Press & PR

Famous outdoor clothing company J Barbour and Sons has decided to embrace internet telephone calls in a bid to improve its flexibility and reduce costs, according to reports.

The Tynside clothing firm has connected up its three offices with IP telephony which allows calls to be made between the locations for free.

In addition, calls to outside lines will be much reduced because they will travel over the internet rather than the traditional legacy system.

"Rolling out the communications system worldwide will result in significant cost and efficiency savings for Barbour, reducing international phone charges for calls between sites," said the firm's finance director Brenda Readman-Bell.

She added that the service will help the firm "improve efficiency as well as promoting collaboration amongst employees regardless of their location".

Other businesses can also benefit from switching to an internet telephony service, such as that offered by industry leader Vonage.

Unlimited free calls can be made across the UK and Ireland for only £5.99 a month under Vonage V-Plan 1 using a touch tone phone connected to broadband.