What to Look for in Business Telephones

Telephone is one of the most important pieces of office equipment. Business operations, communications and workflow take place more effectively and efficiently because of business phone systems. So as a business owner, you must be able to invest on quality and reliable telephone systems. Here’s a list of the features that you should look for:

Basic Features:

Here are some of the more common features of business telephones. Note though that each brand is different so it’s better to ask for a complete list of options.

• Auto attendant – This takes the place of a receptionist as it presents callers with a list of options to route their call. In also allows the callers to just directly dial the party’s extension number.
• Conferencing Features – This is useful for business meetings and discussions. This feature allows two or more extensions to connect together and share in a particular conversation. Ask the brand salesperson for more specific offerings of this feature.
• Automated Directory- This feature allows callers to look up an employee’s extension by just entering the name’s first few letters.
• Voice Mail– Messages are left for employees who are currently unavailable through this feature. allows messages to be left for employees that are unavailable or on the phone already. Some business phone systems further allow separate third-party voice mail equipment to interface with their equipment.
• Call Hold– This is a very basic feature which puts the caller on hold while the user is attending to some other matter
• Call Forwarding- Another basic feature which allows the user to forward certain calls to another extension or to voice mail.
• Speed Dial- Enables the quick dialling of frequently called numbers
• Redial- A very basic feature which allows the redialling of the last number called.
• Paging- Through this feature, the user can speak over a public address system to give announcements or locate an employee
• Music on Hold – This feature gives callers something to listen to while they are on hold
• Back–Up Power– In case of power outage, this feature provides an alternate source of electricity for 10 to 60 minutes.

 Advanced Features

The following business telephone features will entail additional costs; however, these can be offset by the added customer service and time-saving ability that these would bring:

• Remote Location – This feature allows simple connections to employees who are currently offsite, or to small remote offices.
• Find Me / Follow Me- This enables users to forward their phone on demand to another phone, cell phone, assistant, home phone, etc.
• Computer Telephone Integration- Through this feature, the phone system will be able to interact with a computer system.  For instance, the user can click on a phone number on the computer screen, which will trigger the phone system to automatically dial the number.

There you have it—a list of business phone system features that you should look for. If you need more assistance, or if you have related concerns, do not hesitate to contact us today. We will be more than happy to help you.