We know phone system lingo can get pretty complicated—that’s why we’re here to help. When you are searching for a new phone system there are a few terms you may want to become familiar with to make your research a bit easier. This way, you'll know what people are actually talking about as you begin your process of searching for a new office phone system.

VoIP: Voice over Internet Protocol

What this really means: Voice over Internet Protocol is what allows for the delivery of telephone calls and other types of multimedia to be delivered over the Internet.

Why you need to know it: It’s a term that’s thrown around a lot in the phone system world. There are a few types of VOIP phone systems, but the term will cover all of those when speaking in general about using the Internet for your phone system.

SIP: Session Initiation Protocol

What this really means: It’s a signaling communications protocol, widely used for controlling multimedia communication sessions such as voice and video calls over Internet Protocol (IP) networks. This allows a business to have their employees who work from home to have their own dial tones (SIP Trunks) from other sources across the Internet.

Why you need to know it: Since everything is happening over the Internet this means most of the time long distance calls are free!

BYOD: Bring Your Own Device

What this really means: Bring Your Own Device means you can use a single cell phone for both personal and work use.

Why you need to know it: Bringing your own device allows for you to be very mobile and to have your work phone with you at all times, essentially being able to answer work phones and “be in the office” at any time no matter where you really are.

DID: Direct Inward Dialing

What this really means: Direct Inward Dialing allows for an individual's extension to have the ability to be reached by someone from outside of the business, directly.

Why you need to know it: Having direct inward dialing will allow for employees to be directly reached by their clients, family, etc. without having to go through a menu or a receptionist. They have their own individual phone number that is specific to their phone only.

IP: Internet Protocol

What this really means: A digital language that computers use to talk to one another with.

Why you need to know it: Without Internet protocol using the Internet wouldn’t be possible because different computers would not be able to talk to one another. Hence, no phone calls via the Internet (remember, VOIP) would be able to happen.

ACD: Automatic Call Distribution

What this really means: Automatic Call Distribution (Call Center) routes a caller to a group of people at multiple locations and finds the first available person to answer your call. It can be set up based on time of day, skill set or knowledge of the person answering the phone, where you are located or what your needs are. For example, it’s like when you call your credit card company for customer service—depending on what options you choose you will be routed to a different call center. One day you may be routed to India, the next to Los Angeles, depending on your needs.

Why you need to know it: You may need this function if you have a large or small business, have multiple locations and/or have the same people in your organization who answer different types of calls. Some of these calls have a higher priority than others and you want those to be answered first. With ACD you have the ability to get reporting that shows detailed information about call traffic and other analytics.

Unified Messaging (Communications)

What this really means: All of your incoming business communication can be seen in one place in your e-mail inbox. With your Smartphone, computer, tablet, etc. you can see your emails, voicemails and faxes in one place as well.

Why you need to know it: When you are on the go, you would be able to see if that important fax arrives, or if a potential client returned your call, simply by looking in one place.

Hosted

What this really means: The only hardware located in your office is the handset, workstation and network. Someone else has and maintains all the other phone system hardware—essentially, the brain of the phone system. Having a hosted phone system enables you to consolidate and outsource your physical phone system and servers.

Why you need to know it: Having it would include a monthly service for a professional team to manage all of your critical business applications. The benefit to you would be the ease of additions, moves and changes. Hosted systems are also useful for companies who plan to grow or plan on moving/expanding offices.

Now that you are fully educated in some of the important terms to know when searching for a phone system, go on and get out there! Use your newfound knowledge to help you find the best phone system for your business with confidence. We’re glad we could help!