Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

Online Checkers

To get a definitive answer to the question what broadband speed is available, there are several web-sites you may need to check in with. The definitive guide to if BT Fibre is available is www.openreach.co.uk (after all these are the guys actually building the network and installing the service). If you don’t have a BT phone number this site will work with just an address however it won’t tell you what speeds are available or, if fibre is not available now, when it might be. It also won’t tell you if you are in a Market A or B (until recently Market 1,2 &3) exchange area. This information can be found at www.samknows.com and it matters because BT charge more where they don’t have any competition and this affects prices from their resellers too. Samknows will also list all the carriers operating from your local exchange but it cannot tell you if you can get fibre broadband because it only goes to exchange level, not cabinet level. There will be hundreds of cabinets attached to every exchange and not all of them will have been enabled for fibre broadband.

The combination of smartphones with VoIP technology has changed the landscape of business communications. Desk phones were seen as critical for business until recently with the rise in popularity of cloud hosted telephony, allowing you to use your mobile as a desk phone. Will smart phone apps replace desk phones eventually? I am not sure.

Better business communications at lower costs

Cloud voice offers better functionality than traditional on premise phone systems, at a fraction of the cost, available on monthly contracts per extension. With a reliable internet connection, a phone line and a cloud-hosted package, you get access to features such as voicemail to email, call re-dial, DND, call pickup, hunt groups, SIP port, disaster recovery, hot-desking, call waiting and music on hold. Some packages also include the latest VoIP desk phones and come with inclusive standard UK and mobile minutes. Add-ons such as call recording are also available at a few pounds per month extra.

Websites tend to be a focus when you are starting up your business and often over time, the company website gets forgotten. Does any of this sound familiar?

1 – You are busy

You work long hours managing your core business and updating your website doesn’t come close to being a priority. The website was put together for the launch and there is no dedicated resource to manage it. Your team is busy supporting you and your customers and with no one person looking after the website, it doesn’t get updated.

Why do you need to improve your internal call handling?

According to a recent American Express survey, 78% of customers have terminated a purchase they were going to make because of poor customer service. 96% of customers won’t report bad service, choosing to buy from someone else instead. On average loyal customers are worth up to 10 times their original purchase and a key factor in keeping a customer loyal is their satisfaction when they contact you. These statistics raise the important of effective call handling to help retain and build loyal customers. With this in mind we have compiled 5 ways to improve business call handling as follows:

1. Set a target for answering calls – of course it would be easy to answer all calls within two rings just by hiring more staff but this is probably not commercially feasible. The industry standard target for business to business call centres is 80% of calls answered within 20 seconds with the best performing above 90%. Balance what your customers expect against what is affordable and make sure everyone understands these targets.

Buying a telephone system used to be a headache for businesses that needed more functionality, expected to grow or had spikes in demand.

Higher specification systems that could do things like CRM integration, call recording, advanced statistics, intelligent call routing and advanced call handling were designed for large Enterprises and came with a large Enterprise price tag. For growing or seasonal organisations the dilemma was also what size of system to go for. Do they pay through the nose for a system now that will accommodate their needs during peaks in demand (e.g. Christmas) or for the number of staff they might have in 12 months time? Or do they go through the disruption and expense of upgrading nearer the time? What if they had to scale back, move office or simply didn’t grow as quickly as they had anticipated? Then they were stuck with an overhead they just didn’t need and probably couldn't afford. Also SMEs want to spend their capital on acquiring and growing customers, not on infrastructure. What if there were a reliable alternative where they could get everything they needed CAPEX-free and only pay for what they use? Now there is.

Do you have customers that need a better internet connection to manage their office applications? Have you thought about recommending or even supplying more reliable internet connectivity?

Ever been put off by;

• Dealing with the major carriers directly?
• Coverage by single suppliers?
• Time it takes to get a quote from multiple carriers?
• Lead times?
• Engineer fails?

Voice resellers and IT support companies are coming across tenders to upgrade internet connectivity and traditional telephony more frequently. Many are turning to Jola for help because they have years’ of experience with bespoke solutions and have a leading cloud-hosted telephony platform.

The restaurant chains tend to ask for more complex MPLS solutions to connect multiple sites rolling out over years, however smaller chains and single restaurants are being set up almost overnight. 

Working in the IT and telecoms sector you come across suppliers, both old and new, looking for dealers and resellers on a regular basis. Like any good partnership there needs to be a good fit and having access to a few key areas of information can help you make the right decision. We have come up with a list of what to research when looking for a new channel partner as follows:

Experience

How experienced is the business at delivering services via the channel? Check out their credentials. How long have they operated in the channel? How likely are they to compete with you now and in the future?

2016 is set to present greater challenges for operators who will need to work harder than ever to keep their customers.

According to YouGov the SIM-only market has tripled in size over the past five years. Customers are holding onto handsets for longer and opting to provide their staff with customised call, text and data SIMs depending on their needs. With offers in the marketplace changing so quickly they are opting to be completely flexible rather than committing to 24-month handset and airtime contracts. 

We don't all have the luxury of large marketing budgets with dedicated or outsourced specialists on the payroll, however there are 5 marketing activities we can all do, to help generate more business. They don't take much time, are low-cost and can be very effective at generating new business.

1. Manage your data

Keeping your customer database up to date is essential. Having up to date contact information has obvious benefits, however adding key information such as products bought, renewal dates and details of conversations and visits, highlights future potential revenue such as upgrade, re-sign and cross-sell opportunities.