Greg is one of the leading providers of nbn™ solutions to Australian small business. He owns and runs Phone Systems Brisbane – where excellence comes standard.

I’ve asked Greg to come on and talk to us about the “state of play” with respect to the nbn™ and what he is seeing and hearing from small business owners in the field.

Welcome along Greg and thanks for joining us…

Greg: Well thanks you James, it’s great to be talking with you about one of my favourite subjects.

Question: Greg, what’s happening out there in the real world. What are you hearing from small businesses in Australia?

Greg: James there is a lot of confusion. Unfortunately, this is fuelled by bad information. Business owners are often being told the wrong thing by Telco’s and nbn™ providers.

Question: How do you mean Greg?

Greg: There are a couple of ‘furphies’ that keep coming up. Firstly, “you must change now or you’ll lose your number!” This isn’t true. The fact is that there is plenty of time for business owners to make an informed decision.

Secondly, “your current phone system isn’t nbn™ ready”. This is also false. We can make any phone system nbn™ ready. So, business owners should be doing a cost benefit analysis of updating their old system verse upgrading to a new system.

Another one we experienced was a business who had been cut off the old copper lines and was told it would be 6 weeks before they could be connected to the nbn™. We stepped in and had them connected to the nbn™ in 48 hours.

Question: Besides poor information, what are the biggest challenges facing business owners right now with respect to connecting to the nbn™?

Greg: James that is a very important question.

Apart from the liars and sales tactics used by the big Telcos, the biggest challenge, as we see it, is acceptance of change along with willingness to change.

The crucial setback was business owners clearly did not understand what the nbn™ delivered along with the ramifications of the transformation. We’ve been exposed to propaganda from politicians and the frenzied news-driven media endorsing the nbn™ as a fix-all solution. The facts are they’ve both glossed over the process and genuine impacts on small business.

Question: Are there any businesses that are not suited to a cloud phone system?

Greg: James, this is another good question. Arguably the answer is all business are suited, however, it is their primary needs that will govern on-premise opposed to cloud. For example, an on-premise based phone system would be suitable for an enterprise where direct integration with an existing on premise server based software is required. Having said that, almost all vendors are providing a cloud based solution so companies have an easy migration path from on premise to cloud.

Question: OK, on a positive note Greg, what are the opportunities for small businesses when they do get successfully connected to the nbn™?

Greg: James, this excites me.

Never before have we witnessed such a diverse and comprehensive arsenal of business building tools all in one neat package. We believe the true advantages of Unified Communications have barely been realised, its adopters have incredibly powerful tools on hand to propel their business to the dizzy heights of success.

Almost every telco supplier is merely presenting you with a fancy phone system with all the new buzz words and acronyms to make him appear knowledgeable? We’ve found that most phone system vendors stretch the truth when it comes to Unified Communications.

Question: If any of our listeners have the nbn™ in their area, but they are not connected yet, where should they focus their efforts right now?

Greg: James, business owners are busy people, they have lots to do and many to keep happy. My recommendation is to take the time to better understand where they want to take their business. Then speak with our nbn™ experts to help them take advantage of the nbn™.

Question: Greg, does a business need to swap over to the nbn™? Is it possible to avoid it?

Greg: James, this is a great question. There are some services immune to nbn™ changeover for now anyway. Business grade data connections will not be affected by the nbn™. This usually is applicable to 20 users and above.

ISDN services are currently immune to disconnection. This is however for a short period only until nbn™ sort out an alternative delivery mechanism. Speak with our crew as ISDN services are quite heavy on line rental charges where nbn™ lines are not.

Question: Finally Greg, if a business owner is going to engage with a supplier for nbn™ connection and nbn™ ready phone systems, how can they be prepared so that they don’t fall victim of some of the shoddy examples you gave earlier?

Greg: James the providers today are only interested in the connection, not what hangs off it. This is where things go pear shaped.

You see the nbn™ is one thing, then you have the parts that hang-off it, this is where the rubber meets the road and almost every provider falls by the way side.
It’s not the nbn™ that’s the challenge, it’s what hangs off it that counts and who can make it all work harmoniously. This is where we come into the picture. This is what we do and what we love to do.

Question: Greg, once again thank you for sharing all of your experience and wisdom with us. On a final note if any of our listeners what to get some straight down the line advice from you or your technical team, how do they best contact you?

Greg: Call 1300 58 4000. That number is answered in Australia, by and Australian. Alternatively go to our website www.phonesystemsbrisbane.net.au/development