Major Things to Consider While Buying a Telephony Solution

 The trend of adopting the best VoIP based telephony solutions is increasing among businesses and end users. Whether you adopt the best multi tenant IP PBX solution, class 5 Softswitch software, mobile SIP dialer, white label PC dialer, or any other system, you are investing in the future telephony system. Thus, it becomes necessary to invest to make a well thought and data driven decision. In this article, I will share the top things to consider while you decide to buy a telephony system for your business. 

1. Hosted or owned 

A VoIP system, whether it is a class 4 Softswitch solution or a FoIP solution can be used with hosted or owned models. 

• Hosted: The system will be hosted by your service provider and you will pay a predefined fee to use the service and solution. 
• Owned: You own the system and you will host it on your own server. You will not need to pay any added cost other than the development or license fee. 

Both of these models have their own pros and cons and depending on your telephony need and the nature of the business, you can choose any one model. If you want to buy the software, you have to go with the owned model, in which you have further two options of either getting a licensed solution or investing in the VoIP software development services from scratch.  

2. Purpose of the solution 

This is a very important thing to consider while buying a telephony system. The goal of getting that system onboard should be defined. This will help you choose which system you need indeed. For example, a mobile SIP dialer and an IP PBX solution, both can be used to have business communication, but both serve different purposes. You might not know the exact name of the smart telephony solution that you need. But, if you know the purpose of that solution along with the goals to be converted using it, you can state that to your provider and the provider will give you the recommendation of the telephony product. 

3. Required features 

Another important thing to consider is the list of features you need in your IP telephony solution. In the market, there are identical telephony solutions available. For example, there are several class 5 Softswitch solution providers and each would sound similar. This could leave you confused about which system is better for your business. In many cases, the buyers forget to get the much needed features in their software because they never knew what they wanted and get lost in a long list of features. Thus, it is necessary to make a clear list of must have features in your communication system. For example, if you are looking for a mobile SIP dialer, then some of the features you might need can be as below: 

• SIP registration 
• Voice calls 
• Conference calls 
• Last call redial 
• Real time billing 
• In-app recharge 
• Call logs 

Even if you don’t know the system name, if you know the list of features that can be accessed via your mobile device, your provider will assist you with the right solution to meet your business communication needs. 

4. High availability  

High availability defines the uptime of the system. Ideally, everyone wants 100% uptime of the system, but do you really need that is the right question to ask yourself. To achieve an HA (High Availability) system, you will need to make further investments in creating redundant servers, backups, data drives, applications, and more. This would add up to the total cost of the infrastructure, plus maintenance. But, it is needed in several businesses to meet 24 x 7 communication needs. In some 9 to 5 businesses, high availability might not be a huge need. They can even afford some sort of downtime with a white label PC dialer app. So, identify your business need based on your business nature. 

5. Support 

You need to define what type of support you will need once you get your business telephony solution. Whether you need ongoing technical support or you will need on-demand support. Nowadays, VoIP telephony systems are quite easy to use and you can make configurations on your own. For example, a multi tenant IP PBX solution will have a GUI panel to let you make setting changes on your own. But, to save time, you may need your VoIP development company to make the required setting changes. Alternatively, you may not need their support until there is any error in using the system. 

Depending on your adeptness with VoIP based telecommunication solutions or access to in-house technical expertise, you can define the level of support you will need and this will define the ongoing cost of a business. 

6. Budget 

You will also need to know your budget to get the system. If you need a multi tenant system, but your budget does not support to get one, you may settle with a single tenant IP PBX solution getting started with and then add multi tenancy support in the future once your budget increases.  

7. Reputation of the provider 

This is another crucial aspect to consider before buying any telephony system from any company or provider. There are multiple providers of smart telephony solutions. You need to check their history, reviews, case studies, ratings, etc. to know whether the provider is reliable or not. It is always better to buy from a trustworthy company than a freelancer as they will be more responsible for delivering excellent customer experience and services.  

Concluding notes 

Investing in a telephony solution by buying one is a critical decision. It will need a significant investment of money and time. Also, you cannot revoke or change the decision immediately or in the near future. For example, if you get a multi tenant IP PBX solution, you are less likely to change it next year for several reasons. To make the right and profitable choice, keep the top 7 tips shared in this article in mind.