Author: master

16th August 2017

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Five rules of telephone etiquette

• Answer Quickly: In general, it’s advisable to answer the phone by the time it rings three times. Ideally, you and your team should answer their phones between the second and third ring.

• Greet Callers Courteously: You need to answer the phone courteously and warmly so callers know you’re happy to hear from them, and they’re dealing with a professional who’s ready to address their needs.

• Smile as You Speak: smile before you take an incoming call. When you smile, it influences how you sound and gives your voice a friendlier tone.

• Speak Clearly: It’s critical for you to speak clearly over the phone. Avoid mumbling, speaking too quickly, and using a tone that’s too loud or too soft. Hold your handset at the correct distance approximately 2 fingers away from your mouth this will avoid you sounding muffled and hissy.

• Be Polite: If you have to put a caller on hold, always ask permission before you do so. When you’re back on the line, be sure you thank the person for their patience. Doing these things will show callers you respect their time.
You may answer your phone so often over the course of a typical workday that you don’t give much thought to how you’re conducting yourself anymore. It’s important for you to review proper phone etiquette once in a while and incorporate those recommendations into your phone calls.

In many instances, a phone call is the first contact a client or prospect has with a small business. For many consumers, their first impression will be a lasting one, it can be the starting point for a long-lasting, mutually beneficial relationship, or it can be a relationship that never got off the ground.

When clients are greeted professionally and warmly without having to wait in a queue, it increases the likelihood they’ll have a positive impression of your organization. If they’re greeted as an inconvenience, or it takes too long for their call to be acknowledged by an attendant, it increases the chances they’ll hang up with a poor impression of your business.

Following proper phone etiquette isn’t only important when it comes to new callers — it’s also important to keep repeat callers to as your clients. It’s critical to growing your business because only people who have a good impression of your business will send referrals your way.
Jokes about barely recognisable classical pieces played on 1980s-style synthesizer keyboards and the all too familiar sound of Muzak aside, running a business in the 21st century should mean having something more professional and reflective of the company when customers are placed on hold.
On hold music is a surprisingly large part of business life, with some callers spending the equivalent a number of working days a year waiting on the phone. While every business endevours to answer calls quickly and efficiently (and Odyssey has technology to help our customers deliver that commitment), it is inevitable that on occasions people will be placed on hold. Therefore, the experience has to be a positive one.
Research by a large American telecoms provider revealed that when someone is placed on hold for 30 seconds without hold music they can perceive the time passed being as long as 90 seconds, while when hold music is provided they can feel as little as 15 seconds has passed.
As the only telecoms provider that gives our customers an [introductory hold production fox???] with every system, free of charge, something which can cost hundreds of pounds a month from other companies, we’re often asked about licensing and hold music.
Depending on the music you select, you may need to pay for not only one, but two different licenses. The PRS for Music (PRS) collects license fees on behalf of composers of music and lyrics, while Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) collects fees on behalf of performers, such as singers and musicians.
An organisation must pay for a PRS license if the music it is playing is in copyright and for non-personal use. It would need a PPL license if it is playing music in public, even for just the one person. On hold music can fall into both of these categories.
In almost all cases on-hold music will require a PPL license, however, in the case of some classical music it may not require a PRS license. Because the estate of a composer has copyright on their music for seventy years after their death, you can use music written by anyone who died before 1947 as on hold music with just a PPL license.
While many organisations already have both of these licenses in order to play music for staff and customers, it is worth making sure, as getting this wrong could land you in court.
To find out how Odyssey can improve your on-hold telephone facility, call our expert team on 01642 661800
Mike Odysseas, Managing Director of Odyssey Systems, looks at why telecommunications networks should be given the same support as other infrastructure.

For years now, and probably for many more to come, the media has given over countless column inches and broadcast minutes to the subject of HS2, an increasingly expensive rail network upgrade. Its great claim is that it will boost the economy by helping people to travel between London and Birmingham 20 minutes faster than is currently the case.

Whether such a time-saving is worth the tens of billions of pounds the project will cost is debateable, but one thing I can tell you with certainty is that no train will get you from A to B faster than telecommunications can connect two people on opposite sides of the globe.

With teleconferencing, video conferencing and countless more technological applications available at the touch of a button, I can connect instantly with a client or staff member and talk with them face to face, whether they are in Birmingham, Bermuda or Beijing, without having to go anywhere. I don’t even have to do it from an office – if the connectivity is right, I can take a break from a bike ride and make a call right where I am.

Whole businesses expand around the globe and intercontinental flights are hardly necessary to maintain the regular communications that keep the organisation operating and growing.

This year, we have seen an important tipping point in communications, as people are now accessing the internet more from their mobile devices than from desktops. Even within our homes and offices, we are no longer reliant upon a “hard” connection.

It needs to be accepted that the world we live in is one which is mobile technology-driven, and that the infrastructure required for effective telecommunication is as important to the economy as that which drives transport.

I am firmly behind the comments of o2 Telefonica UK CEO Ronan Dunne, who, in a recent national interview conducted at the One Young World conference in Thailand, highlighted the complete lack of legislative support for boosting mobile internet access.

He highlighted a shift in demands on politicians, from constituents urging action to stop more masts being erected, to the same people now demanding greater mobile coverage.

However, there is still no subsidy or even right of access powers that can help to make this happen more quickly.

The needs of businesses, as well as individuals, have been changing for some time, but the actions of Government, in failing to actively support greater coverage, is behind the consensus. Take Japan as an example of progress in this area; mobile wi-fi offering tens of megabits is accessible halfway up Mount Fuji, yet you can land back in Heathrow and be faced with a GPRS-only signal. Europe has shown itself to at least be addressing the shift, with the scrapping of data roaming charges, albeit not until the Summer of 2017, but the UK needs to act now to play its part.
A Stockton call handling company has benefited from a fresh new look as it prepares to expand its workforce after moving to a growing business park.

Lemon Business Solutions, which provides 24/7 call centre solutions to clients in the UK and internationally, has relocated its 45-strong workforce to Odyssey Systems’ newly-established business park.

As a result of the move, Lemon is hoping to increase its workforce by 20% to meet the demand of its growing clientele.

Lesley Wratten, managing director of Lemon Business Solutions, said: “The new office space exemplifies exactly what our business is all about and has created a fresh, zesty work environment for our staff. We have experienced significant growth in recent years and these larger premises will allow us to gear up for further expansion.”

“The IT infrastructure and connectivity in place was essential in forming our decision to relocate as we had simply maximised the space at our previous office and handle thousands of customer service calls every day. Our new, state-of-the-art call management centre will allow us to continue to deliver an excellent level of customer service to our clients and I am looking forward to what the future holds for Lemon.”

Lemon Business Solutions’ relocation completes a hat-trick of new tenants for the business park following JBC Accountants and UK & Ireland SAP User Group.

Odyssey Systems has invested in the complete refurbishment of the 20,000 sq. ft. business park for its tenants. The site offers a comprehensive telecommunications service, which includes hosted telephony and a fully-synchronous, uncontended Ethernet connection, as well as fingerprint recognition software and increased security for tenants.

Christine Gilbert, director of Odyssey Systems, said: “I am delighted to welcome Lemon to the business park and start a new chapter in our long-standing relationship. Lemon is a longstanding Odyssey Systems customer and is well-aware of the excellent service we provide, which they will now also experience as a tenant of our business park.

“Lesley and I have worked closely together on the creation of their new offices, which reflects their brand and personality as well as providing the high quality of telecoms technology they have become used to over the years from Odyssey Systems.”

http://www.no-sour-business.co.uk/
Odyssey Systems, the Teesside-based telecommunications specialist, has commissioned new research which shows that more than 60% of people over 65 have no confidence in the Telephone Preference Service (TPS).

The poll, conducted by ICM*, reveals that the TPS, which was set up to protect the public, including the elderly and vulnerable, from unscrupulous cold callers, is failing to deliver for two thirds of people.

According to the study, only 35% of respondents across the UK trust the TPS. 47% answered that they did not, while 18% had never even heard of the service. 60% of the over 65s, the group most often thought to be at risk from preying con-artists, had no confidence in the scheme.

Odyssey Systems has also questioned the relevancy of the TPS as the number of UK residential landlines, in the region of 22 million, is in parity with the amount of people registered for the service, yet cold calls remain an all too common problem.

There are nearly 22 million people signed up to the TPS in the UK, according to Ofcom, however in June there were 10,518 concerns reported to the TPS in relation to automated calls – up from 8,400 in May.

Between 1,000 and 2,000 complaints are made about companies ignoring the database every month. In 2012, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which enforces the TPS, acquired the power to impose fines of up to £500,000.

The TPS operated by the Direct Marketing Association on behalf of Ofcom and is register of UK phone numbers whose users do not want to be contacted by sales and marketing companies. Companies must respect these wishes and stop calling those numbers, removing them from databases. More than 80% of landline numbers are registered nationally but users have reported poor results. The new study suggests the service is still failing to meet expectations.

Many nuisance calls seek to defraud “customers” in exchange for spurious goods and services. They range from PPI phishing scams, to PC insurance and even trying to charge for the Telephone Preference Service.

Mike Odysseas, managing director of Odyssey Systems, said: “The TPS is overwhelmingly failing to meet people’s expectations. Our research clearly shows that the service has no real power to challenge companies and does not deliver its advertised objective. It also raises the concern that nearly every landline is covered by the TPS, therefore there is no one left for these companies to legally call.

Mr Odysseas added: “It’s clear that the Information Commissioner’s Office needs to be given greater powers to clampdown on bad practise. But what’s also clear, because the TPS doesn’t work, is that we need to arm our vulnerable and elderly with the information they need to recognise scam calls, and not to fall foul of embezzlement.”

Mike also suggests that businesses can embrace technology to beat the unwarranted cold calls and automated messages, as well as tougher penalties on offenders.

He added: “Businesses can also suffer from nuisance calls, impacting on productivity. We offer a range of value added services, including filtering out nuisance calls, and a free fraud reporting service too, which have been designed specifically to alleviate any concerns.

“Most of us don’t have a problem receiving calls offering us better deals on the products and services we already buy, but, what the majority of us object to, is receiving bogus calls from companies and individuals, who are very often, already breaking the law.”
Odyssey Systems hosted its latest Women in Business networking event at its head office, featuring a number of the region’s leading female business people and entrepreneurs.

Here’s a video showcasing the roundtable event, which focussed on the implications of Brexit on the economy:
Matthew Smith, IT manager at Carmel College in Darlington talks about his satisfaction with his new telephone system and his reasons for choosing Odyssey Systems.
At Odyssey Systems we host a bi monthly ladies discussion group. This film was taken just before the 2015 general election, where we discussed what was important for us a working women.
Early 2016 saw Odyssey Systems move into new offices. After extensive refurbishment our Preston Farm headquarters features a dedicated video conferencing suite, technology demonstration area and a data centre facility.
Telecommunications specialist, Odyssey Systems has expanded its sales team with the addition of former Teesside University Student Union President, and Business Management undergraduate, Will Ridley.

Twenty-one-year-old Will, originally from Selby, has joined the Stockton-based business following a summer placement, during which he played an integral part in the quality management process involved in securing the company’s ISO 9001 accreditation.

For the next four months Will is going to work two days a week, until going full-time when he graduates university in May.

In his role as a Sales Executive, Will is going to be responsible for liaising with existing and potential clients in order to identify turnkey solutions that accurately meet the customer’s communications infrastructure requirements.

Having taken a year out of his studies to become the Student University President at Teesside, Will has developed high-quality soft skills that will serve him well when representing the company in pitches to prospective clients.

Will’s appointment coincides with Odyssey’s expansion in to new premises located opposite its existing headquarters located at Preston Farm, Stockton. The investment, which follows a prolonged period of growth, will help to create a further six jobs and improve the company’s service provision.

Matthew Park, Sales Manager at Odyssey Systems, said: “Will is a talented young man, but more importantly is full of enthusiasm and is very proactive, which is clear to see when you consider what he has managed to achieve during his time at university.

“It’s important for businesses such as Odyssey to utilise the availability of skilled graduates when developing their workforce, which will in turn help to prevent talented young people leaving the area.”

Will added: “Being able to move straight in to full-time employment is very exciting, and speaks volumes for the quality of teaching at Teesside University and Odyssey’s investment in its next generation of skilled workers.

“The opportunity to stay in the Tees Valley was one I jumped at; although not originally from the area, I would describe myself as an adopted Teessider and I’m looking forward to working with some of the region’s most promising businesses.”
The Member of Parliament for Stockton South, James Wharton, has officially opened Odyssey Systems’ new Preston Farm-based headquarters, which has helped create a number of new jobs at the telecommunications specialist.

Following an extensive refurbishment and fit-out, which includes the creation of a dedicated video conferencing suite, technology demonstration area and data centre facility, the company’s existing workforce transferred from its previous base, which was also in Preston Farm.

Mr Wharton MP, who is also the appointed minister for the Northern Powerhouse, met with the Odyssey team and some of its valued customers and business contacts before taking a tour of the new office.

As part of the redevelopment, the company has installed upgraded connectivity masts, which will increase the reach of its long-range microwave high speed leased line signals that can extend to a range of 30km, as well as hosted telephony and a fully-synchronous, uncontended Ethernet connection.

Odyssey Systems, which provides telecommunications and connectivity for business, has experienced strong growth in the past four years and has increased its workforce from 26 to 30. As a result of the move into larger premises, Odyssey Systems aims to create a further four new jobs in the next three years.

In addition to developing the top floor of the building for its own operations, Odyssey Systems has also refurbished a further 20,000 square feet to create new, fully-fitted offices for business tenants, and already has three SMEs operating from the site.

Mike Odysseas, Managing Director of Odyssey Systems, said: “It’s great to see Mr Wharton engaging with businesses in his constituency and showing genuine interest in our continued success. The move represents a significant milestone in our history, which will build on our successful operating model that allows us to support the growth of other companies.

“We pride ourselves on delivering exceptional customer service, and with the additional technology and space at our disposal, we can maintain and even improve our provision.”

James Wharton MP said: “It’s always nice to visit businesses in Stockton and I would like to thank Mike for welcoming me to such a momentous occasion in Odyssey Systems’ history. This is another example of a thriving enterprise in the region benefiting from continued investment, which is boosting our local economy through the creation of jobs.

“I would like to wish all the Odyssey team the very best for the future.”
Odyssey Systems has received top marks from The Education Village Academy Trust (EVAT) after revamping the telecommunications infrastructure serving the Multi Academy Trust’s five schools, which span three separate locations.

After experiencing problems with its aging system, which was installed almost 10 years ago, The EVAT decided to upgrade; after considering a number of providers, it gave Teesside-based Odyssey Systems the call.

The installation of the new Mitel network, carried out by Odyssey’s expert engineers, is an IP-based system and much more flexible than its predecessor, which often required inconvenient upgrades and maintenance.

Following the completion of the two-week project, which included more than 150 phone extensions, The EVAT’s five schools are fully-connected, with staff now able to easily make internal calls between its facilities – which will be particularly useful for its centralised administration department.

The EVAT comprises Haughton Academy, Beaumont Hill Academy, Springfield Academy, Gurney Pease Academy, and Marchbank Free School, which together make up an all-age a Multi Academy Trust.

Its Haughton, Beaumont and Springfield academies share a state of the art, £27 million building at The Education Village, which has allowed for a unique and innovative service provision.

Mike Odysseas, managing director at Odyssey Systems, said: “The EVAT is a forward-thinking educational provider and it was great to work with them. The new system is extremely durable and will maintain its reliable performance without the need for regular updates; it will serve them well for many years to come.”

Paul Thompson, IT & Media Manager at The EVAT, said: “After having a few weeks to test out the Mitel system we are very pleased with the final product. The service has also been first-class; our network presented a unique challenge and Odyssey’s engineers have worked tirelessly to identify and deliver a suitable infrastructure package, which would connect each of our five schools.”
Businesses need to be vigilant against an increase in targeted, sophisticated email fraud. We have experienced a spike in in ‘socially-engineered fraud’ where scammers are using advanced methods to extract money from their victims.

We are now monitoring more than 200 emails per day within the million messages sent to our Internet Service Provider (ISP) business customers where fraudsters appear to adopt people’s email addresses and try to encourage financial transactions with the email account holder’s contacts.

Fraudsters are relentless in their use of email as a way to illegally obtain money.

Common email fraud practices, known as phishing, aim to trick recipients into believing they know the person or company corresponding with them. To prevent being caught by these scams, recipients can check the email address the message comes, which will reveal it has no connection to the supposed real sender. I’ve included some more tips below.

However, this latest method has the ability to not only trick recipients through a genuine looking message, but can also fool monitoring systems and programmes including Microsoft Outlook into thinking it has been generated by the real email address.

Fraudsters are also researching the contacts the accounts they are mirroring and their contacts to make the emails more genuine and dupe unsuspecting victims.

This could have serious financial implications for North East businesses and as a responsible Internet Service Provider we are continually creating new variables to prevent this horrendous practice from affecting our customers.

By identifying and acting on this new practice we are employing new protocols within our automated email monitoring systems, including the ability to identify the fraudsters Internet Protocol (IP) address to capture these email before they reach their recipients

Every day at Odyssey we see 1000s of phishing emails via our MailShield platform. While some are so outlandish or poorly constructed that it is obviously fraudulent, others are far more convincing.

So how can you tell a legitimate email from a phishing email? There is no single trick that will always work, but there are things that you can look out for to help keep yourself safe. We have put together five tips that will help.
1. The message contains a non-matching URL
  One easy thing to check in a suspicious email is the embedded URLs or clickable links. It may say com, but if you hover your mouse over the top of the link you should see the real link that will be visited (Do not click the link).
  Good practice is to not click the link in the email, but instead open your browser and login from there. So, if you receive an email from PayPal with a link to an invoice, go and login to PayPal by typing out the domain www.paypal.co.uk in your web browser and logging in to check an invoice is real or not. This way you can be sure that you are indeed entering your details in to PayPal.
You should always do this when dealing with this kind of ‘Your Money or Your Life’ transactions online, e.g. anything that involves financial transactions or the entering of information that can be used to steal your identity. It’s worth noting that legitimate reputable companies will never request this kind of information via email.
1. Misleading domain names
  When people launch phishing scams they often depend on the victim not understanding the nature of how domains and DNS works.
An example would be the domain name login.paypal.co.uk this is a child of paypal.co.uk because PayPal is the final part of the domain, so for “login.paypal.co.uk.ca2.com” “ca2.com” is the actual domain not paypal.co.uk, which is now a child of ca2.com.

This is one of the tricks alongside misspelled domains that we see used the most to fool users into parting with login details or personal information.
1. Email has poor spelling and grammar
When emails are sent from a large organisation you can be sure they have been checked for legality, bad spelling and poor grammar.
If the email appears of poor quality claiming to be from a large firm it is almost certainly a phishing email.
If you’re really unsure, then the safe thing to do is to call the company that has supposedly emailed you. If you do not know the phone number get it from there website. Do not trust the number in the email. If they are a reputable firm they will be easy to contact and verify any requests made.
1. Requests for personal information
Even if an email looks official and is professionally presented, it should never be asking for personal information, passwords, credit card details, or answers to security questions.
Again, if your still unsure, open your web browser and login to the company’s official website or call them using the number from there website not the email. Do not use the link in the email.
1. Keep your computer secure
Some phishing emails or other spam may contain software that can record information on your internet activities (spyware) or open a ‘backdoor’ to allow hackers access to your computer (Trojans). Installing good quality anti-virus software and keeping it up to date will help detect and disable malicious software.
Odyssey Systems has welcomed a specialist not-for-profit membership organisation to its thriving business centre.

UK & Ireland SAP User Group has become the second tenant at its Stockton-based business park, which has Odyssey Systems completely refurbished to create a new, fully-fitted complex for business tenants.

The company joins JBC Accountants in relocating to the business park on Preston Farm.

SAP User Group is an independent organisation which facilitates educational and networking opportunities amongst SAP software users in the UK and Ireland, as well as works with the multinational corporation to communicate with its customers.

UK & Ireland SAP User Group’s new office will house its 10 employees, who will benefit from Odyssey Systems’ telecommunications services, including hosted telephony and a fully-synchronous, uncontended Ethernet connection, as well as its boardroom and 40-person seminar facility, which was outsourced at its previous building.

Craig Dale, chief executive of UK & Ireland SAP User Group, said: “We have scope for further growth and the cloud-based infrastructure in place at our new office will go a long way to helping us achieve our long-term ambitions. With the hi-tech nature of our business, it was essential for us to operate from a modern office building and Odyssey was able to deliver all of our requirements.

“It was also a cost effective decision to relocate as the board and meeting room capabilities ensure that we are able to host large seminars, as opposed to renting space, which was the case at our previous offices. Our company now has the space and capability to expand and it is an exciting time for the business, starting with our office move.”

Mike Odysseas, managing director of Odyssey Systems, said: “I am delighted that UK & Ireland SAP User Group has decided to relocate to our business park as its operations gear up for growth. We are now well underway to establishing a thriving business community on Preston Farm and I would like to welcome Craig and his staff to the building.”

https://www.sapusers.org/
Odyssey Systems has upgraded PROACTIS’ communications system to support the company’s growing UK operations and improving its environmental impact and productivity.

PROACTIS, a global Spend Control and eProcurement solution specialist, has invested in the installation of a leased line and video conferencing capabilities at its London and Wetherby offices to improve its interconnectivity and remove the need to travel to non-essential meetings.

The company now has the option to hold virtual meetings between its UK and North American branches, which will not only save time but, significantly reduces costs incurred travelling to and from meetings.

PROACTIS helps hundreds of organisations around the world to achieve greater bottom-line value by improving their operational and financial performance from how they buy and pay for all types of goods and services.

Mike Odysseas, Managing Director at Odyssey Systems, said: “It’s important for growing businesses to ensure they maintain high quality customer service. By updating its communication system PROACTIS will be able to use its time in a much more effective manner.

“Operating from multiple sites means that regular communication between each branch is vital. The new system will allow management to arrange regular video conference calls and provides a fully integrated internal communication system.”

Nick Lowther, Director of Operations at PROACTIS, said: “With Odyssey Systems’ help we have been able to increase productivity across the board. Now that employees only occasionally attend meetings in person much more time is spent in the office, which allows us to maintain regular contact with clients without compromising on the quality of our service.”