Complex IT solutions are the kinds of things that can give a small business nightmares. From specifying what you need through to implementing and supporting it, even smaller businesses can find themselves spending more time on IT than they’d like.
Part of the answer lies in converged networks, which use a single architecture to carry both voice and data so you don’t need multiple networks around your office. Although convergence can sound complicated, it could simplify your communications and offer greater flexibility in the future.
Whether you’re taking your first steps up the convergence ladder, or expanding an existing system BT can give you all the support you need. It has partnered with market-leading companies like Cisco and Nortel to bring you solutions that can adapt to meet the present needs of your company, while enabling you to converge your voice and data systems in the future. For example, there’s BT Business Communications Manager (BCM), an advanced, one-system phone solution developed with Nortel which can meet your requirements for voice, data, and voice over IP services.
Using a solution like BCM can help you serve your customers more effectively, improving communications with them. It could also help streamline your costs as there’s a single system for data, voice, and other applications. What’s more, it’s IP-ready when you are, reducing future investment when you want to move to IP telephony.
If your needs are more complex BT has other converged options. For example, there’s Cisco CallManager Express Solo, a system which provides all the hardware and phone system requirements for a site of up to 119 people. Rather than having to build separate voice and data networks, Cisco CallManager Express Solo requires just a single local area network (LAN), potentially reducing costs and complexity.
Beyond this, there are products like BT IP Converge – a managed solution capable of expanding beyond your local area network. IP Converge is able to link multiple sites together into a single wide area network (WAN) over one network link, converting voice calls into data traffic, and possibly saving you money on inter-site calls. The system is tailored to your needs, and managed from end-to-end, making it ideal for companies that don’t possess a large IT support team.
It’s just one more way BT can help you focus on the things that really matter to you.
Avoid The IT Headache
Winning a new piece of work is a big success for any business, but it can have unforeseen consequences. You might have to take on extra staff to deal with the work, which means you have a sudden headache over increased IT requirements. They may want new PCs, your internet connection may need to grow, and of course they’ll need network services too.
That’s where BT Business IT Manager can help. BT Business IT Manager is a new service giving you access to experienced professional IT managers who can design, install and maintain the IT that’s right for your business – even when you’re expanding. BT can even supply IT equipment for you at competitive prices. BT can give you expert advice on how to meet your IT needs, with affordable options that let you know exactly what you’re paying. For example, BT can supply, install and support five PCs and a server.
When everything’s up and running, your specialist “IT manager” can help reduce worries over your systems, and let you concentrate on your business. With BT IT Site Manager, our support analysts can monitor your network and PCs and chase down faults before they occur, sometimes without an engineer’s visit being necessary.
If you don’t want this level of support, it’s no problem. BT Business IT Manager also includes a range of options for support of your own equipment.
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