Many UK businesses choose a phone system based on their current needs and headcount, and not where they hope to be in 3-5 years. Whilst it’s near impossible to predict exactly where your business will be in that time, it’s important to consider the opportunities that might present themselves as you look at how to choose a business phone system.
For example, you might have a handful of employees right now, but how might that change as you grow? Might you look at additional locations for presence elsewhere in the UK – or even a potential merger to increase your business’ footprint? The rise of hybrid working is also a key consideration, offering flexibility to your team. In addition, changes across the UK, such as the ISDN switch off, might impact the business phone system you choose to ensure longevity.
As an MSP working with small and medium sized UK businesses, we often see companies needing to replace systems far sooner than they expected, because scalability wasn’t considered at the beginning.
If you’re investing in a new business phone system, scalability is key, because the platform needs to grow alongside your business, accommodating changes with ease. The ability to add new users or numbers quickly, or integrate new features to support your business, can be done with minimal disruption with a scalable system. Modern cloud-based systems enable you to scale up and down on demand, helping to control costs while maintaining professional service levels.
When a business researches a phone system, it’s easy to make decisions based on current, surface-level factors, but this often isn’t the way to ensure longevity.
Choosing a system based on handset cost alone may mean the system cannot support growth or more complex features or requirements in future. Another common mistake is overlooking broadband quality; if your internet connection isn’t reliable, this could lead to dropped calls.
Whilst call reporting may seem more useful for larger businesses, tracking call patterns can provide invaluable insights into trends and team performance, so can be an important factor that shouldn’t be disregarded.
Failing to plan for CRM integrations could also lead to missed opportunities to unify communications, streamline workflows and gain a more complete view of your customer interactions.
Leveraging AI can help businesses route calls more efficiently, provide instant responses to frequently asked questions and much more. The ability to implement such technology into your system may prove important in future.
More detailed reporting from your business phone system, combined with AI analysis can help you better understand customer behaviour and trends, empowering your team to make smarter, data-driven decisions quickly.
Bringing together phone calls, video conferencing, email and chat into a single platform ensures teams stay connected no matter their location. Platforms such as Microsoft Teams make collaboration seamless and scalable.
Choosing the right communications set up can make all the difference as your business grows. Avoiding common pitfalls, such as basing decisions on cost alone or overlooking integrations, helps ensure your communications remain efficient, secure and adaptable.
For any growing UK SME, understanding how to choose a business phone system that scales with your growth means finding a solution that aligns with your future goals. Speak with our team of experts today to find out more about the options that may suit you.
