There are a number of Business VoIP providers to choose from and choosing the best suited package for your business is a daunting task. The final decision needs to be based upon value for money, features and support.
The top things to consider when choosing your Business VoIP are:
PRICE – Always consider price. Monthly fees can vary quite significantly depending the provider you opt for and the VoIP features the package includes. For packages at the lower end of the pricing scale you will simply get the basic features, whereas at the other end of the pricing scale you are likely to enjoy extra features and a great support network from the VoIP service provider. Basic package may limit you to calls within the provider’s network or have a cap on minutes used per month. Make sure you choose the right package for your business.
FEATURES – Know the VoIP features your business requires. You can then compare the features offered by the VoIP providers. Know which features are most important to your business and make sure they are included by the VoIP provider at no extra cost. Standard features such as call waiting and voicemail are not included in all plans.
SUPPORT – From time to time it is highly likely you will require technical support. Some providers will charge extra for support, whereas with other providers it will come as standard in the package. Lots of providers charge when an on-site visit from a technician is required. This is one of the key benefits of Hosted VoIP as on-site support is very rarely required. Make sure your provider offers 24/7 support at no extra monthly cost.
If you compare packages offered by VoIP providers carefully and take into account the pointers above, it is highly likely you will choose the provider that offers the VoIP package that is best suited to your business. If it is the best suited VoIP package for your business the probability is it will also be the most cost effective.
]]>Our voice services, provide clients with the very best of inbound voice, VoIP and audio conferencing.
Inbound voice is an option which gives the client online access to a wide range of call routing services as well as providing management information for inbound numbers.
Hosted VoIP is a product that allows clients to gain access to IP telephony from a device at their end, which provides them with a business class voice service.
Audio conferencing gives a client a simple but effective way of combining the ideas and strategies of the entire organisation.
Our data services are some of the best available. Services range from hosted Exchange, business broadband, SDSL, leased lines, MPLS, Ethernet, fax to email, metro, IT services, LAN monitoring, Certeon WAN optimisation.
Hosted exchange is a constantly updating service which looks set to improve even more but RNS are right there at the pulse to bring its clients the very best hosted Microsoft Exchange services.
RNS are currently providing business broadband speeds of up to 24mbps download and 1 mbps upload, which is allowing them to provide the perfect broadband solution for any business.
RNS have a large range of hosted VoIP telephone systems available so that every client has the right telephone solution for their business needs. Our two main solutions are Rapid VoIP and FeaturePlus.
Our Rapid VoIP solution is designed for both single and multi site businesses with the aim of reducing cost and improving productivity with the clients business.
FeaturePlus is considered the perfect solution for small businesses, it has a lot of features attached to it and is focused around control and administration, which gives the client the freedom to configure the service to their own requirements.
Whatever type of communications solution you require; Reefstream Network Services can help – For further information contact us today on 0800 00 86 905 or kindly fill in a brief form to request a FREE NO OBLIGATION QUOTE.
]]>
There are many things to consider when choosing the right VOIP provider. The first is making sure that the call quality is up to the standard that you require. A good way of doing this is by asking for a test call using their system and also to ask current customer their opinions of the service that they are being provided.
The second thing is to check what features are being offered in the service. There are many features available on VoIP systems and it important to make sure that you can get all the features your business is going to require through the system that is being offered. Also check to see what additional perks are being offered with or obtained on top of the service being offered. Many VoIP providers have perks available but do not mention them without being asked about them.
The third is to be certain of the compatibility of the phone with the service you are being offered there are a lot high quality VoIP phones available so be certain that the phone matches the service that is being offered. Also check the provider’s customer service history. As there will be no one on site to provide assistance then it is crucial that the provider has a customer service team available to aid you in any problem that you may have. A provider that prides its self on its customer service is worth its weight in gold when there is problem with your service.
The final point is cost which could be considered the most important point of all. You have to find a service that both fits within your budget and provides you with everything that your business requires. It is important to consider exactly what you are getting for your money as you do not want to purchase a cheap system that cannot perform all that is required from it but at the same time you also cannot buy a service which completely over budget and therefore is not going to help the company progress financially. A lot of time and thought should go into which service is the right one for your business, as if you get this decision right it could massively improve your business as a whole.
]]>
No one knows exactly when Apple are going to launch the iCloud service but is certain is that they are getting closer every day to doing so. They recently updated the domain registration for iCloud.com to place themselves as registrant of the domain. This is a huge indicator that the iCloud service is on its way but Apple has all the power to release it when they choose.
Apple have recently purchased the domain from Xcerion for a reported 4.5 million dollars. Xcerion were the previous owners of the iCloud product which is also known as CloudMe. This now allows Apple full control of the domain which gives them the ability to point the domain to any site they want including the iCloud launch page which no doubt is already under construction and will be ready soon.
Rumours are circulating that Apple could release the iCloud service this week but this seems unlikely that the full service will be launched this week but they could show the service in a development stage just to give people a taste of what this service could do for businesses around the world. If the service is near completion it is expected that Apple will launch web components almost immediately after the announcement.
It is also being said that Apple are going to make an announcement about iOS 5 which is the latest version of their mobile OS and OS X Lion, this is the newest edition of its desktop software. Both of these products are rumoured to have deep integration the impending Apple cloud service. If the iOS 5 beta is released to developers then having a cloud service up and running would allow them to start testing and integrating those features into their apps immediately.
]]>
Trying to calculate the return of investment of internal IT services is a very difficult task. Businesses today want their costs justified on a service by service basis. There are problems with this approach though.
There is a lot of variously aged products which have been thrown together to make a system that by some miracle manages to work despite the incompatibilities that lie within it. Replacing and introducing a new system has its own set of problems and implications that will affect more than just the individual project.
When calculating return on investment factors such as power, cooling and square footage are normally attributed to the I.T department. It is very hard to determine the delivery cost of individual services without having some kind of individual metering.
Many vendors haven’t yet caught up with visualisation so the internal cloud may actually end up costing you more, yet moving them to a hosted provider may to end up been a cheaper option either. The licence costs of hosting a service locally could be very high and the removal from volume licence agreements could then raise the costs of applications in other areas of the business.
At a glance hosted cloud services seem to be the cost effective answer. Calculating the return on investment should be as easy as subtracting the up front costs. But in reality there are other considerations to be made.
The first thing to consider is that when a cloud service fails you lose money. The inability to access the services make the entire solution obsolete. This is why a service level agreement is crucial when having a cloud service system in place.
Integrating cloud services into your local I.T system could prove to be both very complicated and also very expensive. Costs such as the training of staff on the new system, a review of your internet connection, reliability and redundancy will all need to be considered.
Another major consideration is that of security and privacy. Security in a cloud service can be better than an internal system though placing customer information in a cloud service will bring legal considerations or adjustments to the business insurance.
Bringing together all the information required for a comparative analysis can be very tricky as it involves a lot of communication from different sections of your business. Management, I.T and accounting all have to come together for a comparative analysis.
Measuring the value of existing service delivery is a worthwhile exercise; inefficiencies creep in to all IT deployments over time. Once you can quantify the costs of business as usual, give various hosted services a go.
]]>