Business Phone System Archives

6 Reasons to Upgrade Your Business Phone System

WSI Comandix on January 7, 2022

Businesses replace their desktop PCs about every five years. Mobile devices are replaced more frequently, especially for companies that allow employee-owned devices, because many consumers upgrade their smartphones and tablets as soon as they qualify for carrier discounts.

Yet many organizations tend to cling to old phone systems for 10 to 20 years. To give you a sense of how old that technology is, the iPhone was introduced 10 years ago, and the founders of Google purchased the google.com domain 20 years ago.

Why don’t organizations upgrade or replace their phone systems? In many cases, the business value of a new phone system is grossly underestimated. If the old phone system still works, there’s no sense of urgency to replace it. Or is there?

Here are six reasons why you should consider upgrading from a legacy phone system to a leading Voice over IP (VoIP) platform.

1) A New Phone System Provides Cost Savings

This is the slam dunk of a selling point for a new VoIP business phone system. A VoIP system eliminates the need to maintain separate voice and data networks and can help reduce telecom costs. With a cloud-based voice system, you can choose the features you want and pay for the service as a monthly subscription, with minimal upfront investment.

2) Valuable New Features

Today’s VoIP platforms give users access to conference calling, call presence, call routing, “find me, follow me” and many other features through an intuitive interface. All of this functionality can boost productivity and enhance customer service.

3) Application Integration

Unified communications platforms allow users to instant message, schedule and hold virtual meetings, and share files from their desk phone or softphone. Customer relationship management and other business applications, such as SalesForce, AMS 360 and NetSuite, can also be integrated with the phone system to streamline workflows.

4) Mobility Issues Resolved With New Phone System

With today’s VoIP phone systems, calls can be automatically forwarded to a mobile device, where the user can access the same tools and services they would find on their desk phone. This is far more efficient and reliable than expecting a caller to leave a message and wait for the recipient to retrieve the message and return the call.

5) New Business Phone Systems Offer Simple Scalability

As your business grows in terms of personnel and remote locations, a new phone system built on a VoIP framework makes it easy to add users, offices, devices, numbers, services and capacity without reinventing the wheel.

6) Elimination of Obsolete Technology

Old phone systems may still work, but the technology will eventually fail. When that happens, good luck finding parts and someone to make the repairs. Repairing outdated technology is a slow, expensive process, and every minute of downtime will cost you money. Invest in a new phone system now before the old system breaks down.

Why the Right Expertise Matters

Anyone can buy or sell a phone system. Choosing the right system for your organization and getting that system to do what you need it to do is a different story. That requires collaboration with data networking and communications experts. What features do you need? Would a cloud-based or on-premises system make more sense? Will your infrastructure support a new system? How will you keep your data secure?

Eastern DataComm will walk you through the planning, design, deployment, adoption and support phases of your phone system implementation, answering these and other questions to help you maximize ROI.

Let us show you how a new business phone system can help you reduce costs and do business better.

8 Factors to Consider When Implementing a Cloud Phone System

WSI Comandix on December 15, 2021

In a previous post, we discussed why more organizations are moving their phone systems to the cloud and what to look for in a cloud phone system. More than cost savings, a cloud phone system offers more control and flexibility, simpler management, the ability to add or remove users and services as needed, access to advanced features and applications, and built-in redundancy and disaster recovery.

Despite the benefits, adopting a cloud phone system is not a risk-free proposition. Implementing and using a cloud service is relatively simple, but aligning a cloud phone system with business operations and goals to maximize ROI is a complex process that requires a well-defined plan.

Here are eight factors to consider when moving your phone system to the cloud.

User Experience. What applications and features do users need to become more productive? What are their priorities? Do different groups of users need different tools and services? Engage employees throughout the process to ensure the solution you choose is a good fit.
Long-Term, Strategic Planning. Most organizations use a cloud phone system with other applications and services from multiple vendors. In addition to an implementation plan, there needs to be a roadmap in place to ensure disparate platforms can be integrated and performance can be holistically managed.
Technology Evaluation. It’s tempting to choose the cheapest solution or even the one that seems easiest to use. However, cloud phone solutions must be evaluated based on business and communications requirements. This will ensure the system you choose has your must-have features, as well as valuable features you may choose to add down the road.
A Phased Migration. As we mentioned in the previous post, you don’t have to move everything to the cloud at once. Migrating to a cloud-based phone system in phases allows you to move small groups of users and/or services to the cloud and gradually increase as you work out the kinks with minimal disruption.
Assessment and Testing. What is the current state of the user experience and performance? What will the minimum benchmark be after implementation of a cloud phone system? Will your IT environment be ready to support phone features in the cloud today and in the future? Assess and test before, during and after deployment as needs evolve.
Performance and Quality Monitoring. Proactively troubleshooting and addressing issues will help you avoid disruption to business operations and the user experience. Data from a variety of sources will need to be collected and correlated to maintain high levels of performance and quality.
Application Integration. Users must be able to access all applications in a cloud phone system through a single interface. Otherwise, you’re asking for inefficiency and management complexity that can negate some cloud benefits. Make sure the applications you choose can integrate with other platforms.
Security, Compliance and Business Continuity. A cloud provider should be able to prove to you that your data and applications will be secure and minimum compliance requirements will be met. The provider should also have a documented business continuity plan in case of an emergency.

Do not underestimate the skills and resources required to migrate to the cloud and meet ROI and productivity expectations. In most cases, this is not a do-it-yourself project, and it’s never a learn-as-you-go project.

Eastern DataComm can provide the expert guidance you need to successfully implement cloud solutions. Let us help you assess your existing infrastructure, develop a migration plan, and evaluate solutions to take full advantage of the benefits and minimize risk.

7 Ways Unified Communications Benefits State and Local Government

WSI Comandix on November 15, 2021

Many government agencies at the state and local level still rely upon legacy phone systems or Centrex-type services leased from carriers. These older systems are difficult to manage, expensive to maintain, and lack many of the features of a modern communications platform. Designed when most workers sat at desks throughout the day, they are incapable of supporting today’s remote and mobile workers.

Unified Communications for Public Services

Legacy phone systems aren’t just frustrating for government employees — they make it difficult for agencies to meet the expectations of their constituents. As consumers we have grown accustomed to seamless communication via a variety of channels, including phone, email, text and online chat. We are used to having ready access to accurate, up-to-date information. We demand this level of service from businesses, and expect nothing less from government agencies.

An IP-based unified communications (UC) platform can help state and local governments enhance both their operations and the services they deliver. UC brings together voice, video and collaboration tools in a single interface, eliminating communications silos and enabling seamless transition from one channel to another. “Presence” lets users know whether someone is available and their preferred means of communication, eliminating phone tag. UC solutions can also be wirelessly integrated with other applications and data to streamline workflows and provide one-click access to powerful communications tools.

Unified Communications for Government: 7 Benefits

UC makes it easier for constituents to reach the right person to answer their questions and solve their problems. UC supports personalized call handling and routing, as well as auto-attendant and contact center capabilities.
IP communications creates a common platform across multiple sites and agencies. (ex: Borough Hall and the police department, DPW, town library and/or the fire department.) By enabling real-time collaboration, it helps boost productivity, speed response times and facilitate decision-making.
Many government agencies are using telework programs to reduce costs, provide for continuity of operations, and give employees greater flexibility. A UC system can be extended to teleworkers so they remain connected and have access to the tools they need when working remotely.
Many municipal administrators and other key personnel are frequently out of the office. The mobile device integration enabled by a modern UC platform gives them secure access to the communications environment — anytime, anywhere. With mobility, administrators can make and receive phone calls just as if they are at their desks.
Because IP communications leverages the data network for voice calls, it is more cost-efficient and easier to manage than legacy platforms. Web-based administration tools simplify moves, adds and changes across multiple locations. Teams can access comprehensive features and functionality without draining vital resources. With a short amount of training, most anyone can easily access this information and make these changes – saving costs with a limited IT team that many municipalities have.
Whether on-premises or in the cloud, today’s UC platforms have a fault-tolerant and redundant architecture that helps ensure continuous availability for disaster recovery.
An IP communications system can also be integrated with physical security systems. UC becomes the communications platform for emergency notification systems. With the LENS solution, a municipality can notify everyone inside and outside the building as well as other sites that an emergency event has commenced. The UC platform enables the solution to call the local police, 911 and key administrators simultaneously as well.

The ShoreTel Unified Communications platform is a proven solution that connects people and information while reducing total cost of ownership. It is highly secure and reliable, with failover capabilities that are essential to government agencies for both day-to-day operations and during emergency situations. You can ensure high quality services with enterprise-class availability to meet the demands of your employees and constituents.

At Eastern DataComm, we are proud of our history serving the communications needs of state and local governments.

Let us show you how we can enhance the quality of your communications infrastructure to help you increase efficiency and better serve your constituents. Contact us today!

Is It Time to Move Your Phone System to the Cloud?

WSI Comandix on December 26, 2017

Many organizations are using the cloud for some of their communications and collaboration tools. The cloud reduces or eliminates capital costs for on-premises hardware, offers more flexibility, shifts management and maintenance responsibilities to the cloud service provider, and allows you to pay as you go for what you need.

Organizations are also moving their phone systems to the cloud. With a cloud-based phone system, phone service is delivered through the Internet. In addition to placing and receiving calls, features such as voicemail, call routing and call forwarding can be accessed through the cloud provider.

Although adoption of cloud-based phone systems, such as 8×8, is on the rise, many organizations have reservations, which are largely based on misconceptions about how a cloud-based system works. A common misconception is that when you move your phone system to the cloud, control of the phone system goes with it. However, a cloud-based phone system actually gives you more control and makes it easier to manage. The system is easier to deploy, and settings that apply to an individual user or the entire organization can be changed remotely via a web-based interface. Services and users can be added and removed as needed without complex implementations and reconfigurations.

Call quality is another longstanding concern about cloud-based phone systems. For many years, this concern was justified due to interference issues and a lack of bandwidth. The near-ubiquitous availability of Internet bandwidth and better technology have overcome these challenges, and organizations are able to monitor their cloud-based phone systems for call quality. Also, a cloud-based system can be integrated with an on-premises system so you don’t have to move the cloud in one fell swoop.

Cloud-based phone systems deliver real business benefits that go far beyond cost savings. You can pick and choose advanced features and applications that you might not be able to afford in an on-premises system. You can integrate communications systems with business applications, processes and workflows, which improves productivity and efficiency. Also, the cloud is built for the mobile workforce, allowing anytime, anywhere communication. Built-in redundancy and disaster recovery allow your employees to stay connected to colleagues and customers, regardless of weather, a power outage or other disruptive events.

There are certain features to look for in a cloud-based phone system. It should be easy to manage and make changes as needed without IT involvement. It should offer both mobile and desktop applications instead of trying to make one version work for both. Look for high-definition audio to ensure high call clarity, as well as applications for instant messaging, video and audio conferencing, and presence. Security must be a top priority. Look for a system that uses advanced data encryption to prevent unauthorized interception of business calls.

Although a cloud-based phone system is easier to deploy than an on-premises system, careful planning is required to ensure a smooth implementation.

Eastern DataComm can design your system around your business processes and goals, configure your system to do what you need it to do, and help train your employees. Let us help you choose and implement a cloud-based system that boosts productivity, efficiency and the bottom line.

Public, Private or Puffy: What Exactly Is the Cloud, Anyway?

WSI Comandix on July 6, 2017

Multi-cloud and hybrid cloud adoption is on the rise, according to the RightScale 2017 State of the Cloud Report, which found that organizations are using an average of eight different clouds. Eighty-five percent of organizations have a multi-cloud strategy, with 41 percent of IT workloads in public clouds and 38 percent in private clouds.

Multiple studies expect up to 60 percent of workloads to be running in the cloud by the end of the year. The cloud enables organizations to minimize capital investments in infrastructure, paying for the IT services they use as an operational expense. It also enables organizations to access IT resources with minimal risk, and scale those resources up or down as business needs dictate. Cloud-based phone systems, video conferencing solutions, and storage and backup services are among the most popular cloud applications.

However, there remains a general lack of understanding about what the cloud is and why organizations are using the cloud, especially in upper management. In a 2016 Forrester Research survey, 96 percent of CEOs said they don’t fully understand cloud computing, and 91 percent of IT company CEOs don’t know exactly what their companies are doing in the cloud.

Much of the confusion about the cloud stems from the practice of “cloud washing.” Many vendors enable to customers to access the vendor’s services via the Internet and market these services as cloud apps. However, connecting to services via the Internet does not a cloud platform make.

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), cloud computing is “a model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” The NIST requires a cloud platform to have the following characteristics.

Provisioning and launching of resources through an on-demand, self-service portal without service provider assistance.
Broad network access that is not limited by proprietary standards and devices.
The ability to quickly add or remove resources from a shared pool according to business need without service provider assistance.
Tracking, measurement and reporting of cloud service usage to ensure optimization and billing accuracy.

There are three primary cloud deployment models. A private cloud is used by a single organization and can exist onsite or offsite. It can be managed internally or by a third party. A public cloud offers virtually unlimited resources that are shared by multiple organizations or the general public. It is hosted and managed by a cloud service provider. A hybrid cloud uses a combination of on-premises infrastructure and public and/or private clouds. All operate independently but communicate to allow data and applications to flow back and forth between environments.

The RightScale report found that private cloud adoption dropped from 77 percent to 72 percent as more organizations focus on public cloud deployments. Public cloud is easier and less expensive to implement and maintain than private cloud. Although the main advantage of private cloud has always been control and security, public cloud providers have made major security gains in recent years.

To be clear, there is no perfect cloud formula that applies to all organizations. Some can’t use public cloud because of industry regulations. But, in many cases, public cloud enables organizations to tap the benefits of the cloud quickly, with less effort and at lower upfront costs.

By understanding basic cloud characteristics and deployment models, you can make the right decision based on your business goals and processes.

Contact Eastern DataComm to learn how our cloud solutions can give you simple, cost-effective access to state-of-the-art voice and data services.

How to Simplify Your Telecom with SIP Trunking

WSI Comandix on June 1, 2017

If your business is looking to simplify its phone management, SIP trunking might be the relief you’re looking for. By eliminating the need for maintenance and installations, your teams will have to spend less time managing telecom issues and more time focusing on core business matters.

Fast Implementation

A new SIP trunking solution can be deployed within 30-60 days, or even a few weeks depending on the scope of the project. Because SIP trunking installation is handled behind the scenes, primarily by your SIP trunking provider, you will be able to get up and running without any disruption to your business. There is nothing additional to configure at your end, provided you have a strong connection to the Internet and a SIP-compatible business phone system.

No Maintenance

Once you’re up and running, increasing capacity is as simple as contacting your provider. No more hard wires or installations required – all you have to do is request additional trunks to scale your solution. Your SIP provider will also manage the network and disaster recovery so you don’t have to. With a reliable vendor, redundancy is automatically baked in and your provider will handle all of the failover destinations if a hardware or carrier issue should occur.

Single Vendor

Many SIP trunking providers offer other communications solutions as well. If your provider does, you’ll have one point of contact for all of your communication needs. No more pointing fingers or needing to call multiple vendors to determine the source of the issue. Instead, you’ll have one call to make to get to the root of the problem. By having one vendor, you’ll be able to save time and provider a seamless experience across all of your communications solutions.

Remove Geographic Barriers

With SIP trunking, you can integrate with local PSTNs to streamline interactions between employees in multiple locations. Because remote locations can be added easily to the same network and enjoy access to the same communications applications as workers at headquarters, both regional and international offices benefit.

Support for Growth

As your business grows, you currently have to forecast adding new lines in advance to prevent capacity issues, plus invest a lot of time and money into physical space and installation management required to turn up additional lines. With SIP trunking, call capacity can be increased on-demand to support unlimited concurrent calls. Hence, you don’t have to spend time installing additional lines when business demands change or get caught in a bind if unexpected seasonality occurs. Plus, you won’t have to account for future grow and overpay for lines you aren’t using.

Hosted or On-Premises? Factors to Consider When Choosing a Phone System

WSI Comandix on August 31, 2015

A hosted or cloud-based Voice over IP (VoIP) phone system offers a number of advantages. If you’re already using VoIP-compatible phones, which many organizations are, capital costs are minor. Operational costs are also reduced because management and maintenance responsibilities shift to a third-party service provider. You pay as you go for the services you need, using the provider’s enterprise-class technology and security tools. A hosted system can also be deployed quickly and easily, resulting in faster time-to-value.

A hosted VoIP phone system does indeed offer many benefits and represents a sensible model for many organizations. However, that doesn’t make it the right approach for everyone. With an on-premises system, you choose the technology, own the infrastructure, and retain complete control of your system. That gives you more flexibility to customize your phone system to suit your needs. You don’t have to worry about a service provider’s outage knocking your system offline, and you’re not at the mercy of the service provider’s rising costs when your needs expand.

Consider the story of The Hawkswood School. The school decided to have its cable service provider implement a hosted system. It took nine months to install the system. The phones didn’t work. They had connectivity issues. They couldn’t call 911. After six months of failed attempts by third-party technicians to fix these and other issues, the Hawkswood School contacted Eastern DataComm.

We quickly came to two conclusions. First, a hosted system was not the best approach. Second, by switching telecom carriers, the school could implement a better system, fully offset the cost of new technology, reduce monthly telecom costs, and eliminate the issues experienced with the hosted system.

Whether you choose a hosted or on-premises VoIP phone system, you need to first evaluate your existing infrastructure, applications, services, processes, and future needs. You need to analyze workloads and use cases, and conduct a cost-benefit analysis. You need to identify what specific objectives you want to achieve by upgrading your phone system and make sure the approach you choose is aligned with your organizational strategy.

Let’s say you’ve weighed the pros and cons of hosted and on-premises VoIP phone systems, and you’ve determined that a hosted system is the best choice. You still have to choose the right cloud service provider. Does the provider’s solution deliver the right functionality? How will the provider ensure that your performance requirements are met? What will the provider do if terms of your service level agreement are not met? Does the provider have relevant experience with organizations and industries similar to yours?

Eastern DataComm can help you choose a hosted/cloud or on-site VoIP phone system, recommend programs to help offset costs, deploy the new system seamlessly and efficiently, and provide the necessary training and support that enable you to take full advantage of the solution. Let’s sit down and discuss your organization’s needs and determine which approach is the right fit.

When Disaster Strikes: Looking to the Cloud for Business Continuity

WSI Comandix on April 6, 2015

It’s a Monday afternoon. Calls are rolling in, there are countless voicemails to respond to, and business is humming along. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Paul the sales manager knocks on your door with a perplexed look on his face.

“Do you know what’s wrong with the phone system?” he asks. “There’s no dial tone, no access to voicemail, and no calls coming in.”

Ah, yes — the feared phone system failure. Whether caused by a clumsy utility worker, a big storm, or some other unpredictable problem, phone system issues can create enormous headaches. In fact, if your company hasn’t implemented any kind of disaster or redundancy plan, those failures significantly disrupt business continuity and productivity.

You can’t afford that kind of stagnation. So, you close your laptop, pull out your cell phone, and call your telecommunications provider. An hour later, you finally get someone on the line. Two hours later, you’ve diagnosed the problem. And, right around closing time, the phone system is finally working again. Problem is, you and your team have lost a day of productivity. And your customers aren’t happy.

A Simpler (and More Effective) Way to Manage Disaster Recovery

Until recently, the only way to ensure this scenario didn’t happen to you was to duplicate all of your systems and implement a complex disaster recovery plan. Both of those require significant investments in equipment and infrastructure, which is why many businesses have instead chosen to roll the dice and hope for the best.

Today, there’s another solution that is cheaper and much more efficient. Cloud-based phone systems have greatly advanced system recovery and business continuity in the face of an outage.

Because cloud systems are hosted virtually, there’s no need to worry about the types of disastrous scenarios that used to disrupt on-premise or landline phone services. If a phone line is cut, cloud-based systems are totally unaffected. If Internet service goes down, phone calls can be re-routed to backup cell phone numbers or other business offices.

Simply put, recovery and continuity is a non-issue.

3 Key Business Benefits of Switching to the Cloud

While that kind of peace of mind is pretty compelling on its own, there are a handful of ancillary benefits of the cloud to consider, as well. Here are three particularly important ones:

Cloud-based phone systems are less expensive up-front than on-premise solutions — and that’s with built-in disaster recovery and redundancy planning.
Unlike on-premise solutions, cloud-based phone systems are totally scalable. If you need to re-direct call flow from one site to another, it’s very easy to do without any disruption in call quality or service
If a total outage strikes, wiping out your office’s power and Internet service, cloud-based phone systems allow employees to connect from anywhere — their home, a coffee shop, or wherever they can tap into power and a data connection.

With these benefits in mind, the question, then, is why you wouldn’t switch to the cloud.

Truthfully, there are still compelling arguments for on-premise phone systems, and it’s important to consider your goals before making any major change. But if connectivity, business continuity, system redundancy and reliability are important to your company, employees and customers, you’d be wise to take a closer look at the benefits of the cloud. If nothing else, it will help you better plan for network disruptions you can’t possibly anticipate. Contact us today for the best cloud solutions.

Tag: Business Phone System