As you may already know the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) shutdown has begun rolling out. The rollout began back on the 30th September 2019, with businesses given six months to prepare for it. If you haven’t planned for this change already, now is the time to act to ensure you have enough time to transition your business processes and infrastructure to comply with newer technology. 

To avoid leaving things until the last minute, ensure you have a plan in place and understand when and how these changes may affect you and your relevant services and/or output. 

When will you be affected? 

You will be notified 90 days before your shutdown will occur. When l that 90-day notice comes there is no way of knowing. It could be in 6 months, or it could be next week. Since the rollout has already begun, you may have already been notified. Though, regardless of whether you have officially received it or not, our best advice is to act as though you already have a notice-letter sitting in your mailbox. When it’s time for your changeover to officially occur, your communications provider will get in touch with you. 

The recommended amount of time to be prepared for the changeover is six months, so, three months is not long enough to be completely prepared.  A good indicator of whether your notice will likely come tomorrow or in a few months – is whether or not your location and/or organisation has moved over to NBN yet. If not, you may have a little more time on your hands, but take our word for it – this isn’t a good reason to walk back onto the procrastination train.  

It is essential you ensure your preparedness now. You can see whether or not your business is National Broadband Network (NBN) ready here. 

If you have not yet moved your systems over to be compatible post-shutdown system, you may also experience some delays. By the same virtue, if your phone system is older than 4 years, you should consider an upgrade. Or, if it is non-compatible with NBN, you will have to look at a new system altogether. 

Other delays may include: 

• Your ISDN migration notice may be rejected. This could be as the result of a multitude of different factors like change of address or incorrect details. If there is a noticeable delay in progress, make sure you follow up with your retail service provider (RSP), so that they can follow up with the NBN.
• When it comes to RSPs, there is a risk that they aren’t as competent or compatible with new services as they could be for your organisation. Since RSP’s will need to deal directly with NBN, ensure your provider currently holds NBMTM Business Accredited Adviser status, to best avoid your chances of lead-on delays.
• Scheduling of your migration from ISDN to your new replacement needs to be timed to a tee. If not coordinated appropriately, this may lead to prolonged delays and waiting. 

How to best prepare 

As a first key step, ensure you put a mitigation strategy in place to ensure your staff members understand how this change may affect them and their relevant work programs and/or outputs. As you would already know, it’s key to keep your staff and clients in the loop when big changes occur that may delay or even somewhat change work delivery. The ISDN shutdown should be treated in suit. 

As prenoted, you should be as prepared for the shutdown as possible. So, if you have the capacity and capability to do so, you should additionally migrate your systems over to a compatible infrastructure before the switch. 

While this may seem like a big and somewhat daunting step, know that it is a positive step forward in the right direction. According to industry sources, the benefits of switching are more attractive than unpleasant: 

• More reliable means of communication.
• You will enable remote working for your employees.
• A new phone system will lead to enhanced productivity for all teams involved.
• You can scale up or down according to how many people need access.
• You can have a virtual receptionist.

Who’s on call to help you with your new phones/systems? 

When it comes to moving your services over to either hosted or on-premises systems, there are a few important things to consider like what available features there are, bandwidth options, assessing your current hardware, and what security options any new service offers. Although this is certainly a lot to keep in mind, the team at Centrered are on call to help you establish which options are best for your individual organisational needs. We are also here to alleviate any concerns or queries that you may have surrounding the ISDN shutdown for your business.