Help Selecting Small Busines Phone System

[jpascone]

Wow, just found this site, it may become my favorite! I am working for a company with < 15 staff and some potential growth. Current system is pre-legacy, I am talking OS2 voicemail. We are moving locations and I want to take advantage of the situation and put in a new phone system. We are struggling and are pockets aren't deep but have some funds reserved. What's a relatively inexpensive system which is easy to manage? Some nice to have features would be Outlook/Exchange integration and VOIP lines for remote sales staff.
Many thanks smart people!
jp

 

[doktor]

If in the USA: Vertical (Vodavi) - Telenium and
If in the rest of the world: LG-Ericsson iPECS is recommended.
Scalable IP (SIP) telephone system with a load of features.

///doktor

 

[ironhorse17]

I would go with a reliable proven product that can be serviced by several telecom companies. Not an odd ball that sound too good to be true and will cost you a fortune to maintain and add.

A lot of phones come full featured, display, handsfree, etc...

Others come plain Jane and you pay as you go plus service calls.

 

[phoneguy610]

avaya ip office looks to fit everything you are looking for

it is affordable compared to most name brand systems

also toshiba has a nice product, id look at their cix40

wehere are you located?

 

[mforrence]

Hmmm... OS2 voicemail? Has to be Inter-tel. I second IP Office- they fit just about any small business.

 

[rfpup]

Aastra A400

Have a try to read some materials about it

http://www.aastra.com/products-communications-platforms.htm

 

[mattKnight]

>Hmmm... OS2 voicemail? Has to be Inter-tel

or CallXpress 3 from AVT

Take Care

Matt
I have always wished that my computer would be as easy to use as my telephone.
My wish has come true. I no longer know how to use my telephone.

 

[jeffmoss26]

Avaya, Panasonic, NEC, Toshiba all have good smaller systems.

jeff moss

 

[schulrj]

I would recommend ShoreTel SBE (small business edition) This is a bundle that includes a lot of the features other systems require add-on licenses for (i.e. find-me, message notification, office anywhere, softphone, and call handling modes). For an inexpensive system it is incredibly feature rich and easy to manage.

 

[GordonKapesMZ4]

I would recommend the UCx50 from Emetrotel. Base system can be 5 extensions with SIP trunking. I currently own a 20 extension system with a mix of Nortel digital, Unistim, SIP and a Cisco 7970 and Avaya 9630 set.

You can use a variety of phones from Nortel M7xxx and T series sets, to i2xxx setx to the 11xx/12xx sets from Nortel. Unistim is the VOIP software initially, but you can also use Nortel SIP phones and any other SIP supported device such as a Cisco 7970, Grandsteam, etc.

This system works great with SIP trunking, but you utilize analog trunks via a media gateway.

The system bascially operates like a BCM and CS1000 combined. There are the basic features such as park, paging, transfer, conference, pickup, but you also have UM, find me follow me, remote user, and ACD agent features.

The system is developed by a group of former Nortel employees with over 30 years of experience in various aspects of Nortel. They have inexpensive in depth support and are open to new features. The price is very reasonable for a new product with support.

Joe

 

[jimbojimbo]

Avaya IP Office, ShoreTel, and Digium Switchvox.

Get bids for all three.

Make sure you get your ducks in a row as to what features are mandatory and what features are optional. I once put a very high end system in a very small office simply because of the feature set. It all boils down to balancing cost versus features.