Choosing The Right Communication System For Your Business
(SAN DIEGO, May 2002) -- Selecting the appropriate telecommunications
systems for your business can be a daunting task. Before
choosing a new system or service, it is important to develop
a clear understanding of your company's communications needs,
in the form of a written preliminary plan that you can show
to potential providers. Your firm's plan should include
three interrelated elements: a detailed assessment of your
company's specific service needs, a schedule and a projected
budget. First, evaluate your specific service needs for
telephone, fax, and
Internet connectivity. Consider how you want your company
to deliver your services over the telephone. For example,
if it is important for callers to have swift access to member
of your staff, you might want to think carefully about whether
and how to offer automated attendant services. If you have
established business, you can evaluate call volume and calling
patterns analyzing previous telephone bills. If your company
is just beginning operation, you will need to estimate your
expected usage. It may be helpful
to look at start-up usage and growth patterns for similar
businesses. Count the number of phone extensions your employees
will need. Decide whether you will want options such as
call transferring, call forwarding, caller identification,
speed calling, call waiting and conference calling. All
of these factors will affect the complexity and the rates
of your telephone service.
It is critical to take into account the short-term growth
of your company, so you can create a system that will be
able to accommodate your business into the future.
If you intend to use fax machines, evaluate the volume of
incoming and outgoing faxes and the number of employees
needing to access these machines, and purchase enough machines
to handle the projected traffic comfortably. Increasingly,
personal computers and networks have fax capability. While
this may not be an option for all businesses, it may be
a way to decrease your costs and increase productivity.
Deciding whether your company needs a rely on the Internet
for internal and external communications now or in the near
future will help you choose the most useful technology for
your business. Factor in your expectations for growth when
determining the level of Internet service and the option
to easily add email accounts.
When scheduling, develop a list of all elements needed for
the project and the sequence in which they must be completed.
Set target deadlines for completion of each phase of your
project. This will be helpful as you begin to speak with
vendors. Check with the BBB for a reliability report.
And finally, determine your budget for setting up or upgrading
your communications system. Depending on your needs and
the complexity of service and equipment, communications
options can range from reasonable to extremely costly. Be
realistic about how much you have to spend, and set spending
limits for specific time frames. Examine plans that are
within your spending range.
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