How do you know your telecoms provider is legitimate, safe to use, and is who they say they are in their glossy advertising? The overwhelming majority of remote, online UK PBX (phone network) and broadband providers are trustworthy. However, the advent of COVID-19, rise of teleconferencing, and sudden growth in demand for B2B telecoms connections and management have led to more scam companies and opportunistic hackers popping up in 2020.
Even if your provider itself is fundamentally honest, they could be inexperienced and vulnerable to phishing, spoofing, and unauthorised connections. These are all used to steal customer details and accounts. These digital break-ins can result in botnet and malware infections, identity theft, and fraud - amongst many other potential, lurking threats.
Thankfully, you can verify the reliability and professionalism of prospective suppliers by looking at their ISO accreditations.
What Is ISO Accreditation?
An ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) certificate is a proven guarantee that a company has been tested and successfully vetted by an approved third-party ISO-issuing company in a select set of skills or criteria.
ISOs, as the name implies, are acknowledged as a mark of quality worldwide. Each different ISO accreditation represents a benchmark of competency, training, and outside trust. ISOs come in many varieties, each one matched to industry-specific skillsets. Each ISO accreditation also comes with a unique ID number for easy reference.
Which ISO Certificates Should I Look For And Trust?
If you're paying for a virtual SIP-PBX (personal business exchange) from a wholesale trunking provider, you should look out for:
- ISO 27017 for Cloud Services - authorises the company to run secure cloud services (SIP-PBX, managed IP) and maintain streaming data protection on behalf of clients, staff, and users
- ISO 27001 for Information Security - includes full compliance with the GDPR and UK Data Protection Act(s), keeping your recorded information, recordings, and call logs safe
- ISO 27018 for Personally Identifiable Information (PII) - trains staff in how to handle metadata, delete non-essential records, and keep confidential info confidential
If In Doubt?
All well and good. But what if a questionable company lies about their ISO accreditation or forgets to mention it? Ask about their past portfolio of secure connection and data protection work, look at their reviews and web presence, and ask for a transparent run-down of their cloud security strategies and what they do with the data they collect. If at least one trained representative can't provide clear, straightforward answers or employees skirt around questions about negative or absent feedback, it's probably time to look elsewhere for SIP trunking.
Trusted Telecoms Provision, Reselling, And Virtual PBX Outsourcing From Sysconfig
Sysconfig is fully ISO accredited to run virtual exchanges, remote telephony connections, and ISP functions. We also offer safe, proven partnership programmes for our PBX and resales schemes, ensuring client safety and confidence. Get in touch to learn more.
Image source: Pixabay
