Options to consider?

[LadySlinger]

We're currently on the old Comdial telephone system and are FINALLY looking to updating. I've been asked to put together a list of options for the Execs to choose what they feel that they need with a new Telephone system/Voicemail system etc.

Unfortunately I'm having writer's block and keep drawing blanks. So far I have them considering call forwarding to cell phone vs. leaving voicemail; how many phones do we currently need, how much do we expect to expand in the next 7-10 years, number of hours the voicemail system can store.
Should I also list under "Do we need..." items such as paging, hold option, speed dial? i.e. the basics? I began looking at example RFPs, but those are summaries of what should be listed. I'll have to dig through my old college stuff and come across the exercise RFP we did.

But if anyone has any input that would very helpful! Thanks in advance.
LS

 

[artesian2000]

I consult on systems all the time aside from the features you need to understand how you business operates today. Here is some things I recently worked on during the RFP process.

Departmental Breakout
List of employees with Assistants/Shared Line appearance
Executive Officers - provide list
Find me/Follow me - list of who would need this feature
Music on Hold - determine if pre-recorded message or music
Port centrex lines as DIDs?
Vendor must have ability to access equipment remotely for minor changes
Bouncing Calls - currently, if an agent is busy and does not pick up a call, call is sent to another agent, and if busy to another
Toll Free - ability to see toll free number being called or extension being called on toll free
Equipment Scalability - for T1 and analog services
No new wiring will be done. Existing wiring in office is CAT3 or CAT5
Interoffice Caller ID - callers must be able to see name of calling party

DIDs - provide list of who is assigned to each DID
Extension List - provide list of names and extensions
Avaya maintenance contract - provide copy of contract for review and equipment return procedure
Groups - provide list of groups and who needs busy indicator
If Auto Attendant Answers the phone and someone "0"s out, where should calls be routed?
Confirm number of pots lines in PBX from Master List

Centralized Voice mail for all branches - how can they do it?
Existing phones: Can they be re-used or re-sold

 

[hawks]

Don't forget about any VoIP features because it's here to stay.

 

[artesian2000]

Hawks hits a great point also.
Some other things too might be Outlook integration, voicemail to email as well as some of the find me follow me features

 

[LadySlinger]

Yes, that option has been brought up, however it gets shot right back down, as currently we are a small company (40 employees) and use a Business-size Cable Modem...so I'm concerned that there's not enough bandwidth for 20 lines.

Would have we have to replace out all of our cat3 lines with cat5e if we did do VoIP? or can it be integrated with the current network?

Hmm..maybe I'll google it.

 

[srmega41]

Centralized messaging, fax requirements, modems in place, etc.....

One other thing to consider is how willing are they to change? If the willingness is not very high, you may need to look at equipment and/or services that can emulate what you do today. VoIP can certainly do that in many cases, but if a user is used to pressing the red button for HOLD, and the HOLD key is now green and the disconnect button is red, you will have issues.

Just my $.02

Scott M.

 

[LadySlinger]

I don't think its a matter of function changes (it could wind up being a matter, such as in your example srmega). I think its going to be more cost...by which I mean that when we got our system, it was already used and had just gone obsolete (about 10 years ago)...so they got it at a REALLY good deal (phones, system, voicemail for $20K). So I think they're looking for something that's not too far off...so I'm just spending the next week doing tons of research so I know what I'm talking about when this gets brought up.

 

[artesian2000]

Avaya IP office might work for you in this situation. It has alot of VoIP features built into the system and is very scalable. Price wise it could squeeze in depending on the # of users you need to support.

 

[aarenot]

I would suggest that you contact an Avaya business partner in your area if you are considering the IP Office. Explain your situation, and get some advice. They will more than likely be glad to help you out, as they will want to get a chance at bidding the work.

Some advantages of systems like the IP Office; easy to do adds, moves and changes yourself, you can go with your cat3 cabling and use traditional phone sets on the desk, you can use soft phones across your network, you can use a combination of both, as well as buy cheaper desk sets with less buttons, and use the phone managers across the network to manage your calls instead of desk phones with a myriad of buttons which are expensive.
I am not saying IP Office is your only option, but it is one of if not the leader in implementations for VOIP systems right now.
Your phone system vendor should be glad to help in this situation, and see themselves as a consultant, if they do not, find a company that will.

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[johnpoole]

take a look at the nortel bcm with a callpilot voice mail. it's sized right and voip.tdm ready so you can use a mixture or all tdm and add voip later. the ip phones will work on the in house cat 5 and the tdm will work on the cat 5.. hard to outgrow unless you quadruple in size.

one thing that is very important, don't get lost in the color lit. make a list of feature that will save you time and money. those are all you will end up using. a phone system that lets you surf, or start the microwave at home, may be on the market, as well as a thousand other features. downloadable ring tones is cute, but except for a few of us geeks, no one wants that.. they want reliable phones that work, and save time.. i program all the major large switches.. nortel merridian switch have 1400 page feature discription manuals, we use maybe 6 features on 99 percent of the 8000 stations on site... you can cost justify mail/email link, if you have sales people that have email access off site. in house, it's nice, i use it. but the licsense are not feasible for a big roll out..

another BIG thing to consider is support, on site and via email or telephone.. why pay for a service call, if a phone call can solve the problem..

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[LadySlinger]

Thanks everyone...I think I have a good list for the Execs to look at for our company to consider between Systems and Voicemail.

Also I have taken a look at the systems suggested (Avaya, Nortel, etc). The one question I do have though is that the term "Panasonic" kept coming up from our COO. He claims that one of their systems is suppose to be the best out there (I forget which one). Has anyone heard of Panasonic having that good of a phone system?
I've only used nortel and toshiba systems and briefly learned avaya. Never even knew that Panasonic had a system until he brought it up!

 

[shardian]

I work with the pana's daily, and they are pretty good, depending on the business its put into.

Like any system, there are some things it can't do that others can and vice versa.

I wouldn't say its the best system though. I'm more of a fan of NEC personally.

 

[paul144]

Personally, I am not a fan of either Avaya's IP office or Norstar. As 2 of the "big fish" in the pond, they tend to be overpriced and I have heard many a tech support nightmare.
Panasonic is more focussed on the smaller systems (12-30 phones).
If I were you, I would look at, in no particular order, Intertel (pricey but worth every penny), Toshiba, Telrad, NEC, ESI, Tadiran, there are others.
Call in some vendors, get references, ask other business owners who they use and if they are satisfied. For a system of that size, the quality of the service you recieve is going to be at least as important as the capabilities of the system.
As a side note, I would avoid any purely VOIP solution although make certain that any system you get is VOIP capable.

 

[johnpoole]

Panasonic is a workable system with limits.. very easy to outgrow. nortel and avaya have both been in the market for decades and have ironed out a lot of bugs. pana's newer and may be here next year or may not.. techs tend to love the systems they know and hate the ones they don't, myself included. as for as tech support goes, the larger the company the smaller the tech support.. but with nortel i can't see why you would need tech support. i have had to call them but it's been years, and that was a new rls patch problem that i was luckie enough to have before the patch was published.. i ask a few questions here, but that's because it's often quicker then looking it up.. with larger systems, voip sympioumn acd server, call pilot voice mail server, things can get very deep very quick.. ie why did call pilot acquire my symposiumn acd? easy fix the second time you run into it.. if your looking for a simple key system and don't ever plan on more the 32 or 64 stations, keep the comdial..

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[Delster]

I've worked on systems from ericsson, avaya, panasonic, 3com, nortel, bosch etc etc. For my money one of the best for a company of around 40 people with plenty of capacity for growth, built in IP capability (including multisites), integrated voicemail etc is the 3com NBX100 system.

It's quite an easy system to program (esp compared to nortel meridian or MD110) very user friendly and easy to upgrade, anybody with telecoms experience should be able to pick up how to set it up and run it without any training even.

Also cost is not too bad although i don't know what the costs are outside Ireland.

As far as upgrading your cat3 wiring. thats probably not required although it may be worth looking at your switches / hubs etc while your doing this upgrade process.

if you need more info on the system please let me know. (i'll see posts on this thread)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
umm,it IS supposed to do that, right??

 

[aarenot]

If cost comes before features, history of support and implementation, ability to expand, reliable support, industry experience, check out Panasonic. Toshiba comes in ahead of this one, but is for those more looking at cost than functionality, although it expands easily, and cost effectively.
Avaya IPOffice does not have the myriad of issues that non-certified IPOffice engineers claim it does. Find a Avaya business partner with ACA or better certified technical staff, and they will be able to make the IPO sing.
These systems, I have installed, certified, factory certified on and installed.
Others with some experience with Nortel, 3com, they are good for the most part, I would say they are solid companies that have the ability, track record, and experience to support their products.

Stick with a company that has 50 years of industry experience in the size system that you plan to implement, or close to it. Avaya history goes back farther, many others do as well, stick with the proven solution providors whos products are still selling used, and refurbished and are 15 years old. If a companies products are not being sold used after 15 years of use in the field, that says something about the product.

If a Cisco rep comes in, run away.



You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[srmega41]

I would NOT recommend running if a Cisco rep comes in. Take a look at the solution. There are some downsides to an all IP solution, but those may not even be an issue for your environment. PBX vendors do have a solid history, and you can buy refurbished sets that are 15 years old all over, but they still think in terms of TDM. VoIP and IP Telephony have a ton of features and options that just cannot be found on a TDM system, or even on some IP systems from the old TDM vendors.

I am not saying IP is the only way to go, but it IS an option. Don't be afraid to look at it, explore it, and even play with it. You may find the possibilities provide you more reasons to go IP than to stay away.

And yes, I am aware of the uptime issues and patches required on the OS of a server, and every other Non-IP advocate out there. I know the different camps battle this out all the time, but there is a reason IP PBX's are outselling TDM PBX's now, and will continue to expand the gap; people are seeing the benefits, and the concerns are being addressed much quicker than a TDM provider can come up with new features.

(Notice how many standard TDM PBX manufactures are selling IP PBX's today (All of them). There are no IP PBX vendors making TDM systems)

Scott M.

 

[mikeydidit]

I would highly recommend that you look into the Avaya products. They do seem to cost a little more than their competitors systems, but they have a reliably factor second to none. While I don’t agree with most that have posted about VoIP being the best answer, all the latest Avaya systems are capable of supporting any VoIP solution that is available and so far Avaya is best choice for implementing VoIP products.

You will not find a VoIP product that will be as reliable as the traditional TDM switch. But you could purchase your new system with the capabilities to do VoIP if you decide to later.

Mikey

 

[aarenot]

Stay away from any voice system that uses windows for voice processing. Try a system that can do both VOIP, and traditional desk sets, on seperate cabling infrastructure. You can have both in one system, full VOIP, and traditional desk sets. Best of both worlds.

Avaya IP Office can do both, other systems can as well, check that direction out, and stay away from using windows as the operating system for voice, it is not reliable. Even Cisco has realized this and is moving out of windows with their VOIP systems.

I have a question, who as a manufacturer has more IP implementations to date?

You do not always get what you pay for, but you never get what you do not pay for.

 

[jdblack]

By looking at the date of these posts, I don't know if anyone is reading here or not. Quite a bit of good information posted. Am curious as to if anyone has any experience with the Shoretel product? Seems to be a solid solution for any number of users. Am exploring an IP solution to replace several 10+ yr old Telrad system. My existing Telrad vendor is now selling the Shoretel and from what I have seen, it seems rock solid.
Any thoughts?