Cost Reduction 2 April 2020

COST REDUCTION In these uncertain times you may have reduced or no employees at the office and have adopted home working. With a likely reduction in income over the coming months, keeping a check on costs or even reducing them is critical. Here is our suggestion for reducing costs: REDUCE TRAVEL Maybe this is already a given with the government advice on none essential travel but consider why you were travelling and whether your work can be carried out remotely via conference call. Many of our vendors are offering three trials of their video conferencing solutions. The can in many cases be deployed using laptops so everyone can have the capability of holding a video conference.   WORK FROM HOME There is an armoury of tools to help you work from home and our vendors have offered free trials of most our services so you can now implement a 25 seat call centre or telephone system for your home workers at no cost. If you already have a telephone system from us we may be able to provide temporary home working features at no cost.   REDUCE YOUR UTILITY BILLS If you do not take your telephone services from Plum then now is a good time to obtain a quotation for changing to us. We provide a wide range of services and can help you consolidate your billing. Now is an ideal time to source your gas and electricity supplies as prices are currently low. You can obtain quotes for several years and lock into the current prices. Send us a copy of you latest gas or electricity bill and we can provide you with market quotations.   REDUCE YOUR PLUM COSTS If you already take services from us check if any are not required or can be hibernated. We are happy to discuss options including reduction of channel quantities or tariff downgrades. If you are considering closing branches speak to us as we can enable smooth transfer of any required telephone numbers.    REVIEW YOU HOSTING COSTS If you are paying for hosting or email services elsewhere check what you would pay with Plum. Just contact us with details of your current services and we can supply a comparative quotation.   Tomorrow we will look at how you can keep your data secure and some more free offers.   We are here to help, please do not hesitate to contact us for advice.   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

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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

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Offers to help you work remotely 31 March 2020

Planning for homeworking can be a challenge especially if you have been thrown in at the deep end. Here is our lifebelt of support. NEVER MISS A CALL WITH THESE SUGGESTIONS CALL DIVERSION AND TWINNING Simple but straightforward, divert your calls to a mobile, landline or our voicemail service so you never miss a call. HORIZON COLLABORATE TRIAL LICENCES Instal the app on your desktop to have all the features of your desk phone at home or in the garden. AVAYA REMOTE WORKING TRIAL LICENCES Remote working for your Avaya system, take and make calls at home as though in the office. Licence availability depends on system version. VENDORS HAVE RUSHED TO THE SUPPORT OF BUSINESS WITH FREE TRIALS OF THEIR REMOTE WORKING AND CLOUD BASED SOLUTIONS FREE HOSTED TELEPHONE SYSTEM TRIAL Trial full featured hosted telephones at home or in the office, works with apps or IP handsets. AVAYA SPACES 2 MONTHS TRIAL Collaboration including, video meetings, screen sharing, chat, file and content sharing. FREE MICROSOFT TEAMS 6 MONTHS TRIAL Remote working is more important than ever. This trial enables you to quickly and easily share documents, conduct team video calls and more, for free. FREE OFFICE 365 E1 6 MONTHS TRIAL A great product to help employees work from home smoothly. And to help businesses, Microsoft is currently offering Office 365 E1 free for 6 months. FREE ACRONIS BACKUP UNTIL JULY To ensure you can protect your data take the 3 Months Free Acronis Backup Offer, meaning your data is safe over this period. FREE CLOUD SERVER AND VPN UNTIL JULY Ideal for those who are struggling for access to on-premise servers, or simply need a quick solution for sharing and accessing documents. There's no minimum terms and you can still add or remove servers as and when you wish. FREE TREND MAXIMUM SECURITY FOR 6 MONTHS Trend Micro Maximum Security free for 6 months, a consumer security product for your personal Microsoft® Windows® or Mac computer (one device per download). All offers valid as at 31 March 2020. Please check for current availability. For service please contact us by email service@plumcom.co.uk or telephone 01616223500. Please stay safe. Peter Savic Peter Savic Plum Communications Limited STAY SAFE

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COVID-19 RESPONSE 30 March 2020

Our services provide a critical connection and we will continue to provide these.

To keep employees safe, some are home working and others are on furlough.

Visits to customer premises are on hold except for critical services and emergencies.

We continue to accept and fulfil orders for new services and hardware.

If you are a customer needing help to set up home working or call diversion please contact us.

Our offices are closed to visitors and we cannot accept mail or deliveries at the office.

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

Please stay safe.

Peter Savic

Peter Savic

Plum Communications Limited

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The rights to claim reserved .uk domain names ends soon

You may be familiar with and already have domains ending in .UK, such as .co.uk, .me.uk and .org.uk. These are run and managed by Nominet.

In 2014 Nominet launched the shorter .uk domain ending and reserved some of the matching .uk domain names for those who already had domains ending in .co.uk, .org.uk, .me.uk, .net.uk, .plc.uk, or .ltd.uk.

The reservation period ends on 25^th June 2019 - what does this mean to you?

• If you own a current domain such as .co.uk then you may have the rights to the matching .uk. Don’t miss out and register it before the deadline.
• Until 14 June customers can register their reserved .uk name free for one year.
• To confirm your requirement please email service@plumcom.co.uk with the domain name you require and we will confirm if you have rights to the domain.

If you do not have a reserved .uk domain but there is one you would like, you can ask us to register the name when it is released providing it is not already registered and is available.

We cannot reserve domain names and all domains are registered on a best endeavours basis and in accordance with Nominet terms and conditions.

If you require advice on domain name registration or hosting please contact us

Telephone: 0161 622 3500 email service@plumcom.co.uk

Plum Communications is a Nominet Member and Registrar PLUMCOM

Registrations are in accordance with Nominet Rules More Information

You can check domain registration rights with Nominet Check Rights

Please remember to return to PLUM to register any domain names

Initial registration first year is free until 14 June 2019, second year is £10 All prices are plus VAT

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NHS across UK hit by Ransomware attacks

After a weekend when NHS devices across the UK were put out of action by ransomware you will be concerned whether you have adequate protection for your own PCs and data.

Simple steps involve

1. Making sure that operating system and programs are up to date
2. Installing suitable anti virus software
3. Making secure backups of data

If you have procedures in place you may have more steps than this but if you do not have at least all three you should consider whether you have adequate protection. We are not suggesting that you only need the three steps shown, there are other measures that we can also help you with.

The cost of compromised PCs or lost data could be enormous in terms of time, customer loyalty and financial.

For more information on how to make those first steps, or if you have already made them and require more detailed support such as managed firewalls, encrypted backup, cloud storage and disaster recovery contact Plum Communications.

Always here to help.

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The worm that spreads WanaCrypt0r

Something that many security researchers have feared has indeed come true. Threat actors have integrated a critical exploit taking advantage of a popular communication protocol used by Windows systems, crippling thousands of computers worldwide with ransomware.
Within hours of being leveraged, a flaw that had been recently patched by Microsoft has been used to distribute the WanaCrypt0r ransomware and wreak havoc worldwide.
In this blog post, we will describe the worm responsible for spreading this ransomware by looking at its capabilities and what has made this threat so successful...

Read this blog in its original posting in the malwarebytes blog https://blog.malwarebytes.com/threat-analysis/2017/05/the-worm-that-spreads-wanacrypt0r/.

Malwarebytes is available from Plum Communications for minimal sum per device.

For a free evaluation or a review of your existing security contact Plum Communications 0161 622 3500.

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Getting the right technology for your business just got easier with Cisco easylease

With genuine 0% financing for Cisco technology, there is no need for a large upfront payment. Instead you can spread the cost of your solution over 36 months with no hidden costs. So why not free up your cashflow by not paying up front, whilst you speed up your technology adoption and realise the benefits sooner.

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/global/en_be/easylease/pdf/Customer_UK-EN.pdf

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Wishing you all the best for Christmas and the New Year

We thank you for your custom in 2016 and look forward to working with you in 2017.

Our support centre is open throughout the holiday period and
you can contact us by telephoning 0161 622 3500
email to service@plumcom.co.uk or
visit our website http://www.plumcom.co.uk

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Beat the Microsoft Price Increase Buy Your 365 Subscriptions Now

Office 365 is a great way for businesses to handle their emails, calendar and file sharing allowing access and collaboration from multiple devices so your PC and laptop are synched with the same information as your mobile. No need to continually download the same emails on multiple devices, Microsoft 365 does this automatically for you.

Most businesses start with Business Essentials which provides email, calendar, contacts and file sharing and then may take Business Premium if they require licences for Outlook, Word, Excel and Powerpoint. Each mailbox comes with 50MB storage and there is 1TB file storage available with included One Drive.

Prices are due to increase from 1st January 2017 but if you purchase from Plum Communications on the monthly subscription plan you will beat the increase as prices are guaranteed for 12 months from date of purchase.


If you are unsure of the services you need or require prices please call us and we will be happy to help. Services offered subject to contract and Plum Communications terms of trading.


Call Plum Communications 0161 622 3500 for help and advice on Office 365 Services.

Price guarantee applies to first 12 months of subscription when ordered prior to 24 December 2016.

Existing Microsoft Direct customers may transfer to Plum Communications to take advantage of the price guarantee.

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