Setting Up A New Office

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Setting up a new office

Setting up a new office can seem like a mighty task when you start considering everything that’s involved. Everything from finding the right location, designing a workplace, negotiating a lease or deciding whether to buy or rent the equipment and services are just a few of the critical decisions that need making if your new office is going to run smoothly.

So where do you start?

With so many things to consider it can often seem like a daunting task, especially if setting up a new office is something you have never done before. Firstly, don’t worry we’ll work with you to take you through this process step-by-step and make sure you have every angle covered.  By setting up an organised office you’ll have more time to focus on your business so you mustn’t leave the planning to the last minute and give yourself time to evaluate all available options. This way you can be safe in the knowledge that everything will be completed on time, within budget, and that all systems are ready to go on the first morning in your new office.

As a rule, we would recommend considering your options for telephone lines and internet connectivity at your new office at least 12 weeks before you plan to move in. This way we can make all the relevant checks, explain options and costs, make decisions on which services to order, and manage them in a timely way. Whilst at the same time handling all required surveys well in advance and pushing back delivery dates to fit with your move-in dates.

Working from home solutions – How we can help

Remote working has become popular since the coronavirus outbreak in 2020. Indeed many businesses are seeking working from home solutions.

So if you don’t know where to start, we have some options for you to consider.

Option 1 – Phone Twinning. Phone twinning is a feature which can link your office/work phone, to your mobile or desk phone at home. There are many options with this feature. Such as having only your home phone ring, only your office phone or having your calls go to someone else completely. This is ideal for employees off on holiday or unable to come in due to illness.

Option 2 – Smart Phone Application. Our smart phone application is free of charge and downloaded on android or iOS. The app provides a version of your desk phone on your mobile, which uses Wi-Fi for calls. Once downloaded the application you will receive instructions on how to log in and set it up.

Option 3 – PC Phone Application. This application works the same as above, but the difference is that it runs on your PC. Thus removing the need for a physical phone at your home office. The user would need a headset to answer calls and use this feature once installed.

Hopefully the above information is useful to you. If you need any more information, feel free to contact us.

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There are many benefits and options to consider when purchasing a new telephone system.

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Buying a telephone system

Business Telephone Services

Setting Up A New Office - Frequently Asked Questions

Well lucky for you we have years of experience helping businesses to set up IT & telecommunications in their new office. We’ve put together some of the most FAQs we get asked so you can be sure that your office move is properly managed, completed on time, within budget and with no disruption to business operations. However, if you’d rather skip the questions and just speak to us directly, then please fill in the contact form and one of our team will be in touch soon.

The technology of telephony is always changing. So when deciding on your phone system, always keep in mind that today’s latest tech will almost certainly be outdated in just a few short years. That said, there’s no denying that right now there is a big shift taking place. Because traditional analogue and ISDN services are being phased out. Now making way for new IP Telephony such as VoIP (Voice Over Internet).

These new systems offer many more opportunities to greatly improve communications and productivity within your business. Indeed one of the greatest advantages of a VoIP phone system is its scalability. VoIP technology makes it easy for businesses to add, remove, or change extensions. Therefore, making expansions simple and completely seamless. When you are setting up a new office you want a phone system that’s going to grow with your business… Simply put, a VoIP phone system does just that.

When installing a telephone system for the first time when you are setting up a new office, there are three main types of telephone line you can consider:

PSTN telephone lines… This is the most basic type of telephone line available. You will need a PSTN line to support any of the following devices or services:

  • Fax machine connection
  • Intruder or fire alarm systems
  • Emergency lift telephones
  • Analogue dial-up modems
  • Remote access for maintenance support
  • Franking machines.

With a PSTN line, it is only possible to have a single telephone number per line. This can be restrictive if you are planning to have many incoming call numbers for departments. Or want individual direct dial numbers to increase the efficiency of your incoming call handling.

VOIP… A VOIP service connection allows you to make and receive telephone calls via the internet as opposed to the telephone network. It offers a very high degree of flexibility on numbering options. You can choose to have any UK STD code as your incoming number irrespective of your geographic location. This can prove very useful for some businesses when relocating “out of area”. Because you can take your fixed-line telephone with you anywhere.

The voice quality of speech via SIP trunks is very slightly lower than with ISDN lines and is a similar quality to a UK mobile telephone call. The quality of service level is also slightly lower. Because response time to faults is slower with internet providers than with phone line providers. That said, the cost savings involved with VoIP telephone lines are noticeable. For instance, no line rental, cheaper calls including international calls, and free calls between your organisation’s offices. Thus making VoIP appealing to most businesses.

It is also worth keeping in mind BT’s intention to switch off the PSTN and ISDN networks by 2025. Businesses will need to migrate to a single IP core network. This will ultimately will replace all legacy networks and platforms. Thinking about migrating sooner rather than later? This could be very beneficial to your business, and it’s a good time to move on to new tech whilst setting up a new office.

Once you have decided who is going where in your new office. It is essential to ensure that each position has a socket available to connect a telephone or computer. Also any other equipment, such as printers scanners, and label machines. If you’re setting up a previously used office, you may be able to make use of pre-existing cabling and this could save you money.

It is important to understand if any pre-existing telephone cabling can support your telephones. Thus, you may wish to consider extending or replacing any pre-existing cabling system. Using a newer flexible cat5 or cat6 structured network cabling system. Of course only if this is not present already.

Once you have a basic floor plan detailing the required connections, we will then arrange for the free on-site survey. Then, give you a detailed account of what you need to do next, if anything, whilst you are setting up a new office network.

Following a free site survey, we can provide you with feedback on the required cabling work. Including how much this will cost and how long it will take to complete the job. Providing useful budget details to build into your set-up costs. We can even consider your electrical provision at the same time as part of this process.

No one likes to pay out on maintenance service cover for their telephone systems. Since for many people, it’s a service they never see the benefits of. However, if you’re unfortunate enough to experience problems with your telephone system or network. Then having a maintenance support contract with a telecom provider you can trust, could be the lifeline you need to return to normal business in quick time.

A telephone system maintenance contract from Tech IP ensures you will have a qualified engineer working on your problem within four working hours. Importantly, with all parts and labour costs covered. We use a network of qualified and experienced telecom engineers across the UK. This means we can respond fast, and provide your business with a reliable service at very competitive rates. Support contracts are available on all manufacturer’s products. Including BT-supplied Nortel (Norstar) systems. To find out more about this service you can visit our System Maintenance & Repairs page. 

As a rule, we would recommend considering your options for phone lines and internet connectivity at least eight weeks before you plan to start working in the office. This way we can make all the relevant checks, explain options and provide costs. Therefore making decisions on which services to order and managing them in a timely way. It also gives us time to handle all required surveys well in advance. So we can push back any delivery dates we may need to fit with your start dates.

It’s not uncommon for expected installation dates to run past their standard recommended lead times for telephone lines. Especially if any unforeseen snags appear, such as needing extra equipment in the local exchange. Or, the telephone network requires more cabling, or your required extra cabling for your new site.

Every business wants fast broadband. We actually have the skills and knowledge available to us to determine what is available in terms of speed and providers at every location. For example, a location that has fibre broadband offers very fast speeds without the need for dedicated circuits. So speak with us when you are considering setting up a new office. We can provide you with this information, even before you decide on a location for your new business.

Therefore just provide us with the full postal address for your new site. Then, we can carry out checks in the local exchange to establish which internet service providers can provide service to your new site. Including which of these offers the fastest, most cost-effective, and most reliable service available.

You can visit our internet services page for more details.

Cost is a concern in any business decision. So when you’re setting up a new office, what you spend can greatly impact the profitability of your business.

We understand how important cutting costs can be for a business. Especially in today’s economic climate, when many companies are just trying to stay afloat. That’s why we’ve put together a few pointers for you to consider before setting up a new office.

  • Consider your one-off installation and set-up charges for the new site systems and services. Make savings by securing lower costs on contract terms from your providers.
  • Try to reduce the number of different suppliers you use. If we handle many of your services, not only will you save money and time you would spend managing different suppliers, but also save on each product or service. Because by placing more business with fewer suppliers, you will obtain a lower buy price.
  • Evaluate your current operating costs for services such as telephone lines, calls, and internet access. Indeed we can offer this for free to benchmark these against many alternative providers. Also, often produces operating cost savings in the region of 25% to 50%

Consider new technologies and systems that can provide cost-efficiency benefits. Such as access control for staff access to the site, remote worker systems, or voice messages.

Yes, look at what technology is available and how to use it to enhance and improve your business. Consider new technologies and systems that can provide cost-efficiency benefits. Access control for staff access to the site, remote worker systems, or voice messaging systems. These could all save your business money.
 
For those of you relocating premises, you should consider migrating your IT infrastructure to a data centre. Thus eliminating hardware management in your new office. Look at moving your business into the cloud. Also, decide what managed services you need to maintain on your premises for success. You should always be thinking about your IT infrastructure moving forward. If this is your first office, then consider which tech will provide you with streamlined services now and in years to come.

0800 numbers have always been free to call from any UK landline and are now included in UK mobile phone bundles. They are nationally recognised as being freephone numbers. Also, act as a great way to encourage sales inquiries. They can be quite expensive though as the number owner gets charged for the incoming call. So they are often used for marketing campaigns, where extra costs are considered a marketing investment.

Geographic numbers, also referred to as UK virtual numbers or 01/02 numbers, are the most familiar among consumers. They are also believed to be the cheapest to call. They allow any business regardless of location to apply local area numbers to generate more calls. This means you can base your business in one city, but your customers think they are dialling an area code for somewhere else.

The benefit of this is that you can have a prestigious telephone address for your business. Whilst running your business somewhere else entirely. Additionally, geographic numbers are portable, so it also means that if you move offices in the future, your phone number goes along with you.

In fact, these numbers are universally understood and should be your first choice for a normal business number.

Tech IP knows how important inbound calls are to your business. With our intelligent telephone numbers and routing service, we guarantee you have access to all available standard UK local numbers beginning 01 or 02. So with around 650 area codes across the UK to choose from, that’s a lot of scope for your business.

It is also possible nowadays to configure any of the above types of inbound telephone numbers to ring in the way you choose. So you can enjoy the technology in the network or the cloud, without spending thousands on an expensive on-site phone system.

With our intelligent routing platforms, you can enable features like automated answering with greetings, and queue announcements. Also, the press 1 for “sales” and 2 for “service” type systems. You can even make your calls ring different locations at the same time or in order. This includes mobile numbers and landline numbers. Which can prove critical if you have a mobile or distributed workforce.

latest advice, technology and manufacturers products

Tech IP provides comprehensive business communications solutions, including VoIP and cloud telephone systems. We specialise with businesses setting up a new office providing office equipment, IT and other managed services.  Our team of skilled engineers can provide installations for IT and Telecoms when setting up a new office whatever the scale of your business and we are dedicated to delivering first-class service every time to all of our customers. Throughout Lancashire, Merseyside and the Northwest. Including the following areas: Blackpool, Preston, Southport, Liverpool, Manchester, Bolton, Bury, Wigan, St Helens, Blackburn, Burnley, Leeds, Warrington, Stockport, Oldham, Chester and Salford. However, please do contact us wherever you are based as we can support clients anywhere in the UK.

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Founded in 2001, Tech IP offer a project managed approach to provide fixed and mobile telephone services and products, and a wide range of internet connectivity solutions. We believe in a partnership approach to business;  adding value to your business by providing technology efficiency and focusing on service delivery. Making your life easier with our complete communications solutions.

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