Samsung releases cut-down IP system
New phone set-up 'affordable for small businesses'
Samsung Business Communications has launched a new phone system that it claimed will make IP telephony affordable for small businesses.
The OfficeServ 100 range of phone systems, effectively a cut-down version of OfficeServ IP Enterprise, is aimed at companies with 20 to 40 employees, said Ali Zartash-Lloyd, sales and marketing director at Samsung.
Small companies can benefit from getting staff to work from home, because it makes them 20 per cent more productive, he claimed.
"This is a great opportunity for channel partners to help small companies enjoy big company benefits," said Zartash-Lloyd. "What will also appeal to small companies is that it's easy to use."
Wayne Lester, sales manager at St Helens-based reseller Lake Technologies, welcomed the new product. "It opens up selling home worker solutions to small businesses. The technology has always been available to big companies but out of reach for smaller organisations," he said.
Resellers can deploy voice over IP (VoIP) to clients with five to 20 users because the technology has become economically viable, Lester added.
"Anyone with broadband or ISDN at home can use IP telephony," he said.
The technology addresses the fear that many managers have about the performance of homeworking staff, he added. "When people work from home using a VoIP platform, managers can easily get a report on how many calls they are making, to whom and and for how long," Lester said.