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Selkowitz Technology | Seattle’s small business network and telecom consultant

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Microsoft has been getting a great deal of press recently for their new Response Point small business phone system. While they’re trying to pitch it as a breakthrough, there are some really great well established small business phone systems worth comparing it to. For comparison I’ve decided to compare Talkswitch - which Small Business Computing Magazine recently recognized as “the absolute best in small business.”

Features
Both systems offer the basics - transfers, on hold messaging/music, parking, etc. Response Point is generally less feature rich, but has an unusual feature - voice recognition. This means at an auto-attendant the caller can not just dial an option but speak it.

The maturity of the Talkswitch product shows in the depth of options. Talkswitch offers seven different phones (syspine has one) and works with many third party phones, it has more voicemail handling/notification options, greater call cascade capabilities, pbx and key system modes, external IP extensions, queues…the list goes on and on.

Not to forget Talkswitch add-ons like the Attendant Console which lets you manage calls, queues, and see other’s status on your PC. The Call Reporting application is also great for businesses or hotels which need to bill phone time.

In evaluating a number of phone systems over the years, I’ve noticed there’s the spec sheet of features and then there’s how they actually work and are used in a live system. Each business has different needs and call handling expectations…picking the right system for the desired feature set can be difficult. Some businesses will absolutely prefer a voice recognition autoattendant…others will want depth of configuration options.

Price
Comparing apples to apples on price is difficult. Talkswitch has three different IP phones, the syspine phone feature set puts it somewhere between the Talkswitch midrange 9133i and budget 9112i phone. On the flip side the Response Point system comes with more voicemail storage.

The Syspine phone system with capacity for 8 lines and 4 phones is $2500. The Talkswitch 840vs with capacity for 8 lines and 4 9133i phones (a better phone than the syspine) is $2211, with the 9112i phone its just $1971.

One nice thing about the Talkswitch is there’s also a less expensive, lower capacity system which can be upgraded later as needed. An office with only four phones usually would only need two lines, so a Talkswitch 240vs and four 9133i phones is just $1411 - an entry point nearly $1100 less than Response Point.

Maturity and Future
Response Point is a brand new product, while Talkswitch is one month out from their 6.0 release - a huge gap in product maturity. Just because a product is backed by Microsoft doesn’t mean it has a future - anyone remember the Microsoft Cordless PC Phone System? (It went to the way of the dodo bird) Anyone will Microsoft experience will tell you to wait for the third or fourth release of a product before they’re actually good.

Service and Support
Microsoft isn’t a company known for stellar support, nor are their hardware partners like Quanta. Microsoft is also accustomed to a paid upgrade program and obsoleting equipment every few years. Talkswitch gives their owners free phone support for life (its english as a first language support too) and free software upgrades for life.

Conclusions
There are many great small business phone systems on the market. Microsoft has an unusual spin on the concept but one nifty feature doesn’t make for a great phone system. They don’t offer any significant value and I think once the novelty wears off its clear other systems have a better package for most offices.  I’d recommend take a strong look at the mature competition instead of becoming an early adopter of Microsoft products.

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