How To Choose A Telephone Maintenance Provider And The Cost Of Getting It Wrong

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Maintaining a business telephone system can be a difficult task, with many firms lacking the internal resources to achieve adequate support in-house. This makes it practical to outsource maintenance to a third party provider.

NortelT7316 telephone (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Organizations may be nervous about the concept of relying on an external maintenance team to carry out critical work, although there are a number of benefits associated with this approach which also need to be weighed when making a decision, as well as pitfalls that can arise if no action is taken. Here is an examination of the aspects of telephone maintenance providers which you should look for when choosing a firm, in conjunction with a discussion of why making the wrong choice can have serious ramifications.

Do You Need to Upgrade Your Telephone System, or Can You Simply Maximise What You've Got?

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There are some people who would argue that the only way to adapt to the modern telecoms requirements that face most businesses today is to completely upgrade and overhaul on-site systems.

This can be a costly process and it might not even be necessary. Many companies are not currently maximising the potential of their existing telephone systems, which means that by tapping into this unused capacity it can be possible to save money and improve your available resources.

In order to achieve this and avoid a costly upgrade it makes sense to look for a provider that is willing to work with your business in order to meet your needs.

Of course, in some cases you will find that picking the right provider will actually let you fully assess the requirements of your business so that an appropriate telephone system and tariff package can be chosen.

While not all providers that encourage you to make a complete upgrade are unscrupulous, you should be suspicious of a company that is overly willing to dismiss the capabilities of your current set-up and recommend making an upgrade before they have taken into account what you have to hand and what you actually need to achieve with it.

If you are looking to upgrade from an older analogue landline service to a new network-based VoIP package, you may already have equipment that is up to the task of handling the changeover. Backwards compatibility and incremental improvements allow businesses to adopt new technologies with ease over time, rather than requiring an outright upgrade that has a high one-off cost.

Those businesses that do decide to upgrade a telephone system should make sure that they are choosing one which will be relatively future proof, allowing for further expansion and technological changes further down the line.

You can get advice on all of these important matters from your provider, although if the firm is unable to guide you adequately, or you find that there is a better deal elsewhere, it may be sensible to switch to a more accommodating rival.

Finding a provider that will be more sensitive to the needs of your business will not only streamline the process of upgrading or maximizing what you have already got, it will also help you to save money, because better cost efficiency should come from enlisting the services of a telecoms provider that knows how to communicate and assess what approach is required in a given situation.

Thanks to the power of digital communications it is now possible to outsource services such as system infrastructure to third parties, which helps to reduce the amount of money that your business needs to spend on the installation and maintenance of complicated in-house set-ups.

If you take the VoIP approach you will be able to add extensions and use computer workstations to host voice calls, with things like call routing, forwarding and answering services hosted externally. This should relieve the financial pressure on your business since the need for a high-end exchange located on site is negated.

Not every business will find this approach appropriate, but it does draw attention to the idea that a communicative telecoms provider will be better able to meet your needs than one which is simply trying to sell you packages that are only beneficial because you will be paying large amounts of money.

The route towards having an optimised telephone system that is operating at the peak of its potential is not easy, unless you choose a provider that will work with you to meet your needs.

Daisy Group can offer a range of bespoke telephony solutions to any sized business or organization. Find out more on their website at www.daisygroupplc.com.

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Mobile Working in the Private Sector

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Mobile and remote working have become important assets to businesses that are looking to improve productivity, increase flexibility and secure long-term growth.

However, there is an understandable reluctance amongst some organizations in the private sector when it comes to adopting the tools that are necessary to support mobile working. This is largely due to the fact that companies want to ensure that data security is still a paramount concern and that by letting information outside of an internal set-up it is not going to be abused.

High-profile cases of data loss resulting from misplaced laptops and smartphones have made headlines and caused embarrassment for public sector organizations. In the private sector, however, such incidents can be terminal for companies involved.

It is worth noting that remote access to business-critical information is only going to increase in the coming years. The IDC estimates that 70 per cent of employees will be able to get at this kind of data outside the physical constraints of the workplace, but it is important to state that while the formality of the traditional office space may be being eroded, the ability to make this new mobile world a safe place for business data to exist is not out of reach.

Patching Leaks

Almost a third of data leaks occur as a result of meddling from an internal agent, which means that disgruntled or misguided staff with the right kind of access privileges can cause havoc. While this does indicate that there is a need to ensure that the proper security checks are carried out before people are employed, it speaks to a wider need for training and education.

Accidental data loss is just as damaging as malicious breaches, so instructing employees on how best to handle business data when it is remotely accessible will help to prevent disasters.

Device Security

While it is impossible to completely eliminate the loss of devices like laptops, smartphones and tablets, some of the most problematic circumstances arise when it becomes apparent that a business did not properly protect the information stored on these gadgets.

There are a variety of options when it comes to device security that can help make the mobile working environment safe and acceptable. Data encryption is now seen as a basic precaution and there is absolutely no excuse for a lack of adequate password protection for individual devices.

Contemporary smartphone operating systems offer a number of security features that can help give businesses peace of mind if they are lost or stolen. You can remotely wipe information from the integrated memory and SD card of popular handset types like BlackBerry, as well as having the option to track the location of the missing device using GPS so that it can be recovered if necessary.

The value of lost devices will be far lower than that of the data which is stored on them, meaning that money spent on safe, secure devices and platforms will not need to be spent many times over further down the line after loss or theft.

 Access Management

The use of virtualization and the cloud can help to improve the security of the mobile working environment. By running apps and storing data remotely, not to mention making it accessible on a temporary basis from portable devices, you minimize the amount of precious information which is actively held on said devices.

In addition, taking a tiered approach to access, so that employees are granted admission to particular services based not only on their position in the company but also their location and the device they are using, will help with any security concerns. 

Daisy Group plc are leading providers of Unified Communications to private and public sector companies across the UK for over 12 years.  As communications specialists Daisy are able to advise companies on the most secure ways of allowing remote access to business-critical information through cloud services.

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History of The Telephone Line

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The telephone was famously invented by Alexander Graham Bell in the US during the 19th century, with the first call made over just 100 feet (30.5 metres) on the 14th of February, 1876. In the subsequent years a global industry has developed around this type of technology, with the humble telephone line still going strong to this day despite competition from emerging wireless services.

Here is a quick overview of the history of the telephone line from its early establishment to its modern applications, which should hopefully indicate just why it was such an important technological advance and how it changed the world.

Within two years of the first telephone call being made, Bell's patents were used to set up a company in the UK, backed by the then not insubstantial investment of £100,000. 150 telephone lines were quickly rolled out in London, with each line able to support a maximum of eight users simultaneously.

Further telephone exchanges were developed in the UK until in 1879 there were 200 subscribers in London, with lines leading across the country to Sheffield, Manchester and even Edinburgh. A rival company founded on the patents registered by Thomas Edison was also established in this year, undercutting the price of Bell's service by a significant margin in order to win over British customers.

The technology powering telephone lines was continually developed over the years, but it was in 1922 that things really got going when electro-mechanical technology designed by Almon B Strowger of the US became widely adopted to help automate the process. For the next seven decades or so, the UK's exchanges used a variant of this hardware in order to route calls.

Example of residential network including VoIP (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By the mid-1980s, BT had become a private company and it began to look to digital technology to replace the analogue signals which had been carried by telephone lines for so many years. Investments of over £20 billion were made to update the UK's infrastructure. Despite this, it was not until 1995 that the final exchange working on Strowger's original design was closed, indicating the enduring nature of this set-up.

Using metallic cabling for telephone lines with analogue electrical signals transporting the audio information was not the only invention of Bell's which would go on to shape the world. As early as 1880, he was working with Sumner Tainter on something which they called the Photo-phone, which was essentially an early form of fiber-optic communication.

a fiber-optic splitter: 2x(input, 90% out, 10%out) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Fibre optics would remain impractical and largely unpatented for the transmission of digital data until 1966. The lower attenuation rates in fiber-optic cables compared to metallic equivalents made them desirable for long-distance signal transmission and the UK was home to the first fiber-optic data line during the mid 1980s when a 140Mbps connection was set up between Luton and Milton Keynes. This would pave the way for the proliferation of optical technology which we see today being rapidly rolled out to replace the original metallic infrastructure as data rates are increased.

A TOSLINK fiber optic cable with a clear jacket that has a laser being shone onto one end of the cable. The laser is being shone into the left connector; the light coming out the right connector is from the same laser. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The emergence of widespread broadband connectivity after the turn of the millennium, delivered either via traditional landlines or fiber-optic connections, eventually allowed more and more businesses and subscribers to access digital voice services. VoIP providers began to emerge in the middle of the 2000s, with companies such as Skype helping to introduce average consumers to the idea of making long-distance, IP-based calls between PCs rather than fixed-line handsets.

Fiber optic distribution frame from Canovate Group (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today, a single fiber-optic connection or broadband-enabled telephone line can do the work of multiple older lines thanks to VoIP technology and the flexibility of the digital age. In spite of the growth of the mobile market, people still value telephone lines for their reliability and affordability.

Daisy Group plc who specialize in providing communication solutions to UK businesses. Daisy has been providing telephone lines for over a decade and are experts in Voip Technology, and bringing business in to the 21st century

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Cloud Computing - Not Just for The Big Boys

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Cloud computing is becoming a vital asset of many established businesses, but this might lead those at small and medium-sized enterprises or start-ups to assume that the cloud is something that can only be used by larger companies and is not suitable for them.

In reality, this is far from the truth, since cloud-based services have plenty to offer businesses of all sizes. In fact, it could be much easier for smaller companies to get a foothold in a competitive marketplace if they are harnessing cloud computing rather than ignoring its potential and trailing behind more technically ambitious rivals as a result.

Any business which is in the early stages of its development will need to invest in some kind of IT infrastructure that includes network connectivity and telephony solutions.

However, unless you are mainly operating in a sector related to this type of technology, finding expertise in this area in-house will be difficult.

This means that the services of cloud providers can become even more important if you are not by nature an IT start-up. By sourcing a variety of services, from business email to the running of software applications, via a third-party provider you will take away the burden of initial installation, ongoing maintenance and future upgrades.

Cloud providers can offer uncomplicated hosting packages that will allow you to provide business email accounts to staff, which you can then use to communicate with potential clients and partners so that your start-up is instantly recognizable and eminently professional right from day one.

The power of the cloud can be used to run entire hosted desktops so that managing multiple users is uncomplicated, requires little in-house expertise and can be performed remotely.

This leads to the availability of home working for SMEs which invest in the cloud early on, allowing for a greater degree of flexibility when it comes to working hours and locations.

The cloud will also help when it comes to ensuring the continuity of your fledgling business, because downtime or other disasters which take your normal place of work out of operation can be a terminal problem for start-ups.

The flexibility of the cloud goes hand in hand with its scalability. Any small business will be thinking about growth, but IT can become a bottleneck if you are having to manage, maintain and upgrade everything on-site using only your own resources.

With cloud computing services you have the option to add new users, increase your storage, implement more complicated telephony arrangements and much more without the financial burden or the strain on internal resources.

It is impossible to talk about cloud computing without also mentioning the cost savings which can be made when larger businesses migrate a variety of services to a third-party platform. However, this factor is perhaps even more important for start-ups, which may not have the financial elasticity to rely on an in-house system to do the job which it is supposed to do.

When every penny counts, putting your money into hosting, storage and software as a service through a cloud provider will give you both a short-term cut in the amount you need to invest and a longer-term reduction in costs that will leave your balance sheet looking healthier as your company expands.

Start-ups and small businesses can embrace cloud computing just as fully as bigger companies, with benefits that will be more acutely experienced at the lower end of the market.

The cloud computing market is not one dominated by absolutes, so it is important to remember that adoption can range from minimal to total, with a hybridized approach favored by many companies regardless of size.

This article was written by Daisy Group plc, who have over 12 years experience in data and hosting solutions including cloud hosting services, colocation, data centre and cloud computing services for corporate, public sector and enterprise companies across the UK.   With  4 Teir III Data Centres in Manchester, London, Jersey and Southampton providing 24/7 support 365 Daisy are the natural choice for business hosting solutions.

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Taking a New and Flexible Approach to Communications

Many providers of VoIP services to businesses were able to grow significantly throughout 2011. Mobile VoIP expanded by 113 per cent, according to Allot Communications, which indicates that the availability of high-speed data connections on modern business mobiles is making it easier for companies to eschew traditional voice calls in favor of an IP-based solution across multiple platforms. 2012 is expected to feature even greater growth in the VoIP industry, as more and more businesses become convinced of its benefits.

Reduce Costs

The first thing which makes VoIP an advantage in a business environment is the cost, because it is possible to make significant long-term savings if you invest in this type of technology rather than a traditional telephone system. This is primarily possible because you will no longer need multiple PSTN lines linking your premises to the network, as a single broadband connection will be able to handle multiple simultaneous calls. This means that there will be no additional line-rental charges to pay and you can instantly revise budgets downwards.

Image via Wikipedia

Cost savings also come when you look at the price of making a VoIP call when compared with a standard landline call. Any call made between two on-net users will cost absolutely nothing, so if you have more than one site for your business then it will not cost a penny for staff to stay in touch. In addition, you can call any landline or mobile number using a VoIP service and enjoy average call costs that are lower than their PSTN equivalent.

Because VoIP can be leased efficiently, with little to no upfront investment required and a per-user pricing package, your budget will also be under less strain. In addition, the scalability of VoIP far exceeds that of older business phone systems. You can add new handsets to your set-up as the growth of your business leads to new employees being taken on and the price of doing so will not be a burden.

Increase Productivity

In terms of productivity, VoIP comes into its own when you consider its application in the facilitation of remote working. The virtualised nature of VoIP means that you can allocate a single number to an employee on which clients and colleagues will then be able to reach them, whether they are in the office, at home or out in the field. As long as there is a means to connect to the network, then staff can make VoIP calls when on the move just as easily as if they were at their desk. This is not only more convenient and efficient, but also means that the reduced call costs will lead to much greater savings on calls over time.

Image via Wikipedia

Fully Flexible

The flexible, mobile nature of VoIP is not only useful on an everyday basis, but can also ensure that your business is resilient in the face of disastrous circumstances. If you are unable to get to a phone in the office or elsewhere, then VoIP will be able to automatically re-route calls appropriately, which would be impossible to achieve if you were relying on in-house systems that been damaged in an emergency.

Converged Solutions

Convergence of multiple communications platforms is possible thanks to VoIP because voice calls are not the only feature available from providers. You can also integrate a host of other services, such as fax, SMS texts, voicemail and many more, enabling you to receive everything through a single portal. Along with the cost savings, added flexibility and business resilience which it affords most of its users, this is the icing on the cake of VoIP that should help to make it a great impact on your business.

Hosted VoIP systems from Daisy Group plc allow companies to take advantage of the many advanced features provided by IP Telephony. Unlike traditional telephony suppliers, Daisy has over 12 years experience in cloud, data hosting, networking solutions and voice services enabling us to provide businesses withed-to-end solutions to help maximize the benefits of data (data replication, backup) and voice (IP Telephony (VoIP).

Daisy Group plc are leading providers of business telephone systems including Hosted VoIP and IP telephony phone systems to UK SME, Corporate and public sector customers.