Happy Birthday Dalys!  25 today!

Peter Daly, Owner and Managing Director tells us how business has changed in the last 25 years and what the future looks like.

“ In 1996 when I began, ISDN lines were in their infancy, but allowed greater flexibility, speed and the ability to program remotely; for Dalys as a new business, this was where most of our opportunities could be found – the supply and installation of telephone systems and ISDN lines.  But they weren’t without their teething problems, these lines were replacing multiple analogue lines, therefore any failure had a much greater impact.  Some customers even insisted on an analogue line back up in case of ISDN failure.

Telephone services have changed dramatically over the years.  With the advent of the wholesale market in 1995, customers were able to have relationships with smaller, more service focused and personable telecoms businesses.  At Dalys we have witnessed these changes also, we no longer rely on just one supplier for telephone services and we use monitoring devices so we can quickly divert lines if customers need us to.

Internet provision has seen many changes, with the old dial up services, then the expense of poor ADSL.  We saw some customers rely on a £30 internet connection to run an office of 20 people.  And now the rolling out of the fibre to premises, the realistic and affordable prices for gigabyte connectivity is helping customers with all their office and factory connections.

The cost of services is incredibly different.  The days when using your mobile phone inside the M25 (London) cost 33p/min to call a landline!

The introduction of IP telephony 6 or 7 years ago has meant that during this pandemic home working and running a business as if it was being run from the office is not only possible, but with the additional services we are able to offer, businesses can be flexible, adapt quickly and maintain the very high levels of customer service they always did.

Finally, I smile when I open my stationary cupboard at home, lurking at the bottom is my Samsung Therma paper fax machine, circa 1996, not been used for years!  This along with an IBM Aptiva 100 Windows PC – these were the building blocks of my office back then.

Where to now?

The convergence of voice and data has been an opportunity for many and a threat to a few.  We now look after customer connectivity, from their internet connection, through to their IT and voice systems and desk top; we handle all their services.  This is growing and will remain an area of expansion for us.  Coming from a voice background, if the service has failed it was always very noticeable, which is why our service team remains the largest department in the business; there to keep our customers operating.