Most of us have already used Outlook, Word or Excel which are part of the Office suite, not many have used Teams to ‘share’ company information and fully collaborate with colleagues.

Watch the video from Microsoft to get a basic overview of how Teams works. You can chat, share files, create a Wiki, hold meetings and much more.

Need to know more about Teams or subscribe to Microsoft 365 – > don’t hesitate to Contact Us

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There is no doubt that those who are new to working from home (WFH) will be finding it difficult for various reasons depending on your personal circumstances. If you can make sure to create a dedicated workspace that makes it ‘feel’ like work, this helps to concentrate and make sure everyone knows when you are at ‘work’ they should help you focus on what you are doing. Depending on budgets a sit-stand desk can help your wellbeing, not forgetting to take regular brakes and keep stretching. Being isolated can be difficult for many especially those who normally work in larger teams. You can overcome this by using technology and there is no better way than virtual meetings and video conference calls with colleagues.

This is where your IT provider can help you smooth the transition of WFH with simple technology. You should be able to collaborate with both colleagues and clients but how? Microsoft Teams help you chat with those you work with , utilising Microsoft Office 365 and Teams. Depending on your service provider they may be in a position to enable telephone calls via the software. Over the next year this piece of tech with Microsoft will be much sought after and become widely used throughout business.

Not using MS Teams? Then there are other solutions available such as Gamma’s Collaboration software. This software is part of a telephony system known as Horizon, just install the software on your computer and use a webcam for both visual and voice.

Remember to use your IT provider as they are there to support you WFH and assist the transition back to office working once the pandemic allows everyone to do so.

Should you have any questions, never struggle alone.

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The charity supports disabled children and most importantly, their families throughout in Lancashire. It was such a pleasure to meet such a dedicate team at High Five.

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Getting out to events and showcasing your business is the best way to demonstrate what your company is all about, just sat behind a desk isn’t good enough, people buy from people. We met lots of new business contacts not just those interested in our services but also those we could work with in the future passing on referrals.

It’s been fun over the last few months celebrating 10 years in business, now it’s time to follow up on those leads!

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MD Neil Thompson said “As a Bolton company we felt the time was right to raise our profile locally and nationally as we have been in business for over 10 years and the sponsorship helps both the club financially and awareness of Comspec. I’m looking forward to both being successful on and off the pitch”.

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We had a great day networking with fellow exhibitors and the many visitors during the event hosted by Launch Events and special thanks to Nichola Howard whose enthusiasm made the day a success.

Our promotional theme was based on the Horizon Hosted Telephone System and how quality has improved over the years with calls made over the internet, mainly due to faster broadband. Not all broadband connections are suitable though so we do recommend testing both the latency and jitter. What? Don’t worry we always try to be jargon free so it’s best we do this for you. Ideally we prefer broadband installed by us as this can either be assured (just for voice) or converge (data and voice).

Its best just to speak to us as many did on the day and we will explain things in plain English instead of technical jargon.

Look out for us at the Wigan Expo 2017 on 6^th October.

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The event was a success with many visitors arriving during the day at the wonderful Impact Conferencing Centre, Sycamore Avenue, Burnley where we met lots of interesting people, both visitors and fellow exhibitors.

Expos are great for getting your business name ‘out there’ and showcasing who you are and what differs you from the crowd. On this occasion we promoted our Horizon Hosted Telephone System with many people showing interest in the product especially with the wealth of features that you can benefit from:

• Features you can easily control
• One number anywhere
• Low call costs or free calls (bundle options)
• Flexible working
• Business continuity
• Call recording
• and much more

Let’s do more business together in Lancashire.

We look forward to exhibiting at more events throughout the year.

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With many visitors and fellow exhibitors we had a great time meeting everyone to get our message across that we are still here better than ever after 10 years in business.

This particular event Comspec focused on Telecoms promoting our Horizon Hosted Telephone System which proved popular with many enquiries especially businesses looking to make FREE calls to UK local, national and mobiles. This wasn’t a gimmick to attract people to the stand, you can actually get FREE calls.

We shall be exhibiting again in April so look out for the blog.

In the meantime if you are looking to upgrade your telephone system you should consider our Horizon Hosted Telephone System. Speak to us and we’ll advice if this is suitable for you depending on how many extensions you require and your location. We stress location as good broadband coverage is essential for VoIP.

Talk to us about Horizon Hosted Telephone System and our broadband services call us on 01204 898055

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Having established the company in 2007 we have seen many changes in both the IT and Telecoms market but also in the way customers work.

Back in 2007 Neil Thompson set about contacting potential customers who wanted a more friendly approach and someone willing to listen to  their problems and not only that, to act upon them. Having that caring approach instilled confidence and that Comspec actually heard what the customer was saying. Problems were fixed, solutions provided but this wasn’t really enough for both supplier and customer as firefighting was costly and downtime was a pain to the customer.

So what was the solution?

In 2008 we decided that the way forward was automation, what is that you may ask? In simple terms all systems are managed over the cloud by installing remote agents on the devices such as servers and desktops. This meant that we could offer support at a reduced cost as we monitor and support devices from any location. Alerts were sent when monitors breached, this meant we could often deal with the issue before it became a issue. Problems can equate to downtime and even loss of business for an hour or two, sometimes longer.

This vision is still the forefront of what we do today, monitor, manage and act.

During service reviews it became apparent that our customers were frustrated by their telecoms provider both in terms of bills and who to contact. We went away and sought the best telcos in terms of service and reliability and offered those as an additional service such as VoIP and SIP Trunks.

What impact did this have on our customers?

Firstly it meant they knew exactly who to contact and not be kept waiting in a telephone queue for an hour waiting to speak to someone. It does make life easy knowing you have one direct telephone number to call if you have problems or a simple query.

In a nutshell we have made lives a lot easier and simplified process and automated where we can.

Win-Win for us and our customers everyone is happy!

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Traditional lines and minutes were sold when most calls passed over the Plain Old Telephone Service knows as POTS, this is no longer the case.Calls over POTS can be very expensive and if you have an ISDN line into your telephone system, this is also adding to the costs and with BT switching off ISDN in 2025 migrating to calls over the internet is the way forward.In today’s digital age everything appears to be pushed over a broadband connection and this can be true with telephone calls. The bonus is that ‘on-net’ calls are free, in simple terms that’s when both the person making and receiving the call has an IP connection or VoIP, basically the telephone call goes over the broadband connection and this is where savings can be made.You should be speaking to your current telecoms provider and asking the question about call rates and what options are available to you. If they want to keep you on the current tariff look for an alternative as it’s possible to move from pay-as-you-go to an all inclusive call bundle. Of course the all inclusive will cost a little more per seat but if you are making lots of calls this can work out more cost effective and you’ll be able to budget your spends each month.If you are unsure you call always call our team at Comspec on 01204 898055 and we’ll guide you through our Horizon phone system or why not take a look at the video.

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