How single number connection can provide number of facilities for new business 1

[elisagrace]

thread461-1644281
Hi,
I am starting a new IT office and I want that with single number connection I can avail number of facilities like it can expands up to 35 extensions, it must provide email facility, call recording facility, Caller ID and music hold facility and other different facilities.
Please provide me relevant information at the earliest.

Thanks

 

[mforrence]

Your best bet is to find a local vendor and get professional advice. Quality telecom can be complex - there are many components required for success.

 

[intrigrant]

Any modern telecom system can provide these features, it will depend on other details on which system to choose:
- A Software system or a boxed system
- A "inhouse" or a serverd system
- All IP, converged or traditional system
- Availability of support/replacement parts
- Reliability
- Ease of use
- Scalability
- Advanced features as: integration of mobile devices, remote workers, confrerncing, CLI routing etc.
- Managability - DIY or through a partnership
- Price
- whatever may be important to you

It is like asking "I need a new car, which must I choose and what color does it need to be".
It is a personal choice and there is plenty to choose from.

 

[trvlr1]

You will also need some form of "global Dial Plan" which needs to encompass any and all expansion the company will make or ever will hope to make. Also, if there is a possibility of the company growing substancially, you may want to go to more than one digit. From the numbers you show, 2 digit would be more than feasible, but again growth will define that.

Another advantage of using more than one digit, is that you will not start detracting from the leading digit possibilities for your extensions on some systems, ie, if 2 is a routing digit, you typically cannot have extensions leading off with a 2 as this may confuse the phone system. If the system will allow it, you could use #2/#3/#4 etc or even *2/*3 etc

If you are still looking for a phone system, IP systems will get you around these restrictions much easier than Digital or analog systems will. Most newer voice mail systems will route back to the phone system and use its routing to get the messages to the correct extension, so with minimal manipulation, that would be easy to accomplish.

I do agree that if you are not really comfortable with programming the system, a well regarded phone vendor is the way to go, at least for the initial set up. If you do not know of any locally, there are plenty of people on this forum that can lead you in the right direction.

Hope this is helpful.

 

[Westi]

I agree with all the statements above, I also want to throw something in the mix that I don't really am a big fan of but if you start out that means you may have only 5-10 extensions at the moment and a hosted solution will maybe able to get you all the features without the purchase of an actual system.
Pros:
you pay a relative small amount every month
you don't have to maintain the system
you have no hardware but your Internet connection and the phones on site
you can have phones in several locations that act as one unit
you can easily move the entire operation anywhere

Cons:
no hardware that you own, you pay and have nothing but the service and if you switch there is no ROI for you
you are dependent on your Internet connection for phone calls
you are dependent on the provider being a good one as you will most likely be stuck in a contract for a while
you can't make changes on the fly except if they have a web Interface for you
you don't own anything about it
you may outgrow the sweet spot at one point where it gets more expensive than a solution that has on premise equipment

Like I said I am not a big fan of it but I am a phone guy by trade and like playing with my phone system that I have on my premises and make changes at 10pm on Saturday night (yes I have no live)if I like to


Joe W.

FHandw, ACSS (SME)


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