by Tom Goldsworthy

With the seismic shift to home working in 2020, the benefits of cloud solutions such as Teams, Zoom and other collaboration applications have shown brightly. But this has been less true for cloud voice platforms.

By Dan Rue

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in early 2020, general practices have seen the long standing challenges they face magnified and have had entirely new challenges thrown upon them. One such challenge is finding a phone system that meets the needs of both patients and staff who may not be able (or allowed) to physically come into the practice. 

by Lucy Antunes

Christmas is just around the corner now, and what a year this has been. With seemingly endless lockdowns and constant working from home, most of us have found us in situations we would never have dreamed of a year ago.  

By Lee Zweig

With winter coming and local lockdowns popping up all over the country, the likelihood of staff needing to isolate, or even practice closures, is increasing.  Fortunately, technology is here to help. Staff can work from home as effectively (or close to) if they have the right tools.  

With the rise in working-from-home, many of us are now using softphones - which has lots of benefits.  Users can make and receive calls from their work number, transfer calls, conference calls, and talk as long as they want without using mobile minutes. But what many people working from home forget, is that soft phones are only as good as the WiFi and broadband they are connected to. And with demands on domestic broadband greater than ever between email, CRM systems and video, the competition for bandwidth can be fierce. 

Usually patients are limited in their ability to lodge a complaint to directly to their surgery. They can 1) speak to the receptionist, 2) write a feedback card 3) email a general surgery address, or 4) fill out text/online questionnaires.

But what  about a call recording system?

You may have read recently that Zoom is going to start offering video conferencing hardware, as-a-service - meaning companies can pay monthly to rent state-of-the art equipment for only a small fraction of the cost to buy it. Companies benefit from the latest technology, completely supported, without a full fledged investment into devices that will no doubt be out-dated in a few years; and Zoom benefits by bringing its services to the office as people just as people start working from home less.

As the coronavirus pandemic comes under control in the UK, companies across the country are re-opening for business. Those that have been functioning with skeletal staff, are beginning to operate with a fuller workforce.  And businesses that require a physical presence, such as moving companies and construction companies, are now allowed to visit sites.

As lockdown measures are gradually eased, one thing is clear - people that can work from home, will be working from home for the foreseeable future. But what if you theoretically can work from home, but can't practically, due to a poor broadband connection? I recently had a video meeting with someone who was working in their utility room because it offered the best WiFi signal in the house (despite the visual interference from laundry baskets). 

With the impact of coronavirus being felt by businesses across the UK, we know that many of you are concerned about how your business and staff will be affected. This is a list of information, resources and places to go for support.