Adodo Launches HangoutLocalHelp.com

SME’s, charities, the Public Sector are all under pressure to deliver more, simply to survive. They know technology can help but it just keeps getting in the way.  No time to plan it because of the day to day firefighting. Loneliness at the top also breeds inertia on things you don’t understand.

Well help is at hand. Adodo Consultancy has launched a FREE web application aimed specifically at helping any organisation focus on the basics of marketing in this digital age. HangoutLocalHelp.com is a tool that provides good actionable information specifically aimed at the number one challenge for the majority of businesses – finding more buyers for their products and services. The old marketing methods are being replaced through technological innovation. Just like the dodo, if you don’t adapt your business will die.

There are simple guides available to help you with things like your online reputation, social media and mobile marketing. Do you know how many reviews, good or bad, you have out there? If you don’t know check it out now as protecting your reputation is extremely important. Online reviews are second only to personal advice from a friend as the driver of purchase decisions. It is critical that your business has its Reputation Marketing in check. (Source Grabstats.com)

Tim Glynn, Adodo’s Managing Director said “our slogan has always been New Technology, Traditional Values. With the webapp we hope to assist all those like ourselves who wish to grow their businesses. Small innovative organisations really are the future and these are exciting times if you care to grab the opportunities.”

It takes time effort and lots of hit and miss to turn a prospect into a new client or customer. All that effort could be going to waste simply because of one or two things that you are not aware of. HangoutLocalHelp.com could act as your checklist to ensure that you are getting maximum return for your efforts. There are more benefits planned for the tool later in the year but for now the majority of SME’s, charities and social enterprises could improve their chances of success by obtaining their FREE copy now and acting on the information provided. As an introductory offer you could also qualify for a Complimentary £500 Market Research Voucher, but hurry as these will be limited.

Adodo has won awards for it’s Community Initiatives and it’s that ethos that is behind the new web application. Managing Director Tim Glynn has been part of the Nottingham Business Community for the past 30 years and gives his support to such organisations as ProHelp, part of Business in the Community.

BT lines – does anyone care any more?

You might think this article is about the rise and rise of mobile but you’d be wrong.  It’s a simple tale of a customer wishing to save money by reducing the number of lines they have coming into the building.

We were asked about the implications for their phone system if the lines were changed from ISDN30 to ISDN2 back in August 2012. We recommended, as they were a software house, with large broadband capacity a simple move to SIP trunks which could have been done quite quickly and migrated all of their existing Direct Dials (DDI’s). Bearing in mind their system was 9 years old they were also thinking they may have had to change the system which would’ve kind of defeated the object of saving money. However, as the system was a Splicecom maximiser a simple free software upgrade was all that was required.

In October we were advised that they were having the lines changed over by BT Local Business. In February, some 4 months later we received notification that BT were ready to change over the lines so we arranged an engineer to visit site to upgrade the system and programme it accordingly. This all went smoothly and was left awaiting the completion of the changeover. A couple of days later we were advised by the customer that there was a fault with the system as calls were not getting through. This was investigated and to our horror we found, after sitting on the phone for 45 minutes that BT had not completed the work and all calls to the DDI’s could not be delivered. This necessitated a small temporary programme change to ensure that the customer was receiving all calls to their site.

But it got worse. We then found out that there were underground problems which was delaying the delivery of the DDI’s and even though BT Local were telling the customer the installation was complete it was in fact far from complete. We had further discussions with the specialist BT ISDN team who, to their credit, did eventually advise when the job was complete. This was some 6 weeks after our initial visit. And you’d think that would be the end of it but oh no.

When the DDI’s were eventually delivered the customer found they had a new set of DDI’s which meant that all their employees contact details had changed. Furthermore the phone system had to be reprogrammed again with the new numbers. Fine at last you think. Oh no.

A week later the customer calls to say that their fax machine is not working and thinks again that there is a problem with the phone system. W advise him that the call to the fax machine is not being delivered and to check with BT. Behold, this number has dropped off the system as a Single Number DDI and BT have to reset it. As they had previously changed the delivery configuration on the ISDN from 4 to 6 digits there was a small programming change required on the system before the fax would work.

Finally, the changeover had been completed.

Like a lot of things in life complex solutions have been simplified and we take them for granted. Delivering a call over a copper wire to the correct person through a corporate phone system is a complex problem. When executed incorrectly you end up with problems that are challenging, time consuming and costly.

Stats you can’t ignore

·         Of the 8 Billion people in the world, over 6 Billion are mobile phone users. (TNS Global, 2012)

·         By 2014 mobile Internet is predicted to over take desktop Internet usage (Microsoft Tag, 2012)

·         Mobile searches for restaurants have a 90% conversion rate, 64% within the hour (Telemetrics, 2012)

·         Mobile Internet use/web traffic is up    202% in the last year (Mobile report, 2012)

4 out of 5 smartphone users use their smartphone to shop (comsScore, 2012)                                                                            

Found this article to illustrate the point that if you don’t have a mobile strategy you are missing a large chunk of your target market.  http://bit.ly/ZUmbIf

Why Upgrade your Phone System – 5 Reasons

Whilst everybody is going mobile the business telephone system is still central to a company’s communication strategy. A lot of organisations and small companies are missing out on the benefits that the new technology brings.

It now doesn’t matter if you’re a one man band or multi-site company the same feature sets are available at very affordable prices.

Below are 5 reasons to invest in or upgrade to a modern phone system today:

1. Productivity Features – One extension or a thousand systems now include call recording, mobile twinning, remote working, call monitoring, auto attendant and connectivity you’re your PC for unified communications.

2. Easier Administration – No longer do you have to balance a laptop on your head whilst whistling the National Anthem to manage a system. The majority of issues can be dealt with remotely using a web browser. Also users have more control over their individual phones.

3. Money Saving – Maintenance charges, adds moves and changes can all be reduced because of the greater efficiency of the systems. Also the option to replace ISDN lines for SIP trunks which are more flexible and can potentially reduce your monthly costs. Homeworkers can be connected to the system and remove the worry about accounting for their company usage on home phones as it’s all done through the system.

 4. Future Proof, An Investment – Because today’s systems are software driven upgrades provide you with the latest feature sets without having to make elaborate changes to hardware. As an example we recently upgraded an early IP system, 9 years old to the latest version of software which means that it now functions as if they had bought the system yesterday.

5. Peripherals - IP phones can also be linked to peripherals like door phones, door cameras and building security cameras; giving you better control and security over your business.

It’s surprising how many companies rush for the latest mobile phone deal but their office phone is delivering a poor experience for callers and employees alike. First impressions count and calls to your office need to help show that you really do mean business.

Finally, don’t let the lack of capital hold you back. There are ways to finance these benefits on a monthly basis and the ROI speaks for itself.

Call us now on 0800 092 3333 or visit http://bit.ly/XNCdDD

What did the snow do to your productivity?

There are many reasons given for poor performance over the course of the year but ultimately we all want to meet our targets.

The picture to the left is it?
 a)  Winter Wonderland  or
 b)  Productivity hell

If  b) then what are you doing within your business to ensure that the next 'excuse' does not affect your goals for the year?

We may have a few ideas for you. Give us a call to discuss your challenges over a cup of hot chocolate.

0800 849 3333