EXPERT RESPONSE
Probably the best approach to selecting the right IP phone system for your business is to first broaden the number of suppliers you are looking at in the first instance. There are a number of other providers of IP telephony solutions on the market such as Zultys, Altigen, and Nortel, just to name a few.
It probably first makes sense to sit down and define what features you believe that you need for your business. For example, do you want something based on open standards that you can connect 3rd party devices to? Do you have multiple sites and need seamless communication between all sites. Do you have remote or home workers and what features do they need? Once you have such a list of requirements, you can contact each supplier or one of their Value Added Resellers to come and explain how their solution meets your needs and provide you with a live demonstration of product.
From there you can likely narrow down the list of potential suppliers to a short list of two or three that you think are the best fit for your business. It would likely be a good idea to ask each of the suppliers for information on how they compare with the other suppliers. This will provide you with the biased information as a reference. You may also want to ask them for a return on investment (ROI) analysis that their system will provide based on your deployment. You can then go to an analyst firm such as Frost and Sullivan or Gartner. They provide research and reports on the VoIP market and the manufacturers in that market. They will likely charge you a fee for such a report. Another good option is to ask each of the short listed suppliers for a set of reference customers with a business similar to yours.
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