Buyer: Be Aware

Readers of a certain age no doubt remember when office telephone systems were almost quaint in their simplicity: A black Ma Bell rotary phone at each desk, maybe a rudimentary switchboard at reception, and if the company was really with it, a two-way intercom that the boss could use to ask his secretary to bring him the Feinblatt file.

Now, consumers and businesses alike are faced with a dizzying array of options when it comes to their phone systems. Growing convergence with Internet and wireless technology complicates things even further. Business owners especially must ask some hard questions about how, when, or even if they should implement a new telecommunications system, or upgrade an existing one.

VOIP can require significant up-front investment before it begins paying dividends, and it's not strictly a plug-and-play technology.

With resources to do the research, managers in larger companies may discover how a shiny new telecommunications system will pay for itself over time. But if you’re a small business owner with straightforward telecom needs, how do you choose a new system and be confident you’re not just paying for bells and whistles?

The Basics: Not So Basic

When broken down, the current technology options in small-biz telecom are pretty basic. According to Marc Agar, president and CEO of Minnetonka-based CA Communications, a telecom service and support company, there are three basic templates that most current “key-based” phone systems follow: A “premise” model, in which the system resides in its entirety in your company’s office; a hosted service, in which the service provider hosts all of the intelligence (servers, et cetera) at its data center; and a hybrid offering, in which some intelligence is based in the client’s facility, and the rest is handled by the service provider.

In addition to old standby features like caller ID, auto- attendant, and conferencing capabilities, each of these solutions should provide basic features like unified messaging (the ability to receive e-mail, voice mail, and faxes in your e-mail inbox), the ability to forward calls to an off-site cell phone or home phone, and the capacity to add voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) service for remote workers.

Agar says that any of these three systems should provide remote or home-based employees the same features and functions their office-bound colleagues enjoy. As they so often do, technological advancements in phones have democratized features that once were available in high-end systems only.