Think a traditional phone system is saving you money? Guess again...

The cell phone has advanced by leaps and bounds over the last 5 years, but your office phone system is still using technology from the dinosaur era and you're still paying  per line every month and not getting a single feature from it. Humans are creatures of habit (unfortunately) which is why so many businesses over-spend by several thousands of dollars each year!

But Will, I'm using Optimum Voice for my calling, its cheap and I get unlimited minutes. While that's all well and good, the OV service provides no features other than a dial tone to your phone system! As for the unlimited calling, businesses use very little outbound minutes compared to their inbound calls. Even if you are using a T1 to handle your phone calls, you're paying way more than you should for having a minimal set of features.

Are you paying a maintenance contract for that phone system that's connected in your back room? That's another cost! These contracts typically only cover a small portion of repair/service to your outdated phone system. If you need a replacement part, that's a surprise cost. Give you an example, we had a customer with a 5 year old Avaya Phone System, the voice mail board burned out. Cost to replace: $3,400. Ouch! They ditched that old box and went to a hosted phone system (more on that later in the blog).

The worst part about having a phone system in the back room is that you get stuck in what we call the triangle of problems. There is a problem with the phones, so you call the "phone guy" then the conversations go something like this...

1. You: Call the "Phone Guy"
2. Phone Guy: Well if we have to schedule a service call and it wasn't a problem with the phone system, then we're going to bill you". 
3. You: But I have a contract.
4. Phone Guy: It doesn't matter if you have a contract, if it wasn't a phone system problem, then we bill you. We suggest you call your phone company which would be [Verizon, Cablevision, Lightpath, Broadview, etc).
5. You: Stop doing your job and Call your phone company, wait on hold, and troubleshoot the phone problem.
6. Phone Company: We don't see anything wrong on our end, all signals and lines are OK.. There's something wrong at your location. We suggest you contact your phone guy.
   ---So you hang up and call the phone guy again.
7. You to Phone Guy: we called the phone company and they said everything was OK on their end. Something is going on with the phone system and we need it fixed, please have someone come out to repair it.
8. Phone Guy: We have an opening for Thursday.
9. You: Thursday of Next week?! What am I supposed to do until then? 
10. Phone Guy: ......

That's the problem with your typical phone system.

Have you heard about phone calls going through the internet? Its called Voice over IP or VoIP for short. Many people are hesitant to use this for their office but in fact they have been using it for years! That cable or FIOS modem that  you have your phone system plugged into....that is sending your calls over the internet. Using a T1? Same thing but in a different type of connection.

A hosted phone system takes that clunky box in the back room and puts it into a datacenter. The benefits of this are many. Here are a few...

• Many features that would cost big money on a regular system
• Predictable monthly cost that is comparable to what you pay now
• 1 Phone call to get repairs, changes, upgrades and questions answered
• Ability to use more than 1 internet connection. A real-time backup for phones AND your PC's.
• and much more

We've installed many systems that allow businesses to protect themselves from not just phone system problems and the high cost, but from natural disasters like Hurricane Irene. Just because your office doesn't have power, does not mean you wont be able to get calls from your customers or have to forward every call you get to a single cell phone.

Questions, comments, and feedback are always welcome.

William Kutzler
F1 Networx Inc.
New York's Premier Technology Management Group
631-764-2600
info@f1networx.com
www.F1Networx.com