As the office manager for a small insurance company, one of the many duties I perform is purchasing. This normally involves stopping off at the local office supply store for pens, paper clips, printer paper, ink and toner. In other words, I'm not exactly entrusted with making high level, crucial decisions when it comes to purchasing. In fact, we used to have one of the secretaries do it. Unfortunately, when she retired, the onus fell on me. Because of this, I was somewhat surprised when word came down from the higher ups that I was to be in charge of choosing a new business phone system. At first, I was a little shocked that they were actually going to provide me with a budget and give me carte blanche freedom to actually go out and get something on a scale of high importance accomplished.

Then it occurred to me that the reason they were putting me in charge of such an important facet of our company's success (after all, we are a catalog retailer), was that I would be in charge of learning how to use the new business phone system and training the rest of our staff. With that thought in mind, I was determined to find a system that would be easy to learn, easy to train on and easy on my company's budget. After doing some research and some considerable shopping around, I was able to find a business phone system that was expandable in case we ever needed to add more phones or more lines.

This system was simplicity personified and as the wholesaler explained to me how to set up the phone, I knew it would be easy to train others on. Best of all, I came in way under budget, which I know impressed the powers that be. I was complimented on handling the purchasing of the new business phone system several times, which makes me think they have a new appreciation for my abilities. That could lead to more money for me... but somehow I know it will probably just lead to more responsibility.