Telcare

Telephone systems maintenance is sometimes, rather unfortunately, seen as something of the ‘poor sister’ of small business phone systems.

While installing new boxes and new functionality has a certain ‘glamour’ to it, by contrast, talking about maintenance sometimes runs the risk of generating apathy and indifference.

If so, that would be a great pity – whether you are an SME or a major corporate enterprise.

The reason for that is quite simple – engaging in appropriate telephone systems maintenance may be something that both keeps your business running and saves you money.

Here’s why:

• any technology is capable of going wrong – in the case of small business telephone systems, routine preventative maintenance may help avoid downtime and related problems;
• some warranties may actually require periodic maintenance activities for them to stay in force;
• some business phone systems may work more efficiently if they are periodically maintained;
• keeping a system in tip-top condition may avoid expensive remedial activities downstream.

Broadly speaking, telephone systems maintenance comes into two major categories:

• that which is typically assigned to someone in your organisation to do regularly (e.g. checking log files etc);
• that which requires expert level intervention and assistance (that may be via the telephone or sometimes through the attendance of an onsite engineer).

How you obtain your business telecoms maintenance services may vary depending upon your preferences, however, it may not be advisable to rely on luck or being ‘able to find someone’ in the event of the crisis.

The way to avoid being forced to do so is to:

• take out what is called a telephone maintenance contract (this may be called different things by different people) – this is a contractual commitment from a professional supplier of maintenance services;
• make sure that this covers not only routine systems maintenance but also the provision of emergency services in the event you are having major problems with your system;
• ensure that, as part of the contract or as a separate appendix, you have in place something called an SLA (Service Level Agreement) which is something that will commit the service provider to responding to you within certain specified periods of time;
• be prepared to invest some time and perhaps a little money, in ensuring that you have at least two people in your own organisation who understand your system to the extent that they are capable of undertaking routine preventative maintenance and liaising with your external service provider to aid in the fast diagnosis of any problems.

We are confident that our telephone systems maintenance services offer exemplary service and cost-effective solutions. Not only do we pride ourselves on offering a personal service, whether you are simply making an enquiry or are a long standing customer, but always strive to offer budget-conscious solutions. This means you can rest assured that your business telephone system is in safe hands, allowing you to get on with doing what you do best – running your business.

Modern business phone systems tend to be robust, particularly if they’re sourced from a major supplier such as Siemens business telephone systems. However, telephone systems maintenance is also critically important.

Here are a few tips that may help you avoid crises and help keep your costs down.

1. Don’t ignore it

However modern and robust your system is, there are typically a range of regular maintenance tasks that are required to keep it functioning efficiently and to reduce the chances of the system failing.

Some of these are things you can do yourself, others are best left to qualified experts such as us. Of course, we are always available if you have any questions or queries about your telephones system.

2. Use a maintenance and support contract

Maintenance contracts can help avoid downtime and may be a far most cost-effective way of getting things fixed if they do go wrong.

Calling around in panic mode during a crisis may prove to be very expensive and traumatic.

3. Be cautious about investing in yesterday’s solutions

The old adage of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” may often hold true – but it can be taken too far.

Some telephone systems reach a point where they cannot be easily or economically maintained and serviced. Parts may become difficult or even impossible to obtain and the overall system may become impossible to expand.

It may also prove to be incompatible with more modern systems – so while your business grows so may your telephone system requirements. This could mean you may find yourself in the position of having a business communication system that lets you down – or having to buy and install a whole new telephone system.

If you stick with it, you may not only find yourself facing increasing costs for telephone systems maintenance but also your service providers may have more and more trouble restoring the system when it fails.

We can advise you when your system has passed the point at which it makes economic or risk-management sense to continue to invest it in and when it may make sense to consider a replacement business telecoms system.

4. Think about soft communications

Business phone systems are not a fashion accessory – but they may communicate things about your organisation that you may regret.

Today we live in a competitive world and whether you’re trying to secure new clients, customers or students etc, people will form impressions of you based upon the technology you are able to provide for them to use.

So, phone systems that are constantly down, that can’t interface with the more modern systems of others or which simply look as if they have just come off the set of a 1950s film, may not communicate the message you’d wish about your operations.

So, telephone systems maintenance is critically important but so is ensuring that your basic system is fit for purpose in the 21st century world.