A Toshiba office phone system may seem like the best choice for your unified communication needs. This is an innovative and reliable brand that has been offering advanced telephone systems for businesses since 1975. However, there was breaking news in March 2017. Toshiba had gone public with the report that they will be discontinuing their services soon. This includes all Toshiba office phone system lines and supporting services.
Rather than panic, there are various other options for your office phone systems. For businesses without any replacement plans yet, there are many options in the market.
Toshiba office phone system: Possible alternative options
Since a Toshiba office phone system is proprietary, this means that you will have to replace the full phone system. Many businesses can use this opportunity to overhaul their communication systems. The following steps clearly show the pathway to effectively replace your old Toshiba office phone system.
First step: Identify your communication needs
Since business communication needs change (especially after the COVID-19 pandemic) you may want to list out your new communication requirements. You will access if the new phone systems will be able to meet the needs of mobile/remote workers as well as those of your office workers.
Second step: Plan the budget needed to make the switch
In transitioning from the Toshiba office phone system to another option, you will need to make some expenditures. Will you be maintaining your old PBX phone systems or migrating to a cloud solution? Will you be integrating custom business communication applications? Will the business phone hardware/software be managed by an on-site IT department? You must answer all of these questions to ensure that you end up with a suitable replacement for your legacy Toshiba office phone system.
Third step: Select a VoIP system that suits your business
When it comes to VoIP systems for business, there are two main available types. These are the on-premise VoIP and the Cloud-hosted VoIP. The hosted VoIP phone system is suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises whose budgets are limited. For the hosted VoIP system, the service provider does the majority of the maintenance work. This means that there will be no on-site IT department to support. Also, this option means that you will not be buying too much VoIP hardware. So, the upfront costs for a hosted VoIP system are relatively low. Businesses that consider the hosted cloud services usually benefit from a lot of the features of this type of business phone communication service provider. The benefits of a hosted cloud VoIP solution are:
High scalability: You only get to subscribe to a cloud-hosted VoIP solution based on the needs of your business. There is no need to go higher than what you need,
Customized applications: This option also offers you customized features based on the nature of your business. This means that remote and office workers are equipped with the right software/applications and devices to make efficient and effective communications. Depending on the nature of your business, you may get collaboration support tools also.
Migration support: This option also comes with professional and premium cloud migration support. The service provider usually acts as a consultant and helps businesses create a cloud strategy roadmap to migrate successfully to an off-site server system.
For larger enterprises with more complex communication needs, it is important to think about scalability and personalization. This means that they will have to choose an on-premise VoIP telephone system. This will create more independence and flexibility. For this option, you need higher upfront fees to buy the needed VoIP equipment. This is a long-term investment because you will be the owner of the equipment. Also, you will have to plan for maintenance too but you will save a lot of money from monthly charges.
Lots of available options for the Toshiba office phone system
If you still have the Toshiba office phone system, you can easily replace them. But you will have to assess your communication needs to understand the type of new phone system that you need. There are many great and reliable business telephone systems in the market. You just have to be sure which option suits you the most. Check out Class5 Technologies to learn more.
