Michael Turner

As the UK heads into a pre-Christmas cold snap and we prepare for a heavy winter snowfall, thoughts turn to the chaos faced at the start of 2010 to UK businesses thanks to the white stuff.

However, current technologies mean that businesses do not have to feel the impact of the widespread disruption across the country. By utilising services such as Hosted Telecoms (VoIP), Hosted Exchange email, instant messaging, cloud computing, and creating virtual offices for employees, businesses can carry on as normal while the rest of the country grinds to a halt, including your competitors!

By allowing your employees to set up an office in their own home and forego their regular commute during the disruption, you can save your business time (employees won’t be late) and money (no lost business due to absences).

But what if an important client calls our phone number?
You or one of your employees will be able to answer it! Using Business VoIP telecoms, your numbers can go anywhere, even if it is a different country! All you need is a broadband connection, and a piece of software on your computer or the VoIP phone you use on your desk. This is all possible because the number is tied to the account, not the physical connection like BT lines. As an added benefit, your business will also save money on calls and line rental – You won’t pay for calls between your employees, even if they are at different ends of the country.

But what about their email and messages?
Using a Hosted Exchange Email service means your employees have ‘anywhere access’ to their email, contacts, calendar and tasks, whether that be through Outlook, a web browser or on their smartphone. They can send and receive mail as if they had ploughed in through the snow! All the information is held in ‘the cloud’, so anything you do when away from the office is synced with your Outlook client when you return.

But what if they need access to files on their computer?
Your employees can either use a remote access service, such as LogMeIn, to access and control their computer from their home PC. Alternatively, a sharing service like Dropbox allows you to share folders (and the files within them) on your computer with colleagues. You can then either install Dropbox on your home computer or access the files from a web browser. If your employees need IT Support for their home PC’s, then we can utilise TeamViewer to continue supporting them.

If you add all the simple and affordable services to your business, your employees won’t be among the thousands losing working hours when stuck at home.

Talk to our sales team about how Business VoIP, Hosted Email Exchange and Cloud Computing can help you and your business prepare for winter on 01934 440030.