If you are currently looking to expand, or even already on that journey, it is vital to ensure your communication capabilities match your physical growth.

For many of us, our businesses have evolved and grown organically – often from humble beginnings and then on to either national or international expansion. If you are currently looking to expand, or even already on that journey, it is vital to ensure your communication capabilities match your physical growth. Customer service is often one critical area that suffers if your communication system is keeping you grounded. So here are some considerations that will help to keep your business soaring to great heights.

Out with the old and in with the new

An effective phone system is business critical – it is one of the first things you need to get right when expanding your business across multiple locations. Yet many small businesses don’t realise the cost and productivity benefits in upgrading to Internet-protocol (IP) enabled or pure IP-based telephone systems, and instead continue to rely on what’s called a plain old telephony service (POTS).

For example, some of the things we see with businesses running older phone systems are difficulties in achieving quick connections from their office line to mobiles when employees are offsite. Modern systems employ a ‘twinning’ facility, whereby both the mobile and office extension ring simultaneously, with the first answered taking the call. Older systems also have issues with facilitating a smooth transfer process and instead can take up valuable time. More importantly, it doesn’t appear overly professional to a customer.

Meanwhile, technicians often have to be called in to relocate or rewire a phone terminal to maintain correct extension numbers when employees move around, or when new employees join the business. These obviously have cost implications for the small business owner. With IP phone systems, the number is associated with the physical handset so moving it to a new location also moves its number.

Understanding the technology and its benefits

If you have remote workers, or multiple offices, moving to an IP-based system it means you can save on having to pay additional line rental fees. These can be connected over ADSL services that almost every business and home already have installed. Major phone carriers also provide free calling from mobiles to mobiles. By installing devices such as a mobile GSM gateway with a smart-PBX (private branch exchange), businesses can immediately achieve a saving by automatically routing outgoing calls to mobiles via the GSM gateway – effectively creating a ‘mobile-to-mobile’ free call. Further  cost reductions of 15 per cent or more on total call costs can be achieved by bundling a number of services together, such as fixed line, broadband, mobile and phone systems. IP-based systems also help to reduce power utility costs, as they can automatically shut down non-essential services when not in use.

Upgrading to IP-based telephony systems also helps your business to reduce maintenance costs and down-time. Usually, if you had an issue with your phone service or broadband connection, you would have to lodge a service call with your carrier and wait for a technician to physically resolve the issue at your site. With IP-based systems, technicians can immediately conduct diagnostics and resolve most issues via remote access.

In terms of financing, most carriers now provide options that make it easy to have all your costs consolidated into one bill. You receive one single bill for all your communications costs and at the end of the agreed term, you have the option of upgrading your equipment at a minimum cost. This helps businesses to stay up-to-date by making the most of new technology and their capabilities.

Case study example

To demonstrate some of the considerations above, we can take a look at a Melbourne-based company who had expanded across Australia and overseas, and explore some of their challenges and the technology implementations to overcome them.  

A distributor for a range of mobile communications accessories and after-market products, the company established a Sydney sales office and had also expanded into New Zealand. Furthermore, they wanted to move into the lucrative US market, with further international representation planned in the medium term, along with expansion into other parts of Australia.

“We were expanding very quickly and our communications and IT requirements were also increasingly complex,” said Brett Haysom, chief executive officer. “Customer service remains a constant focus for us, so it was important that our communication capabilities matched our physical growth.”

But like most SME owners, Brett did not have the luxury of a dedicated IT department. The challenge was finding a global communications system that was easy to maintain, reliable and scalable.

“We knew that a large integrated network communications system could achieve the desired outcomes, but they were prohibitively expensive,” expressed Haysom. “What we needed was a communication system capable of providing ‘large corporate’ functionality, yet scaled to suit a smaller operation and which was ready for rapid expansion to multiple points across the world. “Not to mention our mobile workforce – finding a way to enable travelling executives to still be contactable via their land line and mobile extensions was also vital.”

To overcome these challenges, Brett worked with Aria Technologies and implemented an IP-enabled communications system, or iPECS, in each of its offices. This helped to integrate all of their communications including voice, SMS, email and voicemail. Employees on the road can also connect back to the company system with their laptop computer and a Wi-Fi hotspot to make local and international calls, download emails, or respond to messages on their landline back home.

“The decision to install pure IP communication technology has provided us greater efficiency, better customer service and cost savings,” said Haysom. “We’ve eliminated the need to duplicate communications infrastructure and personnel, as we can now service our customers from our 24/7 global support centre based in Melbourne.”“Calls to extensions now ring on the desk handset, while the call also simultaneously rings to our mobiles, with the system connecting the first device answered. Voicemails are also answered promptly, as employees are either notified by email or can retrieve their voicemail from any extension.”

Soaring to new heights

An IP-based telephone system can help increase employee productivity and collaboration across a variety of mediums. For expanding businesses, it is worthwhile taking a look at your existing communication system to determine whether it is up to the task of servicing your growth. By making these assessments, you can quickly ascertain the best approach in taking your communication capabilities and your business to even greater heights.