A hot topic for all businesses is what happens when something goes wrong? Power cuts, flood damage, and other disasters can be very costly and as a VoIP reseller, you are bound to be asked about business continuity and VoIP.
Using VoIP In Power Cuts
We’ve all been there, you are in the middle of a very important phone call or just about to finish that 300-page report you’ve been working on for weeks and then, BANG!
The lights go off, the phone goes dead and your computer screen goes dark.
It could be a thunderstorm, an electrical fault in the building or water from a flood blowing the circuit breaker.
We are sure you have all seen the news over the last few weeks about how, yet again, some areas of the UK have suffered from flood damage and companies have been forced to shut, sometimes permanently.
Whatever the reason, companies will want to put measures in place that can minimise any disruption to the running of business continuity and VoIP can help in ways that traditional phone systems couldn’t.
VoIP Lets You Take Control
Historically telephone communications get a bit left behind when businesses are mapping out any business continuity processes.
This was mainly because phone lines and phone numbers were owned and maintained by the operators, BT, Orange for example.
With VoIP, the control of telephone and data communications is now with the business.
At best, traditional phone lines could be transferred to someone’s mobile number so that there would be at least some form of contact for customers.
VoIP systems are hosted off site, usually cloud based, and if there should be a problem with where there are hosted, there will be a copy of the network hosted elsewhere.
This should ensure an almost seamless transfer should one system fail for some reason.
VoIP System Backup Batteries
Whilst the call hosting and functions are often cloud based, the actual handsets and hardware won’t be.
Which is why you should always make a point of ensuring that any VoIP customers also purchase back up batteries.
Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS) are standard bits of kits in all IT Departments, but a customer interested in VoIP may not know this.
Similar to back up electricity generators, UPS are power sources that kick in if there is an interruption to an electricity supply.
Although VoIP is a huge improvement from traditional phone communications in every way, the system still needs electricity in order to work!
UPS supplies are also useful if there is a surge or spike in power, sometimes a faulty toaster or other domestic appliance could cause a power surge which forces a buildings electrical supply to shut down.
If this happens the UPS will kick in, ensuring that they provide business continuity for their customers, who most likely won’t even know that there is a problem at all.
VoIP Business Continuity With Flexible Working
Another way that business continuity with VoIP can be essential is with flexible working.
As we said earlier, if there is a problem with the phone lines in a building, there always used to be an inevitable loss of service for customers.
Employees would have no way of communicating with anyone and people trying to phone the company would have to try out several different telephone numbers before they can get hold of anyone.
With VoIP, this is totally different.
The portability of the phone numbers mean that an employee can leave the office, go and work in a café or at home and the customer would still use the same number to call them.
Also, with VoIP, a company can very easily record several voicemails so that clients can be kept up to date with any important news.
If a sales team are having to quickly relocate to another building, a voicemail can be recorded to let any potential visitors or customers that they can visit another office.
This means that a business won’t disappoint clients who turn up at one location only to find that all the lights are out with no mention of where to go or what to do next.
Get In Touch
These are just a few of the ways that you can show to potential customers that business continuity and VoIP really do go hand in hand.
If you have any further questions that you think you would like help answering or would like to find out more about our VoIP systems or the VIP VoIP reseller propositions, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Our team of experts will be more than happy to have a chat with you.
You can telephone us on 03300881182, email sales@vipvoip.co.uk or use our online contact form located here.