Telephone stress

Humans are social animals and the telephone is a vital tool in helping us to communicate across the globe.  And you can never have too much of a good thing so the invention of the smart phone has brought us nothing but good. 

So runs the mantra but according to researchers at the University of Worcester, smart phones can actually be a cause of anxiety and stress.  That insistent buzz is a call to keep on top of messages and e-mails.  This causes stress which bizarrely is only intensified when there is a quiet spell.  This leads to users obsessively checking their phones, wasting valuable time and increasing stress further.

In fact, 37% of adults and 60% of teenagers who own smart phones have admitted to being addicted to them.  So much so that some users admit to feeling phantom vibrations which make them think that they have received a message and trigger them into checking their phones.  Users then become obsessive and upset when messages stop arriving leading to the Warwick University study author, Richard Balding, commentating that “So many people have smartphones now that the effect they are having on their lives and the amount of time they are spending on them is, to be honest, quite scary.”

Actually, there is nothing new in the telephone being the cause of anxiety and stress, particularly in work situations.  In a way it is our very familiarity with the phone which makes it so hard to use properly.  Businesses expect new staff members to instantly be familiar with the phone and to use it with confidence. 

However there is a world of difference between chatting with friends and conducting a business conversation.  Whilst devices such as virtual switchboards have taken some of the pressure off transferring calls, it is still important that employees are trained in the use of the telephone; as a minimum following the three fold approach of knowing what to say, how to say it and who to refer to in case of difficulty.  Using call recording and storage will help with training making it easy for calls to be revisited and telephone techniques refined.  For smaller businesses, the use of a virtual assistant service can also remove the pressure of answering calls whilst engaged on other tasks.

With stress being one of the primary causes of employee absenteeism it is up to businesses to ensure that the telephone is not one of the trigger points.  So training in telephone techniques should include both the use of the telephone within the office as well as the use of smartphones.  Suggestions such as a ban on out of hours e-mails, smart phone free periods and training people not to check for messages have all been put forward as ways to help to relieve this stress and put the telephone back in its rightful place as a handy communication tool.

The 4G saga continues

We have previously reported on the continuing saga of the transition to 4G mobile coverage and the perceived effects of delays on the UK’s competitiveness. Responding to previous consultations, Ofcom has set out new proposals alongside a ten week consultation period.

The aim of these proposals is to provide 4G coverage for 98% of the UK population as well as institute measures to encourage competition between providers. The proposed enhanced level of coverage will bring mobile and broadband services to areas of the UK which presently have no service, at the same time bringing broadband to areas which will appreciate it most rather than areas which simply suit the operator.

One fact which stands out from the Ofcom announcement is that demand within Western Europe for mobile data is estimated to increase by 500% in the next five years. Ofcom say that the demand is “being fuelled by smartphones and mobile broadband data services such as video streaming, email, messenger services, online mapping and social networking”.

Certainly for businesses which have already embraced, or are thinking of embracing, the advantages of internet telephony, the lack of signal in certain areas is one which seems inconceivable given the progress of the internet itself. Using services such as call forwarding, caller divert and specialist UK and international telephone numbers a business can now place itself anywhere in the world and still seem to be providing a local service. For example, using a package such as Calling Spain allows a UK business to be run from Spain. With the UK telephone number being diverted automatically to Spain and an optional voicemail service, your caller need not know that you are enjoying a period of Spanish sunshine whilst running your UK business.

Using another example, the use of a China Toll Free Service brings 1.3billion potential customers to your reach with the use of a single phone number. With the calls being routed to your office anywhere in the world or even on a “follow the sun” basis, you no longer need to have an office in China to do business with China.

With such a truly global telephone network at our feet, the fact that there remain certain areas of the UK which are out of reach save for landlines seems inconceivable. These latest Ofcom proposals are expected to lead to an auction of 4G services in Q4 of 2012 and hopefully will lead to the UK moving to the forefront of the communication race.

Updating the telephone system

We were interested to see a report recently on the reasons why a US City Council had decided to upgrade its telephone system. Our interest arose not from any connection with the area but because the problems encountered by Willits City Council are typical of those experienced by organisations with outdated telephone systems.

A report from Wefinda in October 2010 revealed that setting up good communication systems was the number one priority for new businesses; coming in well ahead of location, brand or even website. The trouble is that for many businesses, once communications have been established they then cease to exist as far as development and planning are concerned.

For Willits City Council the prime drivers alongside frustration arising from using an outmoded system included:

 * Lack of replacement parts with little expertise available to fix breakdowns
 * Insufficient scalability with police officers having to swap handsets around desks on a daily basis
 * Lack of notification of voice mail messages leading to employees having to check for voicemails on a regular basis, thereby wasting valuable time
 * Difficulty in forwarding and transfering calls

In choosing a replacement, in common with many businesses nowadays the Council have turned to an internet based telephone system. This will not only remove the need for specialised replacement parts, it also allows them to integrate their entire system, making call transferring a simple process. One example cited was the ability for out of hours water and sewage emergency calls to be automatically forwarded to the police dispatcher.

The report from The Willets News doesn’t specify all the features of the new system chosen by the Council but we suspect that these might have included the ability to record and store calls as well as an integration of the system into local disaster planning. With internet telephony systems being extremely cost effective, features such as managing calls based on the caller’s own number, automatic call queuing and transfer, number switching and the provision of information lines become affordable for most organisations and businesses.

Whilst the prime driver for switching to internet telephony may be frustration at the restrictions of an outmoded system; once the decision to switch is made businesses are usually surprised at the cost savings available. Internet telephony is usually far cheaper than normal telephone calls and with the added functionality that a virtual switchboard brings it is often possible to cut wasted staff time and streamline marketing efforts.

The Willits system is due to be installed shortly and we are sure that, like many other converts before them, they will soon be singing the praises of their new internet telephone system.

A Nation Online

The British used to be known as a nation of small shopkeepers. Now apparently we are a nation of online shoppers with 89% of UK internet users visiting online shops in 2011. According to an Ofcom report, this makes us the most online nation in Europe.

Our love affair with the internet is not confined to shopping either. Between February 2010 and August 2011 smart phone ownership doubled to 46% with a quarter of us regularly using our phones to access news and 34% using our phones to play games. In addition, 27% of us watch TV online every week and 79% of us regularly visit online social networking sites.

In fact, virtually the only area where we are lagging behind in the use of the internet is in making calls online. Only 19% of UK broadband subscribers use the internet to make calls online compared with 28% in Italy and 26% in France.

One area which the Ofcom report doesn’t cover is the use of the internet for making business telephone calls. The advent of the internet has revolutionised the way in which business can make and receive calls, slashing their phones costs in the process. Even putting aside services such as Skype, basic VoIP calls over the internet are far more cost effective than equivalent landline calls. This is true whether the recipient has an internet phone connection or not. VoIP to landline calls are still cheaper than landline to landline calls whilst VoIP to VoIP calls are either a fraction of the cost or even free.

Those businesses who have taken advantage of the internet telephone revolution tend to magnify their advantage by installing a virtual switchboard. Again at a fraction of the cost of a traditional switchboard, the virtual switchboard casts a whole new light on the way in which telephone systems are managed. From auto-call divert to telephone recording and from multi-call queuing to the use of international and local numbers the virtual switchboard enables businesses to take a fresh look at their marketing and sales functions.

For example, businesses trying to break into a new market may benefit from having a local number for potential clients to call. Linking that local number into the virtual switchboard means that businesses can benefit from multiple numbers across the UK or even the globe whilst retaining a single business office. Alternatively, the switchboard can be programmed to automatically divert calls around international offices depending on the time of day.

This latest Ofcom report shows that we have mastered the internet for the fun things in life. Let’s hope that the next report shows that our businesses have also taken note of the internet telephone revolution.