Boxx Communications Ltd

Simplifying telecommunications for businesses large and small!

Hints and Tips

Business Energy: How to get a Better Deal

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Business Energy: How to get a Better DealWhat’s normally a sure-fire way to get a better deal on something…?

Switch provider of course!

From car and home insurance to personal mobile phone packages, the best deal is rarely with your current provider – hence the switching culture we’ve nurtured over recent years.

Homeowners regularly switch energy providers and it’s often promoted in the media, with comparison websites on hand to help.

So why does business energy buck this trend…?

Business energy contracts have more onerous T&Cs than most, so those unfamiliar with the processes can be reluctant to rock the boat, which ultimately leaves them at the mercy of companies banking on them doing just that.

With common clauses such as being put on a higher rate with no advance warning if a business contract expires without a new one in place, it’s not surprising that stats show up to 30 per cent of companies are on a rollover contract, rather than negotiating afresh.

Add in the fact that comparing the UK gas and electricity markets can be time-consuming as well as confusing, with the wealth of tariffs and suppliers on offer, the lack of changing makes some sense – until you consider that getting the cheapest business energy prices, all the time, can really make a difference to your business’ bottom line!

So what can you do….?

Obviously everyone is always looking to cut costs with no added hassle or time factor – and this is where handing over to an expert makes sense. We are experts in the field, who can negotiate a competitive contract on your behalf.

Even if you are tied in to a deal at the moment, we can look for your next one, making sure your future contract is at the best possible price and with no stress for you.

Because we’re a one-stop shop, that gives us good purchasing power with leading UK energy suppliers, which often results in better deals for our clients – and as your energy purchasers we’ll make sure you never go out of contract and always stay on the best rate for your business.

Sound good?

Then get in touch now so we can start making savings for you!

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Broadband Overuse: How to avoid it!

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Broadband Overuse: How to avoid it!

Know your limits!

This was a gag from a Harry Enfield television comedy series many years ago.

Remember it…?

The once-popular phrase has never been more apt for data in the modern age!

As all of us are becoming more and more dependent on the internet for our downtime as well as our business lives. We’re connected for the vast majority of each day, which naturally causes a related massive up-tick in data consumption.

Whether we’re storing files, playing games or watching on-demand television, our need for data is forever increasing, and traditional data-limited broadband packages are creaking under the strain.

Just think about the logistics;

So many of the things we love to do online – and which the internet makes so easy – use huge amounts of data.

We’re not just talking about downloading music or films here, or even opening and installing apps, downloading email attachments or torrenting files.

No.

Even things such as streaming services like Netflix, YouTube and Spotify can use up a surprising amount of data, as can gaming or streaming game play for sites like Twitch.

And then there’s business use….

Having backups of your files going to cloud storage is certainly good practice – but it will also use a lot of your upload data. If you back up all of the files on your hard drive or server daily, you could be uploading 100s of GB’s to the cloud each day.

Consequently, many users are finding that their broadband package isn’t really sufficient for their everyday needs.

Not surprising when 10GB used to sound a lot;

But a video download of a game such as Grand Theft Auto could require nearly 50GB alone!

So what can you – or should you – be doing about this?

1) Know what your package limits are.

2) Look at your monthly usage over a few months, so you can see if you’re keeping within your limit or not.

3) Consider an unlimited package.

The beauty of an unlimited package is that you won’t need to worry about ever getting charged for additional usage no matter what you do (or use). And let’s face it, most of us are consistently heavy users these days.

Changing to an unlimited package is easy and quick to do;

It may not even cost much more than you are already paying for your current broadband or fibre package!

We’re always happy to help you talk through the options that would work best for your home or business – just get in touch with us and see how we can help!

Corporate Social Responsibility: How it benefits businesses as well as charities

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Corporate Social Responsibility: How it benefits businesses as well as charities

Corporate charity work and partnerships are moving from something that companies do casually on an occasional basis to help groups in their community, into fully-fledged business-critical components.

Traditionally, the thinking has been that businesses volunteering their staff, time or skills to a charity was purely for that organisation’s benefit, but increasingly it is becoming obvious that there are benefits on both sides, with measurable impact and results alongside the likes of fundraising and awareness-building.

As part of this, or possibly because of it, we are seeing more and more businesses taking on formal working arrangements. And with this, an industry advising on the best way to go about working or partnering with charities is springing up, alongside helpful advice from the likes of the Government.

But, as ever, one size rarely fits all. Every charity has different wants and needs so we have found it better to ask what these are, rather than expect a set outcome from them.

As a Milton Keynes business, we are a long-term supporter of local charity Supershoes, which creates custom-painted trainers for children with cancer…..

Supershoes Website

Supershoes often receive donations from corporate sponsors, which are gratefully received, but many of these are looking for tangible outcome that they can measure, such as knowing which child’s Supershoes they have funded.

While this is a great source of income for Supershoes, they also need support covering costs like their fixed overheads. The charity is entirely run by volunteers, but they need a space to work from, as well as basic services such as telephone and broadband.

So here at Boxx, we decided to forgo the letter each month telling us which shoes we had funded and instead help them out with the cost of their utilities, to help them reach as many children as possible. And this is something we intend to continue to do, to support them long-term.

Recently, we also stumbled across another amazing MK-based charity when looking for a conference venue.

The Milton Keynes Community Foundation offer exceptional value for money conferencing facilities as well as huge discounts for charities looking for venues – but most importantly they give back their profits to the local community. We jumped at the chance to use them – and not only did it give us a nice warm fuzzy feeling, but the cakes they served were fab too!

Milton Keynes Community Foundation

So if you’re tempted to volunteer, look around for a charity that fits what you want to do – and then ask how you can best help. The answer might just surprise you!

Nuisance Phone Calls & Texts: What to do!

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Nuisance Phone Calls & Texts: What to do!

Despite the long-standing ability for users to register with the Telephone Preference Service and be taken off marketing call lists, nuisance calls and texts are still a reality of life for most of us.

Whilst registering can help, it takes time for records to be updated and if you are a business, the service has to be regularly renewed. It also does not cover text messages.

So, registering with the TPS aside, what can you do about what Ofcom calls an “irritating and annoying interruption to our daily lives”?

To assist, they’ve put together some pointers on how to reduce the number you get, and what you can do if they are causing you problems.

The first point is the most important – be careful who you give your personal data to. People can only ring you if they have your number – but unfortunately you can’t guarantee that companies you give your number to for one reason, such as a contact for a sale, won’t go bust, get bought out, or sell on their records to other companies at some point. So take care of your information– and that goes for online activity and face-to-face discussions as well.

Where a company requires you to leave contact details, for example for a delivery, make sure you tick the marketing opt-out box to ensure they can’t cold call you with offers. The opt-in boxes are sometimes ticked by default, and often in the small print, so careful reading of everything you sign will help you in the long run.

When you receive a nuisance call, one option is to let the call go to answer phone, in the hope the person calling will get fed up and take you off their list. But if you do answer, you should ask them directly to remove you from their database.

Nuisance calls aren’t always just trying to sell you things, sometimes they’re out to scam you – so never give out personal details, especially relating to your bank or credit cards, unless you’re certain of who you are talking to.

Unfortunately, the problem isn’t restricted to voice calls, as spam texts can also be annoying. If you know the number the text came from, replying with STOP should get you taken off the list.

To report a spam text from a sender you don’t know to your network provider, forward it to 7726 free of charge.

Complaining to the Information Commissioner’s Office also helps take action against the worst offenders as this independent authority was set up to uphold information rights in the public interest, promote openness by public bodies and data privacy for individuals.

Digital Strategy: Why every business should have one

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Digital Strategy: Why every business should have one

With the advent of a truly online business culture, cloud working and social networks, SMEs are now able to compete with the big guns on a more level playing field than ever before…..

But just because they can doesn’t mean it will be easy – and it is becoming increasingly obvious that having a digital strategy is becoming an essential part of business planning.

According to the latest research from Ingram Micro Cloud, who conducted a detailed survey of end users at this year’s Cloud Expo Europe, just over half of UK businesses have an active digital transformation strategy or are currently putting one in place.

The result, according to the research, is that 71 per cent of the over 200 surveyed will be ‘Digitally Transformed’ by 2018, with over 80 per cent saying that the Cloud is playing a very important or even critical role in their online plans.

Crucially, it is becoming clear that small companies can often use their size to their advantage. Being nimble and agile in their offerings where bigger companies are locked into set product paths, with existing suppliers or agreed timelines.

The important things to remember when creating a digital strategy include:

  • Be ambitious!
  • Play to your own company strengths, rather than trying to be something you are not.
  • Delivering value in your niche is key!
  • Keep an eye to how you can capitalise on and adapt to the fast-changing technological landscape.
  • Stay relevant to your customer base as you seek new opportunities is also important for continued growth.

The survey also identified risk-taking as a corporate norm for the first time and the desire of a large proportion of employees to work for companies committed to digital progress.

We already knew it but digital shows no signs of slowing anytime soon!

Helping MK future-proof it’s businesses

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Helping MK future-proof it's businesses

With BT phasing out ISDN, here at boxx we are making it our mission to ensure that businesses are ready…..

We’ve decided to grab the bull by the horns and encourage fellow local businesses to get together, learn what they can do to future-proof their businesses in preparation for the change and network with like-minded businesses along the way!

The first networking event went down a storm…..

Dean (one of the directors here at Boxx) gave a short presentation about why we are doing this and what businesses can do to get ahead of the game.

Dean Burgin - Director

We also had representatives from two of the industry’s leading suppliers GAMMA & Daisy.

Having them both present isn’t something that often happens, but it demonstrated how totally independant we are here at Boxx and not tied into agreements with any one supplier. We did have to sit them at opposite ends of the room though…. Only joking!

Prav - GAMMA Dylan - Daisy Wholesale

Everyone who attended seemed to not only enjoy the refreshments but also took away knowledge of the changes that are coming to the telecommunications landscape over the next few years and more importantly, what they can do now to prepare themselves and their businesses for this.

Chris - Walter Samuel Ltd Audience

We received excellent feedback from all those who attended and like anything successful, it makes you want to do it again! So we’ve just set another date for our next one – Thursday 30th June here in CMK.

If you’d like to come along you can register your interest here. We hope to see you there!

And because images speak a thousand words, this short video shows what you can expect from the event.

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