Infrastructure / Telephony / Migration Telephone Switchboard
Your phone system is still holding up. The question is, for how much longer?
And most importantly: how to make sure not a single call gets lost along the way.A telephone switchboard—the PBX one from your old maintenance contracts—doesn’t suddenly stop working just because it’s getting old. It becomes impossible to upgrade, its circuit boards can no longer be replaced, the carrier announces the end of analog lines, and the maintenance contract costs more every year. We migrate your users in groups, with the old and new services running simultaneously—your numbers remain reachable throughout the entire process.
What Triggers the Decision
Almost no one replaces a telephone switch because it's old. It's replaced because an external constraint leaves no other choice, and that constraint rarely arises at a convenient time.
The carrier announces the end of your analog lines
Legacy analog and digital connections have been phased out of the Swiss market for several years now. The letter from the provider sets a date, and that date is non-negotiable.
The connection then switches to Voice over IP, which requires equipment capable of supporting this technology for your existing phones.
A card malfunctions and can no longer be replaced
The manufacturer has discontinued the product line; parts are only available used, and lead times are measured in weeks. An entire department may be without a phone during that time.
A hosted phone service eliminates this dependence on hardware: there are no more cards to replace.
Remote work was never planned for
The business number rings on a phone sitting in an empty office. People who are out of the office give out their personal numbers, and the company loses track of its own calls.
The number follows the user across their computer and cell phone, without requiring a manual forwarding setup each morning.
Maintenance costs more than the service brings in
The annual contract cost is rising; it covers equipment that was written off long ago, and every configuration change is billed as a service call because no one in-house knows how to do it anymore.
A fair comparison is based on a three-year period, taking into account connections and licenses on both sides.
Your teams are already using another tool to communicate with each other
Meetings, messages, and screen sharing have moved to a collaborative platform. Phone systems have remained isolated, with their own contact list and their own logic.
Combining the two eliminates the need to maintain a directory and learn a new tool.
A merger or a relocation raises the question
Two merged companies have two switching centers, two operators, and two numbering plans. A relocation, on the other hand, requires rewiring or moving equipment that no one knows how to dismantle anymore.
This is when the coexistence of the two systems is most valuable: it prevents everything from having to be decided all at once.
The three possible answers
None of the three is inherently better: they each require different things from your company. We know how to build all three, and that’s what allows us to advise you on your specific challenges rather than on what we can sell. A service provider who’s only proficient in one will always claim that it’s the right one for you.
Microsoft Teams Phone
If your teams are already based in Teams
Telephony is becoming a feature of the tool your employees open every morning. One directory, one address book, one place for call history.
Assume licensing Microsoft 365 and actual adoption of Teams. Without that adoption, telephony won’t be what creates it.
3CX
If you want a comprehensive, independent switchboard
A full-featured phone system: reception, call queues, group ringing, call recording, and applications for computers and mobile phones. It can be installed on-site or hosted.
Consider adopting a second tool alongside your collaboration platform in exchange for more granular control over call flows.
A communication server on your premises
If your communication data must remain internal
The service remains installed on your servers, under your responsibility, in accordance with your retention policies. This is the solution when a contractual or regulatory obligation requires it.
Assume a team capable of maintaining a critical service and a long-term update plan.
Connecting to the carrier and transferring your existing phones is handled the same way in all three cases, using connection equipment installed between your system and the public network.
What the new service must take over
The new service doesn't just replace phones. It builds on existing obligations and habits, and it's by overlooking them that a project turns out to be incomplete on the day of the transition.
Emergency Calls
A call to an emergency number must be routed to the correct center and provide an exact address. This is a requirement, and it is verified on a site-by-site basis before the switchover, not after.
Your phone numbers and your numbering plan
Direct extensions, internal short numbers, and service numbers are retained. The numbering plan is carried over as-is, or simplified if you choose.
Call handling and call queues
The home menu, hours of operation, on-hold messages, the group ringtone for a department, and call overflow rules are recreated exactly as they were before being improved.
The Legal Recording of Conversations
When an activity requires it, data logging and retention periods are part of the project from the very beginning: these factors determine the system’s performance as much as user convenience.
Devices that are not phones
Doorbells, elevators, alarms, fax machines, and workshop phones: they all use telephone technology without appearing to do so, and each has its own failover solution.
The integration with your customer relationship management software
Displaying the customer's record as soon as the phone rings and logging the call in the call history is something that can be set up during the migration — not as a separate project six months down the road.
How We Conduct the migration
Five steps, in this order. The third step is what makes everything else possible: as long as the two systems work together, no decision is irreversible.
Identifying What Really Exists
Active numbers, the operator’s connections, equipment connected to the switchboard, call forwarding rules configured over the years, and usage patterns that no one has documented. This inventory is the only way to know what needs to be transferred during the migration.
Decide on the answer, and write it down
We present the three solutions tailored to your situation, along with what each entails and the cost over three years. The scope of work is defined before the project begins.
Making the Two Systems Work Together
The new service is connected while the old switchboard remains in service. An employee who has migrated to the new system calls a colleague still on the old system, and the outside line connects the two. This eliminates the need for a “switchover night” and makes it possible to revert to the old system if something isn’t working properly.
Migrate in groups, and provide training at the same time
One service at a time, starting with the one that has the fewest constraints. Each group receives guidance as it switches to a new tool, which costs much less than a general training session held three weeks beforehand.
Enter the numbers, then unplug it
The phone numbers are transferred to the new connection once everyone has switched over. The old switchboard is disconnected only then, and the maintenance contract ends only at that point.
What You Need to Know Before Making a Decision
Four questions that come up in every project, and the last one is the one we prefer to address early on.
Do we need to replace all the phones?
Not necessarily. Some newer desk phones can be connected to the new service. Older models are either adapted using a connection device or are being replaced gradually rather than all at once.
What happens if the Internet connection goes down?
That’s the real question, and it’s addressed during the design phase: a second connection, automatic call forwarding to cell phones, or maintaining a backup connection. A hosted phone system without a backup connection is a risk, and we’re saying this up front.
Can we keep our current service provider?
Often, yes. Choosing an operator and selecting a solution are two separate decisions, and handling them separately prevents having to renegotiate everything at once.
What We Don't Do
We do not take on maintenance for a brand-name system that we are not familiar with just to extend its lifespan by a few years: we could bill for it, but we couldn’t maintain it. In such cases, we’ll let you know and refer you to the system’s integrator.
To learn more about each answer
Each answer has its own page, with details on features, licenses, and what's included.
Telephony at Microsoft Teams
What the Teams Phone replaces, what licenses it requires, and how it connects to your carrier.3CX, the full-featured telephone switchboard
Customer service, call queues, registration, and applications: the system and what it really costs.A communication server on your premises
Unified communications hosted on your servers, and how long it will be supported.Managing Day-to-Day Operations for " Teams "
Our platform for assigning numbers and tracking usage without using an admin console.When the reception area becomes a contact center
Choosing among the available models when call queues are no longer sufficient.Connection Equipment
What connects your system to the public grid, and why one is needed in almost every case.Tell us about your setup, and we'll tell you what to do with it.
The first meeting is intended to help us understand your current setup and any constraints you may have. During this meeting, you’ll meet the engineers who will be doing the work—not a sales representative who will simply describe them.
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