Business Phone System and Its Functional Service

A business phone system may be described as a multiline telephone system used by business houses. The system ranges from a small key system to a huge PBX (Private Branch Exchange). Technically speaking, PBX is a derivative of the central office telephone systems as it operates in a similar manner.

Communication is critically important to any businesses and the business phone system has to be effective and with flexible features to improve employee productivity and customer service. Besides, the phone system must not be too complicated but user-friendly. The system has to be scalable with expandability provision for a growing business organization.

When deciding to buy a business phone system, you need to look into the following:

1. Is the system capable of all the features and functions your business needs?

2. Is it easy to operate and user-friendly?

3. Will be the seller be agreeable to offer a free demonstration of the system so that you can know its capabilities first-hand?

For most organizations, the single most important piece of office equipment is the telephone. Business phone systems generally start at an affordable price and increases proportionally to the size of the system and number of features you opt for.

Do not be tempted to buy features and functions that you may never need or use - as otherwise you will be needlessly spending money. Merely elect the basic features that will be beneficial to your business. The features you should consider are - Auto attendant, Conferencing, Automated Directory, Voice Mail, Call Hold, Call Forwarding, Speed Dial, and Music on Hold, Back up Power Supply.

There are several other advanced and sophisticated features like Remote Location Find Me / Follow Me and Computer Telephone Integration (CTI) which may not be strictly necessary for small and midsize businesses. Judiciously select features that will bring value to your business and improve your business efficiency.

The next question you should think of is the size of the system and to how many employees/departments you want to provide extensions. Please bear in mind the system you select has expandability provision so that you are not required to discard the system when your business grows.

When deciding on the size of the system, you will have to do a bit of pre-study to know the exact volume of your telephone traffic. The simple formula is - the sum total of incoming and outgoing calls at any given moment is the number of lines (or trunks) that you will need. Common configurations of PBX systems are 3, 8, 12, 16, 24 or 48 lines. Remember if you size this too low, callers will frequently get a busy signal if all the lines are being used.

Some of the notable system features are - Account Codes, Caller ID, Call Logging, Direct Inward Dialing, Group Rings, Night Service, Off Premise Extension, PC Administration and Silent Monitor:

Some of the notable telephone station features are - Alphanumeric Display, Background Music, Barge In, Call Forwarding, Call Timer, Call Waiting / Camp On, Conference Calling, Direct Station selection, do not Disturb, Flash Key, Headset Capability, Call Hold, Intercom, Message Waiting, Microphone Mute, One Touch Keys, Paging / Public Address, Soft Keys, Speed Dial, Call Transfer.

The voice mail features include Answering Machine Emulation, Automated Attendant, Caller ID with Return Call, Conversation Record, Fax Detection, Multiple Company Greetings and Unified Messaging.