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Why you should consider using Teams as a phone system

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Efficiency, productivity, collaboration. Three golden words at the heart of every business. The ISDN and PSDN switch-off is looming, and by 2025, businesses across the UK will need to have migrated to a cloud-based phone system. 

That’s where Teams comes in. Businesses are now able to harness the reliability of Microsoft 365, whilst upgrading their phone system to the cloud. How? With a Teams phone system licence.  

We’re going to talk you through how it works, why you should consider it, and the benefits it can bring to your business.  

Teams as a phone system

Imagine all your communication tools being managed on one screen and being able to access your phone system from anywhere on any device. Well, that’s what you get when you use Microsoft Teams as a phone system. 

As a cloud-based business phone system it offers convenience and timesaving all rolled into one, easy package. By combining all the features of your Teams subscription with the features of a traditional landline, users can make, receive, and transfer calls effortlessly.

We have another blog that talks about the key features of using Teams as a phone service here. Now let’s dive in to see how Teams excels as an alternative to a traditional on-premise phone system. 

6 reasons to use Teams as a phone system

Many businesses are using Teams as a phone system and there’s plenty of reasons why. Not only does it match the features of your traditional phone system, but it offers additional upgrades and advantages. We’ve put together the top 6 reasons why you should consider making Teams your VoIP solution.

1.     Quick to rollout 

90% of businesses in the UK are already using Microsoft Teams. If your workforce is already familiar with the Teams software, you’ll save valuable company time on training.

2.     Great user experience 

Teams keeps your files at your fingertips, allowing you to access all your data and collaboration tools on any device. By using Microsoft Teams as a phone system, communication processes, such as scheduling & meeting tools, and call handling features, become fuss-free and seamless.

3.     Work from anywhere

As long as there’s an internet connection, you’re ready to go. Remote and hybrid working models have become increasingly popular across UK businesses, and they’re not going anywhere. Businesses are evolving, and moving to a cloud phone system that works for your business needs, in tandem with the needs of your team is essential.

4.     Future-proof

By 2025, traditional phonelines will be obsolete with all businesses depending on a cloud-based system. Teams is the ideal choice when moving away from a traditional service. As a future-proof, scalable phone solution, Teams will grow with your business and weather the impact of the switch-off.

5.     No need for additional hardware, or software

A VoIP phone system, such as Teams, eliminates the need for all the hardware that comes with an analogue phone system. 

6.     Productivity and efficiency 

One screen, one application. There’s no need for a second app, simply use Teams to handle all your internal and external communications, no matter where you’re working from. This efficiency, combined with better voice call quality, provides the perfect environment to increase the productivity levels of your team.

Do you need a phone licence for Teams?

Let’s get to the nitty gritty: setting up a Teams phone system. It’s as easy as adding on a licence to your existing Teams subscription. With different licences to choose from, the setup is flexible. Depending on the Microsoft 365 licence you have, you can pick and choose which employees get which capabilities, depending on the needs of their role. 

Once setup, users can get a Microsoft Teams download for mobile, computer, or any internet-capable device.It really is flexible across the board. Speak to one of our specialists to discuss licencing.  

Additional benefits of Teams

Microsoft 365 continuously offers simple, creative ways for businesses to collaborate and communicate. With the Office suite, desktop applications, software features, and automatic updates, you can rely on Teams to evolve with you. Pair all this with a Teams phone system that integrates perfectly into your IT, and doing business gets that bit easier.  

A cloud phone solution will fall under the management of your IT provider, so you don’t need to lift a finger. Any queries or issues can be handled remotely, and quickly.

Let’s not forget about reliability. Cloud phone systems require internet connectivity, in contrast to the slow, patchy copper wire connection of a traditional phone line. What does this mean? Well, better call quality, and increased productivity. 

And the icing on the cake – data is safely handled via reliable, off-site servers.

Final thoughts

Having all your business communication in one place, accessible remotely, without hardware, all whilst being able to use Teams collaboration tools sounds like the ultimate phone system package. And it is. 

Merging your Teams subscription with an easy to configure, future-proof VoIP solution is a logical step. Microsoft Teams as a phone system is a customisable upgrade that brings your business into the new era of communications. 

Time is ticking to make the switch; you can trust Teams to take you seamlessly into the future of cloud communication technology. Find out more here.

Introducing Teams as a Phone System

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Can I Get Business Broadband At Home?

Business communication has changed a lot since COVID. Remote working has been normalised – and with it, the video call and instant messaging services to keep everyone connected. 

Since then, Microsoft Teams has become the UK’s most popular platform for those services. But at the same time, the phone system is a fundamental part of any business, especially for customer contact. 

The result? Countless UK businesses use Teams for video calls and instant messaging, and a phone system for everything else. Well, what if we told you we can combine the two? Introducing: Teams as a Phone System from Boxx!

 

What is Teams as a Phone System? 

Teams as a Phone System combines the features of a phone system and Microsoft Teams, all on the Teams interface. So, that means video calls and instant messaging, alongside high-quality voice calls. 

Sounds simple, but this offers so much time-saving and convenience. All your internal and external business communication is managed on one screen. And you can access it from anywhere on any device, just like Teams – whether you’re using the mobile, desktop or web app. 

In one fell swoop, Teams as a Phone System covers customer contact, collaboration and hybrid work. Let’s look at it in more detail!

 

Teams as a Phone System – our top four features

There are so many great features of Teams as a Phone System. These are our top four that really stand out.

 

1.     Unified communications over the cloud

At first glance, unified communications (UC) is just another piece of telecoms jargon. But what it describes is very useful. Essentially, UC is just all your business communications channels in one place. That means voice, video and instant messaging. 

The benefit is that this is just very convenient. There’s no flicking between different screens for different methods of communication. And because it’s hosted on the cloud, you can log in and use it from anywhere. Whether it’s video meetings or handling customer calls, your team can do it all in the office, at home or on the go.

 

2.     Softphone 

More telecoms jargon – but again, this is very useful. A softphone delivers the functionality of a phone over software (in this case, the software is MS Teams). That means you can make, receive and transfer calls on your laptop or desktop. 

This can be a big cost saver, because it allows you to cut back on physical desk phones. It can even save time, especially for people whose work revolves around their laptop or desktop. You can click to call instead of manually dialling numbers. 

As for inbound calls, you don’t need to interrupt your work – the call just pops up on the screen, and you click to answer. These features shave a little time off every call. It may not sound a lot, but add it up over a long period and it’s a big efficiency boost!

 

3.     Advanced phone system features 

So, you’ve got video, voice and instant messaging over the cloud. But it’s also worth mentioning that Teams as a Phone System really lives up to its name. It’s got all the call handling features that you’d expect from a high-quality modern phone system. 

You can transfer, hold and add others to a call, for instance. It’s just that thanks to the softphone functionality we’ve discussed, you do this with a couple of clicks. So, not only does it offer advanced phone system features, but it makes them incredibly easy to use. 

The same is true when it comes to admin-level tasks. Routing calls and managing queues is exceptionally straightforward. And if you require contact centre tools like call recording and analytics, we can provide them.

 

4.     Presence 

This is such a small detail, but it helps so much. Everyone in your team will have a live “presence” setting that indicates their availability in real time. This is particularly useful in hybrid working environments. 

Let’s say that somebody wants to talk to one of your colleagues, but they’re working elsewhere. It’s simple – you just find that contact and check their presence. If they’re unavailable, you can see immediately. If they’re available, you can transfer the call in a couple of clicks. 

This allows you to manage calls quickly, easily and confidently, whatever your business and however spread your team is geographically.

 

How do I set up Teams as a Phone System? 

There are many ways of doing this. Your first port of call: get in touch with Boxx! We’ll talk through your business, your needs and what phone system you’re using. From there, we’ll make our recommendation. As for installation, we make it seamless, from installation and configuration to training you in all the new features. 

We are big fans of Teams as a Phone System here at Boxx Communications. You get the amazing collaboration features of Microsoft Teams, along with high-quality phone system features. Want to learn more about Teams as a Phone System? Get in touch today!

 

VoIP phone systems for small businesses – everything you need to know

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Boxx - VoIP phone systems for small businesses - everything you need to know

VoIP phone systems for small businesses – everything you need to know. 

Small businesses are 58% more likely to have a phone system as their primary communication tool, making it even more important to have a phone system which is reliable, modern, and cost-effective.

Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone systems are the perfect solution for small businesses. It comes with a whole host of features and benefits that help small businesses to improve productivity and cut down on their phone bills.

Boxx have helped Milton Keynes businesses of all sizes make the switch to a VoIP phone system and are experts in tailoring solutions to meet the needs of your business.

We wanted to write this article to specifically showcase all you need to know about VoIP phone systems and why they work for small businesses.

What is VoIP?

“VoIP” stands for “voice over internet protocol” – which pretty much translates as “phone calls over the internet”. It’s worth comparing with the traditional way of making calls. 

Prior to VoIP, calls were made using phone lines. What that means is either PSTN (copper wires) or ISDN (a digital upgrade dating to the 1980s). But there’s a problem with these: they’re being switched off. 

By 2025, BT plans to have decommissioned the UK’s entire infrastructure of PSTN and ISDN lines.  They served their purpose, but they’re outdated. 

The upside is that instead of investing in maintaining an old creaking network of copper wires, money is being spent on upgrading and maintaining fibre networks. So in place of ISDN, we’ll have a beefed-up fibre broadband capacity – which will support a new era of internet-based phones (and just about everything else!). 

This brings us back to VoIP. Among a host of other advantages, it’s futureproof – unlike PSTN and ISDN.  

How do you actually get VoIP?

There are two basic ways of delivering VoIP calls through a phone system: “hosted” and “on-premise”. Let’s unpack these.  

Hosted VoIP

Hosted VoIP basically means a cloud phone system. We call it “hosted” because it’s hosted in the cloud – in other words, on servers in data centres away from your site. 

Businesses are increasingly reliant on cloud services for all sorts of purposes, including communication. It’s no wonder – cloud is highly flexible, and pretty much endlessly scalable. We’re big advocates of cloud for that reason. 

With a cloud system, you can just log in and use it from anywhere. You don’t even need deskphones – you can make and take the calls on a laptop or desktop, or on a mobile app. And with us, you get unified communications. That means not just calls, but video and instant messaging in one place.

On-premise VoIP 

An on-premise phone system is as the name suggests – it’s hosted as hardware on your site. You can configure it to route calls online through a process called SIP trunking. 

Although you can get most of the same features as with a cloud system, on-premise is less flexible. However, if you don’t want to change your phone system yet, SIP trunking is a good stopgap to avoid being caught out by the ISDN/PSTN switch-off. 

At Boxx, we offer bespoke solutions to meet the needs of your business, from VoIP handsets, desktop software, mobile apps, or a mixture of all these. We will always recommend the solution that is right for your business.

Benefits of hosted VoIP for small businesses 

Upgraded phone system: With a hosted VoIP (AKA cloud) phone system from Boxx, you get a lot more than voice calls. Video and instant messaging are available on the same platform.

Cost savings: If you switch to VoIP, you can often save on call costs. PSTN and ISDN pricing is going up as the demand decreases and the cost to manage old technology goes up. 

High call quality: VoIP gives you crystal-clear calls if it’s set up properly and runs over a strong internet connection. To ensure this, you will need a good provider – like Boxx, for example! 

Simplicity: With ISDN and PSTN, you have to have phone lines and internet connectivity as two separate things. With VoIP, it’s all delivered over the internet. That means no more phone lines, and one less thing to worry about! 

Flexibility: A hosted VoIP system is delivered over the cloud. That means it’s accessible anywhere with an internet connection, including on laptops and mobiles. This makes it an ideal solution for the modern age of hybrid and remote working. 

Future-proofing: We’ve mentioned the ISDN/PSTN switch-off. Everyone will have to route calls online when it’s done. That’s what a hosted VoIP system will do! 

What internet speed do you need for VoIP? 

This is a big question. Without a doubt, all phone calls will be using up bandwidth – but in reality not very much. The key thing is stability, and ensuring that all those other things that depend on your internet connection don’t block up the line

You need enough bandwidth to cope with all the activity you do online, that’s going to have to include calls as well. There are lots of ways to approach this, but we would strongly recommend a provider that knows what they’re doing so they can give priority to calls and ensure that the network is properly configured for quality of services.

At Boxx, we’d look at your business, staff numbers and levels of online activity before tailoring a recommendation. Find out more about recommended internet speeds for small businesses here.

Come to Boxx

Boxx Communications have all the resources you need to make the change to VoIP.  We have years of experience working with businesses of all sizes, and we make the entire process simple and stress-free. Our friendly team can talk you through options suitable for you and get you on the path to saving money and modernising your phone systems.

Get in touch with one of the team today.

Accelerated move to a ‘Distributed Workforce’

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The unexpected events of 2020 turned into a transformational learning experience for us here at Boxx, which helped us accelerate our strategic plans faster and look to a remote-first future with real confidence.

Progressive approach

We had already been moving towards operating as a distributed workforce. We had the technology in place, so technically we were capable, but we weren't quite there culturally. We were happy with the team working from home on occasion and coming into the office 3-4 days a week, but ultimately, we felt compelled by the concept of distributing the workforce, and we aimed to be there by 2023.

At the beginning of last year, we were operating from a very nice suite of offices at Witan Studios in central Milton Keynes, and our team liked working there. It was easy to reach and a convenient place in which to host customer and partner meetings.

witan office

Then the Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent first lockdown came along, and that forced us all into working from home.

Making the change

We found it relatively easy to make the switch and indeed, as the months passed and with working from home encouraged throughout, we found that remote working really did work for us, our team and our customers.

Our staff had more flexibility and did not have to travel to the office every day. At the same time, they were still available and accessible. Our productivity was excellent, and we maintained our high standards of customer service throughout.

Moving forward

As a consequence, we decided to bring forward our plans to switch to more flexible working. Conveniently, our lease at Witan Studios was due to expire in November [2020], and we were intrigued by the new Spaces business centre, just a few minutes down the road. It has similar characteristics to our previous office, in that it is central, easy to reach and brilliantly designed for co-operative, collaborative working. But crucially, it gave us the ability to take that remote-first approach.

We have a small private office, a central point where our teams can meet and work, together or individually and if we need additional desks at any time, or to make use of a meeting room, Spaces can arrange that quickly.

Our people can choose where they want to work on different days – and they don't always have to plan that in advance. They can be more flexible, which allows them to juggle their responsibilities and commitments, while also being readily available and accessible when working—meeting the needs of both the business and our staff.

flexible working

Working together

There are many benefits to working in this more dynamic and distributed way. Wherever our team are working from, our staff can collaborate in virtual spaces, using tools such as Microsoft Teams – and that's what they do most of the time. It is much easier to bring together a group of individuals for an online meeting than to arrange a physical gathering.

But we also have a great central location and an excellent working environment that gives our people to a sense of unity and belonging – of being part of a strong team.

Unexpected benefits

We've also benefited unexpectedly by moving to the new office. Other businesses are operating from Spaces, and we've already found that we've been able to help them, and they have been able to help us. The move has thus expanded the pool of local talent on which we can draw.

unexpected benefits

Bolder and braver

Our accelerated move to a more distributed workforce has broken down the walls between us, our customers, and our partners. In this sense, the whole pandemic has been transformational. We were moving in this direction already, but the unexpected events of 2020 pushed us forward and made us bolder and braver. As a result, we've been able to advance much faster and with real certainty and confidence.

A good learning experience

It's been a perfect learning experience for the whole Boxx team. As communications and collaboration technologies make home and remote working more comfortable and more viable, we're ready and better-equipped than ever to help our customers to adopt more flexible working practices and transform their businesses in 2021.

Images Credit: All Things Business (2020)

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Technology empowers working in a world without walls

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Prior to March 2020, work took place for the majority, in the office - A physical workplace attended in person, in some cases, in the masses.

When the Government guidance to work from home was first announced, businesses quickly found themselves in one of 3 categories:

  • Forward-thinkers with the technology already in place to support moving to remote working seamlessly.
  • Reactors who were prepared to hit the ‘just do it’ button and implement digital transformation projects ahead of schedule to enable remote working.
  • Traditionalists unable to commit, for whatever reason, to the adaption required to facilitate working from home efficiently.

For those falling into the middle category, what emerged was 3 years of digital transformation progress in just 3 weeks!

Microsoft Teams reported the number of active users doubling in this short period and Hosted VoIP - a cloud-based, voice over internet protocol telephony solution – also saw exponential growth.

James Green, Co-Owner here at Boxx quotes:

The UK was already on a journey towards internet-based telephony with the industry’s 'copper switch off’ planned for 2025. With the features and benefits of a Hosted VoIP solution able to keep the cogs turning for many businesses - for example, the ability to handle calls seamlessly when working remotely, with the same call management features that would have been available in the office - adoption has accelerated during COVID and this is set to continue.

As the UK moves through the second wave of the pandemic (and hopefully out the other side at some point), business again fall into different categories determined by their thoughts about what the future of the workplace looks like...

There will ultimately be those who either desperately miss the conventional office environment or in fact need to work under the same roof for specific reasons.

Then there will be some who will see this new way of working as an opportunity, who won't go back to the old 9-5 and now question why we ever spent hours each day commuting when that time could be used much more productively. Not to mention conscious of the positive impact on the environment that mass home-working brings.

Finally, there will be the ones who embrace a hybrid approach... Perhaps downsizing the office and working on-site in rotation, whilst at the same time embracing the concept of ‘working in a world without walls’. Technology empowers non-geographical working and allows work to be considered ‘something we do’ rather than a physical ‘place we go’.

Work is something we do

Whatever approach is adopted, lessons will have been learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic that will shape the way businesses work going forward.

At Boxx we pride ourselves on recommending bespoke solutions, based on individual business requirements and plans for the future, wherever they may be...

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Are you ready to support working from home…?

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With the benefits of being able to work remotely on the rise more than ever before – it is now critical that businesses can work as effectively away from the office or usual place of work in order to remain successful.

Whether it’s to allow employees to spend more time at home with their families and improve work-life balance, as contingency plans in the event of power outages, bad weather or health scares, or to improve customer service, there is no longer the need to compromise on productivity when working remotely.

Remote Working Facts

But how can I enable my team to work from home...?

Cloud Telephony

The introduction of Hosted VoIP has allowed many businesses to thrive outside of the office with several features, such as call flexibility and analytics/reporting available via desktop or mobile apps, that weren’t previously available on-the-fly with traditional telephony. These apps have the same functionality as a desk phone and come with collaborative features such as video conferencing and text chat.

Unified Comms

This is the term used to describe converging solutions to integrate some, or all, of the following features to provide a next-generation and future-proof communication service: Voice / Video / Chat / Email / Directory Services / Document Sharing / Desktop & Application Sharing.

A Unified Communications solution is suitable for any size business looking to improve productivity, encourage collaborative team working, attract more diverse talent and/or increase business efficiency.

Office 365

Microsoft are at the forefront with their world-recognisable, best-in-class suite of Office 365 products. Cloud-based, reliable and always up to date, their desktop applications are designed to meet the demands of your business. Proving to be growing in popularity is Teams, which enables true collaboration in real-time.

If you want to find out more about remote working and how to ensure your business is able to support it, opportunities, you can register your interest in learning more below.

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