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Innovative, Single-Source Voice & IT Solutions
Serving the DC Region for 36+ Years
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We all have an equal amount of time… It’s how we use it that differentiates us
In this issue, we explore several ways you can harness technology to drive more productivity, customer satisfaction and cost savings in your business – while freeing up time for strategic pursuits.
- We discuss how moving to a cloud phone system can go a long way toward alleviating your IT team’s heavy workload, leaving them more time to focus on higher impact business initiatives.
- We note how Unified Communications as a Service – UcaaS - can eliminate much of the staff time your finance team had to spend on telecom audits and expense management, and how it frees up the CFO/Controller too.
- We explore the benefits of Mitel’s new Teamwork App, which allows your teams to reach colleagues faster, manage projects better and improve decision-making.
- We look at 8 call center trends that can improve the Customer Experience by addressing their needs faster so your business can come out a winner on every project and customer engagement.
- And finally, Mitel has broadened its partnership with Google Cloud to provide greater security and reliability for those looking to move communications and collaboration to the cloud and accelerate the digital transformation of their business.
It’s all about having more time to pursue what counts… Let's explore creative ways to use today’s advanced technology to accomplish more for your business.
Tom Cornbrooks, President and CEO
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Too Busy? How Cloud Phone Systems provide Time Saving Solutions for IT Managers
Often working with limited resources and a small team, IT managers shoulder an immense set of responsibilities. In addition to implementing new growth initiatives, there are multiple systems to maintain and often multiple locations to support. With more users on the move, their jobs have only become more complicated.
Moving to a cloud phone system can go a long way toward alleviating this heavy workload and
give your IT team more time to focus on higher level business initiatives. Here’s how…
- Reduce Multi-Vendor Management – Managing multiple vendors not only impacts daily productivity, but outdated systems that are patch-worked together typically cannot deliver a consistent user experience, especially when you add different devices to the mix. Troubleshooting problems is more time-consuming, and because the systems may not be integrated, you’re not getting a consolidated view of your operations.
- Lower Total Cost of Operations – Managing to budget is a core responsibility for every IT leader, and a cloud phone system can help you predictably meet departmental targets. By working with just one vendor instead of many, you’ll lower the total cost of operations by reducing the complexity of day-to-day management and time spent troubleshooting. You can also mix and match the customized features you need without paying for ones you don’t.
- Future-Proof Your Business – One challenge with traditional phone systems is that the technology ages quickly. With a cloud system, you can always take advantage of the latest features and applications. Plus, there are increased opportunities for integration with other business applications. Employees can leverage new capabilities as they need them, without ever involving the IT team.
- Headache Relief – By reducing complexity, a cloud phone system will save you time and allow you to focus on mission-critical IT tasks that drive productivity across the business. With easier implementations and uniform deployments, your IT team can spend less time training users and more time working on high-value projects. You might still have headaches, but they won’t be caused by your phone system.
If you're an overworked and understaffed IT manager, wouldn't it be nice to stop worrying about at least one of your systems?
If you're thinking "yes," then consider transitioning your business phone system to the cloud... Contact us today at
(703) 321-3030 or
info@tcicomm.com
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Unified Communications as a Service… How it Saves Time for your CFO, Controller & Accounting team too
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Telecom services can be one of your top expenses, so keeping a close eye on these costs is essential.
Unfortunately, accounting for telecom services can be a very time-consuming undertaking for many businesses, particularly if they manage multiple locations or their telecom arrangements haven’t changed in recent years.
This staff-intensive activity is a burden for CFOs and Controllers too because they have oversight responsibilities.
If your business is still using legacy phone services, every month your accounting team could be wading into service provider invoices – sometimes hundreds of pages long – combing through them for accuracy. Charges have to be assigned to department and project budgets. Never-before-seen line items reconciled.
Even with the aid of software-enabled Telecom Expense Management (TEM) systems, it takes specialized expertise and quite a lot of staff time to make sure a business is not paying more than it should.
Fortunately, times have changed and accounting for Telecom has been radically transformed for the better…
- With Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), you can arrange affordable, flat-rate pricing – with no need for the internal line-by-line invoice reviews of yesteryear or for keeping TEM software updated to track, manage and report on telecom usage. And with flat-rate pricing, there’s no need to deal with variable LD billing and message units anymore.
- With UCaaS you not only enjoy all the benefits of communications and collaboration delivered to any location from the cloud, you get consolidated, predictable billing for all the services used.
- You also get easy-to-understand monthly reports and access to online tools that help you understand every facet of your telecom spend for better decision-making and hard-dollar savings.
- There’s no need to keep TEM software updated with every service and rate change either… Every time you log into your private management portal in the cloud, you can access a dashboard or detailed view of your system expense.
Simplified accounting. Just one more reason to go with UCaaS… Contact us today at
(703) 321-3030 or
info@tcicomm.com
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5 ways Mitel’s seamless Teamwork App enables More Wins and Project Success
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You may think that your team is successful enough with just phone and email. Maybe you think screen sharing’s the ultimate in cool. But true teamwork requires more advanced communications. Specifically, it needs seamless access to robust tools from a single app, one that can be accessed via web, desktop and mobile.
Mitel’s innovative Teamwork App can help you build a more effective and efficient team with the goal of helping you come out a winner on every project and customer engagement. Here’s how…
- Stay organized with a truly virtual workspace – The Teamwork App’s virtual workspaces allow you to easily send messages and track conversations, keeping your conversations neatly collected by topic or project. Better yet, you can take a conversation from online to conference mode with the click of a button.
- Roam freely with a mobile-first design – Working from home? Working in the field? Driving from one client’s office to the next? A mobile collaboration app for iOS and Android keeps you fully connected to teammates, no matter where you are or where you’re going. Plus, the app puts your safety first - Siri integration and Bluetooth support allow you to talk hands-free.
- Stay in one place with an integrated user experience – Teamwork App users can automatically cross-launch features. Have a quick question for a colleague? Get the right answer fast with ad hoc conferencing. Need to switch between devices mid-meeting? Transition seamlessly between desktop and mobile. You’ll have a single experience across multiple devices.
- Manage projects without interrupting the conversation – With Mitel Teamwork App, you can create and assign tasks, archive data and easily share files. A personal dashboard provides alerts specific to you.
- Meet colleagues and customers where they need you to be – Whether you’re dealing with team members or customers, being able to respond to an email or answer a phone call is no longer enough. Messaging is easier and faster. In fact, many customers prefer text communication. Teamwork lets you send and receive Business SMS text messages that are linked to your business identity. Your team can respond promptly, using their preferred communications channel, even from a desktop application.
Enable more team wins and project success. Contact us today at
(703) 321-3030 or
info@tcicomm.com
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Improving Customer Service… 8 Call Center Trends You Need to Watch
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When it comes to improving the Customer Experience with better technology, 2019 is shaping up to be the year of strategic thinking with focus areas like better analytics, more social media conversations and innovative ways to involve artificial intelligence.
To keep you informed and help you stay on target with your plans, we’ve identified the most influential strategic trends affecting call centers this year.
- Artificial intelligence integrated into customer interactions – Businesses are getting deeper into predictive analytics, using artificial intelligence (AI) applications to help streamline call center experiences for customers and agents. Early adopters continue to hone AI applications for call routing, and more connections are being forged between various media channels to improve the customer experience.
- Better contact center analytics – Gone are the days of relying on supervisor skill and know-how to get the most out of contact center agents. Now, even smaller businesses are taking advantage of sophisticated analytics to turn data - like call and screen recordings, chats, SMS messages and more - into truly useful feedback for their agents. More businesses are displaying statistical dashboards on user interfaces, so call agents and managers can get real-time updates on customer experiences.
- Omni-channel communications for all – Omni-channel communications continues to separate proactive businesses from their more reactive counterparts. This holistic view of the customer experience is helping businesses give customers a more personal feel to resolutions. Unifying customer communications across channels enables businesses to resolve issues faster and helps sales agents identify better opportunities for future sales.
- Widespread adoption of cloud communications in call centers – Cloud communications has become particularly important for contact centers. With the steady increase in remote call agents, cloud communications are a necessity for businesses that want to take advantage of seamless team communications and collaboration. With the cloud, traditional office-based contact centers can take on new locations, grow and contract workforces as market needs demand.
- More robust customer satisfaction measurements – Businesses approach customer satisfaction measurement in different ways, but slick all-in-one measuring tools seem to be holding steady. No matter which measurements businesses are using, special care needs to be taken when addressing the customer experience across digital channels. Using effective reporting and analytics tools that are integrated with your communications systems makes this process automatic and valuable.
- More remote call center agents – Lower overhead, time zone flexibility, and flexible working hours have made remote contact center workers a stable trend for 2019. With constantly improving and unified cloud communications, remote workers have become a permanent and beneficial part of the contact center environment. With collaboration tools, contact center agents can take their work mobile, with access to real-time analytics and customer context.
- Continued emphasis on self-serve documentation – There is greater emphasis on self-service, problem-solving information on business websites. Giving customers information quickly helps reduce call volumes, and easy-to-navigate FAQs help narrow down calls to those with sufficiently complex issues. Quick access to self-serve solutions to problems also contributes to customer satisfaction and reduces overall call times.
- Two-way social media conversations – The way businesses approach their social media conversations is changing. It’s not enough to make witty posts or share images. Customers are looking for a two-way social media conversation, and when they interact with businesses online, they expect a personalized and immediate response.
Ready to explore how these Contact Center trends can be applied in your business? Contact us today at
(703) 321-3030 or
info@tcicomm.com
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The latest… Mitel delivers more advantages with expanding Google Cloud partnership
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Our strategic partner, Mitel has broadened its partnership with Google Cloud to provide greater security and reliability for businesses looking to move more of their collaboration tools and communications to the cloud in order to accelerate their Digital Transformation…
- As part of the expanded partnership, Mitel will now leverage the Google Cloud Platform to support its public and private cloud solutions and deliver more innovative artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and reporting capabilities.
- Google Cloud Platform supports Mitel customers with some of the highest levels of security and availability with dedicated operational practices and 24/7 data center monitoring.
- Google Cloud Platform is also certified as meeting Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards and Service Organization Control Type II (SOC 2) compliance, addressing the stringent requirements of heavily regulated industries like healthcare, government, education and finance.
- Google Cloud Platform will initially support new MiCloud Connect and MiCloud Flex customers. New MiVoice Business customers will also have the option of deploying on the platform.
- With this latest announcement, Mitel gains further access to Google Cloud’s AI analytics, as well as integration with Google’s popular G Suite productivity and collaboration tools.
Mitel’s decision to anchor their public and private solutions with Google Cloud Platform enables its customers to move forward with confidence, knowing their services are virtually bulletproof and that the latest communications and collaboration capabilities will be at their fingertips.
Let’s talk more about how Mitel solutions - coupled with Google’s Cloud Platform - can give your business a competitive edge. Contact us today at
(703) 321-3030 or
info@tcicomm.com
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