Business Mobile World

Businesses looking at their landline phone bills will know that a large proportion of their monthly spend is likely to be outbound calls to mobile phones. As more consumers rely upon mobile phones and don't even have a landline the cost of calling mobiles is going to rise further still.

Obtaining free calls to mobiles would considerably reduce the average bill of most business users and there are options available. A GSM Gateway, also known as a Premicell, is a hardware device which contains one or more SIM cards and allows a landline based call to be routed through a mobile phone in the most cost effective way.

It allows your telephone system to differentiate between numbers beginning with 07 (mobile calls) and others, routing calls to mobiles via the sim card and other calls over your landline. The sim card can belong to your standard business mobile contract, meaning that calls to your own company mobiles should be free and to other mobiles come from within your inclusive minutes.

Whilst this solution would save companies money, it will not be the solution for everyone. For many SMEs the answer is to obtain the best landline call rates for mobile phones. Check your latest bill and see how much per minute you are paying to ring a mobile number. Expensive?

We offer a free service to all businesses. You show us your bills and we will show you where savings can be made. In many cases savings of 40% can be achieved and this is not to be ignored even with a low call spend.

Obtaining the best business landline contract, reducing your line charges and call charges, will save your business money each and every month. These savings really add up. At the same time we can advise you about telephone systems, call management and other measures which could improve your customer service and deliver increased profits.

Even if you are in contract currently give us a chance to show you what your savings could be and we can then contact you nearer the contract expiry date and give you a firm quote based on the latest call details.

Savings are not limited to mobile phone calls, we can also save you money on local, national and international phone calls. We have our own bespoke tariffs and billing engine to ensure you get the best business landline deal.

Is your business still stuck in the 20th century? Technology, particularly phone technology, is moving apace and if you haven't changed your hardware and/or software in a few years it is likely you are using obsolete equipment.

For many small businesses this may not manifest itself in noticeable problems. Providing the equipment works and does what you need it to then there is no need to upgrade. However, could your business be making more money by making an investment in new technology?

With the improved technologies has also come price reductions. Competition, particularly in the mobile phone sector, is continually driving prices down. This is particularly true for SmartPhones where they can now be obtained free of charge on even the cheapest of business mobile contracts.

So if your current telecoms equipment is reaching the end of its life span, or starting to show its age, now is the time to look into replacement - you might be surprised how cost effective a total business phone solution is.

Our telecoms healthcheck takes an overview of your current setup, the equipment used and how it is put to use, together with gathering your ideas (and our own) of possible improvements to your communications.

The review covers a number of areas including:

• Mobile phones
• Landline phones
• Telephone numbers and call management
• Broadband (both fixed and mobile)
• Device tracking and employee management solutions (where appropriate)
• IT

Your business can benefit from the latest technology (future proofing for several years), better integration of individual communication products, a more coherent telecoms strategy, and all of this whilst realising cost reductions overall.

Placing all of your communication needs into the hands of a single supplier may seem scary at first but when you see the cost savings available, together with the advantages in billing (single bill for all services) and customer service (one point of contact) you should be convinced that this is the way forward for your business in the 21st century.

We are always looking at new products and services that can benefit our customers by reducing costs and improving communications. One such product allows you to control your inbound calls on any number, anywhere, from any device.

It works for both geographic and non-geographic telephone numbers and provides online access to a full range of call routing, monitoring and management tools, helping your business improve its customer service.

The benefits of this service include:

• Use with any number, anywhere, from any device
• Easy to use, designed to be intuitive
• Immediate to set up
• No capital outlay

There are three plans available on this service, designed for all sizes of business from sole traders and single site businesses, through multi site/multi department organisations, up to large call centres.

The features provided include:

• Tailored call plans - build plans according to your business operating hours, schedule call routing, handling and divert options to maximise your call handling potential.
• Call statistics - easily interpreted graphs of your inbound call statistics, results of call handling.
• Call queuing - Queue incoming calls during busy periods. Live queue statistics and queue management.
• Auto attendant - interactive voice response can be uploaded for announcements to callers
• Optional call recording - record inbound calls for compliance, customer service and audit purposes.

The easy to use online interface gives you full control of the handling of all of your inbound call traffic. If this feature is something you think could aid your business please contact us to discuss your requirements.

Increasingly the biggest differential between companies is the standard of customer service. Those that provide a quick follow up to enquiries and problems will find it much easier to retain customers and prompt replies to new leads will also put them at the front of the queue for gaining new customers.

When thinking about contact with your customers you need to be aware of all of the different devices and means of communication that are available. Not everyone wants to deal with things on the phone, many now prefer to email. The more channels of communication you offer the more people will be able to interact with your business.

When offering multiple communication avenues you also need to make sure that they work together to give the customer the optimum service. For instance if an email is left sitting in an inbox without being read or dealt with for several hours you are immediately risking the ire of an impatient customer.

Much better for a copy of that email to be forwarded to the recipients mobile phone when they are away from the office so that it can be read instantly. If it's urgent it can be dealt with straight away and if not it can be actioned at a later date.

Making it easier for people to contact you will result in gaining more business. Yes it will also mean that people with problems and gripes can get hold of you but it is better to sort these out in a timely manner so as to avoid losing customers or getting a bad reputation.

Small businesses need this more than they think. If someone is looking to get a product or service quickly they will almost certainly go with the first provider they can get hold of (providing the cost is not extortionate). So being unable to contact you could result in losing business. Having an answerphone does not always help if you cannot return the call until several hours later. By then the opportunity has often disappeared.

It is possible to have a single non-geographic number that tries all of your devices in turn until it can get hold of you. In the event you are uncontactable it can send a message straight to your mobile phone alerting you that your attention is required.

For larger businesses with dedicated staff answering the phones during office hours the need might be for out-of-hours services, forwarding calls to on-call staff, or home working options for people with families or in the case of bad weather.

All of these scenarios can be catered for by integrating your landlines, business mobiles and IT to provide seamless connections between departments and between your business and its customers.

When thinking about your business telecoms, and in particular your sales telephone number, it has long been the conventional wisdom that a freephone number (0800, 0808) increases enquiries by up to 40% compared to a regular number.

However, this was in the days when the majority of calls were made from landlines, meaning that your customers were not charged for their call to your business.

Those days are long gone, and the rise of the mobile phone means that many of your customers will actively avoid freephone numbers as they could be charged up to 20p per minute to call them.

It is forecast that 2010 will see the majority of UK phone calls made via mobile phones rather than landlines. Even now mobile phone calls account for around 45% of all calls made.

So what is the answer?

It could be an 03 number. This is a non-geographic landline number which can be called free of charge from a mobile phone's inclusive minutes. An 03 number can also be cheaper for your business than a freephone number.

With an 03 number you also have portability and flexibility. You can redirect incoming calls to any landline or mobile that you specify and benefit from a range of call management features.

Business Mobile World can offer you an 03 telephone number, or you can choose from a range of other telephone numbers which we provide. Just get in touch for a free quote.