Not so long ago buying a phone system didn’t take much time or thought. You simply told your supplier how many incoming lines and extensions you needed, then bought the appropriate switchboard system together with the required number of handsets. Not a hugely challenging business decision.
Set out to a buy a phone system today and it’s a different story. Yes, you can still choose a straightforward analogue system to make and receive calls if that’s all you need. But would digital cordless phones that allow you to roam around the office be useful? And do you want to accommodate people working remotely? Or how about a fully integrated voice and data system that combines your phone and computer network?
Changes in technology over the past few years mean there are now many more options – and, of course, more jargon. As with most purchasing decisions the first question is where do you start?
One worthwhile information source is FOCAS, or Free Online Communications Advisory Service. This is an independent service providing information for non-technical types at small and medium-sized businesses.
“Automation of business processes and the rise of the internet and email means that data traffic now exceeds voice traffic,” says FOCAS managing director Neil Morecraft. “More recently the convergence of voice and data on IP – or Internet Protocol – networks means this technology is available to businesses of all sizes.”
IP is the most common bit of jargon you’re likely to hear at the moment when talking to phone suppliers (see the Phone Jargon Deciphered boxout). This technology effectively brings phones and IT systems together, harnessing the digital capabilities and cost advantages of ISDN.
WHEN TO BUY
For many of you, simple factors drive the decision to invest in a new communications system. Business expansion or a move to a new HQ will often automatically lead to a review of current systems. This provides an opportunity to start with a clean sheet and perhaps install infrastructure that can handle newer technologies. Alternatively, a leased system may be up for renewal. Or maybe the old phone system purchased years ago doesn’t deliver the goods and is no longer cost-effective.
For Mark Dunkley, network systems manager at Bristol-based excavator rental company Hydrex, an office move together with an overloaded and costly system were the reasons for change.
BT Convergent Solutions and Nortel set up a BT NetEquip and Nortel Succession 1000 system for the Hydrex headquarters and its Portishead depot.
Although the company has a turnover of £40m and employs around 1,000 people, only around 15% of these are IT users. They are largely those involved in appliance sales and rentals. Consequently, one of the biggest costs the company faced was mobile calls.
Hydrex spent around £100,000 on its phone system and data networks. Dunkley feels it’s already set to save up to £50,000 a year on phone costs.
“One of the biggest bills to kill was mobile costs. I think we’ve achieved 50%-60% savings here,” says Dunkley. “Because we’ve the full IP solution we can route remote depots’ calls to mobiles through our system, which is far cheaper.”
Deciding on what you need to buy depends on what you want from your system. For a business with a handful of users this might mean no more than replacing an existing system with a similar one. In many cases that will be an analogue system. These are still a popular functional choice – Panasonic says it still sells around 500-600 analogue systems a month.
However, it’s also worth indulging in a bit of blue sky thinking about what you would really like to do that you can’t at the moment. IP technology, for example, potentially makes a far wider range of functions available to businesses of all sizes and with it brings cost savings and flexibility, as Hydrex discovered.
You should also think strategically. For example, how will the changing needs of the business affect requirements over the coming years?
And, just as the internet was not widely used 10 years ago, even if IP telephony isn’t your bag today it’s the future. Those in the know believe digital telephone systems will replace analogue completely in the not too distant future.
According to figures from Panasonic around 40% of phones sold this year are, what they call, IP-enabled. That’s to say, they have the capability to upgrade to IP technology even if the user doesn’t require it immediately. So even if you are not ready for the cost of an IP system you can still get a system that will handle the technology whether or not you’re planning to use its full potential in the short-term.
One example of a business taking this route is Acorn Recruitment, a £23m turnover operation with headquarters in Newport, Wales and eight branch offices around the UK.
When the company, which has 160 employees, moved to a new greenfield site all the reasons for not having an IP system disappeared, according to its IT director Andy Tugwell.
He believes the cost of swapping to IP technology was marginally cheaper than transferring an existing system. Its new Mitel 3300 ICP set-up cost £85,000 although quotes from other suppliers went as high as £300,000.
“We decided to buy an IP system because of the blue sky aspects of converging data and telephony,” says Tugwell. “We’re using it very much as a phone system at the moment, but it was bought to allow the business to grow five or six times bigger.”
Tugwell’s advice to any businesses investing in IP as a means of futureproofing is to allocate money to improve infrastructure. This is most likely to be the case if you’re planning to put a new system into an existing building, he warns.
“The most important thing at an existing site is to do a very robust audit of your existing LAN before you go ahead. Be prepared to spend outside your original budget.”
