Launched in the UK on 1st June 2021, UNIVERGE BLUE® is an innovative new cloud based communications system from industry leaders NEC. Equations Voice and Data Communications are delighted to be one of a select group of companies in the UK to offer the new platform which brings together all of the essential tools your business needs to communicate effectively: an…
Surgeries up and down the UK have experienced an extraordinary (some might say unprecedented) surge in call volume over the last 12 months. From concerned patients checking symptoms to worried family members wondering how to deal with COVID concerns to vaccination questions and that’s on top of the usual high level of calls and queries all surgeries receive in a…
With students easing back into the school environment, parents adjusting from home schooling back into the world of work and teachers juggling classroom teaching with ongoing staff absence, it is more important than ever that your school’s communication system is able to deal with whatever is thrown at it this year. You are likely to experience a higher than normal…
Even before the start of the Coronavirus pandemic, there was a worldwide shift starting towards working remotely or from home. Although COVID-19 has certainly accelerated the movement, with all of us having to shift our attitudes and working practices rapidly, it’s actually working out incredibly well for many employers and employees. Over 76% of people working from home surveyed recently…
We’re excited to be one of the first providers in the UK to offer an innovative new system that will help local businesses adapt to new working habits due to the pandemic. Equations Voice and Data Communications, based in North Devon and Somerset, will be offering the innovative NEC Univerge Blue system that launched at the end of March this…
If we’ve learnt anything from the challenges faces by surgeries throughout the Coronavirus pandemic it’s that having a robust, versatile, modern communications system is more than just a luxury. It’s an absolute necessity in maintaining the very best patient care as well as taking care of heavily burdened staff during a national emergency. We found that those surgeries who had…
The past 12 months have been hectic; there’s been highs, many lows and a lot of change. Things have often been done or carried out as an emergency response to events happening around us. However, with the vaccine rollout in full swing and the roadmap out of lockdown hitting its targets thus far, now may be the time to access…
If you go back just a few short years, many businesses would have been resistant to the idea of employees working predominantly from home. Fears that employees would feel disconnected from the company’s values, separated from colleagues and be less productive were understandable in a world where the majority of us commuted to work and carried it out in the…
Over the last 12 months, schools have really had to roll with the punches when it comes to adapting their working practices. This has meant embracing huge changes in the way they communicate with colleagues, parents and pupils, often using new technology to continue to teach and meet parental demands. Many schools may have already introduced a VoIP system to…
As we humans have battled with the changes the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown at us, so have pets across the world. Over the past year a surge in pet ownership, combined with spending more time at home with our furry loved ones has meant that veterinary surgeries throughout the UK are dealing with more and more calls from concerned owners,…
2020 was the year the country proved it could work remotely. With so many businesses big and small realising the benefits and the not insignificant cost savings of working more flexibly, it’s looking like 2021 will be the year thousands of companies further evolve and perfect their home working practices and processes to embrace this new normal. A key part…
With many schools across England looking set to join our neighbours in Wales and Scotland by starting to reopen in March, is your school ready? With two weeks to go, it’s likely that you’ll start to see a surge in calls from parents trying to get to grips with yet another new normal. The increase in call volume is likely…
Whether trying to manage staff absence through sickness or self-isolation, staying on top of the rollout of free school meals to children and young people in the community, monitoring pupil levels in school on a daily basis or communicating effectively with parents and pupils trying to learn and educate at home, there is no doubt that the Coronavirus pandemic is…
Even without the unique challenges of 2020’s global pandemic, call volumes to GP surgeries inevitably ramp during the winter months with the onset of a large number of seasonal illnesses. Of course, this year that volume is reaching unprecedented levels with heightened sickness in the community as well as increased staff absence due to Covid infection, self-isolation or shielding. So…
As 2020 progressed and the Coronavirus pandemic deepened, more and more staff were required to work from home regardless of industry, sector, geographical location or size. Throughout the year businesses demonstrated that by modernising working practices and embracing modern technology to its fullest extent, they were able to quickly and easily move to a flexible working arrangement without loss of…
In an unprecedented year, businesses have faced innumerable challenges to adapt how they work, sometimes simply to survive. One thing that has become clear is that early adopters of new technology and working practices have been able to weather the Coronavirus pandemic better than those who’ve had to play catch up. The key to communication success when it comes to…
Whenever they’re getting started, small businesses need all the help they can get to survive. As many as eight out of ten small businesses fail within the first 18 months. In 2020, a year where global economies have been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic, it’s an even tougher environment out there for most small businesses. While there are government schemes…
During a normal winter, staffing levels are always erratic in the winter months, with the usual winter bugs like flu and colds going around. 2020 looks to be even worse, with people showing coronavirus symptoms potentially having to self-isolate for days while waiting for their test results to come back. December is also a popular time for staff to use…
Businesses of all sizes face communication issues from time to time. The challenge facing small and medium companies are often greater as they just don’t have the resources necessary to completely tackle the problem. Not having the right resources in place has only aggravated the risk from potential communication problems. These issues can range from customers being unable to easily…
Just as the coronavirus pandemic has reshaped our working environments and more or less every other aspect of our lives, it’s reshaped our schools and forced teachers and parents to adapt to a new kind of learning space. As with any other period, the safety of both children and staff is essential to how a school is run. During the…
Businesses of all sizes face communication issues from time to time. The challenge facing small and medium companies are often greater as they just don’t have the resources necessary to completely tackle the problem. Not having the right resources in place has only aggravated the risk from potential communication problems. These issues can range from customers being unable to easily…
The Covid-19 global pandemic has made us reassess a huge number of things both in our personal lives and across society. One thing it has definitely highlighted is how feasible it is for many of us to work from home more often, if not permanently. With the second lockdown and a potentially difficult winter ahead, working from home looks like…
The InVentry sign-in system — an electronic sign-in system that allows schools and businesses to easily keep track of who is on site — is consistently being updated, but the new challenges being presented in 2020 means that the team behind the system have been hard at work adding new features to make the system adapt to an ever-changing world.…
The lead up to Christmas is normally a great time of year for many of us, with food, gifts and retail therapy. That means that November and December are among the busiest months for so many of the UK’s biggest sectors, particularly retail and hospitality. A second lockdown may have thrown original plans into chaos, but come what may, many…
Towards the end of September, the Prime Minister Boris Johnson instructed people to return to working from home as and where possible, sending thousands of people back from their offices to remote working again. Not coming into the workplace every day and working from home can be jarring for many, with the transition to working at home for the next…
There’s a lot of scaremongering going on in the press since Boris Johnson announced the latest round of COVID-19 measures, including the new three tier lockdown system. In many of his recent speeches, the Prime Minister said the UK was in for a tough winter because of the implications of Coronavirus. There could be added stresses on our healthcare system…
If you run a business and want to make things work as smoothly as possible during these unusual and unprecedented times, you’ll need technology that lives up to your needs and systems that are robust enough to deal with changing work conditions. Having a phone system that meets your needs is important, particularly at a time when more and more…
It’s safe to say that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our lives have changed in ways we never could have imagined at the start of the year. We’re all dealing with a “new normal”, be it coming to grips with lockdown, putting on a face mask to go to the shops or following social distancing measures. These changes have impacted…
BT is planning to “switch off” the UK’s entire traditional phone line network by 2025, which means switching over from a standard phone system to a phone system running over the internet is inevitable. Now might not seem like the ideal time to have to update your phone system, with the Coronavirus pandemic having widespread effects on the community. However,…
In any business, the ability to communicate with clients and customers is essential to your success. Having a phone system that meets your needs is crucial to ensuring those good lines of communication — especially in a shifting working landscape where more and more people than ever are working from home. With the uncertainty due to the Coronavirus pandemic and…