We all know how unpredictable the British weather can be as the seasons change, and when it gets bad it can wreak havoc on our business productivity. Whether its broken phone lines and power cuts or heavy snow or flooding affecting employee attendance, events outside of our control can have huge impacts.
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
According to Greenflag, just one week of particularly bad weather back in 2013 cost the UK an estimated £318 million in lost productivity, not to mention 51 million working hours. Those are maddening numbers, and with each worsening Winter the figures have only risen.
It goes without saying that productivity and client relations can be severely effected by weather-induced disruption. Yes, your offices may be being battered by the wind and snow, but odds are at least some of your customers in other regions are enjoying regular working conditions - along with your competitors.
Thankfully, it's 2018 and a good Unified Communications provider can help ensure your systems withstand storms, snow and more.
Remote control
It is essential to have a robust phone system that will still allow for full productivity in the event of any unplanned disruptions.
It's no use relying on fixed lines, as these can easily become damaged or disconnected in bad weather.
The alternative? A hosted phone solution will move fixed and mobile telephony to the cloud, allowing for remote or flexible working to easily be integrated into your business' routine. Benefits of a hosted solution include:
- Cloud-based hosted packages remain unaffected by poor weather conditions.
- Employees can access phone services from any location and on any device.
- Packages are flexible and scaleable.
- Communication and software systems are packaged up in a simple, dedicated portal.
- Hosted systems are around for the long-haul and are more reliable than legacy PBX systems.
Home sweet home
The thought of letting staff work from home can understandably leave you umm-ing and ahh-ing. But don't worry, with the right infrastructure in place your staff can be just as productive as they would at HQ if anything prevents them from commuting.
Not only does home working free up time for work activities that may otherwise have been taken up by a lengthened commute, but systems can be configured and managed in real-time by administrators wherever they've found themselves working from.
The best part is, customers won't even notice the difference. If an employee calls from home, their work number will appear the same regardless of where in the country they're calling from.
Future-proof your communications
So how do you go about maximising business continuity? Undoubtedly the best guarantee will come from working with a specialist provider like Sirus Telecom who can handle all aspects of your business communication systems.
A hosted system from Sirus will minimise your downtime this Winter as we will resolve any problems as soon as they arise, avoiding the battles between line and network providers when they inevitably blame each other. We'll deliver personalised, responsive and flexible service around the clock, and help you and your employees familiarise yourselves with your new systems and portal interface.