Jola Cloud Solutions' Blog

The research

The Swan Independent Research survey of August 2014 randomly sampled 20,000 UK SMEs. In the sample 85% of SMEs had fewer than 50 employees and 62% fewer than 20. The survey showed that 54% of respondents used a local communications supplier and 48% said that they were influenced by a local supplier when it came to making purchasing decisions for communications products and services. 22% would get references from other SMEs and 55% said a primary source of information in any decision was the web. 78% of MDs were involved in the buying process – 47% from the start.

One could therefore conclude that where no in-house expertise exists, the MD will often lead a project themselves, guided by trusted suppliers, web research and peer recommendation.

Steps to take

So what steps can you take to appear on the radar of customers and prospects investigating a move to cloud applications? Getting a decent web site and good referrals is obvious, but how do you know if you are a trusted supplier? Maybe ask yourself;

Hunt groups allows users within a group to be included in a specified sub-group to handle incoming calls received by an assigned phone number. Group administrators can choose from any of the following schemes, each of which rings the specified phones in a different manner:

• Circular – sends calls in a fixed order. The call is sent to the first available person on the list, beginning where the last call left off.
• Regular – sends calls to users in the order listed by an administrator. Incoming calls go to the first available person on the list, always starting with the first person on the list.
• Simultaneous–rings all of the users in the group simultaneously; the first user to pick up the ringing phone is connected.
• Uniform – as a call is completed, the user moves to the bottom of the call queue in a shuffling fashion. The next incoming call goes to the user who has been idle the longest. If a user receives a call that was not directed to them through the hunt group, the call is not included in the receiving order for uniform calls.

Hoteling

Hoteling allows users to log in to a guest profile on a shared phone. Once users have logged in to their guest profile, the shared phone acts exactly like their own phone—all their network features, phone number(s), and dial plan capabilities are available on the shared phone. This is of use if you have a hot desk in your office used by many.

Shared call appearance

Shared Call Appearance (SCA) offers the user the opportunity to run several devices (e.g. mobile app, handset, softphone) on the same extension, usually with no additional charge. The user’s profile is cloned on each device so they behave identically. For example, when switched on all devices will ring at the same time and Busy Lamp Field (BLF) settings will be identical. Calls cannot be transferred between shared devices and devices cannot call each other.

MSPs

The term MSP (Managed IT Services Provider) has been around for years, typically it is an IT Support company that remotely manages a company’s IT infrastructure, with services such as managed IT.

Pay monthly services

Managed IT services tend to have a fixed monthly cost and are flexible to accommodate changes in requirements as companies grow. Traditionally MSPs partner with vendors such as Microsoft and other VADs (Value added Distributors) to ensure the latest IT solutions.

IT support desk

IT support desk is a popular managed IT service which allows customers to unlimited helpdesk support in business hours although specialist services are also available out of hours for sensitive applications. Pricing is often associated with the number of users of the service.

Monitoring

Monitoring is another common service which gives SMEs peace of mind that their hardware is being kept up to date with the latest upgrades and alerts are raised should services go down.

Low upfront costs

Hosting business applications, such as telephony, in the cloud typically has low upfront costs, as solutions are sold on a per seat per month basis. There may be a small set-up fee, however it is possible to upgrade to a feature-rich phone system, with the latest IP handsets, for around £14pcm.

Availability of fast, reliable internet connectivity

If your phone system is hosted in the cloud, it goes without saying that a stable, high-bandwidth connection is critical. The roll out of faster, more reliable fibre broadband has made the decision easier for those who can access it today. In areas where faster fibre broadband is not yet available, BT Openreach has introduced a waiter’s scheme, where suppliers can place an order and when the number of waiting orders reaches a threshold, the cabinet is prioritised for an upgrade.

Need for scalability

The cloud route is excellent for allowing you to downsize or upsize your desk phone needs in short order with minimal effort. Going in-house for your phone system can require purchasing licenses outright and in some cases, investing in greater hardware. Not to mention, if you don't have your own IT staff, you need the skills to configure additional users. This is usually self-administered via a portal with cloud-hosted solutions.

Adoption rates of hosted telephony are increasing as SMEs look to reduce the costs and complexities of business telephony. SMEs are factoring in revenue growth, enhanced productivity and additional features but what are the top 5 drivers for SMEs to move to hosted telephony?

1 – Out of contract

SMEs with phone systems that are out of their service contract often struggle to find parts and fix faults. There are limited funds to make another large capital investment and a need for additional call features such as application integration. 

Why add hosted voice to your portfolio?

Demand from SMEs

A recent report by HIS forecasted the worldwide hosted VoIP market is to reach $15 billion in 2019, with 68 million seats. A report from Cavell showed that the UK hosted VoIP market had grown by 266,392 seats (13.95%) in six months to reach a total number of 2,175,065 seats. This growth came mainly from the SME end of the market.

Demand is being driven by a few factors, the availability of cost-effective, reliable internet connections and the opportunity to purchase an enterprise-grade phone system with no real upfront investment, on a monthly pay-per-seat basis.

Looking for a good VoIP headset? 

If you have a VoIP phone and are looking for a headset you may be thinking about whether you want corded, wireless or Bluetooth, one that goes over your head or over your ears and where you should position the microphone.

Corded and wireless headsets

Corded headsets connect via a lead directly into your phone. This is ideal if you do not need to be able to move more than a few meters away from your desk whilst on the phone. If you do require movement, you may need to consider a wireless headset as an alternative.

Hosted telephony

Hosted telephony has made some call features more affordable for SMEs and comes with an array of new ones such as the ability to integrate with common desktop software.

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.