Understanding the Real Cost of Your Business Phone System 2 Breaking Down the Top Five Hidden Costs Many companies are surprised to 昀椀nd that the obvious components of a business phone system are not the largest contributors to the overall cost. A careful cost roll-up analysis typically uncovers the following: Legacy phone systems require upgrades, maintenance, and trained resources. Expenses from network upgrades, license fees, installation, and separate building wiring can quickly add up to a surprisingly large number. In addition, as legacy systems continue to add functionality, they increasingly require 1 highly trained support personnel to maintain the hardware and software, roll out system upgrades, and manage system use. As well as the cost implications, hardware maintenance is time consuming and can waste days of valuable business time. Telecom costs can be large enough to strain the IT budget. You will need PRIs, bonded T1s, or other trunk lines to connect the When assessing the future of your business communications, making the decision phones in your building to the local telco. Line items for local, to stick with an on premises phone system versus moving your communications to 2 long-distance, and 800 calling are also required. the cloud can be a complex process. Of course, the overall bene昀椀ts of switching to a cloud phone system, let alone one simple integrated and uni昀椀ed communications solution, clearly outweigh the bene昀椀ts of managing a legacy phone service along Stand-alone services accumulate signi昀椀cant charges. Legacy with all the individual vendors required to meet your communications demands. on premises phone systems stop well short of o昀昀ering a uni昀椀ed But, when it comes down it, a huge part of this decision revolves around cost. cloud communications solution that encompasses video calling, web meetings, team messaging, and more. Costs for For an on premises phone system, the most obvious outlays are the ones you can these additional services need to come through third-party see and touch—the hardware and the phones that connect to it. At thousands of vendors and can add up to substantial line items. You may also 3 dollars, the phone system easily stands out as the big-ticket item. However, once 昀椀nd expenses for services such as online fax that individual you begin to probe beneath the surface, you may be surprised to 昀椀nd that the business units, managers, or employees have signed up for hidden costs of an on premises phone system are nontrivial, making your total over time. And these charges are often applied on a per-minute cost of ownership (TCO) greater than you originally expected. In fact, the costs basis, which can make budgeting for these bills unpredictable. may total more than the large initial capital expense of the basic hardware. © 2020 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved.