Staff incentives including trips to Las Vegas and tech gifts such as iPads has contributed to making the telecommunications supplier for Southampton FC one of the best places to work in the UK.

NIX Communications Group was the highest ranked telecommunications company in the Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For 2017. The company was placed 29th.

 Nick Zammit, who started the company in 2009, said the team of 55 staff working at the firm’s Winchester Hill headquarters, and its subsidiary offices in Newport on the Isle of Wight and in Manchester, were the key to success.

 “Hard work and dedication of our staff are greatly rewarded,” said Nick. “Top performers in all departments can win a free four-night trip to Las Vegas.

 “The office is equipped with a massage chair, music system, snooker table, televisions and arcade games – and to keep activity levels up we have exercise sessions from a personal trainer on the staff.”

NIX Communications Group provides business telephone systems, fibre broadband, voice recording and call management services to small, medium and large companies across the UK. Last August, it took over Opus Telecom and subsidiary Phipps Communications, potentially doubling its turnover.

The company manages the phone lines and calls for Southampton Football Club and other clients include Costa, Malibu and Help For Heroes as well as a host of other businesses throughout the UK.

In their feedback for the award staff at NIX Communications Group said they enjoyed a good balance between work and home life and their jobs did not interfere with other responsibilities.

All of the firm’s staff are encouraged to take part in charitable activities. Successes include staff members climbing Kilimanjaro, completing Tough Mudder and receiving awards for charitable efforts and fundraising days within the office.

Nick added: “Exceptional customer service is something that we pride ourselves on and every team member is aware of how important this is to the company. We always go the extra mile to ensure that the customer is happy with the products and services we provide.

“A lot of our business is generated form customer referrals and recommendations. This is how every business should operate, and is more powerful than any marketing campaign.”

Photo attached - NIX Communications Group founder Nick Zammit holding the Sunday Times trophy at the award ceremony with colleagues (left to right) Victoria Hayes, Trevor Wood, Emma Davis, Trish Taylor, Mark Brown, Sophie Stiles, Rachel Thorne and Andy Fung.

Nix are proud to announce that we have now been fully regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

By conforming to the strict regulations of the FCA, Nix Communications Group continue to prove that we are an honest and trustworthy provider for telecommunication services across the UK.

At NIX, we feel we have always put customer care and fair practice at the heart of what we do.  Now we are authorised and regulated by the FCA, you can be confident this is the case.

We're currently offering free calls and lines for 3 months for any new customers. Not only that, we can upgrade your businesses telephone system within your current expenditure!

To find out more, simply call 08000 308 000 or fill out the form below, and we'll give you a call back!

Alternatively, Click Here to view some of our recent customer testimonials or Click Here to see more about our services. We look forward to hearing from you!

Every year BlackBerry, Apple, Samsung and other large brands come up with bigger and better ways to improve our smartphones. Given how powerful these software updates can be, it’s no wonder that battery life (or lack of) is a widely talked about topic globally.

While we’re all waiting for the hardware to catch up with the software, the only alternative is to be Battery savvy and here are our top 5 tips to give you a head start.

1. Shorten your screen timeout

We’ve all done it. You pick up your phone, do what you need to do and forget to lock it. Although most screens will eventually power down, some don’t. Either way, it’s wasting battery time that you could be using to make a call, send an email or google funny cat pictures. By making your screen timeout shorter you’ll get some battery time straight in your back pocket.

Iphone: Settings > General > Auto-Lock

Galaxy: Settings > Display > Screen Timeout

2.    Charging your battery – The right way

So without getting too technical, there are generally two types of rechargeable batteries in smartphones. First one is Nickel-based batteries and the second is Lithium-ion based.

Every time you plug in your charger to a Nickel-based battery, the amount of power it can hold is reduced slightly and eventually after enough charges, you’ll have a dead phone on your hands. However, out of the two this one actually takes the most charges. So If you want get the most out of your Nickel-based battery, you’re best off waiting till the bitter end before giving it some juice!

Lithium-ion Batteries are slightly different. They have the longest life expectancy which is good news, but they’re also slightly needy. You’ll need to charge this more often as they typically tend to run out quicker. Even if your still at 50% give it quick blast and you’re on your way to a long lasting device.

To conclude, find out which battery your phone has and you’re on to a winner.

3. Keep cool

Not many people know this but the cooler your phone, the better your phone will perform therefore using less battery. We’re not suggesting you go stand in the fridge whilst sending a text, keeping it out of the sun will do.

4. Switch off animations.

If your phone isn’t 4 or 5 years old, you may have notice that your background wallpaper moves when your phone is moving too? It’s an animation that uses battery and can be switched off. If you’re not emotionally attached to the feature already, we recommend turning it off and saving some battery.

Iphone: Settings > Wallpaper > tap current wallpaper > still
Galaxy: Settings > Wallpaper > Wallpaper motion effect > Off

While we’re on the topic of animation, if you have an iPhone, your device will automatically make opening an app look cool. It sort of fades/zooms in and out. Not only does it use extra battery, it can slow down your phone in general. If you fancy making things faster and staying battery savvy, here’s how to turn it off:

Settings > General > Accessibility > Increase contrast > Reduce Transparency > On.

Then also – Accessibility > reduce Motion > On

5. Stop Force closing apps

A lot of people are guilty of this, including myself. People automatically think force closing all open apps saves battery, It doesn’t. What actually drains the battery is your apps automatically updating content when you’re not using them. It’s basically so you can read a tweet or a Facebook update quicker. If you don’t mind waiting the extra second when you re-open the app. Turn it off, it will save you battery and increase the speed of your phone.

Settings > General > Background app refresh > Off

So there you have it, short and sweet but put the above into action and you’re on your way to an endless stream of cat pictures.