How Do I Pick a Good IP PBX Phone System Vendor?

Moving to an IP PBX phone system can be a great decision that can save money, offer easier administration, and give you access to many high-end features at little or no incremental cost. But before making the switch, it's important to find a good IP PBX phone system vendor that can help you with your decision-making process, make the installation transparent, and provide training to your users.

Step One: Your Needs Analysis

Different vendors may have different specialties. While some focus more on enterprise installations, others may be more focused on small businesses, and so it is important to determine precisely what you're looking for before you start looking for a vendor. This requires first, determining how many phone lines you need, how many users you are likely to have in the foreseeable future, and what your peak usage is.

To determine peak usage, track how many users are on the phone at any given time throughout the day. This will be important later in determining whether you have adequate bandwidth to support your IP PBX.

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Step Two: Hosted, Software, or Hardware?

You don't need to make the decision between hosted or on-premises, or virtual or hardware right away, but it's important to at least know the relative advantages of each. A hosted system does not reside on-site, and does not require on-site maintenance, and it may be very good for smaller installations.

An on-premises software-based IP PBX is a type of "virtual" IP PBX, offering the advantage of on-premises control and less cost than a hardware-based PBX. Lastly, the hardware IP PBX may require the most maintenance, but it also affords the greatest amount of control over features and deployment.

Step Three: Your RFP

If you are a small business with only five or ten phone lines, you may think you don't need a formal Request for Proposal, but it will help to illustrate to potential vendors exactly what they need to provide for you, and what your expectations are.

Step Four: Create a short list

Take some time to review the web sites of system vendors, and have a look at any existing review sites on the Web. Compile a list of vendors that are likely to have the products and service to meet your needs.

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Step Five: Evaluate the offerings

When you evaluate your list of vendors, there are several things to keep in mind besides the feature set. The feature set itself is important, but it is not everything-and the phone with the most features doesn't always win the competition. All those bells and whistles are impressive, but your decision should be based on the features that you need now, or will need in the foreseeable future. In addition, your decision should take into account scalability and the ability to upgrade to a higher-end system should the need arise.

Don't forget about the IP phones!

Besides the IP PBX, you will need IP phones as well, and it will be most convenient if you can obtain these from the same vendor that is providing you with and installing your IP PBX. Many IP phones do come with high-end, special features, and when selecting an IP PBX, one must also make sure to have IP phones that are able to handle the features offered by the PBX.