The Great British Switch Off: Have you done your migration audit?

If you’re tired of hearing about the Great British Switch Off, there’s a reason why we keep mentioning it.

2023 is the year when things will really start to ramp up. The PSTN stop sell will swing into gear and new copper services will no longer be available from an increasing number of exchanges – all leading towards the big switch off in 2025.

If you haven’t got round to making provisions for the move to all-IP yet, it’s imperative that you start to give serious consideration to your next steps now. And perhaps the best place to start is with an audit of your voice and connectivity services.

Future-proof alternatives

How are your offices and users connecting? If copper and FTTC services are the norm, without adequate forethought now you may find that your business needs to make significant changes at pace later on.

As full fibre and SOGEA connections become increasingly common – to the point of replacing older forms of connectivity entirely – you’ll want to ensure that your business is fully prepared for the copper switch off.

Will you make the leap to full fibre, or would you perhaps benefit from the added guarantees of an Ethernet connection? And how are your remote and hybrid workers connecting to your own network and the wider internet?

Once you’ve checked your existing connectivity, get in touch to discuss your future-proof alternatives or visit our site to check out your options.

Don’t lose your voice

Voice services over legacy PSTN and ISDN lines won’t be around for very much longer, so there’s no time like the present to properly assess your communication needs. Your future communications will be powered not by archaic fixed lines, but by your internet connection itself.

Key to identifying the right service for you is accurately assessing both your current and desired usage. How many lines do you currently use? How many will you need? How scalable does your solution need to be, and to what extent do you need to provide for hybrid and remote working?

If telephony isn’t a major part of your business, will a regular Digital Voice service suffice to replace your existing setup? Or do you need something more?

For the full contact centre experience, for management and monitoring of users and their devices, and for anytime, anywhere use you’ll want to consider a switch to CloudComms. It’s the cloud-based, hosted solution that provides the flexibility, scalabity and functionality that your users and customers will love, and it’s tailorable to your business needs.

Other affected services

When thinking about the switch off, it’s easy to look at the headline acts; your networking and voice is sorted and you’re good to go.

But what about those other services that maybe rely on copper connectivity? That might, for example, include alarms, CCTV, security systems, EPOS machines and even good-old fax machines.

Are all of these services ready for the switch off? If you’re not sure, now’s a good time to ask your provider what they’re doing to ensure a smooth transition.

Are you ready for the Great British Switch Off?

The copper network will be switched off entirely in 2025, but the stop sell has already begun – and will accelerate through 2023.

To find out more about the Great British Switch Off, the landmark dates, how your business might be affected and what you can do about it, visit our dedicated page here.

To discuss your options with a member of our helpful team, call 01706 902579 or email solutionsales@zen.co.uk