Working with a company that cares about your business as well as your technology means you’ll experience some unexpected bonuses.

When businesses partner with Beaming, it’s often because they have a specific IT or connectivity problem they know we can help with. Perhaps they were tired of spending time on the phone chasing engineers and querying bills, or maybe they’re changing some of their business processes and know their current technology won’t support them in doing so.

While we’re always delighted to help a business solve a problem or obtain a goal, there are usually some unexpected “side effects” of partnering with us. Here are some of the less well-documented upsides of working with Beaming as your internet, telephone and IT provider.

Radio listeners enjoy their music more

Regional Kent radio station KMFM chose Beaming to deliver a fibre optic network connecting its eight transmitter sites across the county. This future proofed their network and improved its resilience, but also had an interesting effect on listeners, as KMFM’s technical consultant, Marc Bakos explained: “Psychologically for a listener, having an all-digital workflow to the transmitter means we can deliver the cleanest audio. With no analogue breakout there is less fatigue on the listening experience. Listeners will enjoy the music more, the longer they listen to it.”

Granny can Facetime the grandchildren

At Old Hastings House care home, manager Jason Denny was looking for a local supplier that would improve infrastructure so staff could more easily access patient information, and that would speak his language, and that’s what he got. But that’s not the only benefit the residents feel; the improved connectivity and increased number of access points mean they’re able to stay in touch with loved ones using video calls, something that’s been of extra value in recent months.

There’s a similar story at St Mary’s School, where improving connectivity was imperative for teaching and administrative purposes, but is also put to a very important use by residential pupils, many of whom face communication struggles. Their 100Mbps fibre connection from Beaming means students have one less barrier to communication, as ICT manager Chris Thorncroft explains: “The students are now enjoying unlimited and trouble-free Facetime, and we’re even using Skype in signing lessons.”

School children are better protected

Beaming was brought in to help Sandown Primary School by installing the BeamRing cloud phone solution, which means that business manager Sue Poole now spends much less of her precious time trying to resolve faults. On top of this, office staff at the school have been impressed with the features of their new telephone system. With easy to access call logs on their PCs, they never miss a call, and the children benefit too. The BeamRing software helps staff deal with safeguarding issues: “All calls are logged so we know when they’ve been made and by whom, and recordings mean we can always go back and check details should we need to.”

For pupils at the Sabden Multi Academy Trust’s six schools, the classroom experience is enhanced by the school’s use of ultrafast dedicated fibre technology, but they’re also kept safe from online threats because Beaming provides a responsive firewall management service. Changes that previously took weeks to implement – leaving the schools exposed to risk – now happen swiftly and efficiently, a must in the fast-paced world of cyber security.

Audiences get to share experiences in real time (social distancing measures permitting)

The De La Warr Pavilion is a pioneering centre for art, culture and business. Built in 1935, it’s been modern ever since, but providing WiFi for visitors was proving to be problematic, with the building’s unique design acting as a Faraday cage that blocked signal. Having already brought the box office and back office into the present day with a 100 Mbps fibre optic connection and new servers, the final piece of the puzzle for Beaming was engineering a WiFi solution to overcome this problem.

This means that (when times allow for gathering at events) audiences can share the joy of a live concert in real time via social media, and share their thoughts on the Pavilion’s latest art exhibition instantly.

At Henley Royal Regatta, dressing up is all part of the fun, but how do attendees show off their fancy hats? Using Beaming WiFi! We put in place telecommunications infrastructure that allows the event to be live streamed on YouTube and provides the organisers, shops, catering operations and media operating at the event with the telephone and internet connectivity they need. But on a more frivolous note, the WiFi gets some serious use from attendees uploading snaps of themselves in all their finery.