5 Technology Mistakes Businesses Make

1. Using a “name of internet service provider” email address. When I see a business card with an @verizon, @comcast, or, even worse, an @aol email address, I instantly devalue the owner of the card. Not only is that person branding the wrong company, his or her company is limiting its choice of service providers. There’s a reason why internet service providers have their customers establish “name of provider” email addresses, because doing so makes them less likely to change providers in the future. Even if you don’t have a website it’s possible to register a domain name and establish a “the name of your company” email address. If you’re worried about reprinting cards or missing emails from prospective customers, maintain two email addresses until you feel comfortable eliminating the @”not your business name” email address.
2. Setting up Voice over IP without Quality of Service (QoS). Some business owners believe VoIP is a terrible technology. To them, VoIP is synonymous with dropped calls and echoey and delayed speech. But that occurs when VoIP is set up incorrectly. In order for VoIP call quality to rival the quality of traditional phone service, it must be delivered with QoS. QoS is a standard achieved when certain variables, like jitter and latency, are kept in check. Also, the internet bandwidth must be adequate and Class of Service must be implemented. Class of Service is the practice of assigning a higher priority to real time traffic (voice and video) over less time sensitive traffic. A VoIP provider should supply the voice and internet services to provide QoS. It’s in a business’s best interest to avoid VoIP services that permit “bring your own” bandwidth.
3. Publishing a phone number before it’s active. One of the first things we were taught at the phone company was to advise customers not to publish a new phone number before it was activated. That’s because phone numbers can be assigned in error or simultaneously with another customer. Businesses that jump the gun can face reprinting expenses and delays. If you can’t wait, set up the phone number as a virtual number. Virtual numbers can be established in hours, not days or weeks, and can be transitioned to an actual phone service later on.
4. Canceling an old service before its replacement is in and working. If you want to change service providers, most likely you’ll need to pay for two services for a month or two. That’s because most service providers require 30 to 60 days notice to cancel. If you attempt to give notice before your new service is in and working, you risk being completely out of service and possibly losing your phone numbers, if there are problems and delays related to your new service installation. If you have any experience dealing with telecom service installations, you know that problematic service installations are more the norm than trouble free ones.
5. Retaining a service you don’t need or use. This practice is not only waste of money, but can also limit a business’s service options. Retaining a fax line when scanning and emailing is a better option, is one example. Another: I worked with a company that retained a painfully slow internet service because they wanted to preserve the 50 DID phone numbers that came with their integrated package. They were getting a decent price; if they went to a faster, Ethernet based converged service it would have been twice the cost. They couldn’t switch to a faster, comparably priced broadband service because DIDs aren’t an option with the standard phone lines that are bundled with broadband. What did the business do? Was it a call center or an answering service? No, it was an auto shop. No one working there could explain the need for the additional phone numbers except that the owner didn’t want to give them up.

If you don’t want your business to suffer through the consequences of making a technology mistake, contact CarrierBid telecom consulting today or complete the web form on the right side of this page.