SMARTen up your office or home

Written by Mark | Comments

Crestron Mercury Unified Communications InterfaceThere is so much talk in the press and online about the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT), ‘smart homes’ and ‘intelligent buildings’, but what technology do you need and where do you go to achieve the nirvana of seamless integration of the many technologies and systems capable of controlling and automating your offices or school or hospital or shop or home, etc., etc.?

 

Well, from our experience; some of the best integration solutions on the market at the moment come from the team at Crestron, where their wall mounted touchscreens, push button keypads or smart phone or tablet apps can control a wealth of technologies from one place.

Crestron Logo

Whether you are looking to share one, or numerous screens in a huddle space, classroom, lecture hall, boardroom or even across multiple screens in different rooms via wired or wireless connections, whilst controlling the security systems, lighting, audio, window blinds, heating and ventilation from one place, Crestron have the solution.

Programmable

The programmable controller even allows you to set multiple systems to your preferred combination of levels with one touch – for example, a ‘meeting start’ programme can switch the display screens on, dim the lights to 40%, close the blinds and more.

 

But why stop at your door? With the latest integration opportunities, Crestron offer the only native Skype for Business dual display solution or can link to a full open SIP conference phone – allowing for professional quality video or phone conferencing with any suitably equipped location in the world.

Room BookingCrestron Room Booking

Of course, with so much technological simplicity on offer, there will always be the battle of who gets to use the room first. Well the advanced capabilities of Crestron’s systems allows full integration with Google Calendar, Exchange 2010 or 2013 or Office 365, allowing centralised room booking from your desk or even your phone.

Your Smart Home

Of course, if your meeting runs over and you are going to be late back to your Crestron controlled home, you can switch some lights on, close the window blinds and put the heating on from your phone as you are leaving the office – and with the latest Sonos and Amazon Alexa integrations, you will be able to voice control your music and more on a room by room basis once you arrive.

 

If you would like to learn more about seamlessly integrating the technology across your site(s), give the Thompson AVC team a call on 01902 658822 as approved dealers and installers for Crestron and many other related technologies, we can provide the simplest solution to the most complex of requirements.

Protect your livelihood with an up to date Fire Risk Assessment

Written by Mark | Comments

Fire Risk AssessmentsA fire of any size can have a major impact on the day to day operations or even the eventual viability of your business. With the potential to lose stock, finished work, business, customer or financial records; or the possible absence of key personnel due to injury or smoke inhalation – Can you afford to take the chance?

 

Make sure that you are prepared and legally compliant with an up to date Fire Risk Assessment.

 

What is a Fire Risk Assessment?

 

A Fire Risk Assessment is a detailed inspection of a building / facility, which is carried out by a ‘Competent Person’ to identify and evaluate, then remove or minimise any risk of fire.

 

The FRA should be carried out periodically to ensure continued compliance; or sooner when changes are made to the physical building or facilities, when there are changes to their use; or when there are changes to the number or physical capabilities of their occupants.

 

Why do we need Fire Risk Assessments?

 

By law, all buildings; other than properties which are owned and personally used as domestic properties; have to have an up to date Fire Risk Assessment (FRA).

 

It is the responsibility of the Landlord or building owners to appoint a designated ‘Responsible Person’ (sometimes known as the ‘duty holder’), who must then ensure that an FRA has been completed and that it is suitable and sufficient to protect the lives and safety of any persons in or around the building.

 

As the majority of people are not fire safety experts; the Responsible Person will then need to appoint a ‘Competent Person’ to physically undertake the FRA.

 

If the building normally has more than five people working or living in it, then the findings of the FRA must be recorded in writing.

 

How do I know that the Assessor is competent?

 

To be compliant with all current Fire Safety legislation and regulations and to ensure that the Assessment is appropriate to the individual site / facilities you need to ensure that the Assessor is a qualified Fire Safety specialist and ideally that their work is independently audited by a third party certification scheme.

 

Inst of Fire Safety Engineers LogoIFSM LogoAt The Thompson Group, our Fire Risk Assessors not only hold memberships of The Institution of Fire Engineers and the Institute of Fire Safety Managers; but are also individually certified under schemes such as FRACS (Fire Risk Assessors Certification Scheme) – an independent scheme operated by Warrington Certification (A World leader in the certification of fire safety professionals), so you can rest assured that the report and action plan will be suitable and comprehensive.

High tech boardroom Sports the latest technology

Written by Mark | Comments

Aldersley Leisure Village BoardroomIn addition to providing the right facilities for athletes, fitness fanatics and gym users to achieve their own personal best performances; the team from WV Active’s Aldersley Leisure Village also wanted to obtain the best performance from their on-site boardroom and meeting room facilities.

Needs analysis

Following a series of ‘needs analysis’ meetings with the Technical team at Thompson AVC, the Council owned facilities now boast the very latest integrated, communications, connectivity and automation systems to provide cutting edge facilities that would be equally at home in the boardroom of multi-national Companies.

 

With integrated display screens, audio and video conferencing technologies as well as the very latest screen management and document sharing systems, the facilities are capable of seamlessly communicating with other sites anywhere in the World, whilst operating in the most comfortable of surroundings.

Comfort and convenience

Room control panelTo further help with the comfort and convenience of the room, the Thompson team have also installed a modern room control user interface which not only automates the lighting, blinds and control of the screens, but has the added advantage of programmed pre-set commands such as ‘Conference start’ which will dim the lights, close the blinds and turn on the screens with the simple press of one button on the sleek, flush mounted touch screen control panel.

Dial Hosted Telephones for up to 70%* savings

Written by Mark | Comments

Omni Hosted Telephone SystemThe way that businesses operate and communicate is changing rapidly with the advent of increasingly reliable new technologies, and the Thompson team are delighted to be able to bring operational and cost saving benefits to you with the launch of our new ‘Omni’ Hosted Telephone System.

 

What is Hosted Telephony?

A hosted telephone system links your VoIP enabled business telephone handsets to phone management software and PBX (Private Branch Exchange) hardware which is stored in the cloud; via an internet connection; thereby providing you with fast and cost effective access to your phone system from anywhere in the world (where you have an internet connection), whilst also saving you money on your bills compared to traditional telephone systems.

 

Benefits

There are a whole host of benefits to using a hosted telephone system – from CapEx (Capital Expenditure) and OpEx (Operational Expenditure) savings, improved flexibility and better system management, to dedicated support.

 

Features

There are so many features available with our hosted telephone systems that we have collected them into three standard packages (Bronze, Silver & Gold) – you simply pay your chosen monthly fee (the cost of calls is not included) and get all of the associated features included.

 

Savings

Whether you are saving on your monthly costs, saving on your call costs or saving by not having engineer call outs and system upgrades, the amount you save could be huge*. Indeed, when comparing our pricing against the major national fixed line telecommunications providers we could save you up to 70%* off of your bills.

 

You can find out more on our new website at www.thompsonuc.co.uk or to find out how much you could save, why not contact a member of our telecoms team today on 01902 658822?

 

* Based on an example BT phone bill (savings from other network providers may vary).