A recent survey by UK carrier Zen has found that almost a quarter of UK businesses are still completely unaware of the 2025 copper switch off scheduled by Openreach.
Companies are particularly in the dark in the SME bracket according to the survey, with 33% of small and medium size businesses not being aware of the huge changes coming to the UK’s telecoms infrastructure.
At Bluecube we’ve been banging this particular drum for a few years now and we haven’t sold any services over copper for a long period of time. However, many UK business owners and managers seem to completely unaware that any telecoms services they have using ISDN (digital) or PSTN (copper) lines will be switched off either in 2025 or starting from that point in time. What’s worse is that many telecoms providers are still selling solutions that use these legacy services. Rather than adopting a cloud strategy and advising their customers to move to a cloud based and future proof solution, many resellers and dealers in the industry are still selling old technology.
The days of expensive onsite systems that date quickly and need to be replaced every few years should be on borrowed time. However, many providers are still choosing to sell expensive hardware, often on long and expensive finance agreements, connected to services that will be quickly decommissioned, simply because it is easier than re-skilling their workforce.
The growth in the unified communications market has of course been accelerated by the pandemic, but the mass business migration to cloud-based communications was already in full swing. UC or UCaaS (unified communications as a service) offers the flexibility to communicate anywhere and on pretty much any device, but more importantly all you need to be fully connected to your team and other contacts is an internet connection. simply jump on a Wi-Fi connection or use mobile connectivity if you’re working remotely and you’ll have access to the same suite of tools that you would have in the office.
With just under half of all businesses still using legacy onsite systems and connectivity, the scale of the task facing the UK telecoms sector is becoming a worry. A growing concern is that we’ll see a late rush from businesses looking to move to a cloud-based solution before the deadline with not enough resource to meet demand. “There is a growing risk that many businesses will be caught short by structural changes to the UK telecoms network which loom on the horizon” said Paul Stobart, CEO at Zen.
There is a growing risk that many businesses will be caught short by structural changes to the UK telecoms network which loom on the horizon
Paul Stobart, CEO of Zen
My own view is that business owners and managers need to address this digital communications transformation sooner rather than later. The last 12 months has proven without doubt the need for businesses to enable flexible working. The infrastructure changes ahead of us are just another reason to move away from an onsite system using ISDN or PSTN lines.
Finding a trusted partner to guide you through the options and give you expert advice and support during the process is a priority for any business looking to make these changes now before the late surge in migrations. The commercial model for cloud services means that switching requires very little capital investment but the benefits are huge. It’s time to take action, visit https://www.bluecubecloud.com/ today for specialist advice.
Posted in: Market Insight. Tagged: Bluecube, Telephony, Unified Communications
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