BT offers new voice continuity solution

BT launched a family of voice continuity solutions to counter the increasing threat to business from disruptions caused by fire, floods, bomb scares, negative publicity, and routine outages. Numerous instances — from 9/11 to Katrina to last summer’s U.K. floods — demonstrated that, in an emergency, communication is key, and the resilience of the voice network is vital to the continuation and survival of the business. “BT recognized the need for a really strong voice continuity solution and we are delighted that they have chosen Teamphone to supply it”, said Teamphone’s CEO Geoffrey Paterson. “Our partnership with BT has proven our strength and reliability and enabled us to work with major banks and the MOD across their secure networks.”

“Voice continuity minimizes the impact of a crisis on revenue, security and reputation, which can be destroyed very quickly. It’s not just the headline-grabbers like the Manchester Bomb which destroyed 250 businesses; companies are 40 times more likely to suffer interruption from plumbers than from terrorists,” continued Paterson. “Through our partnership we can deliver BT Voice Continuity at a quarter of the price of any even remotely comparable service.”

BT Voice Continuity offers a choice of solutions designed to enable businesses to maintain communication with customers, communities, employees, partners, suppliers, and stakeholders in the event of a crisis. These new network-delivered services are resilient against failure and deliver voice, fax, and data calls to alternative numbers, locations, services, teams or individuals. Ray Stanton, global head of BT’s business continuity, security and governance practice, said: “Most organizations have for a long time meticulously planned disaster recovery strategies for their data, network and business applications. In the event of an emergency though, the most vital network to maintain is the voice one. Failure to plan for this creates a major hole in any business continuity plan. This service has been designed specifically to address that gap.”

Stanton added: “Business continuity should not be viewed as a box-ticking exercise. It’s about protecting revenue and reputation. In today’s fast-paced economy, companies cannot afford to be out of reach from their customers and key stakeholders for long. The very real fear should be, ‘If I’m not working, is someone going to take my business and clients?’ ”

BT Voice Continuity is a family of network-delivered continuity services suitable for small and large organisations. BT says that no additional lines, equipment, private circuits, CAPEX, or