About a decade ago, while providing IT support for one of our long time small business clients, we received a desperate call for help. Their existing phone system had stopped working and after a day and a half they were getting nowhere with the system vendor’s tech support. It seems the system vendor was pointing the finger at the phone service provider and the service provider was claiming there was nothing wrong with the service. A typical “not my problem” stalemate.
We took a look at the situation and quickly determined that it was indeed the system vendor at fault but after another half day of dealing with their tech support and getting nowhere, we had to figure something else out.
We managed to get all the lines forwarded to the owner and manager’s cell phones as a stop gap and then two days later had a brand new phone system and service in place, all run by Ashcor Technologies. The bonus being that we were able to cut their monthly cost by a few hundred dollars while providing new modern features that improved the office efficiency. Because Ashcor Technologies was now responsible for both the system and the service, we could guaranty an end to the “not my problem” finger pointing tech support nightmare.
Sadly, this situation is not unique. One of the biggest pain points for small and medium business owners is their phone system and service. They tend to either be completely out dated, expensive to fix (if you can even find someone willing and able to do it), difficult or impossible to modify and attached to very expensive legacy service or, cheap, inefficient and totally DIY.
In either case, the phone system is that monster lurking in the closet that as long as it stays there, nobody is willing to deal with. The problem is that eventually that monster, suffering from neglect and loneliness, will throw a temper tantrum and bring your business’s main connection to the world to a grinding halt.
Given the traditional complexity of the systems and service options available, the myriad of incomprehensible technical lingo and the cost typically involved, business owners and managers can hardly be blamed for putting the task of dealing with their phone systems on the back burner and leaving it there indefinitely.
The problem is, businesses still using old analog copper POTS lines are paying extremely high rates for outdated technology. If they have more than one location they are doing this at each one potentially costing the business thousands of dollars a year.
While less expensive Internet based phone systems and service have existed for some time, the complexity and fear of converting to a new technology often prevents business owners and managers from making that leap. For the brave one’s that do the choices are usually between mainly DIY online systems where they are charged a-la-carte for every feature and are responsible for supporting themselves or, turning to the local cable company and the systems and service they offer. While the cable companies do provide hosted systems they tend to have all the service efficiency of… well… cable companies.
So what makes Ashcor Technologies solution different? Simply put, our purpose isn’t to just provide our clients with a phone system and service, it’s to eliminate the headache of owning such a system. We approach each system design from a holistic view of your entire business to ensure the final system fits not only your basic communication needs but also enhances the efficiency of your entire operation.
Once installed, we charge a single flat monthly rate for the system and service. We maintain the system every week, installing system updates, configuration backups and making any configuration changes requested. Should you wish to manage aspects of the system yourself we’re more than happy to give that access to you and train your staff. In addition, as we get to know your business more and more we can offer more features we think will help enhance your efficiency, often for no additional cost.
Does your business have multiple locations or employees who work remotely? If so why not merge all of these separate locations into a single unified communication system that cuts costs and improves efficiency. Ashcor Technologies can do that for you too. If you still find yourself whistling past the graveyard of your existing phone system while paying hundreds of dollars a month for outdated, unhelpful and inefficient service, give us a call and find out just how easy, efficient and inexpensive your business phone system can be.