more sophisticated services.
Take The Human Element Into Consideration
It may not be hard to find a phone system that can keep up with your company’s growth, but that doesn’t mean that keeping that system in tip-top shape from then on will be easy. There are so many elements that can affect the performance of your telephony, and the most significant is the “human” element. You need to ask yourself: who is going to use this system the most, and how will this be used? How many people are using it now, and how many people do I expect it to work for later on?
Is the system easy to maintain (if you have to maintain it yourself)? Can you upgrade or downgrade without complication, as needed?
You need to anticipate your needs and the ability of the phone system to address those needs. In order to have a long-lasting business phone, you need to do your research.
