Crosstalk with Select Telecom (Fall 2011)
Your communications system is the heart of your business: without it functioning properly, you are undoubtedly in extreme danger. If your phone system fails, you’ve lost an essential tool for conducting business. Customers can’t reach you for service, you can’t make new sales, and your employees can’t collaborate. In essence, your entire business grinds to a halt. Every minute your telecom system is out of service can equal dollars down the drain. It’s imperative to get your business back on track as soon as possible, and having a backup of your phone system data is one of the simplest and most effective things you can do to expedite a system failure repair.
Being located in the Northeast, it’s very likely that your business will be affected by a catastrophic system failure at least once the course of over its lifetime. In 2011, the Northeast saw some of the most severe weather in decades: lightning, blizzards, wind storms, tornadoes, even a hurricane that prompted the first ever mandatory evacuation in Manhattan’s history. Any of these severe weather events can knock out your communications system and cost your business in lost productivity. In fact, Select Telecom traditionally sees about 1 in 20 customers affected by severe weather each year. Luckily, most insurance policies will cover damages to communications equipment caused by weather or other “Acts of God,” but unfortunately insurance does not compensate you for time lost while reconstructing your system data from scratch. This is where a system backup can help.
A backup is a copy of all the data on your telephone system’s CPU, stored in a safe location away from the rest of your system. The backup file includes all of your system’s programming such as the names and numbers at each extension, your greetings and auto-attendant menus, your call routing rules and speed dials, etc. In addition, newer IP systems like ShoreTel and Avaya also have the ability to store copies of existing voice mail messages. When your system’s CPU fails – due to a lightning strike, for example – in order to get back up and running, you’ll find yourself paying not only to replace the CPU hardware, but also for all of the labor and time to gather all the information for the system and reprogram it. In addition, any valuable voice messages you have may saved will be irretrievably lost.
With a backup on hand, your telecom vendor is able to expedite the service process by skipping the time-intensive step of programming. As soon as replacement equipment is available, a technician can install it, upload the backed up data, and get your business back on its feet. On average, having a system backup on hand saves Select Telecom customers who experience a system outage $1,050 compared to customers who don’t have a backup. More importantly, with a backup available, you can have your system up and running within only 30-40 minutes of the technician’s arrival instead of being out of operation for an entire business day. In addition, if you have a newer IP system, the technician doesn’t even need to make a site visit – he can reset your system with your backup file right from his laptop.
One Select Telecom customer, the Marian Shrine in Stony Point, NY, was affected by severe storms which damaged their phone system in October of 2011. Luckily, as part of their service contract agreement, Select Telecom had backed up Marian Shrine’s system within the last few months and technician Chris Kireakedes had a copy of the backup file on his laptop. After reaching the Marian Shrine, Chris was able to repair the system and reset the programming using the backup in only 30 minutes. In contrast, if a backup file was not available, it would easily have taken 8 hours or more to reprogram the entire system.
At Select Telecom, customers like Marian Shrine who have entered into a service contract are automatically backed up at least once or twice per year, depending on the needs of the client. The backup service is also available to time and materials customers (those without a service contract) for a one-time fee of $95, a special reduced rate instituted to encourage all customers to make use of this very important tool. The Select Telecom Service Department recommends that most customers backup their system at least 1-2 times per year, or after any major moves, adds, or changes. For customers with newer IP systems who wish to backup voice mail messages, weekly or even nightly backups may be appropriate and can be scheduled using system administrator tools.
Don’t leave the heart of your business unprotected. Make sure your communications system is backed up on a regular basis to ensure a quick, cost-effective recovery no matter what Mother Nature may throw at you.