Communications are the lifeblood of any business. It’s the primary way your business connects and collaborates with customers, employees, and partners.
With virtually all companies making the shift to digital, upgrading business communication systems has become essential. Legacy technology can’t support the needs of today’s digital world, which has led to emerging IT companies to handle this increasing demand.
There’s one problem, though. Not all IT companies are created equally. There are several common mistakes these inexperienced IT companies continue to make, and their clients are paying for them.
Read on to learn more about the 9 biggest mistakes IT makes when deploying a new phone system.
1. Not Performing a Thorough Discovery Phase
During the discovery phase, the IT personnel reviews all the elements of the existing system with the client. This is where some less obvious and seldom used aspects get forgotten about.
A good IT management team will have a checklist to ensure nothing gets overlooked during the discovery phase.
Some common things that get missed and unintentionally omitted from the planning process for the new system are:
- Fax numbers
- Elevator emergency phones
- Overhead paging
- Call box
- Toll-free numbers
2. Not Understanding or Planning for Common Workflow Scenarios
Most companies don’t have complicated requirements from their phone system. They do, however, have common workflow scenarios that IT will need to have a good understanding of to be able to properly execute a plan for.
These are some examples of possible common workflow scenarios that need more consideration than a typical user:
- Front desk/reception
- Security desk
- Service groups (IT, customer service, security)
- Administrative assistants
- Remote workers
- Mobile workers
3. Overlooking the Cabling During the Planning Phase
Outdated cabling could negatively affect the success of your phone system deployment. Not considering the existing cabling could cause quality issues with VoIP devices. When planning the physical aspect of your deployment, consider these recommendations for network quality:
- Cat5e is 10x faster than Cat5
- Cat6 has a larger bandwidth and can process more information
4. Not Considering Your Wireless Network Design
If you have, or plan to have softphones running on your wireless access, it’s important to evaluate your wireless network.
These following issues could arise if your network is not prepared to handle VoIP effectively:
- Oversaturation of the access point
- Jitter
- Latency
- Poor coverage
- RF interface
5. Not Planning for Quality of Service
If you don’t plan for and implement Quality of Service (QoS), you risk introducing poor audio/video quality across your network and devices.
For QoS to be effective, you need to have consistent settings across your organization. If the digital flow cannot support your QoS setup, the quality of your calls, video, and screen sharing will decline.
G12 Communications uses Microsoft Teams to leverage QoS to help ensure better audio and video quality. Learn how we can help you use Microsoft Teams to monitor your audio and video quality metrics.
6. Having a Confusing Dial Plan
Extension dialing plans can get pretty complicated. Once you add extensions, have multiple locations, acquisitions, or scenarios where extensions start overlapping—it gets out of hand.
A complicated extension plan means you’ll need a complicated dial plan to make it all work. Starting from scratch and configuring a simple extension and calling plan is easier to maintain and easier for users to operate.
7. Not Planning for Emergency 911 Service Dialing
Many organizations may not know about the requirements in force about emergency dialing from VoIP systems. Because VoIP services can be used from any internet connection from almost anywhere in the world, it becomes a challenge for emergency services to determine the location of the caller.
Microsoft Teams gives a good breakdown on how they manage emergency calling setup and procedures including:
- Emergency address validation
- Geo codes
- Emergency call enablement
- Dynamic emergency calling
- Emergency call routing
For more information on emergency 911 service dialing, visit the FCC’s VoIP and 911 service regulations here.
8. Not Planning for Advanced Call Flows
Implementing call flows will depend on a combination of the needs of your business and the wants of your customers. When deploying your new phone system, your IT partner should avoid these key mistakes when planning for advanced call flows:
- Complicated or confusing call flows
- Not taking advantage of advanced call flows where they could prove useful
- Poorly designed IVRs
- Poorly designed Hunt Groups
9. Not Having A Deployment Strategy
There are some important preparation strategies that should never be overlooked. Considering these questions before you move into your new phone system will prepare you for worst case scenarios like potential system outages.
- How critical is your phone system to your business?
- What happens when your phone system goes down?
- How resilient is your service?
A good IT provider will ensure you have a backup plan in place when transferring over to a new phone system.
Want To Avoid These Mistakes During Your Transition? G12 Can Help
Choosing the right partner for your IT needs is integral to your success and a thorough IT team will ensure these common mistakes are avoided.
Are you interested in learning more about transitioning to Cloud PBX services and your deployment options? Get in touch with a G12 Cloud PBX specialist today by calling (877) 311-8750 (Option 1) or by emailing sales@G12COM.com.
