In 2016, dbfb proudly introduced CityFibre to Milton Keynes. At that time, it was the third worst connected city in the UK and in desperate need of investment. Now, just four years on, our partnership with one of the UK’s leading providers of wholesale connectivity has facilitated £80 million of inward investment into both Milton Keynes and neighbouring Northampton, connecting more than 170 businesses to date.

An ultra- fast, reliable and secure internet connection has become increasingly important to everyone’s day to day working lives, enabling us all to communicate effectively, promote business growth and provide a better service to customers. Working with CityFibre enables dbfb to offer businesses across the UK access to a world-class fibre network.

With an appreciation for how business-critical a full-fibre network is in today’s world, dbfb have been pioneering full-fibre ever since it took the decision to launch CityFibre in Northampton and Milton Keynes. A carefully designed 24/7 monitoring facility is also in place, to ensure the best possible service levels, with real-time data analysis, performance and service availability.

Pete Winkleman, Chairman of MK Dons, who was one of the first to reap the benefits of full-fibre connectivity in Milton Keynes explains: “A lot of businesses now have the chance to tap into ultra-fast and reliable connectivity, at an affordable price.

“The benefits of full-fibre to businesses is clear, enhancing the ways they operate day to day using their own systems and so that they can connect better with their customers. This is today’s technology and it is where Milton Keynes needed to be.”

Simon Pickering, Managing Director at dbfb Communications tells us, “We often get asked by businesses what is full fibre? Because my current provider tells us we’re on a fibre connection, but it’s not particularly fast or reliable! The term “fibre” is widely used and often misleads customers in terms of what they expect versus what is delivered. Many internet service providers describe their service as fibre but will be relying on the copper installation at a business premises for the final leg of the journey.

“CityFibre only invest in full-fibre, which means fibre at every point in the network. With no reliance on Victorian-age copper infrastructure, your business benefits from ultra-fast speeds of up to 1Gbps with optimum performance and reliability.”

Find out more about how dbfb can simplify your technology solutions, follow us @dbfb communications on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram or get in touch at discover@dbfb.co.uk

We understand that the COVID 19 outbreak, brings uncertain and challenging time for businesses, and without wishing to unduly panic anyone, we are seeking to reassure you of our COVID-19 Business Continuity Practice.

We are fully committed to providing uninterrupted service to our customers. As you would expect from a technology company, we have remote working capabilities in place, as standard. All employees are issued with, a laptop, mobile phone and secure internet connection. Our cloud-based telephony platform allows our staff to seamlessly take calls at home as if they were in the office.  To keep our employees fully up to date, we have sent out a link to a video on how to reduce the risk of the virus spreading and what to do if they are showing symptoms.

We understand why some customers are restricting access to their site, please rest assured that our staff will be available by phone or video-conferencing.

If anyone needs short term support, we have a range of solutions that can be put into place quickly to help you with your service provision and remote working over these tricky times. This could be in the form of monthly mobile SIM cards, mobile phones and configured laptops, or video conferencing facilities.

First and foremost, our priority remains the safety of our employees, customers and partners, and we will keep you informed if anything changes.

Should you have any further questions, or require any short term support from us, please contact us on either 01604 673320 or discover@dbfb.co.uk

The children are finally back at school, your furloughed colleagues are gradually returning to work, and the work-life balance that was lost to a worldwide pandemic is slowly, but surely returning to normal. However, for many it is a very new-normal, with at least some level of remote working playing a part in getting successfully back to business.

Working from home was a great short-term solution, but for most businesses, their workforce didn’t have a ‘ready-made home office’, a business approved mobile and internet connection and a cloud-based communications system.

If, like so many others, you’re taking this opportunity to sit back and review the future of your businesses’ digital technology you might find our Top 10 Tips helpful:

1. Research the requirements of your workforce – whether your business is catering for 10 or 10,000, it’s important to understand the needs of every employee. Run a survey, call an online meeting or simply have a chat to find out how your workforce is finding ‘working from home’ and ask for suggestions of anything they feel could make their working day easier/less stressful/more productive.

2. Review the responses and find suitable solutions – PC’s running slow, or even worse crashing, issues with viruses, waiting all day to download important files and employees frustrated with putting in the hours and not getting anywhere fast? If these were the sorts of responses you had, then it sounds like there’s plenty of scope for change!

3. Consider your businesses’ requirements for remote connectivity – Connectivity is a critical enabler for business and whilst a robust plan has probably been developed for office life, this might not yet have been translated to your employee network now working from home. Consider the benefits fibre connectivity can bring to your organisation and what can be done to unlock them?

4. Find new ways to man the phones from home – Being available to talk to your customers or colleagues on the phone is critical for any business. Did you know that calls to the office can be rerouted via cloud-based platforms, such as Microsoft Teams? Meaning all customer facing employees can manage the phones, quickly and simply, from home.

5. Discover the benefits of cloud communication – Increasingly, businesses are consuming many of their critical applications from the cloud, which is also where they’re storing their data. Doing so allows businesses to create efficiencies, reduce costs, and pioneer new products or ways of working that give them an edge over competitors.

6. Give employees the freedom to choose their preferred mobile network – There’s nothing more frustrating than being in the middle of an important call and loosing mobile signal. Make sure your employees have the freedom to connect to the mobile operator of their choice, so that wherever they’re based they always get the best coverage.

7. Remember the importance of digital security – Ensure all of your vital data is secure and saved in the cloud, so that should anything go wrong, you won’t lose important work. Mobile device management allows you to monitor, track, back-up and protect your company devices at a low monthly cost, irrespective of location.

8. Don’t let the bills rack up – One trusted communications provider equals one monthly bill, meaning you can now manage your business connectivity, landline, cloud, mobile and security in one simple place. What’s more, with bespoke billing reports you can save time, hassle and money.

9. Take the complication out of technology – You’ve worked hard to become the best in your industry, as we have in ours. We understand that every business is unique and has its own priorities and requirements, and we want to work together to provide the best possible solution for you.

10. Regularly review your solutions – We’re experiencing an interesting point in time, where no one quite knows what the future holds, but one thing is for sure, the businesses that have the resilience and flexibility to adapt will come out strongest. We recommend a regular review of your business, in partnership with employees, to ensure your communications solutions are continuing to work effectively for you.

Find out more about how dbfb can simplify your technology solutions, follow us @dbfb communications on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram or get in touch at discover@dbfb.co.uk