Is your business on the right lines?

With changes in working practices because of Covid-19 - not to mention the end of some traditional phone services planned within the next five years - now is the time to rethink your business’s telecommunications.

Bret Whitcombe, of Market Deeping-based OfficeHost Cloud, tells us why VOIP is a good option to consider right now.

Since BT announced back in 2017 that it intended to switch off PSTN and ISDN services in 2025, the VoIP market has grown tremendously. VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol to give its proper name, uses an internet connection instead of traditional ISDN and PSTN lines.

With a VoIP service comes a vast array of new features, software integration, mobile applications, and a truly transparent service.

For homeworkers, sales teams out on the road, engineers, and other field-based employees, the flexibility and reliability of these systems is impressive to say the least.

Aside from the practical benefits of VoIP there is a sizeable cost reduction in line rental and charges, with a 40 per cent saving on local calls and a massive 90 per cent saving on International calls.

Video conferencing services that used to be an expensive luxury and only in scope for large corporations have become much cheaper over the years and are now included in many VoIP systems.

Employees are no longer restricted to the boardroom thanks to the introduction of video conferencing on mobile devices, providing team communication from almost anywhere in the world.

So, what does this mean for you and your business? PSTN and ISDN services will become End of Life in December 2025 and will be withdrawn at this time. Openreach will be busy improving the network and ensuring that fibre technology is accessible to everyone before December 2025, and from September 2023 sales of traditional line rental will cease.

We are still five years away and there is still plenty of time to migrate to a new service, but in all honesty, why wait? Hardware investment is minimal

and there is no major disruption to business premises as the major equipment is hosted centrally in secure datacentres.

I would anticipate some delays nearer to the deadline caused by last minute orders, and suppliers simply not being able to meet the demand. Businesses who have not made the move to VoIP could quickly be without telephone and internet service if left too late.

The second point I want to cover is sadly, COVID-19 related.

I know that millions of people around the globe are fed up with hearing about it, businesses disrupted, home schooling and major inconvenience for everyone in some form or another.

But I have a question, how has everyone found the level of customer service from their supply chain? Hand on heart I have to say all the suppliers I work with have been exceptional, deliveries (mostly) on time and pretty much business as usual.

However, one supplier seems to have struggled with the entire sales team working from home while customer service is not able to take any calls due to “technical restrictions” with their current communication infrastructure.

This got me to thinking, how many businesses

have been forced to furlough staff for the same reason? How many businesses are unable to trade because the technology they have is not up to scratch?

There is no reason in this current, and particularly weird situation we find ourselves in, why people cannot work from home. We have all seen the poor guy on the news who is trying to do a live interview when his children burst into the room. That’s life. It is something that happens most days in my office, but I would rather have my children disturb my day than have no work at all.

We are not just talking about a telephone here; I mean everyone has a mobile phone these days. We are talking about full video conferencing, call recording, contact centres with the same management overview and control but with agents based at home. Clickto-dial and full CRM integration from home.

The possibilities are endless and many businesses at the end of the lockdown will no doubt be evaluating their processes and procedures for disaster recovery to ensure that they are protected from unexpected disruption in the future.

Officehost Cloud Solutions are happy to provide a free initial consultation and telecom survey,

Contact Bret at Officehost Cloud on 01778 328889

www. officehost. cloud

Enterprise Class Hosted Telephony Made Simple

With the latest “Stay Alert” message from the Prime Minister, now is a good time to look at shifting to the cloud for your business telecoms needs.

Keep your staff safe while still boosting their productivity and keeping your business running.

A new system can be live in as little as 48 hours with all handsets programmed offsite and shipped to an address of your choice.

We’ll even ship direct to the homes of your employees, leaving them to plug in the phone and work as though they are in the office.