As of 13 August 2026, AI can choose a business phone system for your UK company.

What to actually do

1. Hand it to a person

   The route this page recommends

   A person who owns the outcome does this end to end, worth it when the failure is dear.

2. Use a tool built for this

   Second choice

3. Do it yourself

   The distant third

   A chat interface, chat-fluent skill, and roughly 1 hour until you can act on the result.

   How to actually do it

   1. Open your current CRM, helpdesk and collaboration-service settings, then record the integrations, user count, locations, existing phone numbers and devices the new system must support.
   2. Gather your recent phone bills, current contract, number-porting details, calling destinations, call-recording requirements, support expectations and budget or procurement limit.
   3. Paste the prompt into a chatbot and replace every bracketed slot with your business information, leaving unknown items marked as unknown rather than guessing.
   4. Add links to the UK vendor pages, product sheets and contract terms for any systems you are already considering, then ask the chatbot to compare them with other suitable options.
   5. Open every cited vendor page and compare the drafted features, VAT treatment, calling charges, minimum terms, number-porting rules, recording controls and support commitments against the source.
   6. Run the shortlisted systems through a trial or vendor demonstration using your actual network, devices, numbers and call routes, then use the results and confirmed terms to make the purchase decision.

   Prompt

   Act as a careful UK business-telephony researcher. Help me choose a business phone system, but do not make the decision from generic feature lists alone.
   
   My requirements:
   - Business type: [business type]
   - Number of users now and expected users: [figures]
   - Locations and remote working: [details]
   - Inbound calling needs: [details]
   - Outbound calling needs and destinations: [details]
   - Desk phones, computer calling and mobile calling: [requirements]
   - Existing numbers and number-porting needs: [details]
   - Call recording, transcription, voicemail, queues, menus and analytics: [requirements]
   - Required integrations: [CRM, helpdesk, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace or other]
   - Connectivity and devices already available: [details]
   - Support hours and service-level needs: [details]
   - Contract preference and budget: [details]
   - Data protection, call-recording or retention constraints: [details]
   - Must-have exclusions: [details]
   
   Research current UK-available options using primary vendor pages wherever possible. Separate confirmed facts from vendor claims, assumptions and missing information. Check whether prices include VAT, users, numbers, calling charges, handsets, setup, support and minimum terms, but do not invent or estimate missing prices. Check number porting, emergency calling, mobile use, integrations, call quality requirements, recording controls, contract exit terms and support arrangements.
   
   Compare no more than six suitable systems in a table. For each one, show the evidence link and state any important unknown. Score each against my must-haves, then give me a shortlist of three and a provisional recommendation. Explain which requirement drives the recommendation and what could change it. Give me a due-diligence checklist for a trial or vendor call, including the exact questions I should ask. Do not present the recommendation as certain until I have verified the current commercial terms and tested calling with my actual network and devices.

   Open it prefilled in ChatGPT or Claude, or copy it into Gemini, which takes no prefill link.