Client Testimonials
The SAMARITANS

“Datasharp have provided our phone systems for many years now. Not only have we found them and their systems to be very reliable but we also value their advice and assistance when we have new requirements. For example, our latest system of over 120 lines enables seamless home working for our staff.”

Barbara Eves - The SAMARITANS

Fairchild Dobbs

Datasharp provide a professional approach and they offer a high standard of products.

Nigel Spoor - Fairchild Dobbs

Rowse Honey Ltd

After one of the circuit boards on our switchboard failed overnight causing the smoke alarm to go off it looked like we were going to be without phones for some considerable time (our finance director was telling people we would be down for two days).  I called Mark Wilson at Datasharp at about 8.30am on my way into work.  Mark kindly diverted one of his engineers from a job he was travelling to and sent him to us complete with replacement parts.  By 10.30am we were all back up and running and extremely grateful!  A massive thanks to Mark and his team for responding so rapidly in our hour of need.

Toby Atkins – Rowse Honey Ltd

Datasharp's Telecom Blog Engine

MikeMonday 26 July 2010

Customer Survey Prize Draw - Judith Wins A Bottle of Champagne
Customer Survey Prize Draw - Judith Wins A Bottle of Champagne
As you know, what you think matters to us and so we did a 30 second customer survey on our main website.  Anyone who completed the survey was entered into a free draw for a bottle of Champagne.
We are pleased to announce the winner was Judith Preston who works at Comland Commercial, who develop office, industrial and retail property in the M4 and M40 corridors.
Thanks to everyone who gave us their feedback.
What you think matters to us and so we did a 30 second customer survey on our main website.  Anyone who completed the survey was entered into a free draw for a bottle of Champagne.
We are pleased to announce the winner was Judith Preston who works at Comland Commercial, who develop office, industrial and retail property in the M4 and M40 corridors.
Thanks to everyone who gave us their feedback.


Mark WIlsonThursday 22 July 2010

IP Telephony - Linux versus the hosted Cloud

Telephony is on the move, and so are the benefits, challenges and security risks. Mark Wilson from Datasharp shows the gains in exploiting server based IP telephony across your network and where we all need to take care.

All larger scale telephone systems are going IP, but what does that mean to the hard pressed IT team or Network Manager? The Holy Grail must be to have a voice network fully integrated into your data network, with key users being able to use remote phones and/or mobiles when the need arises. All of this with low bandwidth, zero security issues and no extra cabling requirement.

The Holy Grail may yet to be found, but the rest of it can be largely achieved with a carefully considered IP telephony strategy. ‘Unified Communications’ is the covering buzz phrase the industry likes to use, but IP telephony is ideal for integration into Outlook or other CTI software. Being able to integrate telephony into existing company software carves the amount of training needed to use the system and allows the IT department to control all of the communications function with technology they are using on a daily basis. The ease of moving extensions (unplug, move, re-plug – done) and the ability to remote work just pile on the benefits. However, not all IP systems are equal.

Systems like the new Linux based Siemens OpenScape Office offer presence status, allowing voice, email, fax and instant message collaboration. As well as standard hard landlines, they include SIP trunks for VoIP to the outside world and networking between sites. Add their scheduled and ad hoc conferencing, and their ‘follow me’ functions, and people can move around the globe without being out of reach or off the team radar. GUI interfaces and Microsoft Outlook plug-ins make these systems simple to set up and even easier to use.

All of the OpenScape Office range of products work on linux platforms supplied as building blocks of ’50 seat’ integrated rack mount servers / line interfaces or run on local servers (often networked to a PABX telephone system). They are ideal for single or multisite applications and will operate stably on a mixed LAN or WAN.

The advantage of these systems is their resilience and MTBF. They are built on proprietary hardware and firmware which has been developed over a long track history and frequently through the school of hard knocks. There are, though, other options: Asterisk and Hosted solutions. Many of the cheaper hosted solutions are effectively single location, remotely hosted Asterisk based solutions. Higher end hosted solutions, such as those offered by Datasharp Hosted Service, boast resilience, scalability, flexibility and free ‘on-net’ calls, but it is still horses for courses.

For many companies with concentrated clusters of staff, broadband width and QOS issues become expensive and problematic. There are now companies offering resellers ‘contended’ services where the reseller can ‘over-subscribe’ the hosted pipe on the assumption that not everyone is using the service at one time. Another is offering resellers fully functional seats from £1 per month. There is no such thing as a free lunch. Anyone opting for a stripped down service or price can expect the QoS they paid for. Furthermore, call charges are typically higher on hosted solutions. Generally speaking low cost Asterisk and hosted services offer low Capex, but monthly call costs can end up being significantly higher, and maintenance and consequential down time costs can be alarming. Combined with the lack of QoS and track history some of these newer entrants into the market can demonstrate, IT managers should take care when specifying the service levels they require.

MikeTuesday 25 May 2010

New Inbound Services

Tomorrow, 26th May 2010, Datasharp are officially launching their MyInbound services, which allow clients to have geographic numbers from anywhere in the UK and route them on-demand through a web portal.

These services allow companies to appear local but direct their customer calls to an location, and also allow companies to divert their inbound calls during emergencies and faults.

ISDN30 clients can also get up an alternative site security service to compensate for BT's withdrawal of temporary diverts.

In these days of  increased pressure to cut staffing costs and ensure 100% availability, these services from Datasharp are going to be an invaluable tool in some companies operations.


MikeMonday 15 March 2010

Datasharp partner with virtualCONTACT to offer a full hosted VoIP CRM solution

 

Hosted VoIP combines with Hosted CRM to give the ultimate, flexible solution

Free on-net calls, make and receive calls from almost anywhere, superfast connections

In the rapid developing Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephony market, Datasharp and virtualCONTACT have teamed up to offer their customers an exceptionally flexible telesales solution.  Datasharp, are experts in hosted VoIP services and have been working with virtualContact to bring their cloud based CRM solution into their hosted VoIP solution.  As a standalone product, virtualContact’s CRM is intuitive and powerful.  The option of full Microsoft Outlook integration makes it formidable.  Combined with Datasharp’s hosted VoIP telephony the package becomes unsurpassed for flexibility, sales targeting, management control and task reporting.

 

Datasharp has been providing cutting edge telecommunication solutions for over 20 years and has built up a wealth of experience that helps them to give the right solution to their customers.  You can find out more here: http://www.hosted-voip.biz or ring 01753 201000

 

 


MikeFriday 04 December 2009

BT in Dispute over Mis-Selling of their Products

A large distributor of BT solutions and services is at the centre of a row over BT Business' OnePlan Inclusive offer for smaller firms. The distributor released a controversial statement hat sparked an outbreak of complaints from angry comms resellers and resulting in a letter to the regulator calling for action to be taken against what was claimed to be 'flagrant mis-selling'.

According to the press release, subscribers to BT Business OnePlan Inclusive only pay £15 per month for each line and always know exactly what their costs are going to be 'no matter how many calls they make'.

This misleading statement caused consternation among a number of fixed line resellers who were up in arms over what they saw as 'the predatory nature of this offer', branding the promotion as 'incredibly misleading marketing'.

BT have said that it ensures customers know that a fair usage policy applies. In a statement, BT confirmed, 'the wording in the distributors press release which implied that customers of BT Business One Plan Inclusive need never pay for a call again was not endorsed or approved by BT'.

It sdeems there is no such thng as a free lunch after all.


MIkeTuesday 10 November 2009

3 Points to improve your website ranking?

 

With all the changes in Google AdWords and the increased competition these days, organic SEO looks more and more attractive to most of us.

The key is for your website optimization to out-perform your competition, without over spending with an online marketing consultant (or without taking up too much of your time if you’re going the do-it-yourself route).

Remember, affordable Search Engine Optimization is about increasing quality traffic, then

  • converting
  • that traffic to a sale or a sales lead.

If you miss these points described below, your SEO goals of increased conversions will tank, even if you have a Number 1 Google Ranking.


 

So, here are 3 points for you to review that we hope will help your SEO goals of increased conversions.

What’s Above the Fold Counts Most, so Consider Monitor Resolutions

Living in the world of TV remote controls and browser back buttons, we have to capture our website visitors’ attention ASAP. Our visitors aren’t going to give us much time before making a decision to stay or to leave our website.

As much as this subject is discussed these days, it’s amazing the number of sites reviewed that have critical information missing from “above the fold”, in that area visible before your visitors scroll down.

This is the area to briefly summarize what people can do on your site and make your best case for your guests staying on your website and not clicking away. This may also be the area to place your contact information.

Keep in mind that what’s above the fold on your monitor will likely be different from what’s above the fold on the monitor for someone visiting your website. Browser resolution is set differently for various computers.


Remember to cross test your site with recent versions of the most popular Web browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and maybe even Google’s new Chrome.

These steps raise  conversion rate and they will raise yours, too. And increasing traffic and conversions is the whole point of affordable search engine optimization, whether using an online marketing consultant or d-i-y, right?

So, don’t miss this important step.

Carefully Select Your Type Size and Font and Remember that White Space is Your Friend

It many not be immediately obvious if you look around the web, but choosing the right font and colours is critical to how easily you customers can read the site. Is there really any good reason to make people squint at your website, struggling to get the information they need?

Consider reviewing The Easy to Read Standard at Information Architects (you can Google it).WeI would encourage you to review the size of your text, the white space between your letters and words and between your paragraphs and headings.

Designers often believe whitespace is your enemy; if you want people to understand your message and stay on your website, whitespace is in fact your friend.

Also consider that fonts with serifs are easier to read than fonts without serifs.

If you want to successfully convey your message to as many of your site visitors as possible, then make it as easy for them as you can. When we’re talking about increasing conversions, it’s all about the numbers and appealing to the largest number of people possible.

Use Opt-in Email or Blog Postings to Maximize Your Sales

All website owners would like for people to buy from their website the first time they visit. But is that realistic?

Consider these statics from the National Sales Executive Association:

  • 2% of sales are made on the 1st contact;
  • 3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact;
  • 5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact;
  • 10% of sales are made on the 4th contact (and)
  • 80% of sales are made on the 5th – 12th contact.

For most businesses, if you don’t offer an opt-in contact, like a regular email newsletter or blog postings, you’re missing out on most of your potential sales!

When setting up an opt-in Internet marketing campaign, you should offer incentives to subscribe. To entice people to opt-in, you can offer:

  • special pricing for email list members
  • a first look at new products
  • ability for customer to select subjects and emails they receive (controlling the frequency of contact by choosing which of your lists to be on)
  • promise not to share email or other personal info with other companies

Using opt-in contact allows you to significantly increase conversions by introducing yourself over time to your potential customers, in a soft-sell manner.

Website optimization is important; the goal is increased Internet traffic, sales and sales leads. But whether you’ve hired


MikeTuesday 10 November 2009

eBay & Skype Make a Deal
eBay said Friday that the investor group led by Silver Lake has reached a settlement agreement with Joltid Limited and Joost N.V. that gives Skype ownership over all software licensed from Joltid and ends all litigation against the investor group and eBay at the closing of the acquisition.

As part of the settlement agreement, Joltid and Skype founders Niklas Zennstrm and Janus Friis will join the investor group, contributing Joltid software and making a significant capital investment in exchange for a 14 percent stake in Skype. As a result, Silver Lake and other investors including Andreessen Horowitz and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), will together hold 56 percent of Skype and eBay will retain 30 percent.

eBay will receive $1.9 billion in cash when the sale is complete and a note from the buyer worth $125 million. The deal, which values Skype at $2.75 billion, is set to close in the fourth quarter of 2009.
John Donahoe
"Skype will be well positioned to move forward under new owners with ownership and control over its core technology," said eBay Inc. President and CEO John Donahoe.

"At the same time, eBay continues to retain a significant stake in Skype and will benefit from its continued growth. We look forward to closing the deal and focusing on growing our core ecommerce and payments businesses."

The investor group will no longer include Index Ventures. The Skype founders had filed a lawsuit charging Index and its partner Michelangelo Volpi of using confidential information in their bid to purchase a 65 percent stake in Skype.

MikeSaturday 07 November 2009

Welcome to the Datasharp Telecom Blog

 

On this blog we will be putting news and topical articles from the telecoms industry.

 

All of these will be aimed at users, not suppliers of telephone systems and accessories.

 

Hopefully all our clients will find the blogs useful, and we will use it to answer some of the questions we are asked.

 


by JooForge