Solution Overviews » Communication » Phone System

Phone System

Author: TechShortcut Staff | Article updated: June 21, 2008

1. Overview

It is important to keep in mind that the core functionality of a phone system is to direct inbound and outbound calls for your organization. If you have a single location where workers can share phone lines then you probably don't need a phone system. For businesses using traditional phone lines, the phone system will control sharing of outbound phone lines to reduce the cost of using one phone line per person. Phone systems can use either analog or digital signals to connect phones within an office.

Considerations

You will typically need some type of phone system if any of the following is true:

Office with Multiple Workers Using Regular Phone Service
If you have an office with several workers and each worker needs their own phone number or extension and the number you require exceeds traditional phone lines.
Multiple Offices or Worker Locations
You have multiple locations and you would like to allow calling and centralized routing between locations.
Rule-based Call Routing
You need to route calls to different people, departments or different phones based on rules like time of day or caller option selection.

Unified Messaging Instead of a Phone System

If you need to consolidate inbound phone calls and faxing but you don't need call routing or forwarding, unified messaging may be the option for you. Unified messaging provides a primary phone number that accepts all inbound phone calls and faxes. Inbound calls are routed to voicemail which is then accessible via a web account or forward to your email. Inbound faxes are routed to your web account or to your email. The potential drawback is that all phone calls may end up going to voicemail. For live call routing and forwarding you will want a phone system.

Features

Extensions
The number of extensions needed by your firm.
Voicemail
Receive and store voice messages.
Fax
Send and receive faxes.
Call Forwarding
Forward calls to any other phone number.
Automated Call Distributor (ACD)
Route calls to a specific group of terminals.
Internal Calls
Calls between employees within the office or between offices.
Conference Calls
Initiate calls between multiple people.
Web Access
Access voicemail and faxes through a website or email.
Call Logging
Track call statistics for reporting and analysis.

Implementation Options

1. In-House Phone System	2. Phone System Service
The routing equipment is installed within your office. If traditional phone lines are being used, the phone system may also manage the sharing of external phone lines. Some options you may encounter include: Private Branch Exchange(PBX), VoIP PBX or IP PBX. Can be a fit for more than 50 employees. Key System or Key Service Unit(KSU). Can be a fit for up to 50 employees. KSU-Less. Can be a fit for approximately 10 employees or less. No central server is needed because phones have the logic.	Call routing is performed or hosted by an external service. Configuration is usually done via the web. For office locations that need a lot of separate lines or extensions, a PBX-like device or IP phones may be needed. Some options you may encounter include: Virtual PBX Hosted PBX Hosted VoIP PBX Central Exchange Service (Centrex)

1. In-House Phone System

2. Phone System Service

The routing equipment is installed within your office. If traditional phone lines are being used, the phone system may also manage the sharing of external phone lines. Some options you may encounter include:

Private Branch Exchange(PBX), VoIP PBX or IP PBX. Can be a fit for more than 50 employees.
Key System or Key Service Unit(KSU). Can be a fit for up to 50 employees.
KSU-Less. Can be a fit for approximately 10 employees or less. No central server is needed because phones have the logic.

Call routing is performed or hosted by an external service. Configuration is usually done via the web. For office locations that need a lot of separate lines or extensions, a PBX-like device or IP phones may be needed. Some options you may encounter include:

Virtual PBX
Hosted PBX
Hosted VoIP PBX
Central Exchange Service (Centrex)

2. Option Comparison

	1. In-House Phone System	2. Phone System Service
Cost Factors	Hardware
	Phones and phone system hardware	Phones
	Software
	Included	NA
	Labor
	Installation and configuration will be needed.	Some minor installation and configuration will be needed.
	Services
	NA	Monthly service charge and a charge per minute for calls connected through the hosted system.
Communication with External Lines Show/Hide details The phone system must connect to some type of external line to make calls. External lines can either be your regular phone lines or your Internet connection.	Traditional telephone lines or VoIP service	Traditional telephone lines or VoIP service
Communication between Office Phones	Office phones can be hardwired or wireless. The phone signal can be digital or analog.	Office phones can be hardwired or wireless. The phone signal can be digital or analog.

3. Next Steps

Hosted phone systems offer a tremendous amount of flexibility, and they come at lower initial cost, since there is less hardware investment. However, there can be a point where the number of extensions cause the phone system service cost to exceed an in-house phone system. So, you will need to document the features your business needs, the number of planned extensions, and estimate the costs to see the real picture.

To give a bit more guidance, let's look at a few scenarios.

One Location with a Few Lines:
If you only need one phone line at one location that can be shared, then you may be able to get by with simply using one of the phone service options; you may not need a full blown phone exchange. All the options above will typically include or work with other services to provide features like call forwarding, a toll free/800 number, voicemail, faxing and conference calling.
Several Locations with Only a Few Extensions at Each:
If you have a distributed or virtual business then you will want to look into a hosted phone system service. Phone system services can be great for virtual businesses that need to route to part-time or temporary help.
One or More Locations with Many Lines:
If you have more than a few lines at each location and you want to be able to do sophisticated call routing within an office, you will want to look into both in-house or a hosted phone system and evaluate each.

	1. In-House Phone System	2. Phone System Service
General Advice	Consider when you have an office full of people needing extensions.	Consider when you need to loop in people at different locations and the number of extensions can is variable.
Find Local Tech Specialists Search TechShortcut's tech profiles for specialists in your area	"KSU-Less" Phone System KSU Phone System PBX Phone System	Virtual PBX Phone System
Find More Information Use Research Helper to find related web articles	KSU Less Phone System KSU Phone System PBX Phone System	Virtual Hosted PBX Phone System
Examples of Products and Services These are not endorsements, simply some product or service names we encountered in our research to get you started finding your best fit.	Avaya Fonality ¹ Cisco Unified Communications for Small Business Critical Links edgeBOX ¹ Microsoft Response Point NorTel ShoreTel ¹ Uses open source software from Asterisk.org	GotVMail Google GrandCentral ¹ Onebox RingCentral VirtualPBX Vocalocity ¹ Free but currently only accepting beta users.