Remote working

Covid-19 and remote working – keep calm and log on

With the thought of Covid-19 on a lot of people’s minds, many business are looking at ways to assist their staff in remote working.

At Deep Blue we pride ourselves at not just providing great products and services but also great support. This is why we are offering the following tips and guidance for remote working.

Horizon

With Horizon, starting to work remotely couldn’t be easier. There are multiple ways your staff can receive their calls at home:

  • If you have a compatible router* and a horizon PSU, you can take your horizon handset home with you. First connect the PSU to power. Then connect your handset’s ethernet cable to one of the ports on the back of your router.
  • You can link each Horizon handset with up to five other numbers using twinning. This allows home workers to receive calls on their Horizon phone, home phone and other devices at the same time.
  • For a small additional charge, users can have a Horizon desktop soft phone. This allows users to make and manage their calls via their computer (available for Mac and Windows).
  • For a small additional charge, users can get the Horizon app on their smartphone (available for Android and iOS). This allows them to not only make and receive Horizon calls on their mobile, but also gives them access to the company directory, their speed dials, recent call details and many other Horizon features.

Horizon Collaborate – 4 month free trial

For next level functionality, you can upgrade your Horizon service to collaborate. Collaborate adds the following features to your Horizon service:

  • Audio and Video calling via desktop and smartphone
  • Personal audio, web and video conferencing with up to 15 users (with both Horizon and non-Horizon users)
  • Room audio, web and video conferencing with up to 15 users(with both Horizon and non-Horizon users)
  • Instant messaging and presence (info on a users status and availability)
  • Service management (call settings)
  • Drag and drop file and desktop sharing
  • Visual Voicemail
  • Address Books/Contact Management

This means your work force can still communicate with each other in real time, collaborate with each other and even host conferences with suppliers or customers, all from the comfort of their own home.

In light of the current Covid-19 situation and the increased interest in remote working, Horizon are currently offering the first four months of collaborate for free to support business in establishing home working.

Because Horizon is controllable from anywhere you have an internet connection you can still manage your calls even if you can’t get to your office. Redirecting them or updating your voicemail message to keep your callers up to date.

The statistics tab on the portal allows you to keep track of calls made and received on each Horizon handset. This lets you know if calls are being missed so you can react to this.

Remote Working

SIP Trunks

These can be forwarded to alternative numbers via the trunks themselves or via your phone system. Customers with SIP Trunk call manager can forward numbers via the call manager portal.

PSTN and ISDN

If you are using PSTN or ISDN, a facility called admin controlled call forwarding can be setup on your lines. This allows you to add and remove forwards on your phone numbers via a handset connected to your line. There is a small additional charge for this service and it typically takes 24 hours for the service to be applied at the exchange.

From protecting workers who may fall into at risk groups. Keeping your business running should staff be quarantined. An alternative for staff with childcare issue should schools be closed. Or just a new way to run your business. Whatever reason is making you consider remote working, Deep Blue are happy to be on hand to support your business.

Whether you are an existing customer or not, please feel free to contact us to discuss what options may be suitable for your business.

* Not all broadband services and routers will work with Horizon. Some routers may use settings such as SIP ALG which can interfere with Horizon.

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