Options to Look for When Upgrading Your Toshiba Phone System

End of Toshiba Phones for Business Means It’s Time to Upgrade

If your business relies on Toshiba business phones, there are important decisions to be made. The phone products, now owned by Mitel, are being phased out, giving businesses like yours the chance to upgrade and add new capabilities.

With the phase-out of Toshiba phones, local businesses are turning to ICS for help with the transition, selection of a new business phone solution, installation and optimization.

What Is Happening to Toshiba Phones?

Toshiba announced in 2017 that its business phone division was being shuttered as part of a corporate restructuring. Mitel purchased portions of the Toshiba unified communications product line, including on on-premises system (IPedge), cloud-based system (VIPedge) and hybrid solution (Strata CIX). All three were among the most popular Toshiba products.

Recently, however, Mitel has started a planned phase-out of the IPedge and Strata CIX products. New sales stopped in October 2018 and on October 31, 2019, the company will no longer offer add-on components, including phones. Mitel ends all technical support on October 31, 2021.

What Options Does My Business Have to Replace Toshiba Phones?

Before selecting a new business phone system, think carefully about the features and functionality you need in the replacement solution. Today’s voice over internet protocol (VoIP) business phones are far more versatile, built to address today’s most critical communications needs. Consider some of these common business communications issues:

• Mobile Reliability. Employees today are often expected to be available no matter where they are. That requires a phone system that allows employees working remotely, on a sales call or traveling to access the same functions and benefits as when using the in-office phones.
• Timely Messaging. Clients, customers and fellow employees expect access to your staff at the moment of need. That’s one of the considerable benefits of VoIP systems. These solutions convert voicemails to emails, forward calls (often to multiple phones) and synchronize your desktop and mobile devices via Bluetooth.
• Scalability. With a VoIP business phone solution replacing your Toshiba phones, you’ll be able to scale rapidly, adding new users, downsizing, or adding or removing features. There’s no need to order and install additional equipment, Scalability is a major feature for seasonal businesses.
• Collaboration. Work today, whether among colleagues, partners, suppliers or customers, is done in partnership. Your business phone system needs to provide connectivity to collaborators who may be on opposite ends of the globe.

Is There a Way to Connect Our Communications Tools?

In addition to audio features, you need a communications solution that addresses all of your needs. With a Unified Communications (UC) solution, you can have interconnected technologies that operate today seamlessly.

UC solutions are a collection of communications technologies that work together, protected by comprehensive security protections. These solutions bring together the most common and needed tools — phone, instant messaging, web conferencing, and presence across devices. UC solutions can be deployed in private cloud, public cloud, on-premises or hybrid environments. At ICS, we work with our customers to develop customized solutions for their communications needs.

Typically, a Unified Communications solution will include the following:

• VoIP phone system
• Collaboration tools
• Web conferencing
• Voicemail
• Mobility apps
• Instant messaging and chat
• Call recording
• Contact center
• Business analytics
• Integration with your customer relationship management (CRM) system

What Types of Call Recording Products Are Available?

Call recording helps protect your business and document important interactions. Call recording systems are helpful for regulatory and legal reasons. ICS can help with the following call recording systems:

• Trunk-Side (records all inbound and outbound calls across all phones and channels)
• Port-Based (records inbound and outbound calls for one handset or phone, often for training purposes)
• IP Handset (used to set up individual or group recording manually or automatically, store data and email correspondence)
• Radio Traffic (records dispatcher screen, SMS messages, emailed video and photos)

Who Can Help Us Switch Up Our Toshiba Phones?

ICS offers IT solutions to customers in Houston, San Antonio and Austin. Contact us today to learn more about why ICS is the leading choice of small- and medium-sized companies throughout Texas when it comes to business telephone solutions.

Jason Simons

ICS is a Texas-based 40-year-old technology company specializing in Managed IT, VoIP, Video Conferencing and Video Surveillance solutions for US and International businesses. ICS has over 4000 regional installations and specializes in multi-site businesses between 25 and 2500 employees. ICS’s customers enjoy the experience of ICS’s Total Care program which provides clients flat fee services with obsolescence and growth protection. Whether a customer elects to deploy their IT, Video Conferencing or VoIP in the cloud or on the customer’s premise, ICS can provide a full turn-key solution for our clients under one flat monthly fee.