Choosing a telecommunications provider for your new office is just one of the things you have to take care of. When you have finally made a decision to go for it and the license is approved and the office space is rented, together with the excitement comes the list of all the “boring” stuff to take care of, such as opening an account for electricity, water, internet, telephone, etc., before you can have the business you have dreamed of. At this point, using a cell phone for business is no longer convenient, reliable or representative. Having an enterprise level telephone system is a necessity in the majority of cases. Here many entrepreneurs try to save their time and go with the brand names they already know. Two-three well-known giant brands that provide the same service with the quality and the prices that do not differ from each other much. Not the most difficult decision to make. You just pick one of them. Reasons why businesses should consider going with a local provider 1.       First and foremost – customer service. Ever tried to solve a customer service issue with a giant telecom provider? If you have, most probably it is not a memory you cherish. See, the big companies also need to cut costs in order to make the big profits they make. This leads to outsourcing of customer service. So, after waiting in some cases for about 45 minutes for a real person to finally pick up the phone, you continue struggling with the language barrier, resulting in frustration. But you still go with it because big brands are probably the best… Not always true. Take a look at the data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index report for 2013.  With smaller local providers, who definitely have a smaller number of customers, you are always a VIP, no matter how small your business. 2. Prices VoIP has made it possible to provide telephony services at much more inexpensive rates without taking away from quality. Just because it costs less than the service provided by big brands does not make VoIP telephony less valuable. It is a product of progress that is just starting to win the market. Innovation always wins, and early adopters will simply save more than the rest. 3. Local means your money stays in your community Giant corporations, proudly residing in Fortune and Inc lists, are brands we all know of and talk about. But are all those companies perfect? Are the products and services they provide perfect? Not always so. By choosing to go with a local provider, each business contributes to the well-being of the community it operates in. Going local not only benefits your own business, but also the people in your community. It creates jobs and helps your community prosper.