Nextiva, Ring Central, Vonage, 8X8 ? Perhaps these names are familiar to you or perhaps not. They all happen to be providers of hosted VoIP phone systems and have many things in common that should be of interest to anyone considering a new telephone system.
Our company sells premise based telephone systems and we compete with the above mentioned and other hosted VoIP providers every day. All of these companies are based out of state, will tell you (over the phone) that implementation is nothing more than plugging the phones (which they will ship you) into a computer network jack and presto: you have a new telephone system!
The fact of the matter is that nothing in telecommunications is “plug and play”, and if you do need on site support for installation or service the hosted providers simply do not offer it as they do not have local service technicians. The potential for problems is based upon their business model.
Companies like ours have local, knowledgeable sales people who can meet with you to perform a needs analysis, assess the existing wiring infrastructure and explain to you in plain English how your organization may benefit from technology such as VoIP. Most hosted vendors do not have any outside sales professionals who would be able to meet with you either (again, over the phone only).
We have been offering VoIP telephone systems for over 12 years (along with more traditional digital communications systems) and believe that the technology offers great benefits. Local companies such as ours will invest the time to meet with you to understand your needs and help you determine if and how Voice over IP would benefit your organization, and if your infrastructure will support the deployment of VoIP telephones. Once these preparatory steps are completed, you can count on a local vendor to provide a turnkey telephone system that includes onsite installation and training, along with onsite support whenever the need arises.
Feel free to contact us at any time for a free onsite consultation.
