{"id":21812,"date":"2010-08-19T12:48:50","date_gmt":"2010-08-19T16:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.voipsupply.com\/?p=21812"},"modified":"2016-01-20T17:35:24","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T17:35:24","slug":"how-to-select-a-hosted-service-provider","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/how-to-select-a-hosted-service-provider\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Select a Hosted Service Provider"},"content":{"rendered":"

Telephony services are perhaps the most important service to any business. What would happen to your business if the telephone system stopped working? This makes selecting a reliable telephony service provider one of the most important IT decisions.<\/p>\n

As with any IT purchase, it is important to wade through the marketing information and dig down to the get the answer to questions that matter.\u00a0 It truly does pays to do your homework!<\/strong><\/p>\n

By asking the right questions up front, you can avoid signing with a risky provider \u2014 or one that doesn\u2019t offer what you need. Most VoIP service providers offer basic capabilities such as voice mail or call hold but may not give you the advanced features, service options or scalability that your organization needs.<\/p>\n

Here are some useful guidelines on selecting a hosted provider<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Evaluate the service provider and system integrators capabilities in terms of breadth of services and flexibility of offerings<\/strong>
\nThere is real value to a business when it selects a range of services from one provider. \u00a0IP Telephony services will require an IP connection. \u00a0It is also sensible to use the same circuits\/network to provide other services. \u00a0Remember, the cost of managing separate suppliers is much higher than dealing with one.
\n
\nEnsure that the vendor is financially stable and committed to the business over the long haul
\n<\/strong>There are a large number of providers in this market. Some have significant venture capital funding that has to be repaid, often by selling the business.\u00a0 A large proportion of the rest are operating on a shoe string and some fail every year.\u00a0 Both of these situations leave you exposed to the risk of no telephony services or one that is altered and not fit for purpose.<\/p>\n

Determine what infrastructure needs to be replaced and when<\/strong>
\nIt is not always necessary to replace existing infrastructure; for example, it may be possible to connect the PBX to the IP telephony provider using a gateway.\u00a0 This will ensure that the PBX<\/a> is not replaced before it is end of live but it also allows new users to be added to the hosted IP telephony service.\u00a0 The right provider will make this transition simple.<\/p>\n

Look for an IP Telephony provider that has a clear roadmap<\/strong>
\nThis shows a clear commitment to continue to improve the services and add new features.\u00a0 Technology doesn\u2019t stand still and your provider must be moving with the market.\u00a0 Unlike a legacy PBX, selecting a hosted telephony solution protects you from the need to buy expensive hardware upgrades to add new products and\/or features.<\/p>\n

Identify the scope and scale of service provider responsibility<\/strong>
\nOne of the great advantages of selecting a hosted IP telephony service is that it can be a totally managed service.\u00a0 This reduces your IT resources needed to deliver the solution to the end users.\u00a0 Other service providers will simply ensure that the voice network is available and the customer will do all the administration.\u00a0 Select the option that best suits you now and in the future.<\/p>\n

Tour the company\u2019s network management facility and meet the people who will monitor the network
\n<\/strong>When you buy a hosted telephony service, typically the only thing on site are the phones. \u00a0Take advantage of any offers to visit the service provider\u2019s data center and\/or network management center. Some companies will be proud of their facilities because they know that the investments they have made are about servicing the customer.<\/p>\n

Understand the cost models and total cost of ownership<\/strong>
\nTotal cost of ownership (TCO) can be confusing.\u00a0 Everyone has a way to show that they offer a reduced TCO. However, take an objective view of this and challenge the service provider. \u00a0Always make sure that you have added your personnel resource costs and necessary training, both end user and administrator. Remember to include the expected costs of upgrades and adding new services in 2-3 years time.<\/p>\n

Select a service provider that has business continuity and disaster recover capabilities<\/strong>
\nSome providers cut corners, especially when they are in a setup or rapid growth phase. \u00a0They don\u2019t have the resources to deploy services at two or more data centers. They have single points of failure in their hardware, software or network. Building resilience into the platform adds cost initially but it is vital to ensure that the service is always available. If an entire data center is lost, what happens to the customer data, call recordings, voicemails? \u00a0If these are important to you, they should be important to the service provider.<\/p>\n

Obtain fully documented service resolution procedures
\n<\/strong>Perhaps the heart of a hosted telephony service is the Service Level Agreement<\/strong> (SLA). Make sure you read this before you sign. \u00a0Understand what will happen if things go wrong. \u00a0You need to be happy with the timescales it could take to get things running again in the event of a problem. \u00a0Read the small print, it is there for a reason.<\/p>\n

Go for a service provider that has made considerable investments in the technology and support services<\/strong>
\nAsk the provider how much has been invested in the telephony infrastructure. Some will have invested very little and some may have invested vast sums. \u00a0If it is too little the service is likely to be poor. \u00a0If it is very high the price is likely to be high, or they need to add huge numbers quickly which will probably mean a poor service as well.\u00a0 Having the privilege of working with numerous providers I see the effort and support some of the hosted providers we work with put into their business model. \u00a0\u00a0Just because someone has a great website or have flashy commercials doesn\u2019t mean they truly invest in their service.<\/p>\n

Ultimately the decision is yours to make but if you need some additional support feel free to give me a call and we can discuss this.\u00a0 Hopefully I can help clear the muddy waters and help you make the right decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Telephony services are perhaps the most important service to any business. What would happen to your business if the telephone system stopped working? This makes selecting a reliable telephony service provider one of the most important IT decisions. As with any IT purchase, it is important to wade through the marketing information and dig down […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1220,1221,1226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business-voip","category-small-business-voip","category-voip-service"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139773,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21812\/revisions\/139773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.voipsupply.com\/blog\/voip-insider\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}