What is it Like Moving Over to Geeks Voice? Q&A with Nick Richards

Here at Computer Geeks, we’ve been using a modern cloud based telephony platform through the Microsoft Teams app which we can now offer to you as Geeks Voice, find out more about it here. So we wanted to share with you our experience through a quick Q&A with our MD Nick:

What was it like before Geeks Voice?

Before we moved onto Geeks Voice we were using a simple Voice over IP service with desk phones on each desk at work. The phones on the desk were designated to an individual based at that dedicated desk, and each phone required power & a network cable. The phones rang all day!

Why did you decide to move over to Geeks Voice?

The office was dominated by phones ringing very regularly. In addition to this, we had a vision to transform our way of working to an agile format within the office, allowing true hotdesking, and wanted to move away from a setup whereby each desk was dedicated to a specific individual. We also saw a huge benefit in unifying our communications through one platform (Microsoft 365) allowing us to keep our IT security within one place.

We found it difficult to communicate by phone on the move, and had started to communicate in all other ways internally with Microsoft Teams chat. We were also suffering from call drops for about 5% of our calls, which our current phone provider could not resolve. We were even ready to ditch our phone number and start afresh! The problems all went away when we moved to Geeks Voice….

What was the set up like?

The process took about 4 weeks in total, from start to finish. At the start, our Technical Solutions Manager Rob took us through the design of the call groups, the IVR voice menus, and the voicemail options. The team then liaised with our existing phone provider, and then took over. Number ports took place and a soft migration was implemented which meant no downtime; it allowed us to seamlessly coexist between the old and new phone system.

What was it like when you first moved over to Geeks Voice?

When we were given the green light, we could finally get rid of our phones on the desk and move to nice new headsets. This was impossible on our old system. Immediately, the phones ringing in the office went silent, as ringing became notification based on users’ Windows 10 screens, rather than an audible ring out loud in the office. Day to day, it was easily adopted with little to no learning curve. We simply used the same Microsoft Teams logins that we had been using all year and away we went.

What is it like now?

We’ve been able to achieve flexible and agile working when in the office, as well as a seamless consistent experience for our workers at home. When COVID19 lockdowns came in, our team easily and without fuss moved to working from home, and all they needed was a headset (which most had already) in order to use their computers at home and retain our phone system.

As a busy Service Desk led company, this was an excellent test of our resilience and Microsoft Teams was a saviour during those times and now. We’ve been able to achieve a huge amount of change, without a drop in service. The value of this solution far outweighs the investment.

Why would you recommend other businesses to use Geeks Voice?

At a time when so many companies need to work, as teams, from many different locations including working from home, there couldn’t be a more suitable solution than Geeks Voice to unify communications. We believe reducing the amount of hardware in a company is a good thing, and moving your phone system to the Microsoft Cloud will not only allow you to move away from expensive, annoying desk phones that ring all day long and disturb you, but also allow you to benefit from enhanced, efficient innovation. This reduces complexity, and therefore cost.

I would recommend all companies up to 100 staff move to Geeks Voice for a better, easier to use, less complex phone modern phone system that integrates in to already existing Microsoft 365. Your staff will love it.

If you want to update your telephony system to Geeks voice, or you just want to know more, get in touch. You can set up a call with our Technical Solutions Manager Rob by emailing rob@geeks.co.uk or through Calendly by clicking here. Our friendly team are happy to discuss this further with you.

Give us a call on 0117 325 0370 or email info@geeks.co.uk to see how we can transform your IT.