Reflecting over the last 25 years…

This year, Focom Limited turns 25 years old. It’s interesting to see how the industry and requirements for call logging has changed over that time. Even over the last 12 months we have seen a major change in working practices with many more people remote/home working across the globe.

When Focom started, having analogue and digital lines were the norm, but we’ve seen a move from these to internal VoIP and now full cloud platforms, although we are still dealing with the legacy of all technologies.

The requirement for the call logger has also changed. Back in 1996, the focus was on managing telephone call costs ( especially international calls) and ensuring sufficient extensions, trunks and people. Today, although for some this is still important, they are more interested in clamping down on misuse, bullying, fraud and compliance. With more remote workers, our customers are still trying to monitor concurrent calls, but using other solution data, such as mobile bills, Webex style output, etc. The importance of telephone call flow is still just as relevant today as it was 25 years ago.

In the old days, moving extensions around departments was a laborious job, but now with IP solutions, this is as trivial as plugging into the power. This has made remote working and hot desking considerably easier.

For many, GDPR compliance requires you can prove only valid calls are being recorded, and detecting these calls has become a modern day focus. And although the emphasis on individual call cost has reduced, with many more remote working, companies still require advanced warning of fraudulent calls. This is also the case with tariff companies who deal with the carrying of calls, but mistakes can still be made and having the call logger allows the user to verify the call costs independently.

When we started, route to market was through exhibitions and advertising in Communications Magazines, but these have all really disappeared over the last 25 years being replaced by Social Media and on-line advertising. But here, for nostalgia, is a picture of one of our first exhibition stands at TMA – do you remember those days?

The one thing that has not changed is our single focus on creating call logging solutions that satisfy your ever changing needs. If you would like to discuss this further, either call on +44 (0) 1442 20 00 00 or email on sales@focom.com.