How to Create a Redundant Phone System for Your Business

In today’s business world, communication is everything. Your customers need to be able to connect with you, and you need to be able to connect with your employees. So, if your phone system goes down, it can seriously affect your business. In fact, according to a 2016 report from the Ponemon Institute, downtime can cost a company big $9,000 per minute.

If your network and connectivity are disrupted due to outages, natural disasters, or cyber attacks, your business will not be able to function optimally. This means your customers can’t connect with you, which leads to lower customer satisfaction. By having a redundant phone system, you can rest assured that your business will stay connected, especially in the event of an emergency.

Voice backup is an important part of your business disaster recovery plan and helps ensure business continuity.

Before we look at how to build a redundant phone system, let’s look at how voice backup works.

What is Voice Redundancy?

Voice redundancy (also known as geo-redundancy) is the process of designing a telephone system that can operate even during a disaster. A layoff plan typically includes the following:

• cloud-based technology
• redundant power supplies and servers
• teams and servers spread across multiple locations
• backup routing strategy
• and various telephone lines.

For phone systems, VoIP technology is often used to increase resources. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone systems use the Internet to make and receive calls. This cloud communication infrastructure Since you are not tied to one location or device, technology gives you much-needed freedom and flexibility.

If one server or location is down, you can easily switch to another without any service interruption, so VoIP and additional services work together. With VoIP, this means forwarding incoming calls to another active location or group of employees.

Benefits of sound royalties

Besides always running your business optimally, what can you do with an additional phone system? Here are the main advantages:

• High uptime and high availability phone service
• Business Continuity
• Access load switching options and features
• Network reliability
• Increased customer confidence and satisfaction

What should I consider when creating redundancy in my phone system?

There are several things to consider when designing a voice backup system.

• The size of your business
• Your business needs a voice
• Your budget, too
• Possible solutions.

Let’s take a closer look at them:

1. Size of business

The first thing to consider when setting up a redundant phone system is the size of your business. Excess of sound For a small business, it will be different for a large enterprise. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the unique infrastructure of your business. Do you have a team spread across multiple locations (local, global, remote)? And will they be included in the layoff plan? What equipment and offices should be protected? etc.

2. Business voice needs

Next, define your business voice needs. How many phone lines does your business need? What are your peak call times? Which department should always be available and accessible? Do these teams need backup teams? Do you need the ability to forward calls to another location or device? What devices and calling features do your teams need to ensure business continuity?

You want to be sure that your IT infrastructure can support these goals. You’ll also need a VoIP provider that offers bankruptcy features.

3. Possible solutions

Once you determine what you need to do with your phone system, you can look for a solution. There are several voice backup solutions available in the market. The best solution for your business depends on your needs and requirements.

Consider everything from hardware to software. Look specifically for cloud providers that can meet your communication needs and work well with your phone system. In some cases, this means updating your current system with new software and integrations. In other cases, you may need to change all your settings. Talk to other providers to understand what best suits your needs.

When looking for a VoIP provider, we recommend:

4. Budget

Then consider your budget. The cost of implementing a redundant phone system depends on your needs and resources. However, it is an important investment in the continuity of your business that makes it worthwhile.

When you break it down, you will understand that it is not always complicated and labor intensive. For example, your business must have backup devices and servers. So, you need a cloud phone provider that supports redundancy. Most VoIP providers offer additional voice services to their service. This is generally a more affordable option than building everything from scratch. Shop around to find the right solution for your business.

5. Configure Geo-Redundancy

Finally, we come to setting up voice resources for your business phone system. The first step is to include backup initiatives in your disaster recovery plan.

Start with the network and its elements. Work with your IT team to configure resources, servers, routers, switches, access points, etc.

If using cloud communication tools such as CRM or VoIP services, ask your service provider how they can ensure their continuity. In most cases, cloud services have their own geo-resources. For example, if their primary server goes down, they have backup servers that allow users to get back up and running without any issues. enterprise downtime.

On top of that, they may offer failover features and capabilities that you can customize and configure. For example, you can use transfer forwarding to automatically send calls to another line, location, or device when the primary recipient is unable to answer. This way, calls can be forwarded to the satellite team or your smartphone if your main office is out of reach.

Protect your business phone system by planning ahead

Redundancy is critical to building a reliable and highly available telephone system. By taking the time to understand your communication needs and budget, you can put together a phone solution that’s tailor-made for your teams.

If you are considering building an additional phone system for your business, contact a telecommunications consultant to discuss your options!