subject: The Unsung Hero -- Your Phone System [print this page] Your phone systemYour phone system. Its something that you probably dont think about very much. In fact its probably something that you take for granted. A lot. As an entrepreneur, small business owner, or a corporate fugitive just starting out, youre (almost always) more preoccupied with issues that youve deemed more important. Youre accustomed to using your cell phone as your primary business line; and while youve put in a dedicated phone line or two in your home office its not exactly one of those things that you put that much thought into. Moreover, if youve always worked for someone else that phone (and all the related hardware behind it) has been an item that has always been there.
Until its not.
After a while, having just a cell phone is no longer the most convenient aspect of your business because being at the instant beck and call of all of your customers isnt especially conducive to your sanity. That second phone line you put in is now intermittently picked up by your kids, which doesnt send the greatest image of professionalism. And the idea of rushing to a phone every time it rings simply causes too many interruptions. If youve experienced any or all of the above, perhaps even in one day, you might arrive at the conclusion that you really do need to be responsible for your own phone system. Unfortunately, the task of implementing the right solution is just plain daunting and, at best, supremely frustrating.
And why is that? Because telephony is filled with a plethora of acronyms and terminology that can be confounding even the choice of what kind of phone to purchase is migraine-inducing. POTS, SIP or VoIP? Single-line, multi-line, wireless, or soft phone? Hosted PBX, virtual pbx, or IP PBX? Integrated conferencing or a conferencing service? DID? Queues? Hunt groups? Huh? I need a virtual receptionist? Really? I dont even have a budget for one of those!?! WaitI thought an asterisk was a punctuation mark?
So what if you could allay all of those issues? What if that industrial strength phone system thats a part of almost every major enterprise could be a part of every small business? What if the phone system that you decided to implement for your little empire could actually be a useful part of your business? Ohand what if it was also relatively inexpensive to implement? Thats not a half-bad idea is it? Well, it can. Its called a hosted pbx.
