Foncordiax Feature List

How to decide?

There are several issues at stake when choosing a suitable phone system; features, price and TCO, stability, robustness, size, number of users/extensions and probably the most critical question of all - number of phone lines.

When choosing a foncordiax all systems provide the same feature set, will handle a suitable number of extensions, and are solid, reliable and stable.

The decision therefore boils down to the number of lines / number of concurrent calls.

Destroying a myth...

One of the most significant ms-conceptions regarding any type of phone system is in it's ability to take a single traditional analogue line and increase the number of calls that can go through that line.

Myth: If I add a phone system to the end of an analogue line I can make and receive more than one concurrent call on that line.

Truth: No, No, No - an analogue line can only ever handle a single call - a single pair of copper wires will only ever be able to carry a single telephone conversation through it.

Optimum number of lines

One of the most critical questions to be answered by any business concerns the optimum number of phone lines. Install too few phone lines, and customers who can’t reach you will call your more accessible competitors. Install too many, and precious dollars that could be used for marketing, staffing, or equipment upgrades instead is paid to the telephone company. How do you know when you’ve struck the right balance?

If you’re hearing frequent complaints about busy signals from customers or employees, you most likely have a problem. On the other hand, if no one ever gets a busy, you’re probably paying too much to the phone company.

The first question to answer is what type of phone user you are. For example, is yours a retail business where most of the traffic is “walk in.”? Is it a factory environment where phones are used mostly for internal communications or outbound calls to suppliers? Is it a traditional office environment, where clerical and administrative workers answer calls from customers and talk to suppliers, or is it a phone intensive environment where telephone salespeople or service technicians spend 80% or more of their business day making or receiving customer calls? Once you’ve answered this question, you’ll have an idea how many lines you need.

For instance, in the first example, a retail environment with mostly walk in business, a ratio of one phone line to every 30 employees, with a minimum of two lines per location is probably sufficient. In a factory environment, the ratio would be comparable. If few or no customer calls reach a factory location, a ratio or one to 40 or one to 50 might even be appropriate, bearing in mind that two lines should be a minimum in any business environment.

In a traditional office environment, a ratio of one phone line to 20 employees is usually a good place to start.

In the phone intensive environment of a sales office or technical help desk, the ratio reverses somewhat. In these environments, it is advisable to have a ratio of 1.1 or 1.2 phone lines per employee. In this way, phone lines, which are critical to revenue generation, are always available to provide that revenue opportunity.

It’s important to remember that these are only guidelines for system design.

Line Types

Once you have established the number of lines you require, you then need to decide on which type. Much of this will depend on the cost of line rental from your line provider and the features you require. As a guide the more lines you have the more likely you are to go with digital. A break point in cost is around 3 - 5 lines.