Finding business-grade VoIP phone systems or a reliable service provider in Chicago is just a bit trickier than locating a righteous Italian beef place near your office.
We’ve gathered information about IT consultancies in the Chicago area that resell, install and service major VoIP vendors’ solutions. By using a local partner to get your system up and running, you can make sure that support is only a neighborhood or two away.
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We’ll answer some of your questions about local VoIP service before we take a look at phone system brands with partners in the Chicago area.
(Click on a link below to jump to that section.)
What Is a Local Partner, And Why Do I Need One?
Avaya Partners
Nextiva Partners
ShoreTel Partners
Other Business VoIP Vendors With Chicago-Area Partners
What Is a Local Partner, And Why Do I Need One?
Major VoIP vendors generally use local partners to deploy and provide support for their solutions. This is the case whether their systems are located on your business’s premises or in the cloud.
Vendors use partners (also known as systems integrators) because setting up a VoIP system demands lots of IT experience with voice networking and the technical specifications of a particular brand of system.
While large companies have the IT resources to deploy phone systems on their own, you probably don’t. Moreover, even major companies rely heavily on local partners to deliver circuits, drop cables and resolve configuration issues.
Avaya Partners
Avaya has been a leading provider of business phone systems and unified communications (UC) solutions for over a decade. In addition to basic telephony features, UC systems offer user interfaces that bring together multiple modes of communication (voice, video, instant messaging etc.) on multiple devices ranging from desk phones and smartphones to softphones.
Avaya’s product line serves small businesses to enterprises. The IP Office solution in particular is designed for smaller businesses. Avaya also offers contact center solutions and conferencing solutions.
We’ve highlighted a few Avaya partners in the Chicago area that offer wide-ranging portfolios of products and services:
Converged Communication Systems, LLC
Services offered:
✔ Installation
✔ Cabling
✔ Maintenance
✔ Network monitoring
✔ Support
✔ Training
✔ Upgrades
✔ Virtualization
✔ Custom integrations
| Avaya products offered: | IP Office, IP Office Contact Center, Contact Center Select, Compact Contact Center, PARTNER Advanced Communications System, Aura (for unified communications) |
| Chicagoland addresses: | Regus Chicago 980 North Michigan Avenue Suite 1400 Chicago, IL 60611Regus West Randolph Ogilvie 564 W. Randolph Street 2nd Floor Chicago, IL 60661 |
| Website: | www.convergedsystems.com |
| Phone: | 877-598-3999 |
| Email: | Support@ConvergedSystems.com |
Strategic Products and Services (SPS)
Services offered:
✔ Installation
✔ Maintenance
✔ Network monitoring
✔ Support
✔ Training
✔ Upgrades
✔ Virtualization
✔ Custom integrations
| Avaya products offered: | IP Office, contact center and UC products |
| Chicagoland address: | 125 S. Wacker Drive Suite 302 Chicago, IL 60606 |
| Website: | www.spscom.com |
| Phone: | 888-777-7280 |
Nextiva Partners
Whereas many of Avaya’s solutions use hardware installed on your business’s premises, Nextiva’s phone system and contact center offerings are cloud-based. Nextiva is known as one of the more feature-rich and easy-to-use cloud platforms on the market (you can read user reviews on our site).
One advantage of using a cloud system like Nextiva is that you don’t have to lock yourself into a contract; you simply pay on a month-to-month basis.
You’ll still need a partner to handle cable drops, configuration and support even with a cloud system like Nextiva’s. Thankfully, you’ve got some options in the Chicago area:
AKA Comp Solutions
Services offered:
✔ Installation
✔ Cabling
✔ Maintenance
✔ Network monitoring
✔ Support
✔ Training
| Nextiva products offered: | Office Pro, Office Pro Plus, Office Enterprise |
| Chicagoland address: | 5875 N Lincoln Ave Suite #132 Chicago, IL 60659 |
| Website: | akacomp.com |
| Phone: | 773-733-4393 |
| Email: | info@akacomp.com |
MXOtech
Services offered:
✔ Installation
✔ Cabling
✔ Maintenance
✔ Network monitoring
✔ Support
| Chicagoland address: | 1101 W. Adams Street Suite A Chicago, IL 60607 |
| Website: | www.mxotech.com |
| Phone: | 312-647-2199 |
ShoreTel Partners
ShoreTel is another leading provider of business VoIP solutions, offering both a cloud-based system and an on-premise UC platform. ShoreTel supports a full range of UC features, including mobile video conferencing, Web conferencing etc., in addition to more basic call handling features.
ShoreTel’s on-premise VoIP solutions utilize a unique hardware architecture that enables phone systems at branch sites to keep running independently if the server at the main corporate location goes down. This makes ShoreTel a good choice for businesses with multiple locations.
We’ve researched a case study of a massive, international deployment of ShoreTel’s on-premise system, which highlights the strengths of ShoreTel’s channel partners. There are a number of ShoreTel partners operating in the Chicago area:
Advanced Telecommunications of Illinois, Inc.
Services offered:
✔ Installation
✔ Cabling
✔ Maintenance
✔ Network monitoring
✔ Support
✔ Training
✔ Upgrades
✔ Virtualization
| ShoreTel products offered: | Connect Onsite, Connect Cloud, Connect Hybrid, Connect Contact Center |
| Chicagoland address: | 1272 Bond Street, Suite 100 Naperville, IL 60563 |
| Website: | www.aticti.com |
| Phone: | 630-505-7500 |
| Email: | sales@aticti.com |
Gregg Communications Systems, Inc.
Services offered:
✔ Installation
✔ Cabling
✔ Maintenance
✔ Network monitoring
✔ Support
✔ Training
| ShoreTel products offered: | Connect Cloud, Connect Contact Center |
| Chicagoland address: | 555 Waters Edge Lane Lombard, IL 60148 |
| Website: | www.greggcomm.com |
| Phone: | 630-706-8222 |
| Email: | sales@greggcomm.com |
Other Business VoIP Vendors with Chicago-Area Partners
The phone system brands we’ve already looked at have more partners in the Chicago area than we can list here. Additionally, we’ve identified a number of other major VoIP vendors with partners in Chicago:
Digium
3CX
Mitel
NEC
Zultys
Evolve IP
Most vendors will set you up with partners as part of the implementation process, so it isn’t necessary to contact a partner directly.
You can simply contact the vendor, or, if you’re still having trouble making a choice, you can call one of our software advisors for a free consultation about your needs at (855) 998-8505. They’ll recommend solutions that fit your budget, business size, industry and specific communications needs.
