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As someone who uses computers, you might have come across 2-factor authentication also known as 2FA. The general idea behind it is something other than your password which can identify the person accessing the account as the owner.

It is an extra layer of protection against cyber criminals and quite frankly it is becoming a need rather than a want. This is one reason why Microsoft will begin to make this compulsory on their products such as Office 365, emails and Azure. (more…)

In the world of cyber security, there is no such thing as standing still. The threats posed to businesses and individuals online are constantly evolving and so too must our defences against them. In this blog post, we take a look into the future of cyber security to predict what it will look like 10 years from now. We’ll explore how new technologies will be used to protect businesses from hackers and cyber threats and explain how these threats will continue to evolve in the coming years.

Unfortunately, it is safe to say cyber security threats will always continue to be present but with the right tools and technologies in place, we can stay one step ahead of the hackers.

In the next decade, we predict that cyber security will become more proactive than reactive. Currently, most businesses adopt a wait-and-see approach to cyber security, only investing in defences after they have been attacked. However, this is no longer sustainable in the current climate. In the next decade, businesses will need to be more proactive in their approach to cyber security. They will have to anticipate attacks and invest in defences before they happen.

This shift will be driven by a number of factors, including the increasing sophistication of cyber threats, the growing awareness of the importance of cyber security among business leaders and the development of new technologies that make it easier to identify and defend against cyber threats.

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Cybercrime is becoming more and more common as hackers find new ways to exploit businesses and steal data. If you’re not taking steps to protect your business from cybercrime, you’re putting yourself at risk! In this blog post, we’ll look at some of the best ways to improve your cyber security measures and protect your business from cyber attacks.

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Cyber attacks are becoming more common and it is important that businesses stay safe from them. In this blog post, we will discuss the basics of cyber security for businesses and how you can put them into practice. We will also cover the 4 principles of cyber security, the 5 C’s of cyber security and how to conduct a cyber security risk assessment. By following these tips and implementing an effective IT security strategy, you can reduce the risk of a cyber attack and keep your business safe!

Cyber security is the study of how to secure sensitive data, computer systems, networks and pieces of software applications against cyber assaults. Nowadays, keeping your business technology systems secure is a continual task due to the constant battle against cybercriminals.

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If you’re a business owner, then you know that finding the right hosting solution is essential to your success. With so many different types of hosting available, it can be difficult to decide which one is right for you. In this blog post, we will compare cloud hosting and hosted services and explain the benefits of each. We’ll also provide examples of businesses who have benefited from using each type of hosting. So, what’s the difference? Let’s find out! (more…)

How do you maintain business continuity when a crisis hits your company? If the last 18 months have taught us anything, it is that there’s no such thing as being over-prepared. (more…)

What are the risks to critical data?

Data is the lifeblood of businesses of all sizes. It’s not just your customers’ personal details. It also includes the proprietary information that gives your business value. Whether it’s a secret recipe or detailed financial forecasts, your critical data is central to your success. Managed backup services protect your business by preventing your data from being wiped completely. And, just as importantly, improve your customers’ confidence that their information is safe in your hands.

Within the last month, we’ve heard how the UK government is struggling to recover 400,000 records from its police database that were wiped due to human error.

There has also been an increase in cases of corporate espionage, sabotage and security violations as a consequence of the pandemic. With more employees working from home and morale low, the risk of misconduct has grown significantly.

Data loss is also a very real consequence of cybersecurity breaches such as a ransomware attack. In December 2020, one breach cost a US trucking company $7.5 million. It’s also true that many victims must rebuild their systems from scratch.

Apart from the financial impact, the Data Protection Act 2018 (GDPR) dictates that you must notify customers of a serious data loss. That includes explaining its consequences and the measures you’ve taken to deal with the issue and mitigate the personal impact.

If you can’t recover the data, then neither can you recover the reputational cost to your business. In fact, around 10% of small companies end up folding completely as a result of a data breach.

The importance of cloud backups and recovery

Managed backup services automatically back up your system, providing a failsafe that minimises the risk of data loss.

As a rule of thumb, you need to back up every eight hours of critical data. That means you should back up the work of one person every eight hours. Or two people every four hours, 240 people every two minutes, and so on.

Backing up your data to the cloud is (unfortunately) not as simple as clicking that little ‘save’ button. A cloud services provider (CSP) has to offer a specific level of service, security, backup integrity and accessibility.

A CSP’s data centre is the backbone that supports your data’s integrity. It stores your files across a cluster of servers. That means your data is safe even if one were to go down. And more servers results in safer and more accessible data in the event of disaster recovery.

Each data backup happens incrementally. Here, the system saves seed data in temporary storage before transferring it to the cloud via a high-speed internet connection.

Managed backups can also provide multiple recovery points. As a result, older versions of data can be restored if the latest version were to be maliciously changed or encrypted. Both are good examples of what can happen after an insider or ransomware attack.

Since the CSP monitors your managed backup service, there is almost no need for intervention from yourself. They will ensure there is always space for your data, optimise your system and warn of upgrades in advance.

How managed backup services help your business grow

Done properly, managed backup services can operate quickly, cheaply and with minimal disruption to your business. It is the definition of a no-brainer but really, it’s not just about convenience. Backing up your data means backing yourself against losing the revenue and reputation critical to the health of your company.

If you use a CSP that adheres to ISO 27001, customers know their information is protected to a global standard. It means automatic access to a world-class information security policy, objectives, risk assessment and treatment methodologies.

A robust data protection plan doesn’t just instil confidence in your management and employees. It also demonstrates to your customers that they can trust you with their information – and their money.

To learn more about how you can make the most of cloud services to support, enhance or protect your IT infrastructure, contact us for a free trial or demonstration.

What is CCaaS?

Few would argue against improving the customer experience in your contact centre. After all, it’s an essential part of retaining customers and improving their lifetime value. (more…)

Where should you start with a cloud contact centre solution?

Remember the old days when customer interactions were simple? No? Well, to be fair, those days never existed. Improving your call centre’s customer experience has always been a challenge. But with customers now engaging with your centre across multiple platforms at once, having the right tools can go a really long way. Which brings us nicely to cloud contact centre solutions.

If you’re running an old-style PBX system, you are probably used to its lack of functionality. Or scalability. Or flexibility. So your contact centre has developed workarounds. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t an easier, smarter way to give your customers what they need. So if you’re wondering whether it’s worth making the switch, here are five major benefits of moving over to a cloud-based contact centre.

Optimised customer interactions

It’s a running joke that millennials would rather lose a limb than take or make an actual real-life phone call. That sentiment has only grown amongst Gen Z. Of course, the trend for multiple channels has been growing for a while now. But without the proper support for omnichannel service integration, your customers won’t be able to engage on their own terms. And that is a great way to put them off.

Most workarounds tagged onto an existing phone system are cumbersome and awkward to manage. On the other hand, cloud contact centre software supports omnichannel routing, a seamless way to interact in real-time. It empowers agents to engage customers across any combination of voice, chat, social, website, app or self-service. All contributing to a single, cohesive customer experience that improves everyone’s outcomes.

CCaaS providers let you scale up or down with ease

For most businesses, running a PBX phone system requires a crystal ball. Do you buy a system big (and expensive) enough to cope with the demand you hope will happen in the next 3-5 years? Or do you start small and then spend big when the time comes to expand? Either way, the risk is ridiculous. Either in initial outlay or forced downtime when demand is at its highest.

But cloud-based contact centres are run via a subscription model, where you pay a small fee for each user you need on the system. It means contact centre as a service (CCaaS) is a completely flexible format that requires very little initial spending on physical hardware. As demand and personnel fluctuate, CCaaS providers will allow you to quickly adjust your subscription to make sure you’re only spending what you need.

Everything is hosted in the cloud, so upgrades to either the software or your subscription can be done with no downtime at all.

CCaaS solutions allow your team to work from anywhere

As 2020 proved, contact centres need to be ready to respond to anything. Running your contact centre as a CCaaS solution allows for a robust, portable and easy-to-operate system for both your admins and agents.

Because all they need is an internet connection to allow them to operate, you can facilitate flexible home working. And if anything should impact your operations within the call centre itself, you can react quickly and keep things running smoothly.

This is especially useful should the worst happen and your building loses internet. CCaaS can be flexible thanks to its reliance on VoIP and SIP channels as opposed to fixed telephone lines. When a telephone line goes down, your only option is to wait for an engineer. But VoIP and SIP use broadband. So in the unlikely event that your landline connection is cut, you can switch to mobile internet on handheld devices. No harm, no foul.

Cloud contact centre solutions add extra functionality

A good cloud contact centre solution is more than just your call centre software. Delivering great customer service means being able to integrate your CCaaS with every part of your operations. From CRM integrations to customer analytics, a strong solution can communicate with the APIs throughout your centre.

That means automatically connecting customer interactions with your support, sales and marketing. Or recording calls from the moment the phone rings. Or making it easier to operate your interactive voice response (IVR) so you can give more control back to your callers.

The point here is that these are the tools that will provide the best possible experience for your customers. Because they allow you to personalise it to their own needs.

Greater reliability, lower costs and more chances to innovate

Many cloud contact centre users can save up to 80% in costs when compared to legacy PBX systems. But a reliable CCaaS provider can add a few more benefits as well. Because your contact centre would operate from the cloud, your information and services are far safer than traditional options. At Venom, for example, we back our CCaaS solution up across three separate data centres. So in the unlikely event of even one data centre going off-line – your agents, admins and customers wouldn’t even know the difference.

There are also no long term contracts or upfront license charges. And because pricing is extremely flexible, you can react to market changes extremely quickly.

Learn more about cloud contact centre solutions

For more information about choosing the right CCaaS provider and the benefits of cloud-based contact centres, check out our resources below:

Learn more about how you can make the most of cloud services to support, enhance or protect your IT infrastructure. Contact us for a free trial or demonstration.

What is a PBX phone system?

That’s a good question and a reasonable place to start. Before we get into the specifics of a cloud PBX phone system, let’s talk about the function of the PBX in a business. It stands for Private Branch Exchange and is responsible for routing your internal and external phone calls. That includes directing your incoming calls to the correct person, as well as allowing workers to call each other internally.

In the days when all communication was via landline, your PBX needed to be a physical machine located in your building. In addition to shelling out for the hardware, you would have to buy the appropriate licenses. Not to mention employing technicians capable of chasing down any gremlins in the system.

Of course, back then this was all worth it. Because the alternative was having as many lines in your business as there were people employed, each with their own phone bill. The invention of the on-premises PBX drastically cut the number of individual phone lines needed by any business. It also meant employees could call each other without having to pay for the privilege.

But business phone systems don’t need a landline anymore. Voice over IP (VoIP) calls just require a high-speed broadband connection and a handset. In fact, by 2025 all traditional phone exchanges will become a thing of the past. So VoIP services will soon become the default option. And one consequence is that you can host a PBX solution virtually too.

Why a cloud PBX phone system works better

The chances are, you’re already using some cloud services within your business – whether it’s Microsoft Office or your CRM software. These are referred to as Software as a Service (SaaS). Everything needed to run the applications is hosted in a secure data centre and accessed through the internet via a monthly subscription.

The same approach can be taken to your PBX, through Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) solutions. All the hardware, software and other technology that your PBX needs to manage your calls are hosted in the cloud. Does your business have a reliable high-speed internet connection and VoIP enabled desk phones? Good. You can operate a cloud PBX phone system.

But just because the technology is new, that doesn’t make it better, right? Well, in this case, it does have some distinct advantages over the traditional on-premises PBX. Why else would we be writing this blog? So here are some of the reasons we think cloud phone systems are better.

1. Low startup costs

Firstly, you don’t have to buy any additional hardware for your phone system to operate. That’s one less financial commitment to worry about and less overall risk when it comes to getting started.

Instead, most hosting providers will charge you monthly per user. For small businesses, this is a huge deal. Depending on the size and type of your company, this alone could save tens of thousands of pounds. It also lets you move quickly and learn what works for you.

2. No server maintenance

At the risk of repetition, this is about lower risk and lower cost. Because your PBX is hosted in the cloud, your provider is responsible for conducting any maintenance. No maintenance results in you employing fewer technicians. Equally important is that your downtime will be near zero whenever your provider updates or maintains your system.

A reputable hosting provider will also house your virtual PBX server across multiple data centres. This is good for a number of reasons, primarily because it ensures a more reliable phone service. These highly secure data centres are spread across different geographical locations. In the unlikely event that one should fail, it will automatically be replaced to ensure there’s no disruption.

3. Less technical knowledge required

This is a follow up from point number two. Another feature of a cloud-based PBX is the ease with which you can set up and manage user settings. You don’t need the technical wizardry required for the on-premises version. Instead, you can customise settings using a simple drag and drop interface known as a Call Flow.

This includes everything from phone onboarding to configuration, permissions, call services and call routing.

4. Flexible and easy to scale

When you’re starting out, it can be difficult to know what your business might need. With a traditional PBX, you would have to invest in a system and hope for the best. But physical adjustments to your on-premises PBX are expensive and difficult. So whether things are going well or going in the opposite direction, you are going to have to pay.

But because CCaaS is charged per user, you can scale in any direction without jumping through hoops. You can add and remove lines whenever you need and access the same PBX even if you move buildings. And this leads us to point number 5.

5. Accessible from multiple locations

Perhaps you’re running your business from several offices. Or your employees need to work remotely (sound familiar?). Either way, having your phone services managed by a cloud-hosted PBX means you’re still only paying for what you use.

Your remote workers can get their calls routed to them wherever they’re located. All they need is their VoIP phone, a softphone or a mobile app. Same number, same functionality, and no need to invest in separate systems.

6. More features and better functionality

While the first five points are more about the bits your customers don’t see, this one is all about the customer experience. Having a more modern PBX makes it easier to automate and simplify the incoming phone call procedure. Features like call recording, auto-attendant and interactive voice response (IVR) have been around for a while. But a cloud-based PBX allows you to quickly and easily change settings without the need for additional technical knowledge.

It also integrates many other features as standard. Businesses running a traditional PBX will also use separate services alongside, like video conferencing. With a cloud-hosted PBX, you tend to get a far greater level of omnichannel support, incorporating live chat, SMS, video conferencing and social media.

Is a cloud PBX phone system right for you?

Although we’ve waxed lyrical about one particular option, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the optimal choice for your business. On-premises PBX systems do have their own advantages. For example, you have far greater control over something that you own outright. They are all your servers, your components, your equipment.

For some businesses this can provide a greater sense of security: you know exactly who has physical access to your system at all times. In addition, you can change settings, upgrade and fix issues without needing a third party.

If you’ve got the CAPEX for a large initial investment, it may even save you money in the very long term. However, this assumes that you won’t need to upgrade or make too many changes – and that is a big if.

But if you are a small or medium-sized business, we think a cloud PBX phone system makes for a stronger option overall. It offers better scalability, flexibility, usability and a lower total cost of ownership. And most importantly, it makes it easier to keep your customers happy.

Learn more about cloud PBX providers

For more information about choosing the right cloud PBX provider and the benefits of cloud-based contact centres, check out our resources below:

Learn more about how you can make the most of cloud services to support, enhance or protect your IT infrastructure. Contact us and get in touch for a free trial or demonstration.

What’s a session border controller?
You don’t have to be a call centre expert to appreciate the staggering number of ways that your customers now want to engage. From voice calls to web chat, text messages to video conferencing, communicating in real-time has become an omni-channel affair. As VoIP adoption becomes more commonplace, your enterprise needs to manage all of that communication data as securely and effectively as possible. That’s the job of a session border controller (SBC).

As the name would suggest, an SBC sits on the border of your own network, either at the network edge or at carrier interconnects. The SBC sits between your private network and any public network during real-time communication. It protects and regulates IP communication flows to ensure things go smoothly. That can happen in a number of ways.

How an SBC improves security, service and support

It makes SIP trunking easier
The session initiation protocol (SIP) is the industry standard for controlling VoIP, video, and text message communication sessions. In a cloud PBX system, it allows the network to establish, maintain and terminate these sessions between two or more parties.

SIP trunking refers to the virtual link between your PBX and the wider standard phone network (also known as the PSTN). It’s how the data generated by your chat/call/video is converted and communicated to other users through the public network.

A session border controller provides a layer of security to this communication by acting as a kind of firewall. An SBC makes it more difficult for bad actors to access any network vulnerabilities. It helps to safely route and connect SIP calls, as well as acting as a termination point for the SIP trunk itself.

Although the PSTN is due to close completely by 2025, the requirement for SIP trunking will remain very much at the fore for companies.

It secures your network against cyber threats

When we say SBCs can act as a firewall, they can actually perform a number of different security functions. They can be deployed to detect and prevent Denial of Service (DoS) or Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks before they affect the network.

Similarly, they help reduce the threat of telephony DoD by enabling features such as call admission control. This prevents the over-subscription of VoIP networks in real-time. Plus, an SBC can facilitate dynamic blacklisting of rogue endpoints. That means you can discover and isolate compromised devices or systems quickly.

SBCs can hide your internal IP network topology from cybercriminals, which reduces their chances of finding or exploiting any weaknesses.

And a session border controller prevents the communications data from interception or tampering by encrypting both the signalling and the media.

It smooths inter-network connections and communication

There is another consequence of the glut of communication channels that your enterprise has to manage. And that is the number of different networks and protocols that your business must handle in real-time.

Just think of the variety of IP applications that now communicate across the internet in your business. Unified communications (UC) require different streaming formats, audio codecs, messages and media. A session border controller provides the necessary interworking between incompatible protocols and SIP variants.

In essence, it acts as a translator in real-time. It makes sure that each party is fully supported throughout the data exchange session. So there’s no loss of features on either side.

It simplifies session gatekeeping and routing

We’ve mentioned the benefits of this kind of controller when it comes to protecting VoIP networks from call over-subscription. But an SBC can also perform session admission control. This, in turn, provides the same type of traffic management on the network as a whole.

By acting as the gatekeeper, the SBC can determine who has permission to access the SIP network. This reduces the risk of bad actors accessing the system and ensures that the network doesn’t get overloaded.

Where the SIP network is fairly large, several SBCs can be used at multiple borders. But rather than individually configure each controller, it is possible to dynamically manage them centrally with a single set of routing and policy rules. This solution can save both time and money.

Impact on customer and employee experiences

When used as part of a contact centre as a service (CCaaS), an SBC improves your quality of service in a number of ways. Because it can analyse traffic and optimise routing, this helps to significantly increase data speeds and the quality of your voice calls.

And when things get busy, it can also prioritise and redirect sessions to maintain performance.

We’ve also touched on the additional layers of security this adds to your IP network. Not only can they specify and encrypt traffic, but they can add advanced measures such as rate-limiting to prevent DDoS and fraud.

And just as importantly, SBCs improve both the reliability and security of your communications with customers. They have the ability to detect and normalise different SIP dialects. This means your agents can enjoy uninterrupted, high quality and seamless calls across multiple devices and in real-time.

Learn more about contact centre as a service

For more information about choosing the right CCaaS provider and the benefits of cloud-based contact centres, check out our resources below:

Learn more about how you can utilise IT infrastructure management to support, enhance or protect your IT infrastructure. Contact us for a free trial or demonstration.

Business continuity vs disaster recovery. Both are essential. Both tend to be overlooked until the time comes when they’re needed. Just like a driver wishing they’d renewed their AA membership while watching smoke billow from their engine, it really is too late by then. (more…)