In tune or out of touch.

• Author: Gerhart, Clifford
• Position: Business telecommunication systems

A business's telecommunications system is its lifeline, keeping managers in touch with customers and vendors. Here are some tips on what telephone systems, voice mail and cellular phones can do for your business, what to look for in choosing communications equipment and how to get the most from the new technology.

Business communication used to be simple. You got a phone and answered it yourself or hired somebody else to. No problem.

Today, it's a lot more complicated. You still need a phone, but now you need at least an answering machine and preferably voice mail. You might even need a cellular phone if you're going to be out of the office.

So how's a busy manager get all this electronics working without getting all tied up in fiber-optic cable?

Fantasy Phone Systems

Vern Craig, account executive for Anchorage Telephone Utility (ATU), warns to not be dazzled by technology when you're looking for communications equipment. "There's a lot of technology for technology's sake. You want technology only if it increases the speed of delivery of your product or service or if it lowers the product's price," he says.

But still, technology can be a wonderful thing. Ask Roger Holmes, an Anchorage attorney. He says that his phone system is a big reason he could sell his practice downtown and start working out of his home.

"This telephone system is slick," he says. "I can conference with six other attorneys all over town; they just all call at the same time. At my old office, I had an answering machine that only answered one line. If two people called, we'd miss one."

Jim Miner, director of marketing for Comtec Business Systems Inc. in Anchorage, says when your business has more than three or four people who need to phone regularly, it's time to start considering an advanced phone system.

"The way phone systems work, each individual business line costs x number of dollars. A phone system becomes justified when the multiple telephone users can share the same trunk lines to the telephone company," he says. "In other words, six people can share the resources of three or four trunk lines."

As the business grows and the number of connections increases, Miner says the savings can become "exponential."

Telephone systems come with a wide array of features, including call forwarding (even to cellular phones), speed dialing (for as many as 1,000 numbers), hands-free sets, volume adjustment and music-on-hold. Another useful feature is call accounting, which tracks...