Moving from a traditional phone system to RingCentral: what to expect

If your business still runs on traditional phone lines and a phone system in a closet, moving to a cloud phone system like RingCentral can feel like a big change. In practice, most of the work is planning: deciding how calls should flow, which numbers you keep, and which phones and apps each person needs. This post walks through what to expect so there are no surprises.

What changes, and what stays the same

With RingCentral, your phone system lives in the cloud instead of in a box on your premises. Calls travel over your internet connection, and your team can answer on desk phones, on the desktop app or on the mobile app.

• You keep your numbers. Your existing business numbers can be ported from your current carrier, so customers keep dialing the same numbers.
• Your call flow can stay familiar: a main number, an auto-attendant menu, ring groups for departments and voicemail.
• Your team gains options, such as answering calls away from the office in the app, voicemail-to-email, business texting and online fax.

Step 1: Map how your calls work today

Before anything is ordered, write down how calls are handled now. Who answers the main line? What happens after hours? Which numbers ring which people? Do you use fax lines, an alarm line or a credit card terminal on a phone line? Lines like these need their own plan, so it is important to list them early.

Step 2: Design the new setup

Next, the call flow is rebuilt in RingCentral: the auto-attendant greeting and menu options, business hours and after-hours rules, call queues or ring groups, and voicemail boxes. This is a good time to clean up old extensions and simplify menus that callers find confusing.

Step 3: Check your internet and network

Because calls ride on your internet connection, the connection and the office network matter. A business-grade connection, a properly configured router or firewall, and wired network ports or reliable Wi-Fi where the phones will sit all help call quality. If your connection is shared with heavy uploads or streaming, it is worth reviewing before the switch.

Step 4: Port your numbers

Number porting moves your numbers from your current carrier to RingCentral. It needs accurate account details from your current carrier, such as the account name, service address and sometimes a PIN, and a recent bill helps. The current carrier sets part of the timeline, so porting is scheduled ahead of time and the cut-over date is coordinated to minimize downtime.

Tip: do not cancel your old phone service before the port completes. Canceling early can release your numbers.

Step 5: Phones, apps and training

Desk phones are set up and assigned to users, and everyone installs the desktop and mobile apps. A short training session covers the basics: transferring calls, checking voicemail, using the app, and setting your status. Front desk staff usually benefit from a little extra time on transfers and queues.

Step 6: Go-live day and the first weeks

On cut-over day, calls start ringing on the new system as the port completes. Expect a few small adjustments in the first weeks, such as tweaking a greeting, adding someone to a ring group or changing after-hours rules. These changes are made in the system settings rather than by rewiring anything.

A quick checklist before you switch

• A list of all your phone numbers, including fax and alarm lines
• A recent bill from your current carrier and the account details for porting
• Your preferred greeting and menu options
• Who should ring for each department and after hours
• Where each desk phone will go, and whether there is a network port nearby

1-800GetConnected.com helps businesses with this process: consultation, setup, number porting, training and ongoing support. You can read more on our Cloud Communications and How It Works pages.

Talk to us

Every office is different, so the best next step is a short conversation about yours. Call (877) 849-9995 or request a free quote and tell us about your phone system.