How should a not-for-profit handle its phone system?

Virtualise it. Legacy phone systems linger longer in not-for-profits than almost anywhere, because a phone system that still works is nobody's priority until the hardware fails and nobody can repair it. Moving to a hosted platform usually reduces the recurring cost while making the service better.

The reason it lingers is entirely understandable. Budget goes to service delivery, the phone system works well enough, and replacing it does not obviously help anyone the organisation serves. Meanwhile the hardware ages past support, the person who knew how to change the after-hours message has left, and every adjustment requires a technician visit that nobody wants to pay for.

Virtualising fixes three things at once. The recurring cost usually falls, particularly for organisations carrying old contracts or multiple sites with separate arrangements. Changes become self-service, so adjusting an after-hours message or adding a person takes minutes in a browser rather than a service call. And staff take their extension with them, which matters enormously in a sector where people work from outreach locations, home and multiple sites and currently use personal mobiles because there is no alternative.

TAPS did exactly this as part of consolidating a fragmented and ageing IT and phone setup under one partner, alongside moving files to the cloud and modernising security to Essential Eight. Two practical notes: your existing numbers port, which matters because they appear on funding agreements, referral pathways and service directories; and porting sets the timeline, so start it early. If you want your telephony modernised at sector pricing, call 1800 456 567.