When running a business, work can be a little overwhelming. With employees, customers, and others constantly asking for your assistance, you need all the help you can find to seamlessly manage your business. A quality business telephone system is a must for your business, especially if you have more than a couple of employees.
Before you learn how to upgrade your commercial telephone system though, it’s important to compare major telephone systems and see how technology has grown throughout the years. Knowing your options is crucial before deciding on the system that’s right for you.
Types of Phone Systems
There are three main telephone systems. They all have their pros and cons for your business, but there are definitive differences, and some are clearly better than others:
KSU
A Key Systems Unit (KSU) is the bare-bones of telephone systems. We would only recommend this to a very small business, if you have more than 40 employees working as phone operators it becomes unusable due to the limited number of phone lines it can incorporate.
Pros: it’s easy to use and intuitive, but because of that it’s very simple and not very helpful to a business that wants to grow or expand. In a world where technology is constantly growing, KSU can keep you and your business stuck in the past.
PBX
A Private Branch Exchange (PBX) is the next step up from the KSU. It’s a little more advanced, with one of its biggest perks being the ability to automatically route incoming calls. Unlike the KSU, it’s suitable for a company that has 40 or more employees because it’s largely automated, helping to take the load off of your employees. Another great perk is that it is run by an uninterruptible power supply, so if your business’s power is out, your customers can still call in for some time.
The con of a Private Branch Exchange is the responsibility your business will have. Managing a PBX system can be difficult, and you will need to have a dedicated team to help run the system. Along those lines, if you have technical difficulties, it’s your responsibility to fix any problems, which can be detrimental if your company does business through the phone.
VoIP
The last phone system, and most advanced, is Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). It’s the most advanced system out of the three, and because of this, it’s quickly become the most popular. Statistics show that revenue for the VoIP industry increased 18.5% in 2020 due to heightened demand amid COVID-19 (coronavirus) stay-at-home orders. While many mandates were lifted In 2021, revenue has still grown 4.9% in the year. VoIP allows a phone operator and clients to communicate even if the two are in separate countries. Hosted VoIP providers can even help you set up a cloud-based system. This means that there are no downloads or plug-ins required, creating a one-stop interface.
When to Update your System
If you're running a small business, you need to keep up with the world. We recommend you update your system every two years or so. This gives you enough time to make sure everything is up to date. When it comes to upgrading, there are two things you need to pay attention to:
Functionality—Does your phone system work? If so, your system is functional. Functionality is about looking at the short-term goals of your company.
Business Operations—This is about internal changes in your company that come out of looking at long-term goals. Do you plan on growing your business, and need to upgrade? It’s better to be prepared. Upgrading from KSU to a more modern system like VoIP can help ensure your business is technologically up to date. If you have the resources, it’s important to keep these long-term goals in mind. Preparing for the future ensures your business is on track to succeed and can prevent unexpected hiccups down the line.
The Movement Towards the Cloud
Trends are important to track, especially in business. They not only are indicating what is popular at the moment, but they help determine how businesses are improving over time, and where they are headed. VoIP is quickly becoming a big trend in the business world. The VoIP market size is estimated to grow at a CAGR of 12% from 2019 to 2025. The usage of cloud data takes a big load off of businesses and gives you convenience and versatility that you can’t find in other commercial telephone systems. Keeping your business online allows communication between teams and clients easier than ever before, and isn’t that the ultimate goal of a telephone system?
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