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A Message from the President
In this issue, we discuss some practical ways to improve team performance, while achieving e911 compliance goals, supporting remote workers, saving money by monitoring contract renewals and taking advantage of tech tax breaks…

  • With growing demand for a consistent contact center experience regardless of channel – in combination with more complex customer requests – implementing a sophisticated Workforce Management (WFM) solution is essential for business profitability. We’ll explain why. 

  • Kari’s Law and Ray Baum’s Act are federal mandates intended to protect everyone in your office or building – employees and visitors – by improving access to emergency services. We’ll outline the benefits and how you can overcome implementation challenges.

  • Work is no longer confined to the traditional office building. Now, it’s done at home, in the car, and even while you’re waiting to board a plane. We’ll discuss how Team Meeting apps enable your remote workers to achieve record-setting productivity for your business.

  • If you don’t track your contracts’ anniversary dates, they could auto-renew without you being aware of it. This may cause you to miss valuable opportunities to negotiate better deals or seek alternative service providers. We’ll explain how TCI can help.

  • This year, businesses can leverage Section 179 of the Federal Tax Code on the full price of purchased or leased technology - up to $1,500,000, but you need to act fast!

Contact me today to discuss how TCI’s products and services can help your organization get more out of its technology investments – now and in the future.

Tom Cornbrooks, President
(703) 321-3030 | cornbrookst@tcicomm.com.

Why Workforce Management Solutions are Essential for Contact Centers and Your Business Profitability
With growing demand for a consistent contact center experience regardless of channel – in combination with more complex customer requests – implementing and using a sophisticated Workforce Management (WFM) solution is essential for business profitability.


Improved Forecasting 

Cutting-edge WFM solutions allow for tweaking and fine-tuning your forecasting process. Too high a forecast and agents are idle, as are the workstations – a waste of resources. Too low a forecast and customers get annoyed by long waiting times. Agents become overworked and drained, negatively impacting performance and absenteeism. Without accurate forecasting, your business runs the risk of losing customers, and acquiring new ones requires much more work and resources.

Overtime Savings

Another area that can be addressed by WFM is overtime. It’s easy to reason that a few minutes here and there can’t make much difference, but that number adds up quickly and significantly, affecting pay raises and performance bonuses in the long run. With WFM, thresholds can be set up to keep an eye on scheduled time and keep track of overtime, taking corrective measures if necessary. The solution also makes it easy to determine whether it makes more sense to add staff or plan for a few hours of overtime a week.

Leveraging Simulations

With WFM tools, you’ll be able to monitor, measure, and carry out simulations that test and evaluate a range of parameters to identify those that are essential to organizational performance. Should you invest more resources in making forecasting accuracy as close to perfect as possible OR will this result only if you succeed in improving scheduling that’s suffering from a dip in early morning peaks? Where should you act first for the best results at minimum cost?


Talk with the TCI team about your contact center and WFM technology requirements to ensure customer and agent satisfaction while maintaining efficiency and profitability. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

e911 Compliance... How New Rules & Legislation Protect Your People and Visitors
New federal regulations have been passed that will impact emergency 911 calling from businesses: Kari’s Law and Ray Baum’s Act. These mandates are intended to protect everyone in your office or building – employees and visitors – by improving access to emergency services:

  • Kari’s Law applies to newly installed multi-line telephone systems. Users must be able to directly call emergency services by dialing 911 without having to dial a prefix to reach an outside line.

  • Ray Baum’s Act requires that 911 emergency operators be provided with the specific location of the calling party so that appropriate assistance can be dispatched to that location.


If you’re planning a new telephone system, you should be aware of these requirements and ensure that your providers’ offerings can comply with these government mandates.

Compliance Challenges 

As you take steps to comply with the new 911 rules, you’ll want to keep in mind several factors – including the technology used in your Voice and IT environment, network topology, and the geographic scope of your phone system deployment.

Also, many states have adopted their own 911 regulations which may contribute to compliance confusion.

Need help with e911 calling compliance in your business? TCI can help. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Connecting Your Remote Workers with Proven, Easy-to-use Collaboration Tools & Meeting Apps
In today’s workplace, office walls have dissolved. There are people on every team working from home or on the road, in coffee shops, or in flight. Their colleagues may live and work in another city, across borders or oceans away. Yet the pace of work continues to accelerate, which means collaboration and communication must be seamless and in real-time.

This is why many employees use their own mobile devices and gravitate toward standalone messaging and video conferencing apps. But this approach isn’t ideal and, in an effort to be more connected, we find ourselves endlessly switching between applications and logging in multiple times.

For a true collaboration experience, today’s workforce needs an all-in-one solution that lets them communicate and collaborate across time zones as if they were in the same room. Convenient Team Meeting apps provide this experience.

A Team Meeting app makes collaboration much more efficient and meetings increasingly productive. With all the information employees need available from a single workspace, team members find it easier to work, share and store project details.

Here’s how an all-in-one collaboration app will enable you to work better:

  • Connect to the office from anywhere. Team Meeting apps make all your contacts, data, and documents available from any mobile device or desktop computer. You’re no longer tethered to a physical location. Wherever you are, you have easy access to all the details about your latest project.

  • Do away with multiple tabs. With a piecemeal solution, it’s all too common to end up with multiple apps, browsers, and tabs open across your desktop or mobile device. Team Meetings eliminate that hassle. One window provides a comprehensive view of your work and access to all your communications.

  • Stay on point. A key benefit of all-in-one solutions is that meetings become more focused and more efficient. When you’re switching among windows, it’s easy to get distracted by unrelated items. But when you never leave the environment, it’s easy to stay on-point and on-task.

  • Close the conversation gaps. How often do you start a conversation in chat, then realize you’d accomplish more with a verbal discussion? With Team Meetings, you can seamlessly transition between talk, chat and even video.

  • Hop into a virtual meeting room. More than one person involved in resolving an escalating issue? You can also start instant meetings right from your chat thread or phone call.

  • Invite all experts. Many projects require input from a variety of professionals to move to the next level. With its multi-pane view, Team Meetings allows up to 16 of your colleagues to appear on video at once. If more voices are needed, you can invite up to 100 participants to gather on a single meeting bridge.

  • Always be in the right place at the right time. No matter where team members are (a conference room in the next building, a hotel room 400 miles away or a home office on the far coast), they’re able to collaborate seamlessly. Team Meetings allow you to communicate across time zones and geographies as though you were in the same room.

  • Keep everyone on the same page. When you want everyone’s input, passing around a key document by email or paper can be terribly inefficient. But with file and screen sharing capabilities, you and your team can collaborate in real-time. It’s faster and more efficient and ensures everyone is clear on key decisions and agrees on next steps.

  • Stay on top of work in progress. Some projects have an extended incubation period or are simply ongoing. Team Meetings provides you with a permanent virtual workspace where you can continue to collaborate on documents, in meetings, and through conversations.

  • Avoid losing track of ad-hoc decisions. Projects are often complex with many moving parts. With multiple team members contributing, it’s easy to lose the thread of a conversation. With a persistent chat log, you always have simple access to key decisions or important discussions.

  • Be confident you’re securely connected. As you update a team document from the road, the last thing you need to worry about is who’s snooping the airport lounge Internet connection. Mitel has you covered. MiTeam Meetings was developed specifically with mobility and security in mind, so you can be sure your work stays under wraps.

As personal and effective as working face to face, Team Meeting apps offer plenty of advantages. When you enable a true collaboration experience, not only will your team be more informed and reach decisions faster, but they’ll also set new productivity records for your business.

TCI’s experts are ready to ensure your team has all the voice, chat, and video capabilities they need to seamlessly connect with anyone, at any time, from anywhere.

Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Keeping up with Contract Renewals? Engage TCI before your next Auto-renewal
Whether it’s a Broadband or Business VoIP service contract, or a maintenance renewal on a phone system, it’s important to be aware of their upcoming renewal dates.

If you don’t track your contracts’ anniversary dates, they could auto-renew without you being aware of it. This may cause you to miss valuable opportunities to negotiate better deals or seek alternative service providers.

When you work with TCI, our team will be your advocate when it comes to uncovering the best service arrangements and deals for your business, especially when it comes to:

  • Voice & Unified Communications

  • Broadband, Carrier & Telecom Services

  • Managed IT and Security Services & Support

You can count on TCI for…

  • Speedier negotiations and contract execution. No more wasted time comparing apples-to-oranges, trying to deal with one-size-fits-all solutions, or getting locked out of better solutions that become available.

  • Improved savings and ROI through negotiated price reductions and/or quantity discounts.

  • Reduced miscommunication and disputes with suppliers and service providers by leveraging Performance Guarantees and SLAs.

  • Ongoing consultation to keep Network and Carrier services in line with your business objectives.

When it comes to getting better deals on your technology services, TCI has you covered. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Need new technology? Calculate your End-of-Year Section 179 deduction for 2021 and Act Fast!
Time is running out to leverage the Section 179 deduction for this year… 
 
Section 179 of the federal tax code allows businesses to deduct the full purchase or lease price of new technology in the first tax year – up to $1,050,000.
 
Yes, this deduction applies to both leased and purchased equipment.

When you buy or lease, you can deduct the full amount on your taxes. When you lease, you pay the monthly lease payments and you still get to deduct the full purchase price on your taxes.

Act fast!

Whether you choose to purchase or lease, you'll need to put the equipment/software into service by the end of the day on December 31, 2021. Follow this link for more information about Section 179, which includes a savings calculator. 


Then reach out to TCI to discuss new solutions that can help your business get ahead. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

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