Your business internet, telephone and IT infrastructure are a dream team, working in harmony and relying on each other to help your staff do their day to day work. Usually you don’t give them a second thought, but if one member of the team is injured, it can have a knock-on effect on the rest of them.

Leaving the sports analogy behind – because we’re more techy types, really – this can cause a lot of frustration, particularly when each is supplied by a different provider: You’ve waited on hold to speak to Supplier One, who blames Supplier Two, but doesn’t seem to be able to contact them directly; instead you’re left to translate Supplier One’s jargon and relate it back to Supplier Two. Supplier Two can’t see any problem their end and tells you to go back to Supplier One with a few suggestions. And so on.

Not only is this frustrating, but there are plenty of other things you could be doing with your time.

So, what can you do if your internet, telephone and IT support providers just won’t play nicely together?

The simple answer is that you move the services to a single provider. This will not only stop you from getting stuck as a go-between for your various suppliers, but will reduce the amount of time you spend resolving IT problems on the whole, for the following reasons:

The workplace is changing

The workplace of the future is looking increasingly flexible, with staff working from various locations at different times. You’ll need to move quickly to adapt with these changes, and your technology solutions need to do the same. It’s much easier for that to happen when your IT infrastructure, phone system and internet connectivity are able to “move” as one.

It’s also important that remote working staff have a central point to get help with technological problems. An issue that one employee thinks is a general IT issue could be seen as an internet connectivity problem by another, while a third could perceive it as a phone hardware fault. Without a central point to report problems to, things can become very confusing, very quickly, and the end result is frustrated staff members fruitlessly chasing resolutions from the wrong suppliers.

Technology is changing

The technology we use to make phone calls will be changing in the next few years, which means that phone calls will be made using an internet connection (VoIP) rather than a standalone telephone line. When you inevitably switch to using a VoIP system, using the same company to support your telephony and internet connectivity means there’ll be no friction between the two.

As your business changes, you’ll naturally adopt more different types of technology and the ability to have them seamlessly integrate with each other will be a key factor in its success.

Cyber threats are increasing

When you’ve invested in cyber security training and measures, the last thing you want is for your hard work to be jeopardized by another business in your supply chain, but when a company you work with falls victim to a cyber attack, this leaves you in a more vulnerable position, too. By reducing the number of suppliers in the chain, and working with suppliers that prove their commitment to quality and security by adhering to ISO 27001 standards, you reduce the risk of falling foul of cyber crime.

If the timing of your contracts means it’s not possible to move your IT support, internet and telephone services to one central supplier all at the same time, plan for a phased migration. as a starting point, looking for a supplier you trust to liaise with others until you’re in a position to place everything under one umbrella.