Everything a small business needs in Telephones, Mobiles and Internet

Welcome, it’s James McNamara here and today I’m speaking with Greg Eicke. Greg is a leading providers of phone systems to Australian small business. His solutions include cloud phones, VoIP and nbn solutions. He owns and alongside his team, runs Phones Now – where excellence comes standard. I’ve asked Greg to come on and talk to us about his services today and some of the more common reasons why a small business would call on Phones Now for assistance.Welcome along Greg and thanks for joining us…

Greg: Thanks James, great to be here sharing how we can best help Australian small business.

James 1: Let’s start at the beginning Greg, tell us about your background in phone systems and small business telephony…

Greg: It all started back in 1983 when I started my apprenticeship with Telecom Australia in my home town of Longreach in outback Queensland.

I worked on all manner of telco gear, one that brings back memories is the open wire party lines strung between trees, rudimentary posts and make shift poles snaking its way across the barren land scape.
The digital age of small business phone systems started in the late 90’s. The early 2000’s saw a lot of computer telephony integration solutions come onto the market. This is where software developers create solutions with links directly into phone systems. I was excited about the possibilities of what this could do for small business for efficiency and business process improvements.

IP Telephony began to creep its way onto the Australian market at this time. The opportunities for small business using IP telephony was staggering. Remote workers, VoIP, easily linking multi-site organisations and computer integration were no longer the domain of multi-national corporates, any small business owner now had access to feature rich tools. I witnessed companies embrace this technology and catapult into successful enterprises.

After nearly 20 years the IP telephony solutions today are bullet proof getting better and better every year. James this excites the pants off me as I can see what the enormous benefits are to small business.
Yes, James I truly love what I do.

James 2: Fantastic Greg, it is great to see a business owner who is truly passionate about the solutions that they offer.

What are the Top 3 Things that you help small businesses with?

Greg: The looming nbn is a game changer and we’re 100% focused in this area to make sure Australian Small business owner receive the right advice as there are a lot of scams out there. In short nbn readiness is our Number 1

You see nbn lines or SIP trunks as they are technically known as are telephone numbers in the cloud. This has been a catalyst for business owners to reconsider Cloud computing options.

Lastly a by-product of what we do with nbn readiness is showing amazed business owners the real cost reductions SIP trunking brings. It is quite normal for us to cut a bill in half.

James 3: Cut a phone bill in half, I like the sound of the third one Greg, how do you do that?

Greg: Yes it is an eye catcher. My technical background really does help working out creative ways to rout different calls in order to keep costs down. Complex to the user, simple to us and customers save money. We love that!

On top of that many of our new phone systems come with 3 months free phone bills, so there is an additional 25% annual saving straight up!

James 4: Greg, you say on your website and in much of your promotions that your company is “Phones Now – where excellence comes standard.” Why did you chose that tag line?

Greg: Our company has long been a champion for small business. And some of the things I get called into fix up for small business would make you cry. It’s quite startling how often business owners suffer from the wrong product being installed, poor workmanship at installation and just poor inaccurate and often untruthful advice.

All we can do is shake our heads and wonder, how as a service provide could they do this. We just couldn’t understand it because our team aims for excellence first time…. That is the standard.

And it was a discussion like that in one of our meetings where the idea of “excellence comes standard” came up, and it has stuck ever since.

James 5: That’s a great story Greg, it goes to show how much attitude has to play in a job well done. Greg, we are taking about the top 3 things that you help business owners with, what are some of the others?

Greg: The growth of IP telephony and the increasing use of IP handsets over the older digital series means more telephony equipment shares the same network as the desk top computer. This usually challenges most IT people as they are geared for software and PC hardware not networks. You see voice on a data network has a different set of rules.

This is where we shine. We’ll work directly with the IT crew making sure all their needs are covered while we build a secure network with our new routers and switches to accommodate the telephones and computers. We never lock out the IT folk, we happily handover access to the routers so they can continue to serve their customer directly. We’ve been doing this for years with great success. At the end of the day the customer wins, the IT guy wins and we all play happily together.

James, may I point out that our technicians are very special as they very skilled in computer networking in addition to telephony skills. This is rare in the telephone world.

Therefore, We won’t offer the easiest solution because it is “easier for us and too complicated to explain to you”.

James, we also have amazing mobile deals using the Telstra 4G network, our providers are the only ones outside of Telstra to offer the Telstra 4G network. We have amazing deals. Just last week we released a special. Unlimited calls, 300 Minutes calls to 26 countries, 10Gig of data for a tiny $45 / month. That’s incredible and what’s more it is a 12-month contract.

James 6: Greg, is there anything in telephony that you can’t help a business owner with?

Greg: We do everything except cloud computing and servers, and we have a close relationship with top providers in that area anyway.

James, I’ve been at this personally for 35 years. We set out to be a quality provider that can help a business owner get the job done from end-to-end.

There is just too much at stake for a business if they are off the air even for one trading day. By managing the whole process ourselves, we guarantee our customers that they will not be off the air at all.

James 7: That’s a level of peace of mind you don’t see too often.
On another note Greg, are there any businesses that are too big or too small for you to deal with?

Greg: Yes definitely. If a business only has one or two handsets, then they’d be better going to Harvey Norman or Office Works. At the other end of the scale, if a business is over 200 handsets, then they need to be moving to one of the super expensive enterprise breeds. But within that bracket we can handle everything in Telephony that a business would need.

James conclusion: Well Greg, as usual it’s been a pleasure talking to you. I enjoy your straightforward approach to business.

How do people contact you if they need to?

Greg: People can call 1300 58 4000 and they’ll be answered in Australia by an Australian. Or they can visit our website www.phonesnow.com.au or www.phonesystemsbrisbane.net.au/development

James: Thanks Greg, those contact details one more time are 1300 58 4000 for the phone and www.phonesnow.com.

OK listeners, that’s it for today. Tune in again next time.