Business phone system 'Press 1 for abc' / 'Press 2 for xyz'

[FatboyKim]

Can't think of the proper name for such a system, but can anybody recommend a phone system capable of setting this up? We've got a chance to update our entire phone system to an IP system, with a fancy phone app etc. and it's something I've been trying to put in place for some time, for reasons of professionalism.

A caller phones the business phone number and are greeted by a menu asking you to 'press 1 for this' and 'press 2 for that' etc., then the caller's selection rings a couple of particular phones in the office belonging to that department.

[dee_k]

It's called an auto attendant.

If you already use Office 365 take a look at Teams Phone. Pretty cost effective and includes auto attendants, call queueing etc as standard.

[aazer89]

Avaya do this, have used it for a while now. Easy to configure/modify depending on the business needs (we had to changes ours during the pandemic and it was done in minutes).

[Ham_and_Jam]

The term I’ve heard used most frequently is ‘Virtual Switchboard’.

I use Tamar Telecom and find them very good -

https://www.tamartelecommunications.co.uk/telephon...

[ChickenvanGuy]

We replaced an antiquated system with 3CX two years ago,

It was easy to install, setup and administer- and it was cheap! They seem to have come into the market as a disruptor, charging way less than more established brands but they really do have an excellent product. Menu system for incoming calls a breeze. It will easily do what you need, OP.

We had 10 external (SIP) lines and over 60 internal extensions. We had a quote to use Teams as a phone sysrtem, from memory it was £8k. 3CX was less than £2k installed from a local reseller, System Force in Cheltenham.

Been stable, is simple to update and administer,.

Edited by ChickenvanGuy on Wednesday 7th September 15:08

[TonyRPH]

@OP I believe you are looking for an 'Interactive voice response' or 'IVR' system.

[Borris-Bear]

dee_k said:

If you already use Office 365 take a look at Teams Phone. Pretty cost effective and includes auto attendants, call queueing etc as standard.

Would second this. Teams Telephony is pretty straight forward to use, if you're used to Teams you don't necessarily need to invest in phones (the calls come through Teams client).

Ive used for some fairly major events and it ran perfectly.

[jimmyjimjim]

I'm curious as to which system you're thinking of using.

As above, it's an IVR or AA.

And thinking about this, I realize I've been configuring AAs for nearly 30 years. Christ.