Technology in Architectural Practice

We are in the process of considering replacements for our aging old school PBX phone system. Overall we tend to be fairly early adopters with most technology but the  current system has just worked so we have not had the need to replace it.  We have a single office with about 75 employees and 100 total extensions.  We are evaluating  VOIP phones systems that range from completly external hosted systems with generic Polycomm phones to on premisis VOIP system that pretty closely resemble a traditional PBX with upgraded technology.  Considering the ubiquitous presence of IOS/Android smart phones as well as wireless device management tools we are wondering if we still need a traditional office phone system.  Has anyone moved in the direction of stengthing support for mobile devices together with applications that would allow the logical grouping of these mobile devices into a virtual corporate phone system.  I am interested in hearing how far you have stepped out of the box and if it is working.

Thank you,

Steve


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Steven Haines Assoc. AIA
Director
Centerbrook Architects & Planners
Centerbrook CT
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Do you already own all the employees' phones, and do you pay their monthly bills? If not, I, as an employee would object heavily to giving away my phone and its service to my employer.

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Charles Graham AIA
Architect
O'Neal, Inc.
Greenville SC
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We use Lync which allows us to use instant messaging between people in our office and does not stack up like email.  We use email for correspondence that requires a record.  We also use the telephone option which uses a headset on my computer.  Lync also allows me to do web presentations on my computer and link multiple people together.  I can take my laptop with me when I travel and web presentations anywhere.  My phone also can be set to ring simultaneously with my computer headset and my cell phone.  You know longer have to dial 1 or the area code. So far we have been happy with the system.  The system is particular about setting up web presentations and takes a little to get use to when using conference rooms, but the feature to connect on any computer and share presentations is great.

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Peter Leoschke AIA
Mead & Hunt Inc
Madison WI
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-07-2014 21:53
From: Charles Graham
Subject: Phone System

Do you already own all the employees' phones, and do you pay their monthly bills? If not, I, as an employee would object heavily to giving away my phone and its service to my employer.

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Charles Graham AIA
Architect
O'Neal, Inc.
Greenville SC
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Steven,

We are in the process of doing the same upgrade in our office and asked the same question about cell phone use. Our employees are already heavily relying on smart phones for office calls both in the field and in the office. It's just more convenient sometimes.  Our desk arangement pairs 2 employees in a U-shaped desk unit. Each employee has a dedicated phone. Our planned system is VOIP with the change being that each pair of employees would share a single phone.  How often are both people on the phone simultaneously? Rarely.  This limits the number of IP addresses dedicated to desk phones. To supplement the desk phones, the system will have the ability to patch through to smartphones using our office Wi-Fi network.  To the issue of providing cell phone numbers and the burden of data useage on the employee, this uses only the Wi-Fi signal for calls and does not use service plan allotments. However, outside the office, this system will have the capability to forward calls from the office through the cellular network which will use the employee's data plan.  The ability to have calls forwarded is controlled by the user, initiated and cancelled at any time.  The choice is theirs.

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Sidney Griffin
BIM Manager
VMDO Architects
Charlottesville VA
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