Get the most from your phone system
Here's how I reduced costs by using Voice over Internet Protocol communications technology
Nicholas Wilde is the finance director and company secretary at Stamco Timber, a timber and builders merchant which employs 110 staff. The company has four offices in the South East, which are linked on the same computer and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system. Wilde believes the VoIP installation has already paid for itself and saved the company additional money.
What I did
Choose a supplier
"In 2000, we opened a new branch and wanted to install a telephone system. We put the contract out to tender and one firm suggested VoIP, which we decided was our best option.
"We like to be at the forefront of technology and VoIP was cutting-edge at the time. We also already had a leased line between two sites that we could use to keep the installation costs down. A leased line is a dedicated line between locations only used by one company. When you use broadband, that line can be shared with other users too."
Buy the right equipment
"When it came to installation, all we needed were computer network cards and specialist handsets to convert voice data into computer data. Each handset cost £450, with the total cost of installation coming in around £20,000.
"I know it sounds expensive, but the system gives us a great deal of flexibility and has already paid for itself. Although some of our branches are as far as 40 miles apart, calls can be transferred from one extension to another in another office seamlessly - and the quality of the line is as good as a normal analogue line.
"We pay £700 per month for our leased line, but this was a cost we already incurred as we use the line for our IT system. But we no longer receive phone bills, so we're saving £300 to £400 a month."
Present the right image
"I think VoIP helps present a professional image to the customer. When people ring they get routed through to our customer service centre even though they telephoned their local branch. If all lines are engaged the call gets routed back to one of our other offices. It means customers never get an engaged tone and then call our competitors instead.
"All of our calls between sites and departments are free and those to external people cost standard phone-service provider prices. You can ring people who don't have VoIP and the quality of the line remains as good."
What I'd do differently
Connect branches from the outset
"I would have installed leased lines between all our offices from the start. Some are joined by broadband lines, which can cause problems if they go down. This happened to us twice in the last month - once for about a week. We are just in the process of changing all the lines to leased lines which should prevent it happening again."
Subjects covered in this guide
- Introduction
- Basic telephony functions
- Emerging telephony-related functions
- Mobile telephony and your business
- Assess your telecoms needs
- Getting the right telephone system
- Draw up a telephone usage policy
- Handling higher volumes of incoming calls
- Integrating telephone and IT systems
- What to look for in your telecoms suppliers
- Here's how I reduced costs by using Voice over Internet Protocol communications technology
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Nicholas WildeStamco Timber - Opens in a new window
Nicholas' top tips:
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