Phone system advice required.....

Hi all,

We currently run an Avaya IP500-based voice solution at work. There's a central PBX which runs in our provider's DC and then each of our sites (3x UK, 1x US and 1x Aus) has an IP500 on-site with SIP trunks coming into each one for incoming/outgoing calls. Inter-site calls run over the site-to-site VPNs (apart from Aus, which couldn;t be made part of the main system due to excessive latency having a negative effect on the calls).

We're generally happy with the back-end functionality of the system, but the end user software offerings such as softphones are pretty poor, so we're looking at moving to something which offers a solid unified cloud-based solution which can run on Windows/Mac and Linux clients.

Now I'm sure that's side of things shouldn't be hard to do, but my main concern with any new solution is keeping control of our call routing. Avaya provides the wonderful VoiceMail Pro system, which allows us a huge level of control over our Follow-The-Sun call routings..setting call flows in a logical and very visual manner..here's an example of how it looks:



At each stage the system checks against variables/calendars/schedules and routes the call accordingly based on the value set in the system. It's super-powerful and not something I've ever come across with other phone systems.

We're going to speak to our provider about Avaya's current cloud offerings, but is anyone aware of another system which offers similar kind of call control at such a granular and visual level?

Cheers for any advice you can give!

We (work) have recently been moving to Skype for Business (excellent collaboration with mediocre back end voice functionality) but retaining Avaya & Cisco for such functionality (more Avaya) as you describe above in some instances.

I believe Cisco are starting to offer a cloud based voice service which could be worth investigating, but again the softphone offering isn't great - at least as not as a good as Skype for Business.

We've just switched to a ShoreTel system, seems good so far. The developers are very responsive as well so might be worth a look.

faxfan said:

We (work) have recently been moving to Skype for Business (excellent collaboration with mediocre back end voice functionality) but retaining Avaya & Cisco for such functionality (more Avaya) as you describe above in some instances.

I believe Cisco are starting to offer a cloud based voice service which could be worth investigating, but again the softphone offering isn't great - at least as not as a good as Skype for Business.

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We use SfB a lot around the business for video conferences, but unfortunately the lack of a decent Linux client (and even a stable one for Mac atm) limits its usefulness.

platypus said:

We've just switched to a ShoreTel system, seems good so far. The developers are very responsive as well so might be worth a look.

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Thanks for the pointer buddy. I've taken a quick look at their offerings and it looks pretty powerful. I especially like the built-in collaboration and meeting features; we've been looking at Zoom and other similar offerings recently but not been able to justify the cost, so if we can get this functionality included with our phone system that'd be awesome.

I'll certainly be getting in touch with them for more info. Cheers!

Have a look at Swyx. I've never configured it, but I know it's our go-to product for anyone requiring very complex and customisable call routing.

Shoretel is one of those products that looks great in a demo,but I've always seen it as more of an SME solution. Shoretel Communicator (softphone/UC client) is Java based which put me right off. The other worry is its all proprietary kit and Shoretel have been the subject of takeover attempts by Mitel. The thinking is if Shoretel start to gain any significant traction one of the big UC providers will swallow them up and bin the platform.