Small business secrets...

It is not uncommon for a small business owner to use their personal mobile phone to run their business. It may appear to be a convenient and cheaper way to run a business but the truth is that these owners pay a heavy price not just with how damaging it can be to their businesses but also to their personal wellbeing.

People have this perception that using separate numbers for personal and professional reasons will overcomplicate things. Managing both will become an issue for them. But as time goes by and business owners evaluate the situation, they always find themselves in the dilemma of whether or not they should take a new business number.

Putting your number online for your small business seems like the easiest thing to do. But trust me, it's not. You might end up in a messy situation where you get spam calls and robocalls. You might also get customers or prospects calling you after hours or late at night disturbing your peace or your time with family. Running a small business is stressful and the last thing you want is to have your downtime with family or friends taken away from you.

By putting your mobile phone in the public sphere, you also increase the risk of identity theft. As a business owner, you may give out your number and your details without giving a second thought but this could have grave repercussions with regard to identity theft or hacking exposure.

As your business grows, using a mobile becomes increasingly limiting as you add customers and staff. You need to add employees as users to your business number so that you can take more customer calls and avoid dropping calls from customers. You also need a more professional out of hours greeting while your normal greeting may require call menus and hold music to handle more calls. None of this can be done on a mobile phone unless you have a VoIP app like bOnline Phone.

Here is why you should keep a different number for your personal and professional life:

 

bOnline is pleased to announce that we have been selected by TalkTalk Business as well as BT Wholesale to be among the first Telecom Providers to trial FTTP (Fibre to the Premises) Broadband to our customers. This internet service has fantastic speeds of up to 330Mb/s and will be offered by bOnline at very affordable prices.

In a new series developed by the bOnline team, we give you a round-up of the most important news in UK telecom.

In a new series developed by the bOnline team, we give you a round-up of the most important news in UK telecom.

Once you are aware of the many benefits that Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) has to offer, your business may be eager to make the switch or at least give cloud phones are chance.  So what's next? Getting your first VoIP system! Here are areas to think about when making the switch to cloud-based telephony.

Business broadband over residential?

As a new business owner, this thought might be spiralling in your head when weighing up business broadband choices.

In today’s day and age, slow business fibre broadband can be detrimental for small businesses in terms of productivity and customer service. Only in 2017, it was believed that poor internet services cost the UK £7 billion pounds a year.

Ofcom has released a statement regarding Single Order Generic Ethernet Access which will see telephone lines moving to broadband. This will undoubtedly cause a massive shake-up to services and we dive into how small businesses can prepare for this.