Before diving into the marketplace and speaking with solution providers, you need to identify your key decision criteria. Once you’ve identified decision criteria, rank them in order of importance. Common key decision criteria for a VoIP phone system solution may include factors such as features, total cost, contract term, ease of administration, end-user experience, integration capabilities, implementation process, customer support, scalability, vendor’s local presence, and security. Priority ranking will be specific to your business needs and be thoughtful in your rankings as VoIP solutions will each have strengths/weaknesses and therefore tradeoffs when it comes time to make your final selection. Clarity on these priorities will help illuminate the right decision for your business.