Which business phone system should our company buy?

A new breed of business phone systems is evolving to meet the specific needs of small businesses.   Until now, the options available to start-ups and organisations with less than 20 people, have been limited.  At one extreme a costly but professional, fixed-line system and at the other,  a mobile or single land-line.  However the market is changing thanks to internet-based or VoIP (Voice over Internet protocol) systems.

Many people are familiar with consumer VoIP systems such as Skype but so far the call quality and outages have made them too unreliable for business use.   In comparison, Hosted VoIP, from a provider such as Panther Telecom, provides small businesses with high-level call quality, thanks to a dedicated network.  It also provides all the functionality of a switch-board at a mere fraction of the cost of a traditional hardware PBX.

The web based control panel allows each user to manage the features of their own phone system, including specifying functionality and adding new users as the company grows.  Any software updates, including new features are done automatically.

The internet is fundamentally changing the way we live.  Hosted VoIP will help improve the power of phone systems for small businesses; enabling affordable switchboard-functionality for even the smallest of enterprises.

For companies, wanting further information, please visit our dedicated website and watch our informative video.

Hosted Telephony “has a number of benefits for small businesses”

Hosted telephony has a number of benefits for small businesses, it has been suggested.

Writing for Forbes, David Carr noted that Hosted Telephony can be particularly useful for firms that have small premises in a range of different locations.

“Rather than have each office install its own phone switching equipment, you can have all locations tie into the hosted system,” he explained.

Another advantage is solid disaster recovery options, according to Mr Carr, as in the case of fires and floods, hosted telephony would remain operational.

Finally, it can help less-sizable enterprises reduce their technology overheads, he said, while boosting their abilities to run a mobile workforce.

Hosted VoIP enables business managers to move their work extension to their home address with just a computer and headset, the specialist added.

A recent study by Akamai found the average broadband speed in the UK equaled 3.9Mbps in the second quarter of 2010, something it was suggested could help to boost the VoIP solutions market.

Hosted VoIP increasing in popularity, a study finds.

Demand for Hosted VoIP services is very much on the increase in UK business, it has been reported.

A study conducted by ABI Research has indicated that businesses are ramping up their investment in outsourced telecommunications following the recession.

The research firm claimed that Hosted VoIP is a “safe investment” and offers flexibility for businesses in a slow, uncertain economic recovery.

“Consequently, hosted IP PBX services are expected to finish the year with a 15.3 per cent increase in revenue,” said ABI practice director Dan Shey.

Louise Hepburn, product manager at Itec, recently claimed that VoIP technology has emerged as an attractive, cost-saving telephony option for small companies in the last few years.

Independent telecoms providers meeting the needs of their customers better

FCS survey shows that independent telecoms providers are meeting the needs of their SME customers better

An independent survey carried out for Federation of Communication Services has demonstrated the importance of independent telecoms service providers in serving UK SMEs. The survey has clearly shown that the independents are meeting the needs of these companies better when compared with their national rivals.

The survey, which was carried out by YouGov on behalf of FCS, showed that 27% of the telco suppliers were independent service providers and resellers demonstrating that they form a significant part of the market.

The responses showed that the qualities most valued by all SMEs in their telecom suppliers were responsiveness, flexibility and being sympathetic to the needs of small businesses; this applies to the whole sample regardless of whether their existing supplier is an independent or national provider. In each of these key areas the independent resellers were more highly rated by their SME customers.

The survey also demonstrated that a high proportion of SMEs (76% of all respondents) are aware of the roll out of fibre networks and nearly two thirds consider the opportunities which the new technology offers to be important to their companies. Increased bandwidth, higher data carrying capacity and higher speed video conferencing were specifically cited as potential benefits.

A third of the current customers of national providers have attempted to switch to another provider and 62% of those did so successfully. Reasons given for not moving were inertia; “I’ve always been with my current provider” or “it’s too much hassle to move”. Other respondents said that there was only one supplier where they were based or that choice was very limited

CEO of FCS, Jacqui Brookes commented, “This survey demonstrates the importance of resellers in serving the UK business community. We call on Ofcom and BT to note these findings as they formulate plans for the regulation and roll out of fibre and the services which will be provided over the new networks.

Increase in mobile VoIP traffic thanks to Smartphones

VoIP Market will Double by 2015

VoIP services are forecasted to continue they’re phenominal growth spurt and look set set to exceed $20billion in five years.  According to ABI research

Specifically VoIP services include; VoIP integrated access, SIP trunking, hosted IP-PBX/IP Centrex and managed IP-PBX services.

The research is part of a new study, which analyses key trends in the above market – considering growth, technology evolution and competition. The market has been growing successively over the last year, as businesses tend to be replacing their traditional phone systems with VoIP.

Smaller businesses in particular are favouring the Hosted VoIP services, but that doesn’t mean that larger businesses aren’t beginning to take advantage of them too.

Senior analyst for ABI, Subha Rama, comments: “The trend of companies outsourcing their communications infrastructure has taken off in earnest, as decision-makers look for cost savings without having to compromise on features and functionality.”

Are we coming out of Recession?

Recently the government announced, with much fanfare that “Britain is officially out of recession” based on a 0.1% growth in the economy.

Outside our window at work is a large car dealership, with a big red banner announcing the starting prices of their used cars. About a year ago the banner read ‘Used cars from £3,995’ and during the following months the price gradually reduced to £2,995, £1,995 and finally, before Christmas, I noticed it was £991.

Obviously the recession has hit car dealers worse than a lot of other businesses, but everywhere you turn companies are holding off spending money on anything they don’t need to.

We’re starting to notice a lot of interest in our Hosted Telephony service, Communicator, particularly because it doesn’t entail a large upfront investment. As the system is hosted remotely in a data centre you only need a broadband circuit, VoIP router and some telephone handsets, and hey presto, you have a fully featured programmable phone system.

For more information on our hosted telephony service, click on the link below. In the meantime, I notice the sign hasn’t changed, so I’m going over the road to have a look at this car for £991………