A recent survey claims that 77% of smartphone owners across both the public and private sectors say they will be checking their smartphones over the Christmas and New Year period, and 66% will do it every day.
The most common reason they gave for checking their phone was dedication, with 45% claiming they will keep their smartphone on them at all times in case something important crops up.
26% said checking emails is a habit they are unable to break, while 11% admitted they will be more concerned about impressing their boss in the hope of a New Year promotion or bonus.
Just under half of the respondents to the survey are predicting that their obsessive smartphone checking will cause a row with family members this Christmas, with 58% packing their phone charger before taking trips to see friends and relatives.
The top five tips for switching off this Christmas are:
1. Leave it at home – If you know that you aren’t going to be needed for anything, leave your Smartphone at home when visiting family and friends. If you don’t have it on you, it won’t interfere with your plans.
2. Switch it off – If only for an hour or two, switch off your smartphone to avoid arguments and to have a bit of time to totally relax.
3. Out of office – Set up an auto-response to let people know you’re out of the office. If you don’t get back to them straight away, they won’t start chasing you.
4. Make your absence known – Let colleagues and clients know what days you will not be working, so they are less likely to contact you during your leave.
5. Silence is Golden – Switch your handset to silent, not vibrate or loud mode. If you get a call or an email, you won’t know and won’t be tempted to answer or read it.
You never know - If you switch off your Blackberry, you might even find the mistletoe is more fun!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
How to choose a telephone system
If you operate a small office or store that needs just a couple of phone lines, a standard POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) setup is often sufficient. Add several more employees, however, or move to a standard small-office environment, and a more sophisticated solution makes sense.
There are many options available today, and your choice will depend on how many sites you have, how many extensions you need and how many calls you need to make and take.
On a basic level, you'll want a separate extension and phone for each employee who uses a phone in that office. Accepting that, what kind of service and equipment should you get for your business? Here's how to figure it out.
The fundamental thing every phone system has to do is give you a dial tone or ring if a customer is trying to call you. That sounds an obvious – even stupid- thing to say, but how you and your staff make and take calls can actually have a huge effect both on staff morale and productivity. If you make a lot of calls, seconds wasted making or taking every call can become frustrating and a real time waster. You need to think about how incoming calls into your business are going to be handled and who are going to be allowed to make calls out.
You need to consider your current business needs and what the telephone system has to do to meet them. Some of the questions you may need to ask are.
Then you need to look at your business plan and see where you think you will be in three and five years. No-one wants to buy something that will need replacing in a few months, so these may be important issues for you to think through.
The bigger you get, the more other features may become important to you.
Auto-attendant: This frees you or your staff from answering the phone every time it rings. You can put in messages for business hours, any directions or instructions, and route incoming calls to the right employees. Equally important, when customers hear a computerized system with options, it can make them feel like they've reached a larger business.
Conferencing: If you have a lot of phone conferences, you might find it more cost-effective to have your own teleconferencing capabilities.
Call hunting: If one employee doesn't answer the phone, the call will automatically forward to another person (or group of people) instead of going directly to voicemail.
Home office workers and field salesmen and engineers can also benefit from business phone systems. Just because you're out of the office, it doesn't mean you need to be out of reach. A good basic business system can let you schedule auto-attendant features in case you're away, forward your calls to your mobile phone, and route incoming fax transmissions (even through the auto-attendant system). Some can allow home workers to dial into the main telephone system with a free call over a broadband line, and the main telephone system will then automatically connect them to the extension or external number they are dialling, meaning no more telephone expense accounts.
Once you've determined your needs, you'll also want to decide on the type of service. Here are some of the options:
Hosted VoIP solution with the system being remotely hosted so that a user can access it from anywhere in the world by plugging in a phone to a high speed internet connection to make/receive calls. Our own Datasharp Hosted Service offers quality of service and significantly reduced call costs.
Pure VoIP solution where the system provides IP down to the desk with IP phones or soft phones. External calls can be made via ISDN digital lines and/or SIP trunks. Our iPECS systems are ideal small to medium business pure VoIP systems, and our Shoretel solutions are perfect for medium sized businesses and above, or companies with multiple sites. The OpenOffice ME solution from Siemens is pitched at users from 10 to 150 users, so whatever your company size, we have a system for you.
Hybrid VoIP solution where a traditional PBX system is used with enabled VoIP capabilities. Calls are made/received over both traditional phone lines and a dedicated high speed internet connection. The Seimens HiPath 3000 series is a perfect, scaleable example of a hybrid system, and can be complemented with OpenScape Office software, to make a rugged, reliable phone system with all the software facilities your company needs.
The next thing you need to do is ring your friendly telecomm supplier on 0845 270 0881 and we will go through your answers with you and suggest the type of system for you. There is no charge for this advice. It is all part of our service. www.datasharptele.com has more details.
There are many options available today, and your choice will depend on how many sites you have, how many extensions you need and how many calls you need to make and take.
On a basic level, you'll want a separate extension and phone for each employee who uses a phone in that office. Accepting that, what kind of service and equipment should you get for your business? Here's how to figure it out.
The fundamental thing every phone system has to do is give you a dial tone or ring if a customer is trying to call you. That sounds an obvious – even stupid- thing to say, but how you and your staff make and take calls can actually have a huge effect both on staff morale and productivity. If you make a lot of calls, seconds wasted making or taking every call can become frustrating and a real time waster. You need to think about how incoming calls into your business are going to be handled and who are going to be allowed to make calls out.
You need to consider your current business needs and what the telephone system has to do to meet them. Some of the questions you may need to ask are.
- How many external calls do you need to make or take?
- How many inter-site calls do you need to make?
- Would conference calling (including internal, inter-site and external calls) be cost effective?
- Do you need individual voicemail for some (or even all) employees?
- Do you have a contact centre (a group of people tasked to take incoming calls)?
- Do you have ‘road warriors’ and want some kind of mobile solution (such as a BlackBerry or other smart phone) for them to take on the road?
- Do you have ‘home workers’ and want calls routed to people in remote locations?
- Do you need individual fax handling for each, or some, of your staff?
- Do you need the phone system to integrate with a CRM package (Customer Relationship Manager Software such as Goldmine)?
- Do you need the phone system to integrate with Microsoft Outlook?
Then you need to look at your business plan and see where you think you will be in three and five years. No-one wants to buy something that will need replacing in a few months, so these may be important issues for you to think through.
The bigger you get, the more other features may become important to you.
Auto-attendant: This frees you or your staff from answering the phone every time it rings. You can put in messages for business hours, any directions or instructions, and route incoming calls to the right employees. Equally important, when customers hear a computerized system with options, it can make them feel like they've reached a larger business.
Conferencing: If you have a lot of phone conferences, you might find it more cost-effective to have your own teleconferencing capabilities.
Call hunting: If one employee doesn't answer the phone, the call will automatically forward to another person (or group of people) instead of going directly to voicemail.
Home office workers and field salesmen and engineers can also benefit from business phone systems. Just because you're out of the office, it doesn't mean you need to be out of reach. A good basic business system can let you schedule auto-attendant features in case you're away, forward your calls to your mobile phone, and route incoming fax transmissions (even through the auto-attendant system). Some can allow home workers to dial into the main telephone system with a free call over a broadband line, and the main telephone system will then automatically connect them to the extension or external number they are dialling, meaning no more telephone expense accounts.
Once you've determined your needs, you'll also want to decide on the type of service. Here are some of the options:
Hosted VoIP solution with the system being remotely hosted so that a user can access it from anywhere in the world by plugging in a phone to a high speed internet connection to make/receive calls. Our own Datasharp Hosted Service offers quality of service and significantly reduced call costs.
Pure VoIP solution where the system provides IP down to the desk with IP phones or soft phones. External calls can be made via ISDN digital lines and/or SIP trunks. Our iPECS systems are ideal small to medium business pure VoIP systems, and our Shoretel solutions are perfect for medium sized businesses and above, or companies with multiple sites. The OpenOffice ME solution from Siemens is pitched at users from 10 to 150 users, so whatever your company size, we have a system for you.
Hybrid VoIP solution where a traditional PBX system is used with enabled VoIP capabilities. Calls are made/received over both traditional phone lines and a dedicated high speed internet connection. The Seimens HiPath 3000 series is a perfect, scaleable example of a hybrid system, and can be complemented with OpenScape Office software, to make a rugged, reliable phone system with all the software facilities your company needs.
The next thing you need to do is ring your friendly telecomm supplier on 0845 270 0881 and we will go through your answers with you and suggest the type of system for you. There is no charge for this advice. It is all part of our service. www.datasharptele.com has more details.
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