Quore, the London-based managed telephony specialist, today warns that preparation is as essential for London-based SMEs as Britain’s hopeful athletes in advance of London 2012. The fast-approaching games are expected to cause much disruption for the capital city’s transport network, resulting in many Londoners working from home. Quore warns that the cost of hosting the Games could rise dramatically when the drop in productivity for SMEs is also added to the equation.
With the London Mayor’s office encouraging local businesses to allow staff to work from home during the Games, many companies are assessing the suitability of their communications systems to support remote working. However, SMEs may be reluctant to make investments in upgrading their systems for a single calendar event.
“Many SMEs are hesitant to upgrade their comms systems, as upgrade often indicates an increased cost,” explains Ronnie Nag, managing director at Quore. “What they don’t realise is that it is entirely possible to get an upgraded system, with no capital expenditure (CAPEX) for the same fee they are currently paying to multiple suppliers.”
Investing in a remote working solution for a one-off event is a false economy. It needs to have longevity, be scalable to the growth of the business and have predictable costs. Using unified communications means that SMEs can have local area phone numbers (to have a presence in areas where there is no office situated), hunt groups for incoming calls (meaning no call goes unanswered) and an auto-attendant (to divert calls to the appropriate person). With calls being diverted appropriately and internal calls being free, remote working is made simple.
Ronnie Nag, added, “Unified communications was once a tool for large companies, but over time, it has been refined and developed especially for the SME market. Therefore, there is no need for smaller companies to be adversely affected by London 2012. Like larger organisations, they will be able to maintain responsiveness even when they can’t get into the office. Having such a system in place ensures calls are not missed and business is not inadvertently lost.”
