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Small Business Phone Systems

As your small business grows, so do your communications needs. Our small business phone systems are the solution if a single phone line isn’t enough.

Easy to manage and NBN ready, our affordable small business phone systems allow your teams to communicate and collaborate more effectively. You leave the management of your phone system to us, gaining a feature-packed communications solution that helps you grow even more.

There are three primary types of small business phone systems:

  • Standard NBN lines: This is your basic VoIP line. Functionality is not much different from a traditional phone line. Typically, a base unit is plugged into your router, and a normal cordless or desktop handset is plugged into your base unit.
  • Cloud-based: Sometimes also referred to as hosted or virtual PBX, this small business phone system is hosted on the cloud servers of your service provider. Access to the PBX is through a mobile or desktop computer app. Additional features over a standard VoIP line are common and often features traditional PBX systems cannot.
  • SIP: These small business phone systems combine the traditional phone system and VoIP. While the internal connections are routed over VoIP, any external calls travel over the conventional telephone network.

What should I look for in small business phone systems?

Choosing a quality phone system can be confusing and overwhelming if you don’t know what to look for. It’s a significant investment, so you want to ensure you have the right solution to assist your communication needs.

Easy Installation

We find the most common reason small businesses don’t upgrade their communications technology is the fear of disruption to their day-to-day business. But a new business phone system doesn’t have to involve any downtime.

Our systems are easy to install. We can provide you with tools to do it yourself or schedule an installation. We’ll also assist in getting your teams up to speed with the new collaborative tools. We aim to make the process painless.

Reliability

Your business phone system must have as close to 100% uptime as possible. Downtime costs your business money, so the quality of the equipment and service you choose is essential. While having a stable and fast internet connection is important, you shouldn’t need to worry about your phone service.

While outages happen, our systems have redundancy options that help keep your service online during maintenance. If an unplanned outage occurs, we’ll inform you immediately, along with regular updates on the status of any necessary repairs and work to minimise disruption to your day-to-day business activities.

Cost

Small businesses work with limited revenue, so each expense affects the bottom line. Choosing a system that fits your company’s budget yet offers real value beyond a standard telephone line is essential.

Our team specialises in finding the right business phone system for our customers’ specific needs. Every business is different, so a ‘one-fits-all’ approach won’t work. We offer a range of options affordable to even the smallest of small businesses, making it a wise long-term business decision.

Functionality

Deciding on the right business phone system for your needs depends on your business activities. Some small businesses find the mobility features useful, as it allows them to take calls to their mobile devices when they’re not in the office. Others find the conference and call recording helpful in conducting meetings virtually.

Again, our team looks at your business and it's specific needs. We offer a variety of plans and systems for just about every type of business. However, there are some features we think every company will find helpful, which we will explain next.

Small Business Phone System Features

We recommend plans with the following features to get the most out of your business phone system.


Voicemail to Email

When a caller leaves a voicemail, a copy is sent directly to your email, so you don’t need to call in to retrieve your voicemail messages.

Hunt Group

Directing incoming phone calls to the appropriate line ensures your customers speak to the right person on the first call.

Auto attendant

Small businesses often don’t have the money for a receptionist. Our easy-to-use auto attendant directs calls to the correct department.

Music on hold

Music on hold during wait times is proven to keep your callers engaged and preventing from hanging up when you’re busy assisting other customers.


Mobility

Highly mobile small businesses need flexibility. Our mobility options allow your employees to access the PBX and receive calls to their mobile devices.

Conference Calls

High-quality conference call functionality allows your teams to collaborate, whether in the office or working from home.

Call Recording

Ensure your employees meet customer service goals and prevent customer service issues with our easy-to-use call recording features.

Call Accounting

Need a full accounting of your phone records, usage, and costs? Our online dashboard stores records of all activity for later review.

Most popular small business phone systems

Our best picks include the SL2100 by NEC, which is equipped with loads of functionality for smart communications, and is an affordable option built specifically for small businesses.

Custom Solutions

We understand that you may have unique needs that a standard small business phone system might not provide. We also offer custom-tailored solutions for your business needs, all you need to do is call.

Site

1

Site

Handset

24

Handsets

Lines

64

Lines

SL2100 Built-in features include:

Unified messaging
Music on hold
Mobiity/BYOD/ home-working
Auto-attendant
Video conferencing & collaboration (licence required)
Audio conferencing
Simple installation
Mobile apps for iOS and Android
Hybrid solution (traditional and VoIP)

Need help to find your phone system?

Frequently Asked Questions

We will happily answer questions from our clients and potential customers, but also provide these FAQs and answers as a convenience.


VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. While first introduced in 1995, the introduction of Skype and widespread broadband access in the early 2000s triggered massive growth in the industry. With VoIP, phone calls are treated just like data: your voice is digitised and sent as data to the recipient.

The NBN and other independent fibre networks across Australia are replacing the old copper networks. VoIP over the NBN is now a de facto voice call standard.



A connection to the NBN or independent fibre network is necessary for the best results. Depending on the system you choose, you may need additional hardware. Standard NBN business lines will need an Analogue Telephone Adapter (ATA) to use VoIP service for more than two lines. Hosted or SIP systems will need a suitable router, compatible phones, and a network switch with enough ports to connect all your devices.



While VoIP phone calls can operate on speeds as slow as .5 Mbps, plan for 5-25Mbps per call for the best performance and quality. Our team will advise you on bandwidth requirements to get the best performance possible.



Having a single phone line for your business isn’t the best customer experience, as everyone uses the same line, and anyone calling in gets a busy signal. A business phone system helps direct your customer to the right person on the first call and queues any additional callers, so no call is missed.

Modern business phone systems integrate with popular customer relationship management (CRM) software platforms, allowing your teams to manage and convert leads effectively. And no matter whether they’re working in the office or from home, the experience is seamless to the customer.



Business Telecom offers small business phone systems from the two most reliable brands in the business – Avaya, Cisco, and Panasonic. These companies offer a wide array of options for businesses both small and large.


Whether you are upgrading to a new phone system for your growing company or looking for one that will work in a new business, the rule of thumb is the same. The best business phone system is the one that will provide everything you need without having to pay for extra features you won’t use. A great many of your requirements will be based on the size of your business. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of products and features for you to consider before making a decision about equipment that is among the most vital to your business operations.

Best Office Phones for Small Business

Obviously, there will always be an enormous difference between the phone system requirements of large multinational corporations and small or medium businesses. But thanks to advances in technology, smaller organisations no longer have to wistfully long for some of the features that they would appreciate every bit as much as the big guys.

Small business phone systems should be easy to install, with little maintenance required. At the very least, they should provide conference calling, music for callers to listen to while they are on hold and a voice menu for them to be transferred to exactly the extension they need without having to go through an operator. Fortunately, all of that tends to be standard these days. But now that we’re in the 21st century, you can also get so much more.

For instance, take a look at a crowd favourite, the NEC SL2100. One of the reasons it’s a great phone for small businesses is that it was designed specifically with them in mind. But what is particularly useful, now that remote working has become so widespread, is how this system allows everyone to be connected from anywhere. Here are some of the features that make this possible.

Unified Messaging

This feature allows users to get voicemail, faxes and texts all sent to one mailbox that they can access either by phone or a regular email program.

Mobile Flexibility

This system has a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) option that allows users to add their own mobile phones and tablets to the system. In fact, there are dedicated mobile apps for both Android and iOS mobile devices.

Hybrid Solution (Traditional and VoIP)

In addition to a traditional wired phone system for your physical office location, it's possible to use the NEC SL2100 system to make Wi-Fi calls as well. This means no roaming charges and no connectivity interruptions if the landlines happen to go down for any reason.

The NEC SL2100 even has video conferencing and collaboration available, although a licence is required for that feature. While the system is based in one physical location, you can get up to 64 different phone lines and 24 handsets. A system like this goes a long way towards levelling the playing field with larger organisations because there is no way your callers will be able to tell you are a small business from the phone experience you provide. That’s why it’s one of the best phone systems for small office operations.

Enterprise Phone Systems

The needs of enterprise phone systems are vastly different from small business systems. A larger staff and multiple locations require features that wouldn’t be needed otherwise. The popular NEC SV9100 is a good example of how large enterprises can benefit from a fully-featured business phone system. All of the basics mentioned above are included, but here are some of the extras that it comes with.

Productivity

A good phone system will help you make the most of your valuable time, and the NEC UC Suite really excels at that. For instance, it can tell you whether a colleague is at their desk, already on a call or in a meeting before you try to call them. You can also look up everyone’s numbers directly from your computer, then click ‘Call’ and your computer will make the call for you through your desk phone.

It’s just as helpful when you are the one making calls. You will see a pop-up screen with caller information and controls to handle the call. And if you have the CRM integration feature, you can also access all of the customer’s records, including details about their purchases.

Collaboration

The NEC SV9100 makes it easy for co-workers to share ideas and information. They can:

Have up to 8 participants in phone conferences
Use interactive whiteboards
Workshop possibilities by sharing documents and files in real time
Display everyone’s video without expensive additional equipment
Drag and drop files from Windows Explorer to transfer files while on a call
Use instant messaging in real time

Customer Service

Keeping your customers happy is a major priority, and the SV9100’s has a built-in Contact Centre to help you with that. It will:

Route calls based on time of day, waiting times and the number called
Allow priority callers to dial special numbers to jump the queue
Offer callers the option to hold or get a call-back from the next available agent
Provide detailed reports to use for scheduling, efficiency improvements and business analysis
Include desktop with at-a-glance information for both supervisors and agents
Send alerts directly to desk phones

Mobility

The NEC SV9100 is geared to let both staff and customers stay connected with just one published phone number no matter where they are or what type of device they’re using. Office workers can set up a virtual meeting effortlessly and on short notice. This not only makes business decision-making faster but also reduces travel-related time and expenses.

Remote workers can communicate with colleagues just as though they were in the office. Office workers can be more accessible and responsive by using mobile handsets anywhere in the workplace.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

security for phone system

For large-scale businesses, TCO is still a major consideration. But what you have to keep in mind is that certain aspects of your phone system can affect costs far beyond the equipment and service expenses.

Security: The SV9100 has IP video door-phone functionality, which can increase the security of your facility by monitoring the entrances with both audio and video.

IT: IT personnel can connect to your network through a centralised management function, either locally or remotely. So, staff can maintain all of the communication servers from one location quite easily.

Efficiency: The UC Suite will show your receptionists a pop-up window that displays caller information for every call they receive. Then, only a simple mouse click or drag-and-drop manoeuvre will be required to answer the call, see staff availability, park and transfer calls or take a message.

Toll fraud detection: It can be extremely expensive to have your phone system hacked. Unlike other solutions to this problem, this system includes toll-fraud detection, so you don’t have to purchase additional expensive equipment. All incoming and outgoing calls will be monitored for suspicious patterns that you can customise to your specific business. It runs in the background and provides alerts as needed.

Even with enterprise solutions, flexibility is still key, so you only pay for what you need. Sometimes, that will be a powerful fully-featured UC system. Or your business may grow to the point where it needs a total UC setup that includes agents, operators and even CRM integration. You can start with one and move up to the other, if necessary.

Hardware

Operational features aren’t the only things worth noting about the SV9100. The hardware is also impressive.

Small Footprint Servers

The NEC SV9100 equipment won’t take up precious expensive real estate in your office. It consists of a 19” rack-mountable chassis that will support all of your server functions, media converters and media gateways in just one unit. That includes up to 80 traditional phones or almost 900 IP phones. Not only can it be chained with up to three others to mesh as many as 50 systems, but you can also link that stack up to 49 others all around the world.

For up to 32 digital or analogue terminals, all you need is the 9.5” chassis, and it isn’t choosy about where it sits. Mount it on the wall or just put it on the floor.

Wide Range of Phones

phone system

The NEC SV9100 offers flexible options for the actual phones as well. You can choose from black or white, 2 buttons to 24, single or dual screens, colour or greyscale. Even more options are available with add-on modules for an extra 8 or even 60 buttons, mobile device pairing and wireless headsets. There are even wireless phones available when you need one in an area where it would be impractical to add new cabling.

We get it, there is a lot to consider when choosing a business phone system. So if you need any advice while trying to find the best office phone system for your company, the experts at Business Telecom are more than happy to help you. We have the best phone for office operations of any size. Just get in touch, and we’ll get you started with the solution that best fits your needs.

Why Business Telecom?

Australian businesses have many options for small business phone systems, so why trust Business Telecom?

We’ve partnered with Avaya, Cisco and Panasonic to ensure you find the right solution that fits your business's current and future needs. We have years of experience serving businesses just like yours in modernising their communications platform. Remember: every large business started as a small one: your phone system need not hold you back.

We’re not here just to sell you a new small business phone system. Our world-class customer support is here to help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.With unrivalled uptime, world-class customer support, and a wide variety of options suited to fit any small business budget, Business Telecom is the solution for all your telecommunications needs.