Phone System Installation, Things to Consider Before You Choose a Telecom Vendor

Sometimes it's hard to know what to expect with new phone system installation. In general I think most companies are pretty good about 'cutovers' as we refer to the process, because if you screw it up, it can give you an ulcer. Of course, experience, preparation and organization are key to ensuring a smooth transition.

You may have settled on a product you like, but it's equally important to consider who you're buying it from, and how they handle a phone system installation. Do they have a strategy for cutovers, a routine, experience and a clear understanding of the scope of work as it applies to your company?

If you've never been witness to a poor install, then you don't know what a bummer that can be. There is always the potential for things to go wrong - the differentiator is how a team responds when things do go wrong, regardless of what or who is at fault - the carrier, the equipment (out of box failures), and even acts of God.

Many years ago, while I was still pretty green, I was involved in a disastrous phone system installation for a mid-sized company. It turned out that the customer wanted to have mostly single line phones (not the manufacturer's proprietary digital sets). Unfortunately, I did not know that system-wide paging announcements to the single line phones was not available even though the single lines were speakerphones.

Using single line phones had been the company's owner's idea and it saved them thousands of dollars, but at the expense of a very important feature - paging over phone speakers. Unfortunately, the customer assumed if the single line phone were speakerphones, they would receive paging announcements. I didn't know enough to nip that assumption in the bud, so it wasn't until the actual phone system installation, it became apparent that these phones weren't suited to the customer's needs. I felt awful and immediately sat down with my employer to explain so that he could help me figure out a fair solution. Enter God.

I did not feel so very badly after our customer threatened a lawsuit the following Monday morning. Interestingly, his threat had nothing to do with the paging debacle, but instead was because the location had taken a direct lightning hit over the weekend. The new equipment was apparently toast immediately followint the phone system installation! - As they say, an 'Act of God.'

We'd done everything right - UPS/battery backup - our new equipment wasn't the only casualty either. Even still, the owner was threatening lawsuits all over the place, and when my boss told him that we would help him file insurance paperwork and also go to bat with the manufacturer for advance replacement while the insurance issue was worked out, and not charge labor to get his old system re-installed, or to install the replacement system once it was shipped - we seemed helpless to satisfy him.

Maybe the whole paging thing set him off. Maybe the loss of other key (and expensive) pieces of equipment in his manufacturing system sent him over the edge. Nevertheless, there was a surreal unreasonableness about him from this point forward, and so we walked away. I didn't want to but I was younger then, and it was a good business decision and a good lesson for me. Today, I would do the same.

My boss explained that he didn't think we would ever be able to make him happy, no matter how hard we tried. It wasn't worth the effort or pain. It didn't matter how smooth the cutover was. It didn't matter that it was lightning that took the system out. It didn't matter that we'd figured out how to fix the paging problem. It didn't really matter that we'd lost a ton of money. It did actually matter to me that I'd spent so many hours and would get zero commission, but I got it. It made sense. Walk away.

All these years later, I still think of that experience from time to time. Regardless of the size or scope of a business, its telephones are its lifeblood. Not only must the equipment be dependable, but the vendor and its technicians must be experienced and ready to respond to problems encountered in the course of the phone system installation promptly and competently.

It often helps to also use the same company for voice and data cabling or wiring, rather than hiring a separate telecommunication cabling company or contractor. This ensures that there won't be 'finger pointing' at install time, with two or more contractors accountable only for a portion of factors in the phone system installation process.

Moreover, your vendor should be able to add further value and streamline the process by handling your service orders and coordination of phone and internet services. (I'm always surprised when we get a call to help a customer switch phone service providers, not having asked us for an opinion first, as we tend to have knowledge of and experience with all the CLECs as well as many business voip service providers.)

Another important element to take into consideration is user training. Actually, 'training' may be a bit of a misnomer, though this is the term we commonly use. I like to think of it as orientation, so that we can introduce basic features and familiarize users with advanced functionality too. True 'training' really comes 'on the job,' as you might expect - when you're making and taking real phone calls and actually using the system's features.

Years ago, I had a job fundraising for and serving a non-profit organization where I shared a municipal office. The city purchased a new phone system for this facility and one day, rather mysteriously, I came to work to discover a new phone system installation had taken place over night - there was a brand new phone sitting on my desk. There was no user guide for either phone or voicemail, no cheat sheet, certainly no personal training. I had no idea that years later I would be involved in this industry, but it made such an impression on me that once I started selling phone systems, I tried to always conduct training myself, to ensure that it got done and got done right.

Hopefully, the information on this page will help you think about what questions to ask a vendor about before you choose a product or installer. Again, always feel free to call, email or use our contact form if you have a specific question or concern.