This winter has certainly been one to remember, and not necessarily for the right reasons. The unexpected amounts of snow have affected many parts of the UK and businesses have been taken by surprise as much as the rest of the population, by icy roads and the inevitable travel disruptions as a result. For some businesses the disruption has meant significant problems and even for those that have staff with remote access to email and have been able to work from home, it has made operations much harder.
Whilst predicting bad weather is never an exact science (sometimes even the Met Office can be way off the mark!), it is possible to make more long-term focused plans to deal with any future issues. A key weapon of choice in the arsenal of the comms-savvy business is Unified Communications. Put simply, Unified Communications gives similar benefits to remote access email, but for telephone calls. But rather than being a system which only gets used when there is no alternative, Unified Communications is designed to manage all company phone traffic, directing calls to the right person wherever they may be (including any extension within the company, mobile phones and home landlines if convenient).
Whilst traditional phone systems are fine for some companies, modern businesses often need to work smarter in an increasingly competitive market. Re-typing numbers from a database or web page into a phone, playing ‘telephone-tag’ with someone else in the company and having to remember to check voicemail are all time-consuming and inefficient. Unified Communications makes monitoring all the essential communication tools simple and effective. Everyday business essentials such as your mobile phone/email device, the telephone on your desk, your voicemail, your customer database and your calendar can all be linked in one information portal.
As well as making it easier to route calls and cutting down on the frustration of being unable to reach an individual, Unified Communications also gives users greater flexibility. As well as being able to make outbound calls easily (selecting contacts from a list, in much the same way as an email address book or that of a mobile phone), it is possible to see who is available (if they are using a compatible Unified Communications system), change the settings for your own availability (even scheduling in meetings or travel times) and directing calls to the most convenient location for you to pick them up.
One of the greatest strengths of Unified Communications is that it gives businesses a seamless telephone system, but with complete user defined functionality built in behind it. Because the location and details of the actual phone used to receive or make a call is hidden, there are no issues with disclosing mobile or personal phone numbers to unauthorised people and it is also possible to use a caller ID system to filter the type of calls being received and define how that call is handled. To the outside caller the call is simply handled in the same way as a traditional fixed-line system, which gives a professional and consistent standard.
Every business should have an emergency plan and Unified Communications is an excellent way to include an element of flexibility into the strategic infrastructure, making it easier to cope with a myriad of potential issues. ramsac has fully utilised the technology in its own business as it provides a perfect fit for the highly mobile nature of outsourced IT support. We really experienced the benefits during the worst of the snow this winter, being able to give full business continuity and contact for clients, whilst ensuring that the whole team were able to work rather than relying on a skeleton team to handle calls. But the benefits of Unified Communications are just as apparent in managing phone traffic throughout the business year by bringing voice calls right up to date.