Vorboss launches Simply Connected to simplify connectivity, IT and cybersecurity management for London businesses

The older telephone models, known as PBXs (which we will explain below), are an expensive way of communicating. There was a time when they were at the peak of cost-effectiveness, but developments in technology now mean this time has passed. And business telephone systems have reached a new level of affordability and productiveness.

Hosted telephony allows small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to be agile with enterprise-grade communications at a cost within their reach. It uses the internet to streamline the calling process for customers and employees, and many packages come with lots of flexibility for the businesses that are using them. This blog covers how hosted telephony came to be, how it is used today, and how it benefits SMBs.

A Brief History of Business Communications

Before the 1960s, business telephone systems had to be accessed through public switchboards. If somebody wanted to call in and reach someone within the business, an operator would have to patch them through. Inter-business calls worked this way too. As the 20th century progressed, the demand for calls went up. Businesses used multiple lines to keep up and they had to buy separate lines for each of their departments. It was an expensive way of communicating.

But this gave way to the earliest form of the private branch exchange (PBX) system. Companies were now able to buy or rent their own switchboards and hire their own operators to handle calls. Automated switchboards shortly followed, but businesses did not feel comfortable using these until the 1970s when superconductors were added to them. And when they were, private operators were no longer needed, making PBX even more affordable.

Sometime later and with the development of computers, an upgrade for PBXs appeared. This was called Time Division Multiplexing (TDM). Similar to a computer, it housed a hard drive, a central processing unit (CPU) and random access memory (RAM). All of this made it easy for businesses to add hold music and more capacity for extra phone numbers. But it was expensive. Boards held 16 phone numbers by default, which companies did not often need but were forced to spend money on.

Luckily the internet was incoming and with it came a cheaper way of connecting PBX and TDM. Internet Protocol (IP) PBX systems came next in the 1990s, which converted analogue phone signals into digital signals. These were then converted back into phone signals, and were able to be received on a telephone. As the years went by and technology advanced, things were starting to give way to hosted telephony as we now know it.

How Hosted Telephony Works

By the 2000s, hosted telephony, or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) had emerged. It uses the internet to exchange communications from one place to another. When someone receives a call, the internet directs it to their device so they can answer this. But unlike in the 90s, we now have a bigger range of technology that calls can be directed to.

Calls can be accessed on desktop PCs, laptops, tablets and smartphones. For privacy, you can use headsets when taking calls on the first three of those options. Several people can make and receive calls simultaneously. Packages tend to come with a control interface which can typically be reached through a software or web page. This is usually maintained and managed by your service provider.

At its core, hosted telephony is a pay-monthly, pay-per-user subscription. For a recurring price each month you get a digital telephone system that allows you to call for a set number of minutes. On top of that, there is usually a selection of extra features you will be able to choose from. You may want access to international phone numbers to make it seem like you are calling from abroad. Or you may want your VoIP system to enable easy switching between a desktop and a mobile phone. Many providers out there will offer bundles like this.

5 Ways Hosted Telephony Drives ROI

1. Cuts spending on hardware maintenance and management

With PBX systems, you have to pay for the telephone service every month. Additionally, there are maintenance and management costs for the hardware. Hosted telephony works as a digital subscription, making the hardware costs disappear. All you have to pay is the monthly subscription fee.

2. Helps you retain staff

Today’s employees do not expect to work in the office every day. In fact, 77% of UK workers say workplace flexibility is very important to them, whether that is for balancing time with families, to help ease long commutes or because they want a change of scenery every so often. Using PBX means they have to stay at their desks. Hosted telephony empowers them to work flexibly. By providing them with flexibility, they will stay loyal to you.

3. Makes better customer experiences

In an ideal world, it would only take one phone call for a customer to have all their problems resolved. This does not happen all the time but that is not always the point. Sometimes, what matters most to customers using the phone is having a good experience. For 58% of people, calling is their preferred method of communication. After having a positive experience, 70% would be more loyal to the company and 65% would recommend the company to others. When set-up properly, hosted telephony can help customers speak to who they want to quickly and with better sound quality than that found on PBX.

4. Room for growth and opportunities

Modern-day business environments need to be fast and agile in order to seize new opportunities. Collaboration, with other companies and individuals, is an essential factor in this current state of play. PBX was not built for that. It was built for fixed locations and closed networks. With 80% of employee time in SMBs spent collaborating and 68% of UK SMBs collaborating with each other, cloud-based technology is needed to support this appetite. Use hosted telephony and you can capture opportunities and grow.

5. Helps IT teams work more efficiently

Maintaining the phone system is a waste of IT’s time and expertise. When you choose a hosted telephony system, your provider will take care of the maintenance for you. And they will have the necessary skills to do so. So your IT team can get back to doing what they do best: ensuring your IT network is performing securely.

Don’t Be Held Back by Your Phone System

Hosted telephony has come a long way. It has gone from a being a money-draining, space-consuming resource that was not ideal for businesses, to a cost-saving, cloud-powered tool that takes up no space in the office at all. Using the internet, the business telephone systems of today come with a range of options and cost a fraction of what they once did.

Not only that but hosted telephony helps businesses drive ROI. With it, you can reduce spending on maintenance and management, retain staff by meeting their expectations, make better customer experiences, jump on chances to grow your business and help your IT team to work more efficiently and productively.

There could not be a better time to use hosted telephony. No one should be held back by their telephone system as it is costly in more ways than one. Our forthcoming eBook will go into this in more detail once it is published in January 2019. But in the meantime, send us any questions you have on upgrading to hosted telephony. We would be happy to help.

You might be surprised just how scalable, secure and efficient it is, but the military and financial banking industry aren’t. They were one of the first industries to use fixed wireless access technology because of its reliability, speed and resilience to threat. Shocked? Then I have a few more revelations in store for you.

There are a few myths about the technology that just aren’t true so I’ve written this blog to put the story straight.

In the same way that some people think the earth is flat, some people think that fixed wireless access technology is less secure than fibre. We think that’s simply because they can’t see or touch it, but that’s one of the reasons it is so secure. With solutions like Wibre, your data travels in tiny pencil beams on millimetre waves with encryption, rather than on cables under the ground.

Due to the ever-growing infrastructure changes that are happening in London it’s not surprising if accidents happen to fibre cables and therefore a wireless solution could be less vulnerable to downtime.

Wibre is also built on our large resilient wireless network which has multiple nodes spanning the capital, so if something unforeseen should happen to interrupt the transmission, we can get it up and running again quickly by simply re-routing.

When you choose the bandwidth you want for fibre, typically a lot of digging commences so that you can get exactly what you ask for… But what about when your business grows, and you want more? Unfortunately, you’ll probably have to wait while your provider digs again. Ouch! With Wibre, if you need more, we just do a software upgrade or give you a larger antenna. Can it really be that quick and simple? Yes!

It’s also more flexible. If you move, Wibre can go with you to your next location if the new building is still in our line of sight. Our Wibre network covers most black spots so the likelihood is that you can get Wibre or our fibre to power your business connectivity whatever your location.

But the major benefit that most people know about is that Wibre is so quick and easy to deploy. From first contact, to up and working, can take just seven to ten working days. You can see why it’s been such a blessing for businesses who’ve been moving offices and forgotten to provision for connectivity – without which, let’s face it, most would have a real problem.

Leased lines and broadband are different in seven key areas:

1. Speed
2. Contention
3. Latency
4. Scalability
5. Symmetricality
6. Jitter
7. Service level agreements (SLA)

In this blog post, we will tell you:

• What a leased line is
• What broadband is
• The seven ways leased lines and broadband differ
• The three questions you should answer before choosing one

What is a Leased Line?

A leased line provides your business with a superfast internet connection. It can be deployed in one of two ways: with fibre optic cables or a wireless antenna. For the former, roads have to be dug up so the cable can be connected to your office. For the latter, an antenna is fitted to the roof of your building.

While the installation methods are different, the benefits are universal:

• Superfast speeds: these can range anywhere from 100 megabytes per second (Mbps) to 10 gigabytes per second (Gbps). In other words, it is really, really fast
• Uncontended network: you are not sharing your connection with anybody else. So it will never be slowed down by external interference
• Low latency: when you click on a web page, it will load quickly
• Scalability: it is easy to scale down your bandwidth if you don’t need as much, or invest in more if you feel you need it
• Symmetrical uploads and downloads: you can upload and download files at the same speeds

Read more: the differences between fibre and wireless leased lines, and how to choose one for your business

What is Broadband?

As with leased lines, broadband internet also offers a high-speed internet connection. It used to go by the name narrowband because you had to disconnect your phone line in order to use it. But that is not required anymore. Now, broadband is always-on.

There are several types of broadband:

• Fibre-optic: uses fibre-optic cables to connect your business to the internet
• Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL): uses copper telephone lines to get you connected
• Mobile: uses digital signals to transmit connectivity from satellites to you

Unlike a leased line, however, broadband is contended. So when you are using your connection, there is a good chance several other people will be too. This can have an impact on the speeds you are actually able to get.

Where speeds are symmetric on a leased line, they are asymmetric on broadband. This means download speeds are faster than upload speeds.

The Difference Between Broadband and Leased Line Connections

At the start of this post, we said there were seven areas in which leased lines and broadband differ. These are:

1. Speed
2. Contention
3. Latency
4. Scalability
5. Symmetricality
6. Jitter
7. Service level agreements (SLA)

Here, we will go through each of them in detail.

Speed

Leased lines and broadband will state they come with superfast speeds. There is no denying this on leased lines. The same cannot always be said for broadband.

If you have bought a leased line with 20Mbps, this is the speed you will always get as you are using an uncontended network (more on this next).

But with broadband, you stand a good chance of receiving a slower speed than what you were promised. This is because broadband works on a contended network (more on this next, too).

So your 20Mbps connection is more likely to be 17Mbps at times.

Regulators are aware of this issue, however. In March 2018, Ofcom announced protections to ensure broadband suppliers provide more accurate speed estimates to their customers.

Contention

Contention determines if you are using your connection alone or sharing it with others in the area.

Leased lines use an uncontended network. There is nobody using this except you, so your connection won’t be slowed down by other users in the area.

Broadband is contended, so you are sharing your connection with several other users. This can reduce your speed at peak times.

Latency

Latency is the time it takes for an action to respond after you have clicked on something. If latency is low, it will not take long for the action to happen. If it is high, the action will take a bit longer.

Leased lines have low latency. When you click on a web page, it will not take long for this to load.

Conversely, broadband has higher latency. So it will always take a little bit longer for web pages to respond.

Scalability

Scalability sets out how easy it is to make alterations to the bandwidth you get each month.

Most leased line connections are scalable. You can invest in more bandwidth if you find yourself needing it, or scale it back if you need less.

Some broadband packages come with flexible bandwidth options, but the availability of these is decreasing. So you might find yourself stuck on a fixed package.

Symmetricality

Symmetricality determines if your upload and download speeds are equal. A connection can be symmetric or asymmetric.

With leased lines, it is the former. So if your download speeds are 1Gbps, so are your upload speeds.

Broadband is the latter. If your download speeds were 24Mbps, your upload speeds might only be 1Mbps. Or possibly even slower, as broadband is highly contended. This can cause frustration when uploading files - like photos to Dropbox - or if you are playing a HD online multiplayer game.

Jitter

Jitter defines how reliable your connection is during audio and video communications.

Leased lines have a low jitter rate. In other words, your telecommunications are likely to always work in real-time.

Broadband has a high jitter rate and is more prone to connection drop-outs during video calls.

SLA

A SLA is a provider’s commitment to ensuring you have a reliable service at all times.

Many leased line providers offer an SLA of around 99.9% or higher. Given that leased lines are uncontended and use reliable, monitored hardware, it would be extraordinary for the connection to suddenly drop out. If it did, your provider would automatically be alerted and committed to resolving this in a matter of hours.

Broadband SLAs work differently. Typically, these are around 95 - 99%. Response times to outages can vary, depending on the specifics of your agreement. These can range from the same day to 48 hours, so check the details of your agreement carefully. The SLA is reliant on you informing the supplier of an outage.

Before Choosing a Leased Line or Broadband, Ask Yourself Three Questions

You have just heard how a leased line is generally more dependable than broadband. But before ruling out broadband completely, you should consider these three important questions:

• How many users are in my network?
• What applications are they using?
• How crucial is the internet to my daily routine?

How many users are in my network?

If you are in a small company and have less than 10 users, then broadband may be ideal for you.

But if there are more than 10 network users, a leased line will be far more useful for you.

What applications are my users running?

If you use a lot of cloud-based application on a daily basis, or depend on transferring large files a lot of the time over email, you should consider a leased line. For anything else, broadband should suit your needs just fine.

How crucial is the internet to my daily routine?

This might seem like a silly question, as you probably use the internet every day. What you should really think about here is what happens in the event of an outage. Ask yourself: ‘If the internet cut out, would it bring everything I do to a halt?’

You might find there are some things you can do in the short-term without the internet. In which case, you should consider broadband. The SLAs for this mean you could be without a connection for up to 48 hours, which is not too long.

If going without the internet is not an option, however, then you will want a leased line. The SLA for this ensures you will only be without the internet for a few hours.

Read more: leased line comparison - what you need to know

Leased Lines Are More Dependable than Broadband

Now you know about the difference between broadband and leased line connections. When it comes to choosing between a leased line or broadband, a leased line connection is more reliable for seven reasons:

• Speed. Leased lines will always come with the speed advertised. Broadband is more likely to be slower than what it says.
• Contention. You will never share your leased line connection with anyone else as it is uncontended, and speed won’t be impacted. Broadband is contended, and likely to become slow during peak times.
• Latency. Leased lines have low latency, so actions will respond fast. Broadband has high latency, so actions will happen slower.
  Scalability. If you need more or less bandwidth, it is easy to adjust this with a leased line. Scalable broadband packages are not as widely available as they used to be, so it can be hard to find one.
• Symmetrical. Upload and download speeds match on a leased line. On broadband, uploads will always happen more slowly than downloads.
• Jitter. Video and audio calls are unlikely to cut out on a leased line. Broadband is more likely to suffer an outage.
• SLA. If your leased line connection drops out, your provider is contracted to fix it quickly. Broadband SLAs are not always as tight, so you may have to wait longer for repairs.

But that is not to say broadband is totally irrelevant. If you have less than 10 users who aren’t using cloud-intensive applications, and can work without the internet for a short period of time, it can serve you well.

But companies with 10 or more employees using cloud-heavy applications, and depending on connectivity at all times should strongly consider a leased line.

For more information about leased lines and to see what is available in your area, contact us for a leased line quote. We will provide you with the best price possible and lots of detail on installation timeframes.

^{Photo by Stephen Phillips on Unsplash}

Cyber Essentials is a cyber security standard, which certifies that an organisation has measures in place to mitigate the risk from the most common cyber attacks. The scheme provides a clear statement of the basic controls all organisations should implement to mitigate the risk, which are:

• Securing the Internet connection
• Securing all devices and software
• Controlling access to your data and services
• Protecting from viruses and other malware
• Keeping devices and software up to date

Organisations that achieve this certification prove that they take cyber security seriously and assure clients and third parties that they have protection in place from the most prevalent forms of threats coming from the internet.

If you’re like most businesses, file sharing, VoIP, video conferencing and using applications makes up your day-to-day, instant access to these productivity and collaboration tools, is taken for granted. And, the ability to carry them out seamlessly and efficiently is, without a doubt, one of the major cornerstones on which we build our brand and reputation.

For businesses in Southwark however, it’s a very different story. The number of not-spots where the Broadband access is very poor is stunting commercial growth and employee productivity for businesses. It’s also impacting on the areas attractiveness to prospective inward investment from businesses who now recognise connectivity as one of the most influential factors in a locations desirability.

Faster download speeds

The antidote to Southwarks connectivity headache comes in the form of Wibre™, Optimity’s fibre leased line internet solution that offers superfast connection, low latency and flexible bandwidth. Delivered wirelessly via an antenna on the roof, businesses in the area will be able to benefit from ultrafast connection speeds of up to 10Gbps. Unlike some Broadband solutions, Wibre™ is an uncontended network, meaning you are not sharing your internet connection with anyone else. So, it will never be slowed down by external interference or peaks and troughs. This is particularly beneficial for multi tenanted buildings in Southwark, where connection speeds need to be consistent and reliable throughout the premises.

Quick time to market

If you’re looking to relocate your business to Southwark, connectivity will be at the top of your agenda. The last thing you want is having to move into a temporary workspace while you wait for your connection to be installed. Typically, you could face weeks, or even months if things don’t go according to plan, trying to have fibre broadband installed. This disruption will impact employee productivity and create unnecessary costs.

Improved productivity and minimise risk

Businesses in Southwark that rely on contended Fibre-optic solutions and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Lines (ADSL) are at a higher risk of slower, unreliable speeds and downtime, which can have a detrimental effect on productivity, profits, brand reputation, and customer service.

Wibre™ is an alternative wireless Fibre solution, offering businesses in Southwark a superfast uncontended solution. Moving to a superfast fibre connection opens up the opportunities for businesses to work more collaboratively and flexibly, and be able to scale up by taking advantage of cloud based services like VoIP and O365. Of course, once you start using bandwidth hungry applications that make a huge difference to your working lives you’ll never want to incur downtime. Wibre can work perfectly for your business either as a primary connectivity solution or as your internet failover solution. This is a redundant connectivity solution that works independently of your main connection and is ready to take over when your primary connection goes down. Since Wibre™ is delivered by a direct wireless connection between our network and your premises, it can’t be damaged by diggers. It’s also monitored 24/7, making it less susceptible to cyber threats and human errors.

In the highly unlikely event of downtime, engineers will be ready to get your internet up and running in the shortest time possible. The guarantee of having an undisputed connection at all times of the day means you can focus more on building your business and less on contacting suppliers.

Easy secure access

Security is the number one priority when setting up your business network. Therefore, businesses need a well-managed and highly available network infrastructure to safeguard themselves from the most common types of attacks, which include Malware, DDoS, Phishing, Zero-day exploit, SQL injections and Man-in-the-middle (MitM) attacks.

Our Managed Network allows you to get on easily with your day-to-day activities whilst proactively supporting your network. From ensuring your firewall is capable of providing for your bandwidth, to actively managing your company’s WiFi network, we take care of everything.

Scalable

To stay competitive, you need to be able to cut spending by eliminating unnecessary hardware maintenance costs. Areas like Southwark, where there has been poor investment into connectivity and digital services, prohibits you from taking advantage of cloud-based solutions including phone, video conferencing, colocation and backup. These applications have become synonymous with agile businesses that are able to dramatically reduce infrastructure investments, increase customer satisfaction and enable greater organisational efficiency.

With Optimity’s tailored cloud-based solutions, you can scale better and faster by investing when you need more and reduce spending when you need less. With a range of hosted services offered under Southwark's roof, businesses in the area will be able to boost productivity and profitability.

Conclusion

The stage is set for Southwark to become London’s hub for digital-first businesses.

These developments will be welcomed by businesses in the area, who no longer have to experience delays in commissioning services and poor connectivity. Access to faster, more scalable and more secure connection in Southwark will create vast opportunities for businesses and commercial real estate agents to capitalise on, while helping them stay competitive in an increasingly digitised economy.

More Money, More Problems

Following a period of stagnation in 2016 following the Brexit vote, when businesses faced a decline in revenue and thus lower investments in tech, we are now seeing a renewed optimism and increased spending on IT, according to the latest State of IT Report from Spiceworks. Investment in the cloud is seeing a major increase, but across all areas of IT, spend is stabilising or growing, which means there is more money available for the tech team.

That same report forecasts a 31% increase in spend on hardware, 26% on software, 21% on hosted and cloud-based services and 15% on managed services, including outsourced IT service desks. More than half of respondents reported end-of-life and growth/additional needs (followed by upgrade/refresh cycles) as the strongest forces driving them on the voyage to new tech.

However, while having a bigger IT budget is good news for the IT team, spreading resources over an increasing number of areas means having to take a tactical approach to ensure priorities are met, there is still room for innovation and growth, and that the right investments can bring value and ROI for the business. Here are four key considerations:

1 - Prioritisation

While it may be tempting to throw a good portion of the IT budget into new technologies you would love the company to implement, the most sensible thing to do is to assess the priorities of the business - what are the ‘must haves’, as opposed to the ‘would like to haves’ – and to make sure there are adequate resources to meet these needs. Ongoing maintenance, essential upgrades to hardware and software assets, your outsourced IT service desk, etc, all need to be accounted for, before you consider bigger investments such as an IT asset overhaul or a move to a bigger data centre to enable the growth you forecast for three years from now.

If you are planning to invest in new technology or IT support, consider what will help to serve the company more effectively now, and align your plans with the company’s IT roadmap to allow for the addition of further capabilities later.

2 - Finding and Shifting Resources

If extra resources are needed for a particular IT upgrade project, it can pay to be a little creative and to assess where you can redeploy funds from one area to another. Frequent IT audits can help you identify where you are overspending – for example, if the number of software licences far outweigh the number of people using that software – so that you can cut down on those costs and provide the funds for those components that need them more.

Similarly, partnering with an outsourced IT consulting service means that you can probably avail of their volume licensing and leasing, and benefit from the cost savings they can pass on to you.

A good CTO or IT Manager should also be aware of any external funding opportunities from software suppliers such as Microsoft, who can offer funding for new technology investments.

3 - Implementing Cost-Effective IT Solutions

Additional IT resources such as extra staff to handle an increased workload due to short-term projects or general business expansion can be a strain on the budget, but there are ways to find the tech support you need without breaking the bank.

Rather than hiring new personnel with specific expertise, who then represent a permanent overhead, it is worth considering outsourcing your IT support. As well as providing the expertise you need, they can also work on an ‘as you need them’ basis, acting as a virtual CTO to oversee any and all tech services the business requires, and will have the flexibility to scale back or increase their support as needed, and to suit your budget.

They can take on the role of overseeing vital IT projects or upgrades, including training staff, while you can focus internal resources on business-critical functions.

It is also worth considering moving from a CapEx to an OpEx model for IT solutions to help free up resources that can be better used elsewhere.

4 - Spending Money to Make Money

Investing wisely in IT is good for business, but what’s better is being able to secure a return on that investment in order to increase the success of the business and avail of a bigger piece of the pie when the next budget comes around. This is why it is important for the IT team to look at areas where they can monetise the IT assets and services they are able to provide, and to show the board their value.

If, for example, you have invested in software or expertise that provides new IT solutions, look at the possibility of offering those same solutions to clients. The outsourced IT support service you hired, for instance, could in turn be leased out to other companies as part of a more lucrative package, bring in more money that can be put into further IT investments without busting the budget.

In summary, while IT budgets may be stabilising or even increasing, every business is now even more reliant on technology across a growing number of areas, so a creative approach to portioning out resources is needed. By prioritising the IT solutions needed to run operations today (while keeping in mind where opportunities for future innovation exist), identifying and redeploying wasteful resources, implementing the most cost-efficient IT options, and finding ways to secure ROI on your tech investments, you can make sure the IT team can put the right resources into the right areas to ensure your business has the IT support it needs to remain competitive.

As an expert IT consulting service, the team at Optimity can provide the know-how and technical support you need, from advising on an efficient IT budget to implementing the tech solutions you need. Get in touch to find out how we can help, and get started by booking an IT audit with us.