Having a working phone system is essential for keeping your business running effectively. If you are thinking about upgrading your business phone system, here are a few questions that you need to ask yourself about what you want out of your new phone system before you start shopping. Being able to answer these three questions will help you more effectively find a company that can provide your businesses with the services that it needs. 

How Many Sites Do You Need A New Phone System For?

The first thing you need to figure out is how many sites you need a new phone system installed at. The number of sites that you need a connected phone system for will effect the kind of phone system that you need to invest in.

If you are running your business out of multiple different sites, you are going to want to look into either a VoIP phone system or a voice over IP system. Both of these systems let you set up all of your business phones at all locations so that they run on the same interface. This also allows you to run your phone system through the internet, which means that all of your employees, from each of your different business locations and even those who work at home to be able to use and have access to your business phone interface and system.

However, if you are running your business out of one small location, you don't need to upgrade to a VoIP system. When you are working out of a small office, traditional phone lines may work just fine for your business model.

Can Your Current Staff Troubleshoot Phone Support Needs?

Next, you need to look at your staff and see if there is anyone on your staff that is trained to provide IT support for phone systems. If you don't have anyone on your staff who has phone IT support training, you may want to look for a phone plan that offers IT support for a reasonable fee or even offers it for free. 

When you rely on your phone system to keep your business moving, it is important that you have technical support to back you up when an issue arises.

Where Do You Want Your Phone System To Be Located?

Finally, you need to think about where you want your phone system to be located at.

If you have a small business or don't have a lot of extra space, you'll want to set up a phone system where all the equipment for the system can be set-up off site. This can save you a lot of money because you will not need to dedicate physical space to your phone system and you will not need to hire someone to take care of the phone system for you. If your business is small or lacking space, paying for your telephone system to be hosted off-site can actually be a money-saving move.

If you have a large business or extra space, you may want to have all the equipment set up on site for your phone system. You need to go with a company that will allow you to base your system on site. 

Think carefully about what you want out of your phone system before you start shopping around for a new system for your business. For more information, contact companies like Hi Country Wire And Telephone.