6 Steps to Purchasing a Small Business Phone System.

Purchasing a new business phone system can be an involved and demanding process. Some good
advice is to start with a plan in place that identifies current and future needs, system features and
capabilities, cost considerations, as well as other factors that may be important to your business. The
information presented here should help you to better understand the size and scope of replacing your
phone system.

1. Complete an analysis of your current telephone and networking infrastructure.

Answer the following questions defining your system:

a) How many employees are in your organization?

b) How many sites or branch offices are there?
c) What are your current phone system details as related to: manufacturer, number of lines, number of
handsets, size of voice mail storage, number of voice mail boxex, etc.?
d) What are the details of your phone service? (provider, number of lines, type (ie. POTS, PRI/T1)
e) Describe call activity (inbound vs. outbound, number of calls, number of minutes, incoming call
flow- live answered or auto-attendant)
f) What are your current broadband connection details? (type, speed, provider, cost, etc)
g) Describe your switched network environment: make/model of router, switches, firewall, wireless
access; age of devices; number of switch ports total and available and do they support PoE & QoS?
h) Do any employees use wireless networks and laptops within the business?
i) Is your cable/wire infrastructure Cat3, Cat5/5E, or Cat6?

2. Identify business and user needs. Identify the business goals you hope to achieve with this change.
Complete an internal discovery, involving the leaders of key functional areas. For example:

a) reduce/eliminate phone tag

b) streamline timekeeping processes
c) improve service levels and customer experience
d) integration with a customer relationship management (CRM) system
e) lower costs associated with maintenance, support, or recurring monthly charges
f) provide one location to view and prioritize all voice-mail, faxes, and email messages

3. Define your business requirements clearly. Prepare a list of critical as well as optional business needs.

4. Define your purchase time frame and determine budget availability. Determine how you will fund this
purchase, whether through cash payment or leasing.

5. Compare vendors and solution options and ask for a live demonstration.

6. Be aware of hidden costs.

a) What costs are there beyond setup and equipment charges? (auxiliary equipment)
b) Are there any costs related to licenses of supplementary software? (SQL, Windows, etc)
c) What are the costs and requirements for future add-on / upgrade of the proposed system?

For additional information regarding business phone systems, call 888-315-6465

Requirements Vendor 1 Vendor 2 Vendor 3
On a scale from 1 to 5, rate how well the vendor meets the requirement.

application/hardware integration
auto-attendant
branch office support
call detail records
call forwarding
call monitoring features
call ques / ACD / automated call distribution
call recording
call transfer between business locations
call transfer to voice-mail
call transfer between user stations
conference calling
CTI computer telephony integration
day/night/holiday mode
direct inward dialing
do not disturb
find me / follow me
intercom
message-on-hold
operator console
paging
remote user extensions
ring groups
roll-over lines
single number access
speed dial / user directory
support for IP, soft-phones, SIP phones
telecommuting
toll free numbers
voice-mail
voice-mail to email