Finding Your Way Through the Forest of Small Law Business Phone Systems

By Steve Adams
Special to the Legal Technology Blog

Nearly everyone is familiar with the story of Lewis and Clark, and their famous Expedition. Yet few of us really think about what that entailed -- moving through uncharted territory with no map to guide you, no known landmarks to help you find your way, no previous information on where the dangers lay.

Of course, as a small law business owner you have your own version of that expedition. Only this time, instead of trying to make your way physically through unending forests, you're wending your way through the deep, dark woods of purchasing a business phone system.

These woods are filled with confusing terminology, three-letter acronyms, and descriptions that seem designed to make everything less clear rather than more. And the more you look for guideposts, the more lost you become. If only you had some sort of map to help show you the way. That's the reason for this article -- to act as your guide through the forest of business phone systems. By following this path you'll avoid the pitfalls, and will emerge on the other side with the business phone system that best suits your law organization. Let's begin the journey.

PLAIN OLD TELEPHONE SERVICE (POTS) VS. INTERNET PROTOCOL (IP)

The first decision you need to make is whether you want to use a standard telephone land (POTS) line or your Internet connection to make and receive calls. It's the equivalent of deciding whether you will head North or South when you start out.

One of the big advantages for a POTS line is that it's always there when you need it. There's a reason the phrase "dial tone reliability" is used to describe any service you can count on without question. While Internet service has improved greatly over the past few years, it still has a ways to go before it's at the same level as POTS. In addition, the sound quality of the calls is better with POTS; VoIP calls are still prone to echoes, dropouts, and that "under water" sound.

Then there's the question of who manages the voice service. POTS is almost completely managed on the outside by professionals at the telephone company. While they can be aggravating at times, they do have a great deal of expertise in the area. If you're using an IP system, the burden falls on whoever is managing your computer network -- whether that's an IT services company, you or someone else in your law firm. Either way, it can get costly if there are extensive problems.

With an IP phone system you also have to factor in whether your network has the bandwidth to handle the burden. It takes a lot more bandwidth to move voice calls than it does to move data. If you don't have the right configuration, your organization's calls might bring the entire network down to a crashing halt. You could wind up spending quite a bit to bring it up to where it needs to be.

For a time, IP phone systems did offer more options and features that were very appealing to small law firms, mobile and/or distributed businesses. But as we'll see later, new technologies have evened that score.

EQUIPMENT-BASED VS. OUTSIDE SERVICE

The next decision point is whether you want to purchase and manage your own business phone equipment or you want to use an outside service that will manage it for you.

Obviously, if you purchase the equipment you have complete control of it. The downside is you also have full responsibility for it, which means you'll probably have to add a maintenance contract to the up-front cost of the equipment. You'll also have to find somewhere to house it and pay a professional to install it. That can add up to a lot of cost for a small law business. In addition, each time you add a new person you'll have to purchase a new, expensive telephone from the original equipment provider.

Going with an outside service provider eliminates many of those costs. There is no cost for equipment -- all the back-office operations are housed and managed by the provider. You don't have to purchase special phones either, as a service will work with any phone. The biggest risk, really, is making sure the service provider you choose has a good reputation for reliability, and has the resources and customer support you require. You'll want to be sure you vet the service provider thoroughly before making a commitment.

ALL-IN-ONE OFFICE VS. VIRTUAL OFFICE VS. COMBINATION

Where your law company's workers are located will have a significant impact on your decision. Essentially, if everyone physically works within the same building you can use either an equipment-based or outside service solution. But if you have telecommuters or mobile workers, or you are a completely virtual law company, and your goal is to have one POTS phone number for the entire company, your only option is an outside service. That's simply a function of the technology.

Phone systems from outside service are managed outside the building rather than within, so whether the connections go to one physical location or across the country makes no difference. Everyone uses the phones they already have to access the central hub, making it ideal for a distributed or virtual company -- as well as one that's self-contained.

BUSINESS NEEDS

While the technical requirements are important considerations along the way, your ultimate destination is having a business phone system that meets the requirements of your law business.

The mobility of your workforce is a good example. If your employees are constantly on the move, you'll want to be sure the phone system you choose can forward office calls to a mobile phone or PDA. It's helpful if you can forward a live call from an office line to a mobile phone as well, just in case your employee has to leave the office in the middle of a call.

The same goes for personnel who need to be available 24 x 7 -- whether it's you, your partner, another lawyer, etc. If you have one or more of those, choose a phone system that allows calls to ring on the office, mobile, home and/or other designated phone either all at once or simultaneously. Just be sure you look for a provider that offers the ability to display whether the call is coming directly to the mobile phone (meaning it comes from a friend) or via your business phone system so you know how to answer it.

Another is whether you have VIP clients to whom you want to offer direct access to a particular person rather than forcing them to go through a recorded greeting and dial an extension number every time they call. Some of the newer phone services provide that capability. On the other side, these systems also allow you to send unwanted callers directly to voicemail -- or even block them entirely.

How voicemail is managed is a concern as well. With older equipment-based phone systems, users have to call in to the phone system to see if they have voicemail. Newer phone systems, particularly those from outside services, provide email notification that a voicemail is waiting. Some will even send the voicemail to a mobile phone or PDA via email, allowing users to listen to the actual message without the need to dial in.

Having the right business phone system is critical to helping your legal company make the right first impression, service clients, and grow. But it's easy to get lost in the forest of technical jargon, three letter acronyms and conflicting information.

Starting your voyage of discovery armed with a map of the attributes and drawbacks to various types of phone systems will help you find the path to your ultimate destination -- a business phone system that does what you need it to do. It could be just what you need to blaze a trail toward success.

Steve Adams is vice president of marketing for Protus, provider of software-as-a-service communication tools for small to medium-sized businesses and enterprise organizations, including my1voice, the cost-effective, feature-rich virtual phone service that travels with the user from phone to Web, award-winning MyFax, the fastest growing Internet fax service and Campaigner, an e-mail marketing solution with advanced automation features. Steve can be reached at sadams@protus.com.

Comments

[ITrush]

VoIP is becoming so popular nowadays, hope to see more features and improvements so everybody could easily benefit with it. Interesting post and very informative.

[El Segundo Web Technology Services]

Ok, let's face it. A lawyer has to learn a lot of information. It's a little unfair that, after all that schooling, they still need to learn about phone services to make sure that they get what they need and can keep it running. I like the idea of just hiring another company to keep track of it, and showing me the best possible solution; even if it is a little more expensive. It's worth it if you don't need to stress yourself out about phones.

[Fishkill IT Support]

There is a new way to handle your calls that can be very efficient for a small business. Some companies offer Voice over Internet services which allows you to pass voice communication over your IP and bypass a telephone service. This is a great way to save some money and still have good phone services.