How Often Should You Upgrade Your Phone System?

How often should you upgrade your phone system?

How often you should upgrade your business phone system depends on a number of factors, but at the very least, you should carry out full maintenance checks on your phone system at least every 12 months. Beyond that, you’ll want to upgrade your phone system as often as your business needs dictate or if you want to take advantage of features that are new to the market. 

There are often signs that you need to upgrade your phone system, but you will most likely want to ask yourself the following questions to evaluate how necessary it is.

Business-critical questions

• Has your business outgrown your existing phone system? If not, will you outgrow it in five to 10 years?
• Does your phone system contain all the features necessary for your business to perform?
• Is the current cabling infrastructure in your office suitable for your current phone system?
• Are there any benefits you might be missing out on by not upgrading?
• Is your current type of phone system sufficient for your business’s needs?
• Do you need a cloud-based phone system?
• Do you need interactive voice response (IVR)?
• Do you need an auto-dialer?
• Do you need just a business phone number and not a business phone system?
• Do your numbers need to be virtual?
• Do you need to switch to a private branch exchange (PBX) or a cloud PBX?

Quality questions

• Are you experiencing a large number of missed or dropped calls?
• Have you experienced any major issues with your phone system in the past year? How many?
• What is your call quality like?
• Have you received any complaints about the quality of your outbound calls?
• Is there a hiss or any other background noise?
• Do you ever experience a delay after dialing?
• How is the general performance of your phone system hardware/software?
• Have repairs become too expensive?
• Are there parts that are hard to get to during repairs?
• Is your network optimized for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)?

Service provider questions

• How is the support from your current phone system provider?
• Is your business phone system provider meeting your expectations?
• Are you paying too much for your phone system/maintenance?
• Do you have to contact your phone system provider much more than you did 12 months ago?

>> Ready to Upgrade? Learn How to Choose a Business Phone System

How are phone systems advancing?

As you weigh whether to upgrade your phone system, you’ll want to educate yourself on how phone phone systems are advancing. Like with many industries and technologies, some of the most profound recent changes in phone system use and maintenance are a result of artificial intelligence (AI). VoIP industry leaders, including Dialpad and RingCentral, have recently introduced a variety of AI features, including voice coaching and video meeting summaries.

In addition to clarifying conversations and recording important information from calls, AI can help greet callers and direct their calls. Plus, AI fraud-detection tools can spot call spoofing, indicate possible credit card fraud, and perform pattern analysis and traffic monitoring to help human agents track suspicious behavior.

While AI is usually thought of as a tool for automating routine tasks and busywork, it can also perform emotional intelligence tasks, like sentiment analysis, as well as advise human agents on how to handle frustrated or confused callers. For example, Dialpad’s AI support systems provide real-time agent performance feedback, assist in retrieving technical information and even generate custom sales playbooks.

>> Learn more: VoIP vs. Landlines

Tips on how to upgrade your phone system

An upgraded phone system may cost you anywhere from $200 to $1,000 per handset. A midrange phone system runs about $500 per handset. When you’re determining if you should upgrade your phone system and evaluating the best options on the market, consider the following factors.

Easy expansion

If you’re like most established businesses, you want to grow and expand. That might mean adding more employees, who will likely need phone access. That’s why it’s important to find a system that’s easy to scale as your business does. Some phone systems are complex, so make sure you understand how to add more phone lines.

Call volume and participants

Figure out how many calls your business gets daily. If you don’t get the right system for your call volume, it might hurt your phone system’s performance. If you have multiple locations that must work together, you might want to consider a hosted phone system, which allows you to call anyone in your system with just a three-digit code, no matter where they are located. If your company handles conference calls regularly, make sure your phone system can handle them. 

>> Learn more: What’s a Business VoIP Number?

Package details

Make sure you understand all of the features that come with the new phone systems you’re considering and how much they might cost. If you know what features you need ahead of time, you can tell the salesperson so you ensure the system has all you need. You also should understand the cost of maintenance for the phone system you want. If you are considering a refurbished phone system, be mindful that you might face repair costs.

Emergencies

Know what to expect from your phone system in an emergency, like how quickly it can be recovered, to reduce downtime. Most modern phone systems use VoIP, which may cause problems when your internet goes down; make sure there’s a backup plan if that were to happen.