The last year or so has changed how we all work, and what our expectations are in the workplace. When it comes to telephony installations, there used to be one option – an engineer on site crawling about under desks and tinkering in the comms cabinet. But for some time now Cranberry has been offering our customers the flexibility to choose between a physical installation where an engineer attends site, or a remote installation where the customer has more control and flexibility. What might make a company choose a remote installation and what does it involve?
All our installations, regardless of whether they are going to be remote or attended, require a reasonable amount of planning with a Cranberry Project Manager. We go though details of all the numbers you wish to retain, what those numbers do, the users and what permissions you need to give everyone. Once this information is provided we set up the phones to your requirements ready to be sent out to you. We do some preliminary testing once the handsets have been received to ensure they’re going to work immediately after cutover. With a remote installation, the customer simply swaps the phones with their legacy ones on the day. Some customers ask the individual users to do this, while others have IT teams who get involved. Training is then provided using a variety of different mediums.
One of the big factors for Cranberry is our environmental footprint. We have customers all across the UK, from Scotland to the West Country. From our point of view, particularly given the events of the last year, we would prefer to deliver our installations remotely where possible to save both time and unnecessary CO2 emissions. While our engineer is driving to site, he or she could be offering remote support and training to users and administrators rather than sitting in traffic. Some on-site installations are unavoidable but for most, a remote installation works better for all involved.
A remote installation is also far less disruptive. For smaller sites, having an extra body in the office plugging in phones and drinking your tea is cumbersome when they are not familiar with the site or who the staff members are. Users are far better placed to dish out the new phones and plug them in at the time of cutover. With so many staff now working from home, and continuing to do so, those users can simply collect a handset at leisure and connect it up when instructed. Our team are on hand to help with any technical issues and staff do not have to wait around for the on-site engineer to get round to them.
Of course, it is also worth mentioning that many of our installations don’t even involve hardware nowadays. More and more customers are embracing the option of softphone or mobility app, so there simply isn’t anything to plug in! Most telephony software applications can be easily installed by the user or the company IT department, and you’re ready to go!
A remote installation also provides far more opportunities for training to be customized to your needs. Gone are the days when you would have to get all your staff together into the meeting room for a demonstration of how the new phones work. Cranberry send out user manuals and links to videos in advance of the installation so users can familiarize themselves with the software or handsets before the cutover. We then offer screen sharing and video conferences to provide training to users and groups along with any administrators.
This is far more flexible than an engineer on site juggling the deployment of phones/software and user training. It means that as a company, you can decide whether you want training before the phones go live, or to just see how you get on for a day or so and receive more detailed training once the dust settles. This also means it’s easier to book in training sessions ad hoc for those users who are part time or working from home, who might have missed a training session if it was done in the office.
Cranberry are always more than happy to discuss the individual needs of an organisation and whether a remote or physical installation is right for you. As a business we like to do our bit for the environment while providing the best solution possible.
