The Era of “Bring Your Own Cloud”
With careful implementation of BYOD rules and procedures such as tracking through mobile device management, setting up security to block intruders from breaking into a firewall or virtual private network (VPN), and employee training, enterprises are meeting the challenges of BYOD, and the trend is progressing. Today, however, employees have moved on to a new organizational and IT challenge: bring your own cloud (BYOC). Bring your own device (BYOD) may have been a hot topic
Unified Communications Is More Important Than Ever
These days life is moving faster and faster. We keep supercomputers in our pockets and even on our wrists. We make phone calls on our computers and control our thermostats and lights with our phones. And in business many of our customers are already using their own form of unified communications and they expect us to keep pace. That’s why your business must work to embrace a Unified Communications, or UC, solution now more than ever. Think about all of the moving parts and pi
How Your Business Phone Solution Can Help You Save & Grow
Traditionally, business phone services has been considered as an expense item. However, with the advances in telecom, convergence and unified communications (UC) perhaps it’s time to re-frame that thinking. When deployed for maximum potential, your communications solution can not only lower costs, but increase revenues as well. This concept isn’t as far-fetched as you might think. By integrating traditional phone features with business productivity and collaboration tools, yo
When Virtualization Should Be Part of Your Communications Strategy
As the needs of today’s business become increasingly complex, so do the jobs of network and systems administrators. When designing their organization’s IT architecture, IT staff must consider the need for security, redundancy and uptime, not to mention the impact of business process applications such as ERP and CRM on servers and phone systems. It used to be the CIO and the IT team built their solutions around onsite IT infrastructures housed in secure data centres. However,
How to Pick the Right UC Capabilities for Your Team
As you define the requirements for your new unified communications (UC) solution, it’s important to identify the capabilities that fit best with how your team works. Why? Because rolling out the right features and applications will have a direct impact on adoption rates which, in turn, will maximize the use of the technology. One way to ensure a higher rate of adoption is to have a clear picture of how your employees work, communicate and collaborate. You can use the three-st
How SIP Trunking Can Speed Your Company's Growth
While more and more businesses have come to understand the advantages of cloud-based telecommunications systems, it’s often hard to get around the fact that moving from an older solution costs money. That puts executives in a quandary: Do they put off the investment until it’s absolutely necessary and use their dollars for other initiatives, or upgrade their system now in order to take advantage of the flexibility, cost-effectiveness and power a cloud-based solution can offer
5 Signs You're Ready to Upgrade to a Cloud VoIP Phone System
Growth – that most desirable of outcomes – can be a double-edged sword. As a company increases in size and becomes more complex, the systems and processes that once supported its workforce may begin to seem inadequate. Pressure points emerge: To accommodate more clients, you need to invest in more powerful business applications and tools. Yet, to do so increases the costs and complicates your choices. To maintain profitability, you need both cutting-edge programs and high-qua
10 Big Questions to Ask Before Buying a New Telecom System
Communications are the lifeblood of any business, which is why choosing the right vendor and system are critical. As you move through the buying process, look for providers who can give you the flexibility and functionality you need today, along with a system that will grow with your business in the future. Choosing a new telecom system is a big decision and you want to get it right. The stakes are high as the wrong choice can stifle your company’s productivity, impede custom
The Benefits of Virtualization
What is Virtualization? Virtualization is the process of creating a virtual, rather than physical, version of something. Virtualization can apply to computers, operating systems, storage devices, applications, networks and even your IP phone system components. However, server virtualization is at the heart of it. Organizations are challenged by the limitations of today’s servers, which are designed to run just one
operating system and application at a time. As a result, even
Beware of Ransomware!
We have experienced some clients recently who have been held hostage with ransomware software, specifically TeslaCrypt. Apparently it can find its way in via Adobe Flash. Ransomware works by entering a user’s computer and modifying files. The process involves renaming the files with alternate names and extensions, encrypting the files, and then locking up an encryption key, so the user cannot retain any use of the files. The encryption key is deposited somewhere in the operat
