Commercial Telephone System- Buyer’s Guide

The commercial telephone system of a business is akin to the nervous system of the human body. It receives information from the outside world and transmits it to the parts that matter. It also allows different parts of the organisation to transmit information back and forth. Just as the proper and efficient functioning of the nervous system is vital to the body so is the telephone system to the business. Outmoded or poorly functioning telecoms equipment can make interactions with customers and suppliers stilted and ineffective. It can also hamper internal communications, reducing your efficiency and your ability to react to change.
Choosing the right commercial telephone system is therefore a matter which deserves careful consideration. This Buyers Guide aims to equip you with all the information you’ll need to pick the system and the supplier that will keep your business alert, attuned to your environment and ready to react to whatever the future brings.
This Buyers’ Guide has been written in partnership with commercial telephone system Expert Convergence Communications. Over the past few years Convergence has established itself as one of the UK’s leading providers of telephony hardware and ongoing support. The company has a wealth of experience within the telecoms arena both implementing and supporting telephony applications.

Commercial Telephone System : The Basics

Very simply, a commercial telephone system consists of two or more telephone handsets connected together in such a way that calls can be made to and received from outside phones and that calls can be made and transferred between internal phones. Commercial telephone system can also come with a whole host of other which we’ll get to soon enough. First it might be useful to know that modern commercial telephone system normally fall into one of two categories: PBX and VoIP. As all new systems are digital, the distinction between these two types of system is narrowing all the time, but we’ll look at each one separately anyway:

Commercial Telephone System - PBX Phone Systems

The direct descendent of the old style switchboard. A Private Branch Exchange is basically a box which connects together all your phones and manages the connections between them internally and the connections to the public phone system or commercial telephone system. When calling out, the PBX selects an available line for you. When receiving calls, the PBX distributes it to the appropriate user. It also houses the voicemail and manages certain other special features. With a PBX your commercial telephone system is powered and operates independently of any other hardware – each phone, fax machine, franking machine or PDQ has a cable running directly to the exchange.

Commercial Telephone System - VoIP Telephone Systems

This stands for Voice over Internet Protocol (also known as IP-PBX). VoIP systems operate over the internet rather than telephone lines. They utilise the same network within your organisation as the computers so the connections between your various phones are managed by software rather than physical switches (actually modern PBXs use software too – remember what we said about the distinctions narrowing?). Because you’re reliant on the internet for transmitting your calls you need a reliable ISP to avoid call drop-outs and maintain high quality audio.

Commercial Telephone System : The Feature and Benefits

So far, so unexciting. At this point you may be asking why you should bother updating your clunky old commercial telephone system to a newer technology. The answer is that modern commercial telephone system offer a huge range of optional features – some of them impossible up until only a few years ago – here are some of them:

• Commercial Telephone System - Hold music – an oldie but a goodie, why make your callers wait in silence? Especially when you can play recorded messages telling them about special offers or new products.
• Commercial Telephone System - Voicemail – Individual voicemail, shared mailboxes and unified messaging which sends your voicemail to your email account so it can be accessed from a mobile device, are all available.
• Commercial Telephone System - Auto-attendant – An automatic menu system that allows callers to direct their own calls from a series of options.
• Commercial Telephone System - Call recording – Useful for training staff and for regulated businesses.
• Commercial Telephone System - Auto-call forwarding – Have your calls directed to another number when you’re out of office.
• Commercial Telephone System - Auto-call distribution – Set up users to receive calls by department, in hunt groups. Put single users in multiple groups or alone on a single direct dial number.
• Commercial Telephone System - PA access – Make announcements on a public address system from your telephone.
• Commercial Telephone System - Cordless – DECT handsets let you move around the site while retaining all the functionality of a desktop phone.
• Commercial Telephone System - Call management software – Track number of calls made, talk time, dropped calls, transfers etc by group or by employee.
• Commercial Telephone System - Wireless headsets – Improve employee comfort without inhibiting range of motion.
• Commercial Telephone System - IVR – An Interactive Voice Responder allows customers to access accounts, make payments, complete surveys or enter competitions on an automatic system.

Commercial Telephone System - Choosing a Commercial Telephone System Supplier

The first step in gathering quotes and picking a system and supplier is working out exactly what you need. The number of phones in your system and the features that you can’t do without will largely determine which systems you have to choose from. Also, think of the future – if you anticipate growing as a company and taking on more employees then you’ll need a commercial telephone system that can grow with you. Knowing also how many phone lines connect you to the public system or how many network points you have installed will help suppliers work out how much they need to do in terms of installation.

Take your requirements to several suppliers and get a few options to consider. This will give you a good idea of the going rates and let you compare the positives and negatives of specific systems.

Obviously different suppliers will work with different manufacturers so this – and of course cost – will help determine which supplier you end up going with. But there are other factors to consider when comparing suppliers:

• Commercial Telephone System - Installation – Will the supplier provide a comprehensive installation package including testing of the system and training?
• Commercial Telephone System - Support – What level of technical support will be on offer? Will the supplier guarantee the functioning of the telephone system for a given period after installation? Is there a charge for support? Will upgrades to the system be included in the price or will there be an additional charge?
• Commercial Telephone System - Maintenance – Does the price include regular servicing and maintenance?
• Commercial Telephone System - Call packages – Does the commercial telephone system supplier also offer call packages? If so, are they competitive and will taking them on as a telecoms supplier reduce the price of the commercial telephone system?
• Commercial Telephone System - Mobiles – Does the commercial telephone system supplier also provide mobile phones? If so, how do their rates compare with your current supplier? Can you get a better deal by rolling them into the same package?
• Commercial Telephone System - Reputation – Is the supplier established? Can they provide testimonials from previous clients? Are they solvent?

Following the above guidelines should help you find a commercial telephone system that will ensure responsive, efficient and crystal clear communications – both internal and external. Taking the time to find the right system and the right supplier to match your present and future needs will reap dividends over many years to come. So don’t be a nervous wreck; take steps to upgrade your telecoms system today.

This Buyers’ Guide has been written in partnership with Commercial Telephone System Expert Convergence Communications.

About Convergence Communications: “Convergence Communications is a telecoms company with a difference. We believe in ‘going the extra mile’ and not only delivering excellent service, but delivering on our promises. Our customers and their requirements come first and it is this ethos that has enabled Convergence Communications to grow steadily even during a recession.

We have a team of highly skilled engineers; all of whom are fully trained on both NEC and Samsung products ensuring we provide our customers with the very highest levels of customer support. In fact, this has been recognised both within our industry and on a national scale. NEC recently presented Convergence Communications with an award that demonstrated an ‘excellence in customer support’ – an award we are very proud of.”

Find more about this Commercial Telephone System articel from
http://www.approvedindex.co.uk/a/telephonesystems/business-phone-systems-buyers-guide/ or just click Commercial Telephone System to get there.

Commercial Telephone System – What is a Phone System?
By Stefanie Mosca, TMCnet Managing Editor

Phone (News - Alert) systems are typically referred to as Phone System or commercial telephone system  that are used within business environments. Organizations may rely on their phone systems to handle calls, or to incorporate a full range of additional Unified Communications (News - Alert) and messaging options to enhance their calling capabilities by utilizing IP technology. Phone systems or commercial telephone system generally cover systems as basic as small key systems to as large as private branch capabilities.

Commercial Telephone System – Phone System

Phone systems or commercial telephone system also depend upon the PBX (News - Alert), or a Private Branch Exchange. The PBX is a private telephone network used within a company and when Internet Protocol is used to transmit calls, the phone systems complete the work. The PBX phone network enables users to share a number of outside lines for making external phone calls. This network connects callers directly to the Internet to complete calls.

There are endless benefits to utilizing a phone system to enhance your communication experience. VoIP phone systems allow companies to secure the most advanced IP technologies without having to spend money upfront on the hardware. As long as you possess VoIP-ready handsets, you can integrate a phone system. Phone systems also require very little IT support or training and are scalable allowing companies to increase and downsize with little inconvenience involved.

One of the major cost benefits of phone systems is there are no large servers or systems to purchase, therefore, there are no capital expenditures to depreciate over time, other than the phones. Hardware upgrades are also unnecessary with phone systems or commercial telephone system. Since your phone system  or commercial telephone system service is outsourced, upgrades are available through automatic software updates.

Commercial Telephone System

Phone systems or commercial telephone system also allow employees to not be tied to their desks while on a call, further increasing their productivity whether they are in the conference room, on the road, or from a remote location.

These commercial telephone system or phone systems are ideal for the larger company or the smaller company with significant growth plans. Solutions on the market easily allow for unlimited extensions, which makes it flexible enough to handle any kind of growth a company may experience. IP phone systems are truly designed to fulfill the complex requirements of the corporate business phone system by delivering the reliability, scalability and ease of use that employees have become accustomed to with the standard PBX connected to the PSTN.

Companies seeking all PBX features available in one solution are likely to turn to phone systems. They are suitable for business environments, whether it is a home office or large corporation. Phone systems offer the ability to integrate with compatible IP-PBXs that can

Commercial Telephone System
support the Session Initiation Protocol (News  - Alert) (SIP) to offer customers a great option for enterprise communication systems. When communication is essential for success and communication costs have to be kept under control, phone systems appeal to both sides.

Read more about this Commercial Telephone System articel from http://phone-systems.tmcnet.com/articles/237164-what-a-phone-system.htm or just click Commercial Telephone System to go there

Commercial Telephone System- Business Phone System

Commercial Telephone System- Too Many Businesses Using Outdated Technology

The telephone or commercial telephone system is one of the most common devices in the developed world, and has long been considered indispensible for business, government, and industry. What’s amazing is that the phone was invented well over a hundred years ago, and many businesses are still relying on phones and phone systems that resemble ones in place in the early 20th century.

Commercial Telephone System

Offices and businesses have been using conventional private branch exchanges(PBXs) which use traditional telephone network technologies for decades now. It’s time for a change.

Until recently, VoIP has been a platform alternative with some of the same features as traditional telephony. Now the inherent flexibility of VoIP technology allows us to combine telephony with other technologies like IM and presence. This convergence of call control, presence, and instant messaging changes business communications as we know it.

Commercial Telephone System- Out with the Old, in with the New

When developing OnSIP 2.0, we asked ourselves questions that challenged current concepts of Commercial Telephone System.

• What if a legacy phone network did not exist?
• What would voice communication look like without a preexisting system in place?
• How can we make it easily accessible for users?

By forcing ourselves to envision a world without legacy phone networks, we were able to design a phone system and a user interface that reflects what voice communication might look like if phones were invented today, with existing technologies like the Internet, presence management, and instant messaging working alongside.

Commercial Telephone System - OnSIP 2.0 Features

• Dial coworkers and outside numbers all within an advanced user interface housed in the browser.
• Use the coworker ‘buddy list’ with our presence management system that updates anytime someone is on a call
• Know when anyone is busy, away, or on the phone with a client
• Click-to-call anyone in your business phone network
• Track incoming, ongoing, and outgoing calls with the ‘Open Lines’ section of the UI
• Transferring calls is as easy as clicking a call and dragging it to a persons name
• Voicemail Management

With OnSIP, businesses will be sure to have the most up-to-date phone service with features beyond what any other provider is offering.

This Commercial Telephone Systm article is from http://www.onsip.com/onsip-articles/business-phone-system or click Commercial Telephone System

A Proxy for Commercial Telephone System and Corporate Phone Systems

Corporate phone systems give you all the possible features and functions that a business phone can possibly have. This makes it an excellent communication tool, giving your company a significant boost in customer relations. This is especially helpful nowadays, considering that no business can survive without a reliable commercial telephone system and phone system. Phone systems are the ones responsible for establishing communication processes, whether in or out of the company. And it is the medium by which your clients, business partners and employees can contact you easily.

Now, commercial telephone system and corporate phone systems can also be used online. Phones can actually be connected to the Internet instead of through cables and ports, and still be able to host correspondence when needed. Internet-based phone systems such as these give your organization an unsurpassed medium for transmitting messages. And since almost all corporations now are doing business online, having commercial telephone system or Internet-based corporate phones poses as a great business advantage.

COMMERCIAL TELEPHONE SYSTEM AND business phone system

Having a commercial telephone system that can operate online grants your company the ability to communicate with a number of people with just a few clicks. This is also much faster and it also gives you the biggest market and network coverage. Internet-based phone systems are what big companies use, proving that it is the best commercial telephone system available today. However, it cannot be purchased by all companies.

Small scale and medium sized businesses can hardly afford this commercial telephone system product, for this is a very expensive telecommunication system. Its installation alone is costly, and you must also take into consideration the maintenance and upgrades that it would require. All of this has to be done by professionals, further adding to the expenses that you must shoulder to keep it running at its peak performance. It was designed to meet the needs of multinational corporations. Hence its price would not fit the budget of a small business commercial telephone system.

Big companies have obtained much success with the aid of corporate phone systems. This increased the demand for a commercial telephone system that can compete with the commercial telephone system and phone system of big conglomerates, but at the same time be inexpensive for small and mid-size business to afford. As a result, phone systems such as automated phone systems, partner phone systems and used telephone systems were created as substitutes for corporate phone systems to meet such demands. These commercial telephone system and phone systems are also feature-laden but they come without the hefty price, enabling small and medium scale businesses or commercial telephone system to acquire one. These products also allow them to project a big corporate image, not only to their clients but to their competition as well.

COMMERCIAL TELEPHONE SYSTEM AND Automated phone systems

Automated phone systems are usually used as an inter-company communication system. It allows your business to have a better flow of communication within your organization. This is specifically helpful in connecting departments and branch offices. This enables those involved with your company to be kept informed of any occurrences that happen within and outside of the company. Automated commercial telephone systemsdo not require the need for a human receptionist. It has an auto-attendant responsible for receiving, transferring and relaying communication services. This is a cost-saving feature that can be helpful to all companies that would acquire the services of automated phone systems or commercial telephone system. Since it has an auto-attendant, it enables your commercial telephone system to receive all incoming calls and faxes 24/7. This ability removes the problem of missing important business calls and also improves the quality of your customer service. The auto-attendant can also be used to send outgoing calls and messages. It is done by recording messages and it will be the auto-attendant’s task to relay the messages. This is a valuable solution for notifying customers of changes in your company’s services and products. This commercial telephone system and phone system is also widely used for peripheral communication activities such as paying bills and other processes that need little or no human intervention. It can also be used to inform the customer or supplier that an order has been made, a product has been received or if a product is ready for pick-up.

Commercial Telephone System and Partner phone system

Partner phone system is another phone system that you can use as a substitute for corporate phone systems and commercial telephone system. It is a telecommunication system that is able to grow as your business expands and it also offers multiple voice lines and Internet access for faster transmission of calls, messages and faxes. The partner phone system was created to reduce communication tasks of companies. In instances of a heavy influx of incoming calls, its application of partner messaging or partner voice messaging can be used to accommodate messages. A partner phone system can also be used for conferencing so that your company can cut down on cost on external meetings. It also has an outstanding multimedia messaging that allows your employees to retrieve voicemail, emails, calls and messages from the same mailbox. This commercial telephone system and phone system also permits remote administration, which would allow quick configuration and reconfiguration of the entire system from virtually anywhere with its PC software interface. This removes the need to schedule and join an on-site visit to configure the system.

Among the three commercial telephone system or phone systems that can be used as a proxy for corporate phone systems, used telephone systems are the cheapest. This is because this telephony product has already been used by other companies or individuals. Although this phone system is a secondhand product, it can bring a lot of benefits if one is able to find a well-functioning and feature-rich product. In finding the right used telephone systems for your organization, you must not put the price as your primary basis for buying one, since these products are bound to be cheaper than other phone systems. What you must first consider is the features that it gives. You must look for used commercial telephone system or telephone systems that have features that would compliment your business. You also must not be obsessed with finding one which is feature-laden, even if those features cannot be fully utilized by your company. Purchasing one would just be a waste of resources, which you can use for other business purposes. You should purchase one which would give your organization all it needs to properly facilitate the flow of communication. Finding a product that has the appropriate set of features and functions would give your business the ability to maximize your communication system.

Owning commercial telephone system or corporate phone systems is indeed a great advantage. But if you cannot afford one you can always choose between these proxy phone systems which have the same functions and are also able to assist improving your business communication processes. In choosing a proxy for corporate phone systems, one should keep in mind that an organization’s telecommunication system is its link to business-related individuals and the outside world. With the stiff competition today, having a reliable and efficient phone system would greatly aid in achieving longevity for your business.

This Commercial Telephone System article is from http://www.ringcentral.com/articles/business-phone-system/a-proxy-for-corporate-phone-systems.html or click Commercial Telephone System