As technology evolves and advances, businesses are faced with more and more choices when looking to buy IT and communications equipment for their office. On the one hand, this is great because a wider selection tends to mean that there are solutions out there to meet the varying needs of different companies. After all, every business is different and each has its own unique needs. On the other hand, having too much choice can make the buying process much more difficult and confusing, especially for those with minimal technical knowledge. In this article, we consider the unique needs of the small business and offer some tips for making the right choice when searching the market for small business telephone systems.
Small businesses have lower budgets than their larger competitors. Yet, a modern business, no matter how small, still needs access to modern technology that will assist them in running their business efficiently and set them on the path to growth. Your phone system is crucial in this regard. Thankfully, there are solutions out there that meet these needs, offering advanced technology, at an affordable price with scalability built in to the design.
The first thing to consider when looking at phone systems for small business is scalability. It’s simply not cost-effective to buy a system that isn’t going to last the test of time. You want a phone system that will suit your needs now and has the capacity to grow alongside your company. There are plenty of options out there that will meet this requirement, but they key thing to consider is whether or not a prospective option will be affordable at each stage of growth. As your business grows, you will be bringing in more revenue and this will allow you to increase your spending on communications. But, it’s still important that any additional costs are relative to your level of growth.
Some phone systems are particularly well-suited to the needs of small businesses. Cloud phone systems, for example, tend to be much more cost-effective for SMEs than larger companies. A cloud phone system utilises VoIP technology and is a hosted service offered by specialist providers. The reason that this service is better suited to small and medium sized businesses is that the service tends to be based on a per-user pricing model. So, beyond a certain number of users, it becomes more economical to own and maintain the equipment onsite. For smaller companies, owning and maintaining technical equipment onsite can prove too costly. That’s why hosted telephony is often ideal for a small company.
With a hosted phone system, the entire technical management is taken care of by the service provider. This means that you are assured of a reliable service with a system that is continuously operational and without the cost of an additional telephone system maintenance and support contract. As well as saving you money, this also means that your valuable time is not taken up with technology management – you are free to focus on core business activities. This is a huge plus point for those running small businesses, whose time is so often taken up by those admin and technical tasks they can’t yet afford to pay additional staff to do.
Another great thing about a VoIP phone system, from a small business perspective, is the advanced features that it offers. With a more conventional phone system, advanced features would come at an additional cost, which often put them beyond the reach of smaller companies. Cloud phone systems are feature rich AND affordable AND call costs are much lower too – what more could you want? And remember, a cloud phone system will offer that all-important scalability factor. As soon as you have a need for additional users, they can be added instantly for complete convenience and without excessive costs. You will simply pay the standard price per user.
In sum, the most important things to look for when choosing a telephone system for your small business are scalability, affordability and functionality. You should always try to get as much for your money as possible. That’s why we recommend hosted telephony, because it includes maintenance and support, lowers your phone bills, offers advanced features and easy scalability without excessive costs.
If you’re looking for small business telephone systems in Birmingham, Redditch, Worcester or the wider West Midlands area, contact us at Midland Networks today. We offer both onsite solutions and cloud phone systems.