It was back in the 1980’s when Telecom Australia released the Commander series business phone systems. Sophisticated at the time, dinosaurs today. You see veterans like me have worked on telephone systems for the past four decades which means we are well verse in knowing the ins and outs of telephone systems. Our hands on experience honed over 40 years cements a long-standing intimate knowledge of what makes a great phone system and certainly what makes an average one. Decades of feet on the street installing and maintaining telephone systems and data networks is a good thing when it comes to providing legitimate dependable advice. After all we’ve experienced the development of telephones evolve from World War Two style party lines to modern day VoIP services running on high-speed data services. That’s quite a revolution in a very short time frame.
Modern phone systems are based on data networks with incredible integration into remarkable software providing business owners a sustainable competitive advantage. Our Millennials tend the use a chat or texting style of communication which opens a new plethora of challenges for business owners, who almost continually go running to their IT provider confused and bewildered with cap in hand asking, “how the heck do we communicate with these guys?” The IT guy rubs his hands together while saying, “did you know we also do phones”.
I hear you say, “our business doesn’t need that tech stuff”. I say, “embrace change and use it to your advantage or get left behind” Do your research before committing to what looks like a great deal. Look at systems providing for flexibility and future, somethings you may not need now but the future holds many surprises. A great example. A telco product labled as UCXpress and sold as a simultaneous call model with unlimited extensions. Sounds like the perfect system. Here’s the truth, the choice of handsets is severely limited, the features are slimmed down to the basics and very limited and inflexible and you have no choice of carriers. You can only “blind” transfer calls. Pretty much like a new version of the old Commander system from 1990. Be very careful, consult with a seasoned telephony expert with decades of experience.
Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, is quoted as saying “change is the only constant in life.”
Back to the worried business owner who inhales a sigh of relief, believing he has uncovered the solution from his trusted IT advisor. Of course, this is where things go pear shaped very quickly. Let me explain, you see the IT guy has only just been exposed to immature undeveloped basic hosted telephone systems. The IT guy is more worried about replacing diminishing computer server and software revenue and remain in business.
More’s the pity the IT guy doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, because due to extremely limited exposure to the most basic of phone systems available on the market today. The IT guy doesn’t have knowledge to determine a good system from a bad one. Ultimately leading his customer down a dry gully with a dud not fit for purpose product. He is just pleased to recover lost server and software sales revenue to remain in business.
“But cloud phone systems are smart, right?” I hear you say. You see not all things are created equal. The cloud phone system was initially developed by IT people, adopting the only the basics of a modern telecommunications system abandoning the genuine needs of highly developed features used and loved across the world. The thought pattern of an IT person is the opposite to a Telco technician; the IT guy is trained the think like a programmer to complete tasks robotically and logically. Whereas a voice technician/ engineer has been trained to be fluid, flexible and analog, like a human. The two are polar opposites which in turn produces a very different outcome for the innocent unsuspecting business owner.
The last 5 years we’ve rapidly witnessed a measure of overnight experts arise from the IT arena, promoting their newfound slim knowledge of telecommunications to trusting business owners. Bright colour screened phones were quickly adopted in the belief that a great looking handset on their desk was going to be the best thing since sliced bread. A great looking phone connected to a “dumb as” basic phone system doesn’t solve the communication requirements of a modern small business. Shall I say, “you can’t make a silk purse of a sow’s ear” or “you can’t create a fine product from inferior materials.”
We believe we have the best open compliant hosted phone system available today. We call it PULSE, as it’s the heartbeat to a modern business today.
“There is no substitute for quality.”