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Hello everyone,

My company is moving to another office location and we were thinking about trying to simplify our phone system by moving to a cloud-based PBX system.

Currently, we are using an on-prem server with Avaya VOIP phone system and management software that creates a queue for our Customer Service department, forwards calls, setup the CS menu, etc. We currently only have 98 phones/fax machines setup but that number will probably be closer to 75 when we move. We are using Office 365 and have the voicemail set up to go to email. We are recording Customer Service conversations using Chronicall right now. We currently have 2 locations as well. We are slowly trying to migrate our servers to the cloud but even with the phones being on the cloud we will still have a server for the short-term.

Does anyone have a suggestion on a decently priced cloud-based phone system?

Thanks for the replies!

4 Spice ups
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Oh hell yes we do! We partner with literally hundreds of Hosted PBX providers and have helped thousands of SpiceHeads navigate these water. Needless to say though… we need a heck of a lot more information to have any shot to really help you find the right partner here.

Few questions:

  • How many total locations?
  • How many total users roughly?
  • What CRM and other integrations are needed or preferred (0365, MS Teams, Salesforce.com, Netsuite etc etc.)
  • What features and functionality can you think of outside the standard telephony would be preferred here?
  • Any advanced needs like Call/Contact Center, Advanced Analytics, AI, Recording, Compliance Requirements etc etc?

So many more!

As for cost, we have a ton of flexibility here given where we sit in the industry. Most providers do charge “per user” but we can negotiate call path (like a SIP trunk) pricing as well as a straight meter (no cost per user) as well which gives a lot of flexibility to right size a solution.

Shoot me a PM if you’d like some help here. We can make quick work finding the best option overall, totally agnostic approach and help you through not just the pricing but the pro’s and con’s, strengths and weaknesses and all the good bad and the ugly about all the players here.

PM me or request help on our website: www.commquotes.com/spiceworks

3 Spice ups
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You haven’t mentioned how many users and if there are specific features you’re looking for. You’ve named a few features that your current system does but is there anything that you want that you currently can’t do?

If you only have a few users then it might make sense to look at providers where you pay $X per extension. Another perfectly good solution is to implement FreePBX on a cloud server for your office.

Tagging @phil-commquotes ​ @jaredbusch ​

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Thanks for the tag Nash! Beat you to it lol :slight_smile:

Agreed 1 Million percent that Jared is also a perfect resource as he is the master of FreePBX. I think between the 2 of us we can knock it out of the park for Scott.

We are ready to help!

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I’m currently on the road, but you should be able to find a link in this forum to my SpiceWorld session from 2018 where I discussed ways to decide what kind of solution you should look for.

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Thanks for the replies, I updated the information to be more specific.

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Thanks for the added info. We’ve narrowed things down to about 50 different good options :slight_smile: Let’s connect so we can talk live and give you the really good and juicy details that our clients rely on to make informed decisions.

I am here if/when ready :slight_smile:

@scottsimmons

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Here’s the presentation that @jaredbusch ​ was referring to…

https://xact.spiceworks.com/u/gen/Oct2018/SW2018_VoIP_28a1cff07066b5ddd997b7a56f3246f6.pdf

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Great question, Scott! As an enterprise VoIP broker of 16 years, I just might have a few recommendations for you. :wink: PM me and let’s talk about your company’s call flow, etc.

As I’m sure you’ve experienced (hence the reason for your post), there are a ton of options. They all have their niche, so my recommendations will really come down to the details.

  1. Other than Outlook, do you need the system to integrate with any CRM or ERP applications?
  2. For the customer service department, is it mainly calls or do you also receive a lot of requests via your website, email, text, etc.?

In the meantime, here is some educational VoIP content that might help you get started:

@AeroCom_Inc

1 Spice up
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Cloud PBX is a great option when you have multiple locations. It’s the packages and budgeting(monthly fee as opposed to have yours on premise) you’ll need to look at. I have used multiple cloud PBXs like RingCentral, Vonage(quality of calls can be better), 8x8(clunky). But I prefer RingCentral(includes fax line) over the others for business. Also look at your network equipment to provide priority bandwidth for these VoIP phones.

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Thanks Mike, sounds good.

Our customer service mainly receives calls but also faxes as well. Our e-commerce site is hosted by a 3rd party and does not connect to our phone system so that’s not an issue but our website that we host (only informative) receives about 100 visits a day.

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Hey OP! For cloud-based PBX, I definitely recommend checking out Vonage as a contender! As many have already stated, you have a lot of different options and packages to choose from in this area and a lot of your decision will depend highly on the kind of features you want- Vonage offers over 40 of these features standard, which means no extra cost for all the bells and whistles. Since reliability can also often be an issue with cloud-based PBX, Vonage features an impressive 99.999% uptime reliability rate - A crucial thing to consider for business since a system going down (even for a short period of time) can cause major havoc and potential costs. You can check out all their enterprise plans here , as well as get a free quote if you’re interested. Feel free to PM me if you have any additional questions or need any help! Best of luck in your search!

@scottsimmons

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Phil intro’d me to net2phone, very happy 2 years later. support is rock solid, everything is web based, pricing is great.

1 Spice up