the online home of Cyber Operations, where we make the selection of your next business phone system EASY and understandable.
Click below to schedule a "Test Drive" of one of our phones in your office - at no cost and no obligation!
At Cyber Operations, we are about business telephone systems...simplified! Take our "Test Drive" and find out for yourself"
VoIP stands for "Voice over Internet Protocol." It means voice communication over the Internet rather than over the traditional publicly switched telephone network (PSTN). In the same way that your computer turns your keyboard typing into an e-mail and transmits it via the Internet Protocol (IP) standard, it can also turn voice data into a form that is transmitted via IP and reassembled at the receiver's computer or, increasingly, a specially equipped landline or mobile phone.
If you have a broadband connection with either DSL or cable, you are able to use VoIP and avail yourself with the principal advantage of VoIP telephone service - low cost. For an IP-to-IP phone call it can even be no cost to anywhere in the world.
For the traveler, VoIP provides the advantage of portability. As long as you have access to a broadband connection - and they are becoming more and more ubiquitous with each passing year - you can easily and cheaply keep in touch with family and business associates.
Just pack a headset or IP phone in your bag. Then all you need to do is sign on to your VoIP service and make your call. No worrying about cell phone coverage, roaming, or long distance charges.Many of the same features that you've come to expect as standard with your traditional and cell phone service is available with VoIP service. Services like call forwarding, call waiting, voicemail, caller ID, three-way calling and more are available through your IP phone.
Well, for one thing, many people still don't have a broadband connection, though that number is steadily decreasing. And there are other problems yet with VoIP.
When your power goes out, you can still pick up your "normal" phone to call the power company to tell them your power just went out. This is because a traditional phone is powered by the phone line. This isn't the case with an ip phone. If the power goes out, then there is nothing to power your internet connection or your ip phone. A workaround is to use battery backups or power generators to keep you VoIP service powered, but that is certainly more of a hassle than just picking up your phone and having it externally powered.
There are also issues with VoIP sound quality and reliability. Ask your Cyber Operations representative for a more complete analysis of the pros and cons of VoIP.
- VoIP can offer significant cost savings on long distance calls.
- VoIP reduces "telephone tag" and increases the power of your communication with your customers, vendors and employees.
- VoIP systems cost less to maintain. Many basic administrative functions of a VoIP system can be managed through a simple web based interface. This eliminates costly technician service calls to perform simple tasks, such as adding an extension for a new employee.
- VoIP can mesh with your computer systems to provide fast information at your fingertips.
- Your competition has one or will be getting one soon.
Your organization will rely on the phone system to get your work done. If it fails or doesn't keep current with your staff or workload, your organization may begin to suffer. A maintenance contract with the original vendor will help make sure that your phone system continues to operate optimally.
When considering a phone system, ask if the vendor provides remote maintenance and diagnostics on their phone systems and how much this service costs. Remember, service counts! Phone equipment is similar in most respects and should not be the sole factor that dictates your choice. Choosing a phone system is really about choosing a vendor, which is not unlike choosing an accountant, lawyer or doctor. It is starting a relationship that will last over many years. When selecting a phone system, don't rely on the salesperson's assurances. Take the time to check the vendor's references and ask him/her about the quality of service & responsiveness of the service staff.
A service contract is a good way to ensure support and service over time. Ask your Cyber Operations representative for more information on service contracts.
Leasing is a way to hold down your monthly expenditures. If you lease your phone equipment rather than purchasing, you can reduce your monthly expenses. Leases usually come in 12-, 24-, 36-, 48-, and 60-month periods and can offer 100% warranty plans during the terms of the lease. As long as you are paying on the lease, your new equipment is covered for anything that could go wrong.
Unless the cabling already exists in your office, you will need to have it installed as part of your phone system purchase. The cost of this task is largely labor which is affected largely by how difficult it is to install the phone cables. The more distance to cover, the more floors to interconnect, or the more walls to drill through will all increase the cabling cost.
One way to economize is to have a single vendor install both voice and data cables so that he/she lays cable once to satisfy both needs. Another way to control costs is to install more phone and data jacks than you currently need. In other words, instead of one phone and one data jack per desk location, consider two of each. If staff or equipment needs to expand, you only need to plug in a new phone or computer rather than pay to add more cables and connections. The cost of multiple cabling jobs far exceeds the cost of extra jacks in a single cabling job.
Cable & equipment junctions need a proper environment. This means a dry location, not under or near water pipes, heaters or windows. If the equipment is installed in a closet, do not expect to be able to use the area in front of the equipment and cable terminals for coats or other storage. Remember that you will need dedicated electrical outlets to power the phone and network equipment.
In today's world, many auxiliary devices may need special cabling. For example, a phone line for the alarm system, a cable to the front door exterior for a "door box" intercom, or a phone line to support communications to a service center for a copier or postage meters. Additional phone jacks may be needed in non-work areas: a courtesy phone in the reception area, two phone jacks in your conference room if it's big enough, or a data cable for a centrally located network printer.
In order to make or receive calls, your phone system will inevitably have to connect with the phone company. In order to ensure this is a relatively problem-free encounter, here are some things to consider:
- If purchasing new equipment is part of a move, will you need to get new numbers?
- If you are changing locations, you may or may not be able to bring along the same phone numbers, even if you are just moving down the street. Your Cyber Operations representative will help you determine the answer.
- Get your phone system vendor involved with ordering your service.
- Your vendor will be familiar with the process of working with the Phone Company and likely have people on his/her staff who specialize in ordering, tracking, and fixing orders from the phone company.
- Your lines should be installed several days before you need to use them.
- Don't advertise new numbers until you know they are working..
- Test your new phone numbers before disconnecting your old number.
Your Cyber Operations representative can answer any specific phone company questions you may have.
A good rule of thumb is 1 phone line for every 3-4 full-time staff. This equation will vary depending upon how intensively your office uses phones. One way to assess this is to monitor whether you have difficulty accessing an outside line or whether callers complain that they constantly receive busy signals.
You also must be able to anticipate your growth path for the next five years and find out the costs of expansion. It is usually less expensive to purchase additional equipment at the time of the initial purchase than later. If time allows, it is a good exercise for someone on your staff to perform a "Needs Assessment" by canvassing the department heads. Make sure you note "special" needs such as capacity for phone banking or a part-time receptionist. Growth needs vary widely, but in general, your system should be able to grow at LEAST 50% from the initial configuration, and more if there has been a marked pattern of growth over the last several years. Your organization could change a lot in ten years. If growth is an issue, have the competing vendors explain the cost of growing their systems to larger sizes.
Unlike an answering machine that stores messages on a single cassette tape, voice mail systems store messages on a computer disk in "mailboxes." Each staff person is assigned a mailbox where only his/her messages are stored. This mailbox has a password so that only the assigned staff person can retrieve his or her messages. In addition, these systems allow the individual staff person to create his/her own greeting so that callers can receive specific information such as daily schedule, that the person is on vacation, or who else to call for more information.
Voice mail systems can allow an organization to have an "unattended" main line. This means rather than having a receptionist answer the phone, the voice mail system answers the phone, provides a common greeting and then guides the caller to the appropriate staff person. This feature is known as the voice mail's "auto-attendant."
At its most advanced levels, the voice mail can unify voice, fax, and e-mail messages into a single screen of a user's personal computer. This feature is known as "unified messaging." Voice mail can also interact with a caller's voice, recognizing the spoken response and act according (e.g. transfer a call to a specific staff person). This feature is known as "interactive voice response."
A voice mail system is often an additional component of an in-house phone system. When shopping for a voice mail system you need to evaluate two key aspects: the number of ports and the hours of memory allocated to messages.
A port can be best understood like a berth for ships coming into San Francisco. Although there are many ships coming in and out of San Francisco harbor, only a limited number can be in a berth at a given time. The number of berths will affect the "efficiency" of the harbor. If there are a large number of ships but few berths, then each ship will be delayed by the others. On the reverse, if there are many berths and few ships, then the berth space is wasted. The goal is to balance the amount of traffic with the demand for berth space. With a voicemail system, you need to balance the number of callers with the available ports that manage a call.
The hours of memory refer to the capacity of the voice mail system to store messages. Using the harbor analogy, memory could be thought of as warehouse space. A harbor with a lot of traffic may need a great deal of warehouse space to store and manage cargo. If there is less traffic, then there is less cargo to store temporarily.
Each application is different and requires the purchaser of a voice mail to determine how heavily the staff will be using the voice mail system. An important concept to understand is that a port is in use whenever someone either leaves or picks up a message. The voice mail is also in use when it answers an incoming call and transfers the caller to a staff member's extension, albeit for a slightly shorter interval than when someone is either leaving or picking up a message.
Expanding a voice mail system will cost money. When you request a bid for a new voice mail system, make sure to include a bid on the cost of expansion. If you purchase a system that is adequate for your current staffing, what happens when the office grows and you need more voice mail capacity? It is a good idea to find out at the time of purchase what are the costs of expansion and how long the vendor will honor his/her quote for expansion.