FINDING THE RIGHT OFFICE PHONE DEALERS

A business phone system that supports the entire enterprise [or major units of it] will require installation, programming and training to staff by experienced and skilled professionals. This is critical for performance optimization of the phone system that you buy, as most end users are unlikely to know much about the advanced capabilities that the system comes with and how to use them.

Another important factor that one must consider is the maintenance and support facilities and capabilities that a dealer offers, since there is always the chance for a breakdown. Any disruption to the phone system has a direct impact on a business's revenues and profits and therefore needs to be avoided [or at least remedied immediately].

Considering the above, we can say that choosing the right dealer when purchasing a business phone system is as important as purchasing the phone system itself. Even when you obtain quotations from qualified vendors from Quotation Junction's RFQ service, we suggest you evaluate the vendor/ dealer thoroughly, for many of the parameters described below:

• Experience: If the dealer has adequate experience in installing and providing support to the business phone system that you are purchasing, you are in safe hands. Such dealers can help and guide you with the intricacies of installing the system and can also deal with any post-installation problems much better than less experienced dealers. Get the dealer to do a thorough survey and assess your requirements and work out a detailed installation plan.
• References: Speaking to clients who have purchased phone systems from and got them installed by the dealer of your choice is an extremely effective way of gauging the strengths and capabilities of the dealer. Most customers would be more than willing to share their experiences with the dealer, which will help you to take a decision.
• Brand: Ensure that the brand that the dealer is selling is among their top product lines. This indicates that the dealer is confident of the brand, probably has considerable experience with it and that they feel completely comfortable selling that line. Also, it is likely that they have more experienced service and support staff for that line. Specialization has its own value, particularly when in comes to enhancements and upgradation.
• Service contract: In the world of office automation equipment, service and maintenance is as important as the automation equipment itself. In fact, a significant part of revenues of office automation equipment dealers comes from these services. Therefore, get as much detail about the costs associated with regular maintenance and service support provided by the dealer. You may also want to check if the dealer has remote maintenance capabilities, which enables monitoring and tracking the installation and operation of the phone system from a remote location. Service engineers and maintenance technicians can then track your phone system by sitting at their own facility, thus providing enormous cost savings and almost instant solutions to any problems you may have.
• Guarantees and Warranties: Typically, when you purchase an office phone system, you should be getting several guarantees and warranties including the manufacturer's guarantee for the hardware. This generally varies from three to five years. Besides this, the dealers offer their service contract or Service Level Agreements (SLA), which is generally signed on an annual basis. The SLAs are supposed to indicate the scope of the services that will be provided, the time taken to respond to problems and the fees for the same. We recommend that you read through the SLA carefully [even though most dealers have standard agreements] and address any queries you may have (particularly, certain "what if" scenarios).