Remote Working 1 April 2020

REMOTE WORKING



It is April already and many will be experiencing their second full week of working from home.





Last week we had an enormous number of requests to set up home working or provide call diversions. This week it is much quieter and the number of requests has slowed down.



The majority of our customers not classed as critical services appear to have either furloughed their staff or asked them to work from home in accordance with the government’s recommendation.



However not all will be aware of the services that are available to ensure that businesses can still communicate efficiently whilst working from home so here is a quick summary.





CALL DIVERSION

In its simplest form available on all analogue lines, dial *21* (number) # to set divert to the number and #21# to cancel the diversion. May not work from certain phones or behind a switchboard, if you need 9 for a line then the number in this case would be (9 + number). If message says service not available or you are struggling to set up contact us and we can add the service for you.



REMOTE CALL DIVERSION (SMART DIVERT)

Includes call diversion but also includes ability to set divert from anywhere by dialling an access number and PIN. Most business lines will already have this but if you do not have the access number or PIN please contact us for the details.



TWINNING

Twinning can be added to most of our systems, this means that a mobile handset can ring at the same time as the office phone. If you do not have this please speak to us to discuss options.



REMOTE WORKER

Includes twinning feature but also has the ability to make outbound calls by clicking in a web portal.

Outbound calls are billed to the company not the homeowner and the outgoing calls show the office number.



APP (MOBILE or DESKTOP)

Apps are available for most of our systems. They allow you to answer and make calls as though you were in the office. On a mobile you would use the built in mic and speaker, on a laptop or PC you would require headset. Free trials are available of some of our apps.



IP PHONE (TAKE YOUR WORKPHONE HOME)

This has worked for many customers, however please be aware that you will require a suitable internet connection, power supply and a cable to connect to the router. You may need to disable SIP ALG on the router. Some ISPs block voice on their connections so please test this and contact us if you require assistance.



IVR AND VOICEMAIL

With all the above we can add IVR (auto attendant) and voicemail to ensure that callers are routed to the correct person and so they can leave messages when staff are not available.



NEW SERVICES

If you would like to use the above features but your current system does not support it please contact us as we can provide free trials. Some customers have taken full hosted systems so their staff can continue working from home.



Hopefully that has all made sense and you will have enough information to understand how to enable remote working for your employees. If you require more assistance please call or email us.



Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need any help with anything discussed here



Tomorrow I will provide ideas of how we can help you to reduce costs.



For service please contact us by email service@plumcom.co.uk or telephone 01616223500.



Please stay safe.





Peter Savic



Peter Savic
Plum Communications Limited