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.

Voice mail systems can allow companies to redirect callers to other company employees. A voice mail system can answer calls rather than a member of staff; provide them with a common greeting, then guide caller to an appropriate department through a selection process. This is more commonly known as voice mail systems Auto Attendant feature.

Voice mail systems can merge fax, e-mail and voice messages into just one screen of a users PC. Some voice mail systems even offer voice recognition technology. A caller’s voice is recognised by voice mail system and system acts accordingly to pre-defined instructions. This is known as Interactive Voice Response.

What to look for in a voice mail system Voice mails systems are usually additional features of existing in house phone systems. When deciding which voice mail system to purchase you need to look at two key aspects of each one: number of user ports and hours of memory that is allocated to messages.

A good voice mail system will have enough ports to handle incoming calls without delay. If all ports are full, then any new callers will be delayed in system until a port becomes available. If a voice mail system has too many ports then its capacity is wasted. The trick is to balance number of ports with estimated number of potential customers.

The capacity of a voice mail system depends on hours of memory it has available. A system with a large number of ports and traffic may need a large number of hours, where as a system with low traffic will need fewer hours. The term hours of memory refers to capacity of a voice mail system to store any messages.

Selecting a voice mail system, check list

1. How do you use your voice mail? This depends on how heavily your staff will be using voice mail system. A port is in use whenever voice mail system picks up a call, someone leaves, someone is transferred, or whenever a message is picked up by a user. All these factors need to be taken into account when looking at suitable voice mail systems.