Remote Home Working Archives - Hosted VoIP Phone System for Business

Technical Support Outsourcing: What is it and How it Works

Business owners are meant to do different things. They are supposed to earn money from the things that they offer. They have goals and they aim to reach new heights for every goal that they accomplish. There is one thing that they should always remember though – to provide what their target customers need. Businesses need to provide technical support especially when customers inquire about the products and services being offered. This can also be helpful when customers want to report defective products. Providing technical support service is very important but there is one problem – you are focused on so many aspects of your business. Will you still have enough time to provide what your customers need? You may…

15 Nov 21 Nicky Smith

Hosted Phone System: Features, Benefits, Pros & Cons

When a business grows, so too will its requirements for infrastructure like telephone line systems. The traditional way to provide phone services in an office environment, for example, is with a traditional PBX (private branch exchange) setup. Such setups are usually very expensive, inflexible, and complicated to install and administer. These days, a better solution is to use a hosted phone system (sometimes known as a virtual PBX). If you’re new to hosted phone systems, the following will explain more about them and how your organization could benefit: What Is a Hosted Phone System? A hosted phone system is a virtual PBX that operates through a permanent Internet connection. The most common is a cloud-based hosted phone system where all…

26 Oct 21 Nicky Smith

Text Marketing Benefits

If your business is not taking full advantage of text marketing — also known as SMS and MMS marketing — then you are missing out on a massive opportunity to drive customer engagement, acquisition, and sales. Consider these eye-opening statistics: 69% of customers want the ability to contact a business through text messaging. Customers are 4.5x more likely to reply to text messages than emails. 12.9% of customers are more likely to support businesses that offer text-back capabilities. And just in case you think that “texting is obsolete” — think again: 50% of people sent more texts during the pandemic, and due to COVID-19 34% of businesses added text as a digital channel to connect with customers. The takeaway from…

12 Oct 21 Nicky Smith

Want Easy Video Conferencing in Your Business? Then Get a Browser-Based Solution!

Video conferencing has been steadily growing in popularity for years, but the pandemic massively accelerated adoption across all sectors and industries. Consider these statistics: The size of the video conferencing market surged 500% in the first two months of the pandemic. (Source: TrustRadius) The global video conferencing market is projected to grow from $6.28 billion in 2021 to $12.99 billion in 2028 — which is a CAGR of 10.9% during the forecast period. (Source: Fortune Business Insights) 79% of workers believe that video conferencing is at the same level, or is more productive, than in-person meetings. (Source: Owl Labs) Difficult vs. Easy Video Conferencing While video conferencing has shifted from an optional nice-to-have into an essential must-have, not all solutions…

23 Sep 21 Nicky Smith

5 Best Practices that Lead to Dramatic Improvements with Workplace Communication

Saying that effective workplace communication is important is like saying water is wet, fire is hot, or that people with small children will repeatedly, and painfully, step on Legos many, many times. These are all blatantly self-evident (especially the Lego one). However, just because everyone knows that effective workplace communication is important, does NOT mean that it’s happening everywhere. Consider these statistics: 28% of employees cite ineffective communications as the number one reason why they cannot deliver work on time. 86% of employees and executives believe that ineffective communication is the core reason for workplace failures. Ineffective communication costs large enterprises an average of $62.4 million per year in reduced productivity, re-work, lost sales, lack of innovation, and missed opportunities.…

16 Sep 21 Nicky Smith

3 Essential Rules to Get Hybrid Work Right

Across the country, organizations from small businesses to large enterprises are experiencing hybrid work for the first time. And just like experiments in a laboratory, sometimes the results are amazing — while other times they are disappointing (and occasionally, they are flat-out disasters). The first thing we should note is that hybrid work — which is when workers spend part of the week in their home office, and part of the week in the corporate office — is here to stay. Now that workers have shown that it is not just viable but a positive change for many, a survey has found that 4 out of 10 workers would quit if forced to return to the corporate office full-time. And…

1 Sep 21 Nicky Smith

Is Your Office Phone System Prepared for Another Lockdown?

The latest dispatch from the pandemic front brings some good news and some bad news. The good news is that despite yet another surge of cases and hospitalizations — this time is driven by the Delta variant — there is no official plan to enter into another lockdown. But the bad news is that the White House recently stated that “in all probability” there will be guidelines and restrictions issued in the weeks and months ahead. Unfortunately, we all know from experience that “in all probability” is political-speak for “it’s going to happen.” This begs a vital question for business owners and leaders across the country: is your office phone system prepared for another lockdown? If you have an all-in-one…

9 Aug 21 Nicky Smith

GUIDE: How to Choose the Best Business Phone System

Before we look at how to choose the best business phone system, let’s highlight why many businesses are frustrated with their current landline (i.e. on-site PBX) phone system: High Up-Front Costs: Landline phone systems are very costly to purchase, install and maintain. No Cost Certainty: Costs can fluctuate significantly from month to month based on factors like domestic long-distance calls. This makes budgeting and forecasting difficult and risky. Lack of Scalability: If the maximum number of lines are in use, then it is necessary to purchase another system — which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Lack of Business Continuity: A landline system uses a network design with a single point of failure. This means if part of the…

15 May 21 Nicky Smith

5 Best Techniques for Working at Home

Welcome to lockdown! This is a weird time for everyone, and that’s putting it lightly/ so many of us are used to waking up early and rushing through morning exercise, breakfast, a coffee or two, and even kissing our partners on the cheek goodbye. Often, we may not see our family before leaving the house. However, with lockdown, everything has changed. Working from home is the new normal for many, and if you’ve never worked from home before, then it can be a challenge to adjust. To help you overcome this sudden and unexpected shift in your life, here are five tips and techniques on how to work and live at home without going crazy. 1. Learn How to Use…