Strictly speaking of course, business continuity is simply the detailing of the core elements of your company, the ones it needs to keep going. As opposed to a reactive disaster-based contingency plan, it’s something that is made up of the daily processes that keep your business working. The message behind it all is that no matter what happens, the business must continue to function effectively – without stopping, even momentarily.

So how can we help you with this? One part of your daily company process is communication, and ensuring you’re reliably and thoroughly connected constantly, is an absolute necessity in every modern business. Fortunately, we have a whole host of services and products that should be a part of your business continuity, helping to keep you in contact with customers, clients and colleagues no matter what happens. Here’re just two of the ways we can help.

• Business Mobiles – When you or your team are out of the office, you need to know you can gain access to the information you need no matter where you are, whether that’s through voice communication, or through data plans and applications on the latest smartphone handsets. We have some of the most complete packages available for ensuring that no matter what your remote desk related requirements entail, we can provide!

• Leased Lines – There are few things quite as important as the internet in the modern office, and with both dedicated leased lines and EFM services available, we’re proud to be able to say we can deliver an incomparably speedy and steadfast connection in your business.

Give us at Midland Telecom a call today to find out how our leased lines, business mobiles or of our other services can help with your business continuity, or fill out our contact form on the homepage!

Buying decisions can be heavily affected by a social media presence and this fact should never be taken for granted. Mobile devices are now the best way to keep abreast of all your social media outlets, easily manageable from a selection of Apps, whether you’re on Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS. As such then, putting the latest smartphone in the hands of your people will gift them a whole new level of control.

Optimizing your site and your social media for mobile will enable you to reach the largest amount of people. Similarly, ensuring your team are familiar and active with mobile social media will invigorate its usage and ensure you really are giving your target audience the most opportunity to interact with you, and you with them, of course. With a host of applications that even amalgamate all your social media accounts into one manageable dashboard, allowing you to schedule Tweets and status updates and affording you greater insights into your reach and user engagement than ever before.

Of course business mobile contracts also allow you to ensure you and your people are reachable and able to work wherever you are. Whether you’re away from your desk and need to make calls, access emails and, indeed, control social media, or whether you need to communicate vital information to those that are out in the field representing your company; the ability to do all this and more lies in the mobile technology we at Midland Telecom provide.

With a host of contracts created to suit all requirements, no matter how big or small your company may be, give us a call today to start taking advantage of the latest social media and mobile communication benefits!

English: voip phone Español: telefono voip Italiano: telefono voip (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There are currently a wide array of options for business telephony and telecom solutions, some as simple as a handset, and others as complicated as an entire range of new hardware, a long and complex installation process and results that deliver a company the most comprehensive of internal and external communications capability, required for the success of the modern business. With all these acronyms and synonyms, you may think the only way to bring this all-encompassing communicative adeptness to your business is through becoming a telecoms expert yourself! That however, is simply not the case; not when you choose a Hosted VoIP solution from Midland Telecom!

Voice over Internet Protocol

Regular readers of this blog will know all about the advantages of VoIP in the business, and if you’re a new visitor, we suggest having a thorough read through of our previous posts! In short though, VoIP cuts call costs and delivers the features and benefits of the internet to your telephone systems, meaning portability and extended services are now available on your handset.

Hosting

So why a hosted VoIP? First we need to firmly grasp what we mean by such a phrase. Essentially, a hosted solution involves keeping the main hardware and the PBX – the public branch exchange- at an off-site location and utilizing them remotely. Using VoIP to power the office’s telephone system is a simple and powerful solution, made even simpler when the PBX is hosted at the provider’s data centre; this arrangement is what we would class as hosted VoIP.

The Benefits

The main reason many choose to opt for hosted VoIP is the considerable savings that can be made. Whilst the initial installation for an on-premise PBX can be quite significant, a hosted solution by contrast is often completely feeless. Furthermore, the maintenance and upkeep of the PBX is, of course, all taken care of by the providers, meaning one less disruption and one less drain on company expenditure.

Here at Midland Telecom, we offer a range of hosted VoIP systems, designed to fulfil all your requirements, from basic cost-effective handsets, to feature rich, comprehensive units, we have a solution for you! Give us a call today to find out more, or why not book your free business consultation – we’re dedicated to ensuring the right system is in place for your business!

So, what exactly can SIP Trunking do for you? Essentially, a SIP Trunk takes the many advantages of the network based Internet Protocol phone, including its ability to carry voice, fax, SMS and other types of data and affixes them, via your PBX, to the public switched telephone network, the PSTN, opening up the public domain to your once secluded internal system. This then allows you to communicate more effectively, bringing your VoIP capabilities out of the business and connecting you to the rest of the world.

Trunk?

Essentially, in communicative terms a trunk is a ‘transmission channel between two switching systems’, it can consist of a number of trunk lines and are essentially they are a standard way of connecting switches together. They have been used for many years to ensure a business was fully connected, bringing its numerous voice channels together to form a single trunk.

SIP?

VoIP has taken business communication to an all new level in the last few years, however it is Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) that has most recently freed the technology of its bandwidth constraints. Base protocols initially simulated trunk lines over the IP to create the functionality of a phone. This then meant that these trunk lines needed a fixed amount of bandwidth, which of course, meant a spike could cause problems. SIP doesn’t simulate trunk lines; it opens a session that exists temporarily between the two network applications in question, whilst they are in use. This is a simplified and streamlined way to achieve a similar result, without compromise.

SIP Trunking

So then, SIP Trunking connects your VoIP capability to the public switched telephone network allowing for unified voice and data connections, smoother and more reliable connectivity and money saving solutions for 800 numbers, turning any call into a local one!

For more information on why SIP Trunking could be perfect for you, give us at Midland Telecom a call today!

Businesses grow. It’s a fact, and as they grow, their requirements changes. Demand, orders, output all increase exponentially as a company expands. In the modern age of business, this can often occur faster than anybody might have predicted, and when that happens, you need to know the communicative equipment you’re using can keep up, handle the increase and ensure you continue never missing an opportunity.

So how does the SV8100 accomplish such a task? One key feature is its ability to support up to 500 users. As a unified communications system, this means that no matter how small or large you begin, it will be able to accommodate your business as the need for more users increases.

Better yet, the NEC system incorporates a range of compatibility features regarding various handsets, affording users the opportunity to switch up their current setup as their requirements become more complex. For example, the basic unit comes complete with conference key and phonebook, however upgrade options mean Open XML interfaces (for writable applications and custom displays), interactive touch screens, and a wide scope of improved functionality is always available.

With mobile extensions, VoIP support and pricing that accommodates the small business, despite being able to supply much larger company setups, there’s no wonder there’re such a huge range of situational applications for the system. From call centres, to home workers, mobile worker’s to hotels, SMB’s to healthcare, the NEC SV8100 is the perfect business telephone systems solution for anyone! Give us at Midland Telecom a call today for more information or to order.

When you’re setting up your business, you need to know you can get the important factors in place as quickly as possible. With so many potential communicative functions though, it’s almost always going to be a muddle of contacts and phone numbers, engineer call-outs and brand names. How can you be sure you’ve got everything covered when you’re buried in a pile of ID cards and phone calls are coming in left right and centre?

This is where Midland Telecom can help. With just one phone call to us, we can get the ball rolling to have all your equipment, phone lines, internal and external communication and internet installed quickly and simply. Dispense with a hundred invoices from a hundred different people, we’re your one stop shop, delivering a single point of contact, and an ultimately streamlined solution.

Business Telephone Systems

A unified and integrated telephone system can be the difference between failure and success for many businesses, and with some of the latest, most cutting edge systems that bring departments, client information and smooth, customer-focused service together in a manner that’s easily achievable, we can supply.

Broadband

Few elements are quite as important as a fast and reliable internet connection in the modern business. Couple these services with our business leased lines and similar alternatives; you can be connected quickly and easily and with confidence.

Mobile Contracts

When your team are out of the office and dealing with clients and prospects face to face, or attending meetings, the last thing you want to do is cut them off from the company. Reconnect them with business mobile contracts; ensuring your people have the most diverse communicative ability no matter where they are.

Our expert engineers make installation a breeze, and with dedicated support services as well, here at Midland Telecom, we are a total solutions company – give us a call today for more information on making your life easier and better connected!

DECT?

At its core, DECT is a communications standard, it dictates frequencies upon which cordless phone systems can be created, ensuring a unified and integrated structure that allows for the most flexibility and of course usability across the board. The technology has found its place in domestic, home situations and naturally also in small businesses.  It’s even found application in medium and large businesses as part of PBX (Private Branch Exchange) systems.

Communicative Flow

So what can it deliver for your company? As we’ve mentioned before, the flow of communication is paramount to your success. If you can ensure this tributary of your overall core competencies is second-to-none, if you can be confident that all necessary information reaches the right people quickly and in full, then you’re already going to be one step ahead of your competitors and one step closer to achieving the highest possible success rate with your clients.

DECTly Popular

DECT allows for multiple handsets at one base station, meaning you can be sure a ringing phone will be answered throughout the office. Similarly, the quality of wireless operation is simply incomparable, delivering an interference-free service for up to 100 metres outdoors. With inter-office communicative features meaning one handset can easily, clearly and reliably communicate with another and VoIP-integrated solutions, there’s little wonder that DECT is now used in all sorts of applications.

Here at Midland Telecom, we have a range of DECT solutions, from the all in one, powerful communications hub that is the NEC SL 1100, to a host of individual handsets and bases. If your thirst for DECT knowledge is yet to be quenched, give us at Midland Telecom call today for more information on how ensure your office is communicatively equipped for success!

CTi is all about making processes easier. Easier for your staff, and as a result, easier for the customer. Imagine calling up a company looking for a solution to a problem, only to have to tell an automated machine about your information and issues, only to have to explain this again to an operative, who then passes you on to a more specialised operative who needs to go through everything again. It’s long, drawn out, exasperating for the customer and unnecessary.

So how does CTi fix this? By allowing your employees’ access to a unified database that not only stores all the information you hold on your customer, but makes the dissemination of this information to the people who need it slick, smooth and functional, you can ensure your customer never has to repeat or relay a scrap of information. It means your people can better understand the problem faster and thus warmly divert the customer to the operative who can help them the most in next to no time. Faster resolutions, happier customers, more productivity.

Screen pop and historical customer information allows for a refined level of engagement previously unseen. Your agents will be able to offer suitable products for specific customers based on their purchase records or previous interactions. With smart, streamlined presentation all available in a single, integrated system, this database software is absolutely integral to the best possible customer experience. Give us at Midland Telecom a call today to see how our business telephone systems and solutions can change the way you work!

So how exactly does call recording achieve all this? Here’re three reasons why a comprehensive recording solution could prove to be the perfect partner to your current business telephone systems!

Training

Of course, we’re all familiar with the message, ‘your call may be recorded for training purposes’, and most of the time we expect our call to disappear amongst the other hundreds that operator is likely to receive that day. The information contained in that call can be utterly invaluable when it comes to training however, because nothing works better than a practical application of your methods. Being able to show your trainees how to handle specific types of call using real world examples is one way to ensure they’ll know exactly what to do, and perhaps what not to do the moment they get on the phones and start representing your business!

Management

On top of this, you need to know your team are representing the company in the right way. After all, every word they utter to a prospect will be interpreted as coming from your mouth, from the company’s voice. With call recording, you can effectively manage your people to ensure the right message is being delivered at all times!

The importance of an absolutely accurate call log and audit trail in your business, especially one regulated by the FSA, is incomparable. These aspects absolutely must be catered for wherever necessary and call recording is the only way you can be sure of that accuracy!

Customer Service

Undoubtedly the most important aspect of all – you need to know the customer experience is a dynamic and fluent affair. You need to know their journey is tailored every step of the way; and call recording allows you to oversee, analyse and improve.  Are the majority of your customer’s telling your phone operatives they want to see something particular? Perhaps a refinement, or a certain product. Without call recording, you may never receive these gold mines of information that lead directly to business success.

Give us a call today and find out how here at Midland Telecom, we can change the way you work, for the better, with complete call recording solutions!

The results were relatively unanimous, showing that many businesses do indeed regard a stable and secure internet connection that is consistently fast something they are sorely missing, and that would make a big difference to their company. With 83 per cent detailing faster broadband as something that would invigorate their output and increase productivity, 13 per cent said it would actually encourage their recruitment drive, and take on more employees.

33 per cent said they’d invest more in their business were the confidence to do so be supplied in the form of a faster and more dependable internet connection, whilst over half of the respondents said they would initiate opportunities for flexible working conditions.

The survey also provided a significant divide between rural and urban responses with 45 per cent of those out in the sticks saying they were dissatisfied. “Fast, reliable internet connections are essential to a modern business” commented the IoD’s senior economic adviser Corin Taylor, and as the report shows, he’s absolutely correct.

So what can be done about it? Here at Midland Telecom, we’re proud to be able to over comprehensive communication packages to businesses everywhere, from telephone systems, to business mobile contracts. Meanwhile, our broadband solution might just be the answer to all your problems. Leased lines and EFM installations offer unbridled internet connection reliability, a guaranteed, symmetrical upload and download speed and the fastest fixed lines about. EFM even offers a second copper wire, providing not just speed, but also back-up should one happen to fail.

If your business is in need of a supremely speedy and incomparably consistent internet connection, you need look no further than Midland Telecom; give us a call and find out how our leased lines and EFM solutions can help, today!