ShoreTel or Avaya?

Avaya 1416 Phone for the Avaya IP Office

A question that we receive a lot at CSM South is which phone system is better, Avaya IP Office or ShoreTel. And our response is always the same- It depends! This is not some sort of sales tactic, trying to win your trust with our evasiveness. It really is the truth. There are various factors involved with your business and the processes that make up your employees work day that directly affect which new phone system is best for you. This is why we carry both ShoreTel and Avaya for our business phone systems, but also have PhoneSuite VoiceWare for hospitality in order to have a specialized hotel system.

Some of the items to consider when trying to decide between ShoreTel and Avaya include what the physical infrastructure looks like as ShoreTel is a pure VoIP phone system while Avaya is a hybrid VoIP and digital telephone system.  A customer of CSM’s needed a new phone system in Austin, Texas, came to us looking for a VoIP system, but after doing a network analysis, it was determined that an Avaya IP Office using VoIP technology to connect the remote offices but digital handsets at the desktop was the best solution. Literally the best of both worlds.

ShoreTel 480 VoIP Phone

Conversely, if the network is up to snuff and your business has a technological workforce, then ShoreTel is a great way to go. CSM has a CPA group as a customer who was looking to replace their old phone system with a new VoIP platform in Sarasota, Florida. After looking at the network, and speaking to the department heads, it was determined that a ShoreTel would be the best solution, both technically and also financially. If we were to enable the Avaya IP Office with all the required features that the ShoreTel inherently provided, the cost would have been well more than the ShoreTel.

There are other considerations, of course, and CSM can help guide you on your search for a new business phone system. Give us a call today to learn more!