business continuity

Emergency alert systems

alison — Mon, 17 May 2021 19:20:12 +0000

Emergency alert systems alison Mon, 05/17/2021 - 20:20

There’s nothing new about the idea of a national alert system. Indeed many countries have already seen successful deployments with messages being sent out over mobile or phone networks to warn of fires, floods and other hazards.

In the UK, a 2012 trial which looked to extend the existing flood warning system over landlines concluded that it would be too costly to implement. In 2014 a follow-up trial which looked to broadcast alerts via the mobile system concluded that “emergency responders are still very keen to see the implementation of a national mobile alert system” with 85% of the public also being in favour. Location based SMS messaging was seen to be the preferred medium with a number of recommendations made for follow-up work including running a pilot in one area of the country.

Move on to 2018 and the then Government issued a formal request, looking for one or more suppliers with the “expertise to provide additional insight into options for a mobile emergency alerting scheme to citizens.” Now the development work seems to be reaching a conclusion with the announcement of a trial of the new system which is to take place in East Suffolk on 25 May.

If the trial, which will broadcast a test message only, is successful, the system will gradually be rolled out across the country later in 2021. Messages will be sent out from cell towers in the vicinity of the emergency and, the government say, will be secure and one-way; providing details of the incident and directing receivers to a website for further information. As such, no location or personal data will be collected.

Commenting on the trial Paymaster General Penny Mordaunt said: "The Emergency Alerts service will be a vital tool in helping us to better respond to emergencies, both nationally and locally. This new system builds on existing capability and will allow us to more quickly and effectively get life-saving messages to people across the UK.”

Whilst the Emergency Alerts service will work on a national or local level, what happens when businesses need to alert their people, customers, and others about an emergency which affects their own organisation? Perhaps a fire or other incident has restricted access to the premises. Or maybe an IT failure has taken computer systems down. That’s when business continuity planning comes into play.

Depending on the nature of the emergency, businesses might decide to deploy one or more of a number of measures which have been designed to keep people informed and maintain business as usual, as far as that is possible. For a start the business could issue its own emergency SMS messages advising key personnel and other businesses of the situation and what the plans for recovery are.

Emergency information lines could also be deployed, enabling people to phone in and receive up to date information. Messages on these lines can be regularly updated to keep people advised of a changing situation. If phone lines are down then switching calls to alternate numbers or transferring the entire phone system via a hosted pbx switchboard system could also help people to stay in touch.

Whatever the method or methods chosen, the key message is alerts should be sent out as swiftly as possible with follow-up information easily accessible. That way individuals and contacts know what is happening, and can plan their response accordingly.

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Time for homework

alison — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 12:10:33 +0000

Time for homework alison Mon, 09/21/2020 - 13:10

Is homeworking becoming the ‘new normal’ or are we gradually reverting to a more business-based pattern of work? In truth, the answer to that will most likely vary considerably over the next six months as local and national lockdowns play their part in our ability to attend our workplaces.

Rolling lockdowns aside, a study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has revealed that 37% of employers believe that their people are looking towards full or partial homeworking following the Covid-19 pandemic, up from 18% at the beginning of this year. It’s perhaps unsurprising then that the ONS reported that in the week ending 13th September 20% of adults worked exclusively from home whilst a further 12% split their time between the office and homeworking. The main reasons for homeworking were given as responding to employer request, individuals who normally worked from home, and those who were following government advice to stay at home.

If this pattern continues, employers may need to revise and adapt their systems in order to optimise the ability of their people to work away from the office. It would also be advisable to take a fresh look at business continuity planning to ensure that it takes account of home working.

For example, business continuity plans which have been drawn up to take account of adverse weather or other conditions which prevent access to the office may well include telephony solutions such as flexible call answering via a virtual switchboard or moving people to an alternate site. On the face of it people working from home are already at an alternative site. But what happens when their own homes are affected? Do you move your people back into the office or do you look for alternate work sites near to their homes; perhaps allocating space in a business hub or making arrangements for them to work from a friend or neighbour’s home?

Either way, steps may need to be taken to improve telephone and computer security alongside access to company phone systems. One option here may be to consider the use of VoIP in conjunction with a mobile app but that may not work for every individual. That’s why it’s important to review options now before local lockdowns coincide with winter storms, potentially making it difficult for your people to carry on their work to the best of their ability.

When you are reviewing your business continuity plans, take time to include facilities such as call conferencing and telephone hunt groups. Call conferencing can help to ensure that your people can play a full part in decision-making as well as feeling that they are still part of the team. Telephone hunt groups will help to ensure that incoming calls are answered as swiftly as possible, helping clients, suppliers and others to remain in contact with the business.

Finally, take care to ensure that people are able to flexibly access business systems and telephony options. People working from home, particularly those with caring responsibilities, may need to undertake some work outside the core hours of the business. Businesses which have been used to switching off phones or other systems at night perhaps for security or other reasons will have to decide how to balance the needs of home-workers against overall security considerations and plan accordingly.

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Being Prepared for Disruption

matt — Tue, 01 Sep 2020 12:26:28 +0000

Being Prepared for Disruption matt Tue, 09/01/2020 - 13:26

Last week we saw Storm Francis sweep parts of the country, causing disruption as it passed.

Although not as destructive as larger storms elsewhere in the world, like the recent Hurricane Laura in the United States, the storms we get in the UK still have the potential to cause a lot of issues.

Localised flooding, lightning strikes, trees being brought down - all these things can disrupt infrastructure and shut businesses.

It's a timely reminder that it's necessary to have a backup plan in place, so if anything does happen to your premises you’ll still be able to carry on whilst sorting out any problems.

It's important to have a plan in place to minimize any potential disruption and ensure that all key staff are aware of it and how to access it should anything happen.

Callagenix has a suite of services which are perfect for use as part of your business continuity and disaster recovery plan.

The main relevant feature is that all our phone numbers and services are hosted in the cloud, so they are not location dependent.

So whilst your offices may be affected by flood, fire or another kind of localized disruption, your phone system will continue to operate as before.

It’s then a case of having a plan so you know where to divert calls in the event you can’t physically get into your workplace. This could be that all calls are diverted to a single person or a small team (using the call divert or group divert services)

It may be that you need to temporarily set up a new office in another location and get all calls diverted there, or if you have offices in another part of the country, then the team there could pick up all calls whilst you sort out the problem.

The best solution very much depends on your circumstances and will not be the same for all organisations.

We also recommend setting up other services to protect yourself and make sure you're ready.

Having an information line all set and ready to go is a good idea. That way if anything does happen, you can record a message and upload it to your information line, so that staff and customers alike can call in to get an update.

Sending out a bulk sms message to staff is also a good way to let them know when you’ve recorded a new message for them.

If you're expecting a large volume of calls, it may also be worth putting some thought into having a call overflow solution, such as temporarily diverting your calls to another office or backup team of virtual assistants.

Regardless of how large your organization, it's important to spend some time putting some thought into what you do, so you’re not completely unprepared if things do go wrong.

Having some services ready and waiting in the cloud could save you a lot of time, money, and stress. It’s an easy way to protect your business, as a cloud based solution will not be affected by problems at any one physical location.

If you're not sure about the best solution for you, then give us a call and one of our experts will be pleased to assist.

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Why hosted telephony is perfect for small businesses

matt — Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:30:03 +0000

Why hosted telephony is perfect for small businesses matt Fri, 07/10/2020 - 09:30

Hosted telephony is a great tool for small businesses, offering great flexibility at an affordable price.

What is a hosted phone system?

Hosted telephony is similar to a regular phone system, except everything is hosted in the cloud. This includes all virtual numbers, a virtual switchboard and other services.

Traditionally, phone systems were built around physical pbx units - expensive hardware that could be difficult to program and limited what phone systems could do. Hosted phone systems get around this, making it easy for you to build the perfect phone system for you, then change it whenever you want to.

Virtual phone numbers also sit in the cloud and are not tied to a physical location. Calls made to virtual phone numbers can be handled however you specify - such as being diverted on to an existing landline or mobile, or to a hosted service that offers extra functionality.

Hosted services are also cloud based and are linked to a number or numbers. They are used to manage calls and range from the simple (such a call divert or answerphone service), to the sophisticated (for example, group divert and time of day). They can be seen as building blocks that work seamlessly together and can be used to build the phone service you need.

Hosted telephony is flexible

Hosted services are very flexible and scalable, and can be changed as often as required to best suit your needs. The majority of these changes can be made in just a few minutes via your online control panel.

For example, it’s easy to add or remove numbers, extensions and services whenever you need to. This makes hosted phone systems very scalable - just add new extensions and virtual numbers as required. If your business starts growing quickly, a hosted phone system can adapt and keep up without a problem.

Hosted telephony is location independent

As it’s not tied to a specific physical location, a hosted phone system allows you to easily accommodate a change in premises, multiple offices, and staff working from home. One option is to use our VoIP service to make work calls from any location where you have an internet connection using either a handset and/or an app on your mobile or computer.

One other benefit is that a hosted system has built-in business continuity advantages. Rather than being tied to a physical pbx at a specific location, your system is hosted in the cloud. This means a local incident like a fire, flood, or other disaster can’t knock out your phone system.

Hosted telephony is cost effective

Small businesses can also benefit from the cost advantages of choosing a hosted system.

The main cost saving is due to there being no initial outlay on pbx hardware. This can be expensive to buy, maintain, repair and ultimately replace. In comparison, a virtual pbx does not come with any up-front cost, doesn’t need to be maintained and repaired and never needs to be replaced.

If you choose our VoIP service you can also save money on expensive line rental. Rather than having to rent multiple lines to handle calls each month, a single broadband connection is often more than enough to handle VoIP calls for everyone in a small business. The savings can mount up quickly.

With hosted telephony, and with VoIP in particular, your business will also typically enjoy much lower inbound and outbound call charges. This means lower bills and more money available to invest in growing your business.

If you think your small business might benefit from switching to hosted telephony please contact us today for advice on how to get started.

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Getting ready to return to work

matt — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 08:37:37 +0000

Getting ready to return to work matt Thu, 06/25/2020 - 09:37

With many businesses due to reopen in the coming few weeks, we thought we’d take a look at some steps you can take to make sure your business is ready for what comes next.

Obviously, nobody knows what will happen in the future, but as more businesses open their doors again and people start moving around, it’s worth making sure your phone system is flexible enough to handle all eventualities.

Cloud Hosted Phone Systems

The first thing you should consider is moving all, or at least part of, your phone system to the cloud.

Rather than being tied to a physical line in a physical location, cloud hosted systems are fully location independent, so no matter where you are you can access them and update them as required.

As well as making them very flexible, scalable and user friendly, it also means they have built in disaster recovery and business continuity features. This is important, as the coronavirus is not the only threat to your business at the moment. A fire, flood, or other unexpected event could potentially shut down your phone system (and business) if you’re not careful. With a hosted system that isn’t the case, so you’ll be able to keep on functioning under difficult circumstances.

Information Lines

One of the main components of our Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity solutions is the use of Information Lines to communicate effectively with large numbers of people. However, they can be useful in other situations too.

Information Lines are essentially recorded messages that can be dialled by many people at once. They are a great way to share information and update people (like clients, staff, and suppliers) on what your organisation is doing.

Many businesses use them, or at least have them set up and standing by in case they are required. They are also popular with schools as a way to let parents know what’s going on. Sometimes they are used purely to share information, others they allow the caller to leave a message in response to the information, which can be picked up and dealt with later.

Information Lines are often used in conjunction with our SMS Bulk messaging service to notify people that a new recorded message has been uploaded, so they can dial in and listen to it.

Please note that callers will never get an engaged tone when dialling an information line as hundreds of people can call in simultaneously to hear it. Also, it’s possible to protect potentially sensitive messages with a PIN so only authorised people can access that information.

VoIP

Another thing to consider is switching your whole phone system to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol).

Our business grade VoIP service not only saves you a lot of money on call costs, it also gives you the flexibility to make and receive business calls from anywhere. You can access it via a VoIP handset, or an app on your mobile or computer.

It’s the perfect way to stay in touch if you’re planning on having flexible work arrangements with staff working from both home and the office. It’s also easy to manage via your online dashboard - you can toggle various users/extensions on and off, set up additional virtual numbers to handle calls however you want (e.g. direct dial numbers, or support numbers leading to hunt groups etc.). We’re happy to help you set up what you need.

There’s also the option of choosing our VoIPinclusive service, which offers all your calls, hardware, line rental, numbers, and services for a fixed fee per user each month. It’s a fantastic way to get everything you need for a predictable monthly amount.

To find out more about the above and discover which services will benefit your business the most, please contact us today.

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Using your phone system intelligently

matt — Fri, 17 Apr 2020 09:22:57 +0000

Using your phone system intelligently matt Fri, 04/17/2020 - 10:22

Your phone system can be a powerful tool to help you grow your business and communicate with prospects and clients.

Used intelligently, it can also help improve other aspects of your business.

Here are a few ways you can do that:

Regularly review your calls

It’s a good idea to periodically review your calls to see what your prospects and customers are talking about.

If you are getting the same questions coming up again and again, it could be a sign that something isn’t clear with your product or service. It can also point to hidden opportunities, showing you what your clients would like you to provide, that you don’t yet offer.

Ask your customer facing support teams to keep a note of any common questions and issues and then take time to review them every now and again.

For example, you may wish to add the answers to the most common questions to the FAQ page on your site. If people can find what they want there, it could reduce the number of calls you get and free up your resources to focus on other things.

You should also make sure any common queries are clearly answered in your marketing materials. This helps avoid confusion and could well help you sell more. A few simple tweaks could potentially give your profits a nice boost.

Use multiple numbers to track responses

If you’re advertising in lots of different places you can use a different number in each to better track responses. This can help you see which adverts are worth continuing with, and which just aren’t effective and should be discarded.

Doing this is easy with our virtual phone numbers. Just add a few numbers to your account and then check your online reports to see which ones receive calls. If you can then track these calls to individual enquiries, you may even be able to see which are responsible for the most sales, rather than just enquiries.

You could also test out using 0800 freephone numbers to determine if they boost the number of calls you get. The research shows they do, but it’s always worth trying them yourself to see what effect they have.

Review your call handling process

Every now again you should spend time reviewing your phone system and how you handle calls.

It can even be beneficial to call your own number and test your process, so you can experience it from your customer’s point of view. Do your call trees make sense? Are there any dead ends or any areas where call volume is higher than it ideally should be? You may find that what looks good on paper, doesn’t work so well in practice.

The good news is that with a cloud-hosted phone system from Callagenix, it’s very straightforward to update your phone system when you need to. You can choose from our range of services and combine them as required to create the ideal phone system for your unique requirements. We’re happy to help with this if you’d like some assistance.

Set up a disaster recovery/business continuity plan

It’s always a good idea to be prepared for the worst, so spend some time making sure you have your phone system ready, should there be an emergency of some kind.

With a cloud-based system you have a degree of preparedness already baked-in, as your system is completely location independent and can be updated from anywhere. Should there be a fire, flood, or some other disaster at your place of work, you can easily divert your calls to other numbers or services.

We also recommend setting up some additional services to sit ready just in case anything should happen. These include an Emergency Information Line, Bulk SMS service, and a system of call diverts to make sure the right people can be reached whilst you’re dealing with the early stages of the crisis.

Switch to VoIP

If you’re still using a traditional physical pbx unit located in your office, you’re missing out.

Modern VoIP systems offer so much more in terms of flexibility, scalability, and also usually cost noticeably less.

With crystal clear call quality and a 99.999% uptime guarantee, our business VoIP systems are a popular choice amongst clients, as they offer so much more than legacy phone systems.

We even offer an all-inclusive VoIP package where businesses get all their hardware, lines, numbers, services, and calls included for a fixed monthly price. It’s a much simpler and cost-effective way to run your phone system.

So, as you can see, there’s so much more you could be doing with your phone system than just taking calls. It’s a valuable tool that helps you communicate with the outside world, but also gives you a stream of information you can use to develop your business and ultimately improve how you operate.

If you’d like help getting started with Callagenix please contact us today and we’ll work with you to discover the best options for you.

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Keep in Touch Using Conference Calls

matt — Fri, 20 Mar 2020 11:22:55 +0000

Keep in Touch Using Conference Calls matt Fri, 03/20/2020 - 11:22

The situation surrounding the Covid-19 coronavirus is certainly changing fast.

In just a week, people have gone from working in the office to working from home. Today is also the last day schools are open for anyone other than children of key workers. Social isolation is the plan as the government attempts to slow the spread of the virus.

Many businesses have quickly adapted and are finding that working from home is actually quite straightforward and that they can still function perfectly well. Cloud based tools allow people to collaborate on projects, and make it easy to keep in touch with colleagues.

However, one consequence of everyone staying home is that the nation’s broadband capacity is being tested like never before. Workers are turning to video conferencing services like Zoom, whilst kids and those unable to work from home are understandably spending more time on streaming services like Netflix. Indeed, this week Netflix announced it was reducing the streaming quality of its service in Europe for 30 days in an attempt to help relieve the load on the continent’s bandwidth.

Sometimes video conferencing may be necessary, but a lot of the time people can keep in touch with each other using emails and over the phone.

A great option for teams to keep in touch is using a simple conference call. These are quick and easy to set up in only a minute or two, and there’s no set up fee or pre-booking required. Each participant only pays for the cost of the phone call and they can be as long or as short as you need them to be.

At Callagenix we offer two kinds of Call Conference service - public and private.

The public service

This option is suitable for most requirements. You don’t need an account to get started and can be up and running in a couple of minutes. Up to 50 people can take part in the call. Access to the call is protected by PIN access, so only those with the code can listen in.

Here’s how it works:

The conference call organiser calls 0871 890 123* and then chooses option 2 to set up the call. They are then provided with a PIN which they can share with the other participants.

When it’s time for the call, participants also dial 0871 890 1234* and then choose option 1 to join the call. They are then prompted to enter the PIN to get access.

That’s it!

When the call is over everyone just ends the call and the conference stops.

It’s very simple. Why not dial 0871 890 1234* now to test it out and see for yourself how easy it is.

Please note, only UK based callers can access the 0871 number. If you have participants based overseas they can access the conference by using this number: +44 333 247 0321

The private service

The private is suitable for larger businesses that need more from a conference call. Private service users can set up one or more dedicated numbers to use, and can choose from our range of virtual numbers to do so. For example, they may wish to set up a freephone number so participants can dial in at no charge, or add international numbers if required.

Private conference calls are ideal for company briefings, inter-office discussions, and calls with suppliers and key customers to make sure everyone is kept up to date. Up to 500 participants can be on each call.

Like the public service, participants in a private service call will need a PIN to access the call. However, there are additional optional security measures for the private service, such as Caller Line Identity, so only calls from approved numbers can get access. You can also choose to disconnect people whenever you want, so they are only present for relevant parts of the conversation.

The conference can also be managed from an online control panel allowing you to switch participants between being a speaker and a listener. It’s also possible to record the call and download a copy for storage, or to share with others who couldn’t make the call.

As you can see, there are many advantages to choosing to talk via a conference call rather than a web meeting. This will become especially important if bandwidth issues make video conferencing problematic over the coming weeks and months.

If you have any questions, or would like to talk to us about setting up a private service, please get in touch today.

*Calls cost 10.8333 pence per minute (ex. VAT), plus your phone company's access charge.

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