Either buying or upgrading a telephone system is no simple task and it could prove to be a major expense for your business. Unless you know the questions to ask and exactly what you need, you could end up with a system that doesn't meet your current needs, let alone future needs and may be obsolete in a year or two.

Therefore buying or upgrading a phone system takes careful thought and research and one should thoroughly research the needs of the Organisation both now and in the foreseeable future.

Since there are many factors to consider in your choice of a phone system we will be delighted to offer a FREE OF CHARGE Telecoms Audit that has been designed to identify your needs, present and future.

Once we have completed our Audit we will report on options, benefit of choices , costs and we would also be able to make an unbiased recommendation to you based on any one of the product ranges we currently represent.

In the event that an upgrade to your existing system is all that is required, we will inform you so without hesitation.

Since every Audit will be, by its very nature, different we do not adopt a single format questionnaire preferring to build each one case by case. We do cover similar points each time and many of these are listed below:

Requirements of your office or business

• How many incoming lines do you have/need?
• Do you have any broadband connectivity, if so, what type and size?
• How many incoming and outgoing calls per day do you average?
• Do you need direct inward dialing (DDI)? If so, how many?
• Do you need application integration?
• How many modem and FAX lines do you need?
• Do you want/need an automated attendant?
• Will you have a receptionist who will answer and route calls?
• Do you need voice mail?
• What features do you want in voice mail if it is needed?
• Do you need to be able to turn phones on and off (hotel, hospital, and so on)?
• Do you need power fail back up?
• What is the expected growth over the next 5 years?

Requirements from your staff

• How many people will need a telephone?
• How many people will need voice mail?
• How many people will need caller ID?
• How many people will need speaker phone capabilities?
• Do you need phones in public areas

Logistics

• Do you have room for a phone switch and the associated cable plant?
• If you have room, is it climate controlled?
• Do you have wiring in place?
• If there is existing wiring, is it adequate?
• Do you have WiFi?
• Do you have wire and phone or LAN points in the desired locations?
• If you need to wire for the phone system, will this be done in-house or contracted?
• How difficult will it be to pull cables in your facility?
• What is your PC infrastructure and how is it managed?

Miscellaneous questions

• Will you be utilizing VoIP?
• Will you be interfacing voice and data?
• Will you have a need for new ISDN, analog or IP lines?
• Do you have several locations that will be served by this phone system?
• Do you need dial-in capabilites for mobile users?
• Do you need an overhead paging system?
• Do you have an on-site competent IT support infrastructure?
• Do you control your LAN, firewalls, routers?