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Mike Barnes

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Consultant, Linked World Ltd

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I'm a freelance communications and collaboration consultant with over 15 years experience in UK telecommunications, specialising in VoIP, Unified Communications and Collaboration, and building SP architectures based on Cisco Systems products.

WEB: Blog

May 4, 2011

Mike Barnes and 2 other people commented on this post

Top 12 Reasons Why You Should Pay Attention to Security in Your Organization

True Andrew. But whilst the impact of a security breach is usually extremely measurable and instant, the impact of coarse security on a business is neither of those things. Clearly, people will always react more strongly to a sudden and damaging event than to a ... more

Information Technology

Risk Mitigation

April 26, 2011

Mike Barnes and 3 other people answered this question

Do banks need more advanced unified communication features to meet customer needs?

In my experience, banks aren't heavy users of advanced UC features. In fact, they're not heavy users of typical UC features. But this certainly varies around the organisation, which should not be surprising - perhaps the single most useful feature for a branch user, after ... more

Customer Service

Information Technology

March 21, 2011

Mike Barnes and 3 other people answered this question

Do you think video is a "game changer" for Unified Communications? Why or why not?

I hate the term "game changer". What does it really mean? It indicates some massive shift of emphasis (which is generally what marketeers want to portray, but is rarely reality), and so in that sense no - video is not a game changer for UC.
What ... more

Information Technology

Feb. 18, 2011

Mike Barnes and 3 other people answered this question

What are the main security/privacy concerns for businesses with hosted VoIP solutions?

Firstly, those people who are concerned about interception of their voice traffic over IP need to consider why they are not concerned about interception of their voice traffic over the PSTN.
But regardless of that, if you put any un-encrypted traffic over the internet then there ... more

Information Technology

Feb. 18, 2011

Mike Barnes and 6 other people answered this question

What questions should I be asking my employees about their telecom needs?

Personally, I would not do this with a questionnaire. And if I did, I would not question them about their telecom needs. However I don't know you or your business, perhaps you are taking the right approach for your situation.
What I would consider is how ... more

Information Technology

Small Buisiness

Feb. 18, 2011

Mike Barnes and 2 other people answered this question

What are your opinions on Facebook adding a VOIP feature?

It's really going to depend on what they're planning to deliver. Despite the popularity of Facebook, it's still a very small percentage of the world who use it. A VoIP feature will only be of use when both parties are near the PC. Which is ... more

Information Technology

Feb. 4, 2011

Mike Barnes and 5 other people answered this question

If I need 5 9's uptime do I have to use a premise solution or can I go with hosted/managed solution?

I guess everyone thinks they already know the answer to this, but I think everyone's answer will be different: what is 5 9's uptime? It sounds like the answer should be easy, and it's certainly easy to come up with an answer, but you'll find ... more

Information Technology

Jan. 25, 2011

Mike Barnes and 2 other people answered this question

When is it smart for a small business to consider an On-premise Vs. Hosted VoIP solution?

20-25 phones in total? It's tricky, because it may be that with such low scale the choice of SPs available and willing would be limited. Assuming an SP is selling what you need hosted, then that would be my preference. A small business simply doesn't ... more

Information Technology

Jan. 19, 2011

Mike Barnes and 3 other people answered this question

What kinds of products are considered 'unified communications?'

Great answers from Pamela and Andrew, I absolutely agree: UC is not a set of products, or even a set of features, but a way of working all communications channels together effectively. Joshua is right too though - at the end, it does come down ... more

Information Technology

Communications Infrastructure

Jan. 12, 2011

Mike Barnes and 3 other people answered this question

Does a company that uses SIP trunking need to purchase additional Internet connectivity bandwidth?

It depends what bandwidth you already have, what it's used for, and how congested it gets. If you're running close to the wire on bandwidth then yes, of course you'll need more. You need to calculate what bandwidth the SIP trunking will require (maximum), apply ... more

Information Technology

Hosting and Bandwidth

Jan. 4, 2011

Mike Barnes recommends this answer by Steve Barnett

What is a "cloud-based VoIP offering"?

Based upon my knowledge of VoIP as it exists today, "Cloud-Based VoIP", and "VoIP Service" are exactly the same thing. If you as an end-user, are on a Fully Hosted PBX service, regardless of the carrier, the network configuration, the servers etc., then you are ... more

Information Technology

Cloud Based Applications

Cloud Based Contact Centers

Jan. 2, 2011

Mike Barnes and 2 other people answered this question

What would be the trends in Hosted PBX Services for SMBs in 2011?

I would say first of all that not all hosted offerings are the same. Some providers are offering essentially a premise VoIP solution but hosted - in which case everything is dedicated and the functionality should be identical to that which the PBX vendor advertises. ... more

Unified Communcations

Dec. 2, 2010

Mike Barnes and 4 other people answered this question

Unified Communications Trends: What are the biggest trends to watch in 2011?

I don't think that 2011 is going to be an earth-shattering year in terms of communications technology, what we're going to see is further development and market penetration of technologies which are already in play.
The first of these for me is Telepresence, or whatever name ... more

Information Technology

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