Phone systems & VOIP

The size, networking capability and other communication & productivity enhancing features of your phone system are important aspects to be evaluated when purchasing a business phone system. Of this, the size of your phone system will decide the extent to which communication is made available internally and externally.

The size of the telephone system is determined on two counts:

• Lines: This refers to the number of lines used to make calls outside the office and are also referred to as trunks
• Extensions: These refer to all devices that must be connected to the main phone system and these include phones at individual desks, fax machines, modems etc.

The size of the key telephone system is defined as a product of the number of lines and the number of extensions ie. Line x Extensions; however, the size of a PBX system is defined by the number of ports, which refers to the maximum number of connections that you can make to the phone system (including internal extensions and external lines).

Some pertinent questions that you should ask to determine the size of the phone system that you will need are:

• The total number of phone users in your company
• The number of lines and extensions you require
• Projected growth in your business and the consequent requirement for additional phones
• Type of business and kind of telephony required
• Value-added features thatare beneficial to your work environment to enhance communication and productivity.

Apart from the size of the phone system, ensure that you factor in the expandability of the phone system in your buying decision. Expandability may mean increasing the size of your current phone system, upgrading the network or enhancing current features. A reasonably accurate assessment of your current and future needs will be important for this purpose.

When expanding your phone system (or even evaluating/ comparing phone systems for expandability), cost is obviously an important factor. There are differences in the way a key system will be expandable compared to say, a PBX system, which have a direct bearing on the cost; therefore, don't ignore the future application (or potential for application) of the system when you are buying one.