Phone and voice mail systems can be pretty costly, even for companies with a low number of users. Before investing in any type of phone system or voice mail system, you need to estimate how much your company is likely to expand over
next few years. Failure to do this could cost you or your company a lot of money in upgrade and restructuring costs further down road. It is better and cheaper to plan and allow for expansion at an early stage, than wait until it is too late.If you plan to remain under ten users then I would recommend you invest in a KSU-less system. Basically these look like normal phones that carry all technology and software needed to run a small phone system of up to four lines and eight to twelve extensions. These systems offer many of features that a full PBX phone system offers. Be sure to check with your supplier what features are available on these types of phone systems.
These systems are relatively cheap compared to other types of phone systems. They are also easy to install, so can be quickly re-located to another location. This type of phone system usually comes as a boxed product that is installed by you, and carries a manufacturer’s warranty. You will have to make enquiries with your vendor as to level of after sales support that is available. You may find it is much less than if you had purchased a larger more expensive system.
One major disadvantage of KSU-less phone systems, is that they cannot integrate a separate voice mail system. If you do choose to purchase one of these KSU-less phone systems, then you will have to use a voice mail service that is offered by your telephone company.
If you decide that you must have a fully featured voice mail system, and can confidently predict your company will expand beyond ten users within next few short years, then you will be better off investing in a proper fully featured KSU phone system. These systems are typical in companies with around forty users. Some suppliers may recommend installing something called a Hybrid phone system. These systems are ideal for small to mid sized companies of about fifty to a hundred employees, and offer many of features much larger PBX systems offer.
