How the internet has changed business.

 

At one stage businesses would write letters to each other and responses would be expected in 3-5 days .It was slower but worked just fine. It meant you had a day or so to think about your reply.

Then came the telephone, this certainly speeded business up, providing the person you wanted to speak with was in the office and owned a telephone.

Faxes were next but people were wary at the start, what if they were “intercepted” we soon got over that and then the real game changer came along email.

Winter is on its way!

The evenings are getting darker quicker, had my first ice scrapping on windscreen this week, winter is on its way.

According to the news it’s going to be a bad winter? I am sure that they have been saying that every year?

Anyway every year we lose business days because of the snow. According to the FSB in 2009 20% of the UKs workforce did not make it into work on the worst days that’s 6.4 million people at a cost of at least 1.2Billion pounds. The knock effect of this goes into even more lost money.

It doesn’t take much to be honest for schools to close and for employees to say they cannot get to the office.

Have you stopped and thought how much money your company loses or could lose if you staff cannot get to the office?

With modern technology now snow days or in fact any kind of days should not stop you being able to communicate with your clients as if you were in the office.

You might think that having a telephone system in place that enables you completely manage all of your calls and use any device to make and receive them costs the earth? Well that’s not the case it probably cost you less than current systems and gives you complete control regardless of the weather.

Like a puppy at Christmas, modern telephones systems are not just for Christmas but can make huge changes to your business. Rightly or wrongly we live in an always on 24/7 connected society. Now most businesses are not open 24/7 but it’s neither difficult nor expensive to ensure that you never miss a call again. The question can you afford to miss a call?

So how much does it cost you to at least explore the idea that there might be a cheaper solution that also will not catch your business out when the snow does hit. Maybe your competitor’s won’t be around to answer a critical call but you can make sure you are.

So one call now could make all the difference or you could leave it and take a chance it’s your call ;-)

08456 885122

What is VOIP?

Well to start it is yet another technology acronym, don’t you just love them?

It stands for Voice over Internet Protocol.

So now for the translation, In English it means using internet to make phones calls instead of a traditional phone line.

How does it work? 

The internet works by sending data in between devices such as PCs and tablets. It breaks each piece of data down into what’s known as packets. The sending device sends the packets for the receiving device to receive and this happens in milliseconds.

VOIP works in the same way with the sounds of the call being send over the internet in the packets.

With the speeds and quality of internet connections today multiple voice calls are easily managed over the internet without any quality issues.

So even if you are in a remote area this is not an issue.

Why would I want to use VOIP?

Two huge reasons cost and flexibility.

Let’s start with cost there are so many areas where cost savings can be made. By using VOIP you won’t need multiple phone lines coming into the office and you won’t need costly wall mounted equipment often called “the box on the wall”. The whole system is cloud based so you can control every aspect of your phone system from anywhere. The calls are much cheaper than traditional rates and in some cases calls are free.

Equally as impressive is the flexibility a VOIP system can offer your small business. 

With a VOIP system you can ensure you never miss that vital call again. Because its internet based your office phone extension can follow you wherever you are regardless of what device you have. You can also take your office phone plug it in anywhere with an internet connection and it works as if you were at your desk even if you are at home or even in Turkey. Wherever you are the call would act and be cost as if it were an internal call.

Options such as auto call forwarding, individual voice mail boxes and even call attendants (press 1 for sales,2 for accounts) can all be setup and managed from anywhere in minutes.

Because there are no expensive “boxes on the wall” setup is low cost and can be setup in a fraction of the time.

The business world has changed and we are spending more and more time away from the office and more time elsewhere. That could be a client’s office, homeworking or even on the road. It’s more important than ever that we remain in contact with colleagues, and clients.

I will finish off by saying that as a result of this technology enterprise level communications is no longer just for big companies. Even single person companies can utilise this and offer the kind of experience and presentation that a big company would.

So if keeping connected is important to your company then a VOIP system just might be a fantastic option to serve and compete in this new always on economy.

What 4G and what does it mean to my business?

Well to start with let’s be clear on what 4G actually is. The simplest way to explain 4G is it’s the 4^th generation of mobile phone signal technology. Now it does get considerably more technical than that but let’s stick to what matters to small businesses.

3G was a real game changer it enabled us to have the internet in our pocket. The problem came as we all tried using 3G more and more of the time. Being connected 24/7 became not just the norm but essential to our everyday lives.

With everyone hammering the 3G network more and more it just meant slower and slower speeds. This is particularly true in built up areas such as cities where there is a high density of people.

So does 4G change this and how will I t change your business?

Well 4G is by no means perfect. But I will explain the benefits and the current challenges and then you can decide if 4G is something for you.

4G is fast, real fast. In some areas where they double the speed you can get up to 60MB per second. Most people’s home broadband offers around 8-20MB if you are very lucky. Now let’s not get too excited it as this was probably done with only one person getting all of the bandwidth from the mast. However with some providers claiming averages speeds of 15MB per second and highs of 40MB it is at least 5-10 times faster than what we get now.

So 4G is fast, super-fast and probably faster than your home broadband.

The challenges are quite simple. 4G is new and network coverage is limited. That said there are 145 towns and cities covered by the provider EE and with plans to have 98% coverage in the next 12-18 months this is not the future but today.

Cost is always a consideration but for the speed you can get just imagine what can be achieved the ROI for certain key people in your is a very simple calculation.

We live in an always on connected society wrongly or rightly and that’s another blog for another day but it’s essential you understand what is out there and then find the right technologies for your business.

Being connected wherever you are and having systems in place to ensure you can communicate with your clients and colleagues regardless of where you are is what we do best.  It is not as expensive as you think and you are not too small to use simple yet powerful solutions to always keep you connected.

So if 4G is something you would like to discuss further or even your communication plans as a whole why not have a chat with one of our team who will be happy to answer any questions you may have?

We are here to help you get the most out of technology so give us a call on 08456 885112

What is a non-geographic number?

 

A non-geographic number sometimes referred to as an NGN is a simple yet powerful way to ensure continuity with your vital business communications.

You probably have either a local number for your business with a prefix dialling code based on where you are based i.e. 01227 or a mobile number depending on the size of your business.

A NGN number can have any prefix number for example 01,02, 03 or even 08 and this number can be associated with your current prefix or mobile number. You can also have multiple NGN numbers doing the same thing. Now why would you do that?

Now the obvious reason would be in the name, non-geographic it means your company now appears that it can be in other areas or even no particular area making your company appear not tied to a specific location, if that’s something you would want to achieve but by no means the only reason.

Another reason might be that you would like to track calls from your website and by having a specific number on your site you can report on the number of calls this could even by tied to a particular marketing campaign.

Often though, the reason is far simpler. NGN numbers can make growing companies appear larger or more established. Or they enable larger companies the ability to manage lots of calls without the need to install costly fixed lines. They also come with powerful tools so you can ensure you never miss a call, you can re-route calls when required instantly.

The management is simple and easy to use and requires no software to be installed.  Track calls and produce key information in minutes.

Now how important are your phone lines to your company? What would happen if your landlines went down? With an NGN number calls can be configured instantly to re-route to any other number including mobiles. Disaster recovery for your vital communications, sorted.

First class communications is not just for the multi-nationals any longer. You too can have a highly memorable number that routes the calls to anywhere you want them to when you want them too for a low cost monthly fee.

And here is the best bit, why not give it a try for 30 days at no cost?

As the NGN’s are cloud based we don’t interfere with your physical land lines and they will work as they do today. So why not try it for 30 days free of charge and see how simple and easy it is to use.

     Call us today on an NGN of course ;-) 08453 402 484 

So What's Running On Your Blackberry

So is your Blackberry slowing down?  The easiest way to check what app's are running in the background using your battery and data up is to simply hold down the Blackberry button until you see the icon's appear at the bottom of the screen these can then be selected and turned off.

This will speed up the phone and extend the battery life 

IPhone not lasting the day?

Here's how to check and subsequently close applications that are running in the background on an iPhone.

Step one
Press the Home button twice in quick succession. This will display the multi-task bar the details all apps running in the background

Step two
To close an application, press and hold its Icon. The image will begin to 'wobble' in a style similar to that adopted when you are removing apps, and a minus sign will appear.

Step three
Push the minus sign to close the application. When you've closed the applications you want to, press the home button to exit the multi-task bar.