Introduction
Go Low Carbon is an energy brokering company that specialises in helping businesses improve their carbon footprint. It offers B2B services, performing carbon audits to identify opportunities to reduce carbon footprints; pinpoints opportunities for switching utility suppliers to allow businesses to access lower cost and more environmentally friendly energy tariffs; and implementing green energy solutions, such as solar panels.
Based in Carlisle, the business is positioned as a carbon conscious energy partner. It was founded in 2016 by Ryan Park and Islam Pearson, entrepreneurs whose personal ethics and beliefs drive the business and the value it provides. A key part of this is dispelling the myth that to get to net-zero, businesses have to bear reduced productivity and profitability. The truth is that the significant quick-win carbon savings that help businesses get to net-zero are often free!
Problem
When the business was set up it started with a blank sheet of paper. Of course in choosing a telephone system, there were some important considerations that all startups and small growing businesses need to bear in mind.
MD, Ryan Park, says: “There was a need for the solution to provide high quality voice communication without a premium price tag. It needed to avoid locking the company into long fixed priced contracts. We also wanted it to provide flexibility, so it could grow with us, or help us adapt to any rapid market changes.”
He continues: “Of course one of the key things, about setting up a company that markets the idea that businesses flourish as part of a greener economy, is that you have no option other than to practise what you preach. In essence, we needed all our strategies, processes and technologies to align with our core values. This included the telephone system.”
Solution
The Soho66 VoIP voice communication platform was selected because it matched the cost and flexibility criteria, as well as fitting in with the core values of Go Low Carbon. The business model is PAYG – it’s on a rolling monthly contract that allows clients to scale up and down the number of users instantly, according to their business needs.
Go Low Carbon has a team of ten. Five are admin and first line telephone call handlers located in the office and the remainder are the management team that may be on the road, or working flexibly from home.
“Soho66 is a virtual PBX in the cloud and it allows our team to be located anywhere. Once connected to the internet and logged in the team can easily communicate with each other and benefit from high quality voice calls with customers, partners and any other callers,” Ryan Park, says.
He continues: “This is highly efficient in terms of its environmental creds. IT doesn’t need specialised hardware PBX equipment or handsets, so it doesn’t have a huge manufacturing or energy usage carbon footprint. The team simply logs in through their PC, Mac or mobile device and uses a headset.”
Results
Soho66 provides business efficiency day to day by allowing the team to focus on their primary roles, while making sure calls are handled in an organised manner.
The system allows a structured approach to handling inbound calls, allowing admin and first line call handlers to conduct day-to-day operations, while freeing key and senior members of the team to remain focused on sales, management and decision making activities.
The five admin and first line call handlers are in the primary pickup group, where the phones ring first. Should calls go unanswered, the secondary pick up group is the management team. Finally, as a backstop, any call not picked up by the secondary team is fielded by Ryan Park.
Ryan Park says: “Two of the key benefits are ease of use and self-service. You can access support online and you can manage the system using the web browser interface. This prevents the need to call to support for every little thing, it’s a great time saver.”
“The best thing? It is when you need support that you really find out how good a service or product is. When we do need to get in touch the support team is amazing. They provide a quick response at any time and they are very professional, patient and helpful,” says Ryan Park.
