If you're already running IT support for other people's telecoms packages and running cloud apps, you might be tempted to start buying and selling your very own services. Adopting your own telecoms offering can be a great way to boost profits, your reputation, and the range of tools and services you can offer. Schemes such as 'white label' phone and internet connection reselling, Microsoft Azure startup kits, and exchange virtualisation apps have made it easier than ever for smaller companies to compete with the big players.
The initial investment to get going with PBX and remote connectivity telecoms is far smaller than it used to be, too. Comms tech has become more affordable and modular, all thanks to cloud virtualisation and digitisation of vital components. SME business customers increasingly value using localised, personalised, and scalable telecoms over big package providers.
What Makes A Successful Small-Scale Telecoms And IT Support Provider?
However, offering brokered telecoms isn't for everyone involved in cloud-based IT support. The answer as to whether you should offer telecoms services depends on the IT structure, assets, and skills your business can provide. Short turnarounds, a diverse toolkit, and 'always on' tech are all vital to telecoms success.
Having IT support in place is a great start - customers always value dedicated help. However, you'll need to offer much more to stay legal, competitive, professional, and valuable to clients. If you don't have the infrastructure, know-how, and bandwidth capacity to offer cutting-edge cloud streaming, you're going to struggle.
You'll need ISO data protection and telecoms accreditation, DevOps and network monitoring staff, a way to itemise and track subscriptions and billing, and experience working with Openreach or PBX models (SIP and VoIP hybrid). You might also need to purchase new hardware, as cloud telecoms can be very server-intensive and often require redundant capacity and backups to work well.
Data protection and security are also concerns. By law, you need to be fully GDPR compliant at all stages. Breaches and hacks risk fines and prosecution. You'll also need to consider who will want to lease your services, what they'll use them for, and how you'll reach them. Good marketing is crucial to breaking into the competitive UK telecoms market and building a reputation for yourself.
What Telecoms Services Should I Offer?
With IT Support already attached, your focus should ideally be on offering secure, monitored, and fully maintained remote login networks. The 'access anywhere' features of supported cloud computing will help give you a competitive edge.
As for choosing your specific services, research gaps in the local and national market. Can you offer faster, cheaper, or more stable telecoms? What added value can you bring? Is there anything missing, coverage wise, where you operate?
It's critical to keep changing technological, social, and political landscapes in view, too. The growth of remote connectivity during COVID-19 and the impending 2025 IDSN (digital-analogue telephony) BT switch-off are the two main trends currently driving the UK telecoms market in new directions.
Consequentially, personal business exchange (PBX) SIP virtualisation for SMEs and fibre-optic connection upgrades are extremely popular at present. However, don't write off sub-selling ADSL broadband connections and VoIP-brokered landlines to smaller, more diverse clients as unprofitable. Households and businesses alike benefit from well-supported, quality connectivity at budget prices.
Telecoms Support From Sysconfig
If you need any help with setting up cloud services and PBX hosting, talk to Sysconfig. We're experienced providers of network hosting, management, and strategic planning for UK IT. Call or email us for a free quote.
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