What I am seeing as a telecommunications integrator is that in some cases the systems are starting to fail, but in more cases, companies are starting to see how the new features and ways to communicate with co-workers and customers actually have a fit in their day to-day business activities. When talking about a phone system upgrade with a prospect or existing client, it is crucial to spend time educating them on what is available to them. Most of these businesses have not even thought about technology when it comes to telecommunications in over a decade, so some of the catch phrases like ‘voice over IP’ or ‘Unified Messaging’ instantly may equate to dollar signs, as those technologies were very expensive for companies to purchase a decade ago. Now, in most cases they are included or are a software license, what also makes it more comforting for a company that is looking a new phone solution, is that they are hearing or have heard already about different organizations they deal with upgrading and getting positive feedback.

For all companies that are looking at systems over 10 years old now is the time to start testing the waters as to what is available, how certain solutions are delivered and supported as well as feature and functionality. I say now is a good time, because that system you have had for 10 years or more is still working, and you want to give time to make the right decision, not the decision you have to make when a system has failed.

Monthly Costs: In most cases a Hosted iPBX will be able to utilize an existing data connection to provide voice services. This way you can reduce the cost of using traditional voice services like a T1 or copper lines by using one product to deliver two services.

Move/Add/Change: A Voice over IP system will reduce the need for calls to the phone company. Moving a phone is a simple as unplugging the device and plugging it back in at the new location. Web interfaces make tasks like name changes and password resets a lot easier to navigate so that the customer can do most of these changes without the assistance of their vendor.

Mobile Phone Cost Reduction: Applications like a soft phone, which is a software license that resides on PC or laptop, allow users to make calls through the companies phone system, no matter where they are located. As long as they have a hard-wired data connection the end-user can 4 digit dial the office or make calls as if they never left the office. This can greatly reduce the use of cell phones for road warriors or international businesses. For example, a one week trip to China, using your cell phone only for conference calls and site to site communications could easily get into the thousands of dollars. Utilizing this technology would reduce that cost to the cost of the soft phone license and save the organization thousands of dollars as most f the calls can be made from the hotel or remote office utilizing the system not a cell phone.

The feature that seems to get the most use and will attribute immediately to a customers productivity is unified messaging. This feature will transpose a voice mail that is left on the phone system to an email. That email will contain a wave file that will be sent to the end users email address. This will now enable that user to listen to that message in their laptop or any phone that accepts email, therefor enabling that user to forward, save and respond to that message via email. Also, all messages will carry the caller ID, so if that user chooses to return the phone call they simply highlight that number in the header of the email and return the phone call.

Employees that are on the road no longer have to dial into their voice mail or wait until they get back to the office to check messages. In verticals like medical and legal, they can eliminate the need to save certain messages in their voice mail box, as that message can now be archived just like an email. Customer service reps can now forward messages within the organization with ease, knowing that other employee will get the message instantly.

1) A single voice jack at their desk or office, use a red or orange jack so it is easily identified by the user

2) An analog phone, either kept at the desk or in a common area.

If the phone system or T1 is to fail, each user can plug-in the analog phone to the identified jack and use the existing copper lines to keep call flow for incoming and outgoing calls moving. Although this is not ideal, and there may be some cost for extra voice locations and phones, it is one way to avoid customers not getting through to a business by utilizing existing technologies.

The Right Features at the Right Price

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–>PBX systems and old telephony applications were just not built to meet today’s business needs. They scale poorly, struggle to support mobility, and are increasingly expensive to maintain.

Now you can replace your old PBX system and gain vital benefits by upgrading to a Cisco Unified Communications solution.

Act now and you could be eligible for significant cost savings when you upgrade. Savings may include special pricing on world-class Cisco Services and support, plus financing as low as 0 percent.

From the leader in network-based voice and video communications, Cisco Unified Communications can help you:

Add new voice and video services that enhance your business

Now you can also save on other Cisco Unified Communications products, including Cisco Unified MeetingPlace and Unified Contact Center solutions, plus selected routing solutions compatible with Cisco Unified Communications.