The most recent Government advice to work from home (if you can) again, means more upheaval as we transfer our workers and their paraphernalia away from our bricks and mortar premises.

As business communications experts, we have spent the last year and a half helping our customers to relocate their business online and without disruption to their customers; so, here’s our guide to help you:

Working from Home; a guide:

ISDN and PSTN lines aren’t just for telephones. Think about how your business operates, do you have an alarm system or CCTV? Are you taking payments through an EPOS system? Do you have a door entry system in place? If you’ve answered YES to any of these, then it’s likely that you’re going to need to do some upgrading.

Luckily upgrading doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to cost you more, we have the technology and know-how on hand to discuss what your requirements are and to make sure you get exactly what you need.

How can I swap a business phone system?

1. Your Front Line

If your business has a telephone line, then it will need to be staffed – this can be as easy as unplugging from the office and plugging back in at home. Or it might be that you need to call your supplier and ask them to divert the line for a while, either way it should be minimal fuss.

2. Your Customers

You’ll need to be accessible still to your customers, remember to update your website with any new opening hours and contact details if they’re needed. Make sure that all staff have provision for outgoing calls if needed.

3. Your Setup

Make life easier with the technology that’s available to you and your staff. PC softphones rather than handsets can make conversations easier, especially with noise cancelling headphones, who knows when the dog might bark?! There are mobile apps for working together even though you’re apart; Microsoft Teams in conjunction with your cloud phone account will make your working more fluid. A VPN will enable connection between your office and home if anyone needs access to shared drives or servers.

4. Your Premises

Have you thought about what happens if you’re shutting the doors on an office, shop or restaurant? Many businesses are in the same position, you will need to make sure that everything is safe. Consider either installing CCTV or hiring a security firm to check in on it every now and then.

5. Your Connectivity

The broadband connections that feed homes across the country are not of the same calibre as those for business. Make sure that there is enough bandwidth for anything that your staff need to run through their homes, consider that all connected devices including smart speakers will need a share. Something to consider could be wireless access points to stretch signal to parts of the home that are not normally used.

Regardless of who your current communications suppliers are we are happy to help. It might be worth consolidating your suppliers so that you have one point of contact for everything, this is definitely something that we can help you with. Please ask us any questions you might have, and we’ll give you our best advice.