Richard

Entries by Richard Reiffer

Should You Strive to be an All-Star on Your Team?

On the surface, I would answer the question, for sure. But when you really get into it, I think the answers vary. I would suggest we examine the old phrase, “Walk a Mile in My Shoes”, made mainstream in 1970 when Joe Smith and the Believers made it a chart topper. My point of view comes from a seasoned sales representative’s perspective, which is an in evidently a competitive position.

Does your position in the company change the answer to the question? Normally, I would still tend to think everyone on the team should strive to be not only an all-star, but a rock-star. However, when harkening back to my high school days on the diamond, I remember at least a few of my teammates being happy just making the team. These guys were never the ones scoring the winning run or throwing out the guy attempting to tie the game. However, they were important members of the team for several other reasons. They often were the ones you could hear cheering the loudest when our cleanup guy knocked the cover off the ball. Or they would be the first to help warm up the pitchers in the bullpen on the coldest days in early spring. They never complained about not getting equal playing time, and, in fact, helped keep moral great. While not being the traditional definition of an all-stars that does not mean these guys were not all-stars, for …

What is the Essential Ingredient for Success? Just One Word: TEAM

For the purpose of this Blog, Team is synonymous with teamwork. It’s my belief that to be a success at anything, your Team is the most important factor, bar none. If your rebuttal is there are many successful sole proprietors’s out there; I would make the argument, that the successful one-person-companies, still surround themselves with a team of professionals. Or if you make the point that Serena Williams won 19 Gland Slam Singles tournaments by herself, my counter would be her family is her team. After all, she grew up playing with Venus, not to mention they are 13-0 in Grand Slam doubles. Plus both her father Richard and her mother Oracene are credited as being her coach up until she brought on Marcos Baghdatis in 2012. I would make a similar argument for Tiger Woods.

Vince Lombardi defines teamwork as “individual commitment to a group effort”. He is also quoted as saying “People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defenses or the problems of modern society.”

Paul Bear Bryant “In order to have a winner, the team must have a feeling of unity; every player must put the team first-ahead of personal glory.”

Henry Ford when discussing teamwork, “Coming together is a beginning, Keeping together is progress, Working together is Success.”

Thomas Edison when asked why he had a team of twenty-one assistants, “If I could solve all the problems myself, I would.”

Andrew Carnegie “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct …

A Complete Guide to Mitel Communicator

If you are expanding your business or taking your company global, you probably know you will need the right type of communication systems to make productivity and growth happen.  You also know you will need a simple, but robust communications system so your employees can conduct business quickly and efficiently, no matter where they are.  After weeding through the massive amounts of options available, many companies are finding Mitel Communicator to be the most convenient solution to meet those needs.
Enhanced Features
There are a number of reasons why the solution makes sense for so many businesses. First and foremost, it’s available for multiple operating systems and is integrated into the on-premises telephone solution to provide enhanced call-handling features.

Some of these enhanced features include:

Messaging
Conferencing
Desktop Sharing
Video
Contact Center
Enhanced Mobility Features

 
Reduce Workload
Offering has a single-user structure which creates security for the entire system in case of a switch failure. Because of it’s architecture, the system provides 99.99% reliability simply “Out of the Box”, equating to roughly 5 minutes of downtime per year. With N+1 strategy added, the reliability increases to 99.99999% which equates to roughly 3 seconds of downtime/year. 

Additionally, because of it’s simplistic design, the training required for use isn’t overwhelming or time-consuming. The flexible controls streamline communications, making the system easy to manage and maintain. Because of these features, the IT workload is reduced because there’s just a single application needing support with no additional server maintenance.
Boost Productivity with Directory …

How to Compare VOIP Providers

If you’ve landed here, you are probably one of the smart small business owners looking to experience the benefits of a hosted VoIP telephone system. You know that a traditional system either isn’t making financial or productivity sense for your business anymore. But with such a massive amount of choices out there today, you know you will need to do a VoIP comparison to determine which option is the right one for your particular business.

Here are some helpful tips to help you conduct your VoIP comparison:

Tip #1: Know What Your Needs Are

Telephone systems today can do pretty much anything aside of making you a grilled cheese sandwich, but that doesn’t mean you need every feature they can provide. Additionally, each of those features can cost you more money, so you will want to invest your resources into the functionality that is going to deliver the biggest return for your business. Think about what features you will actually use during your day-to-day operations, and if you know you probably won’t use most of the options that particular system provides, you may want to lower your price point. (That’s a good problem to have though, right?!)

Tip #2: Ask Questions

The market is saturated with VoIP providers today, obviously some of them are good providers and some of them are not. You need to be able to identify the good from the bad, and the best way to do so is to ask …

Our Trusted Millennia Partners: Meet our Friends at Meru Networks

There is no secret that today there is a rapidly growing number of mobile users who are demanding the same type of quality-of-service (QOS) that they would expect if they were connected through a wired connection. Because of this high demand, companies are seeking solutions that offer them unlimited connectivity, speed, and security. That is why Millennia Technologies has partnered with Meru Networks to provide this seamless connectivity.

Who Is Meru?

Meru’s vision focuses on an all-wireless world. They understand that network edges shouldn’t need wires and that a wireless LAN should support the enterprise. They build reliable wireless networks so it is as easy as possible to access all application and content that is needed to conduct business. Additionally, they ensure that IT managers are empowered with everything they need to prepare and assist with the network through mobile applications. This is all done through a unique network architecture that’s free from any client-control limitations. Everything Meru does has mobility in mind.

Solution Provider

Meru creates wireless LANs that are designed for the environments where there’s high-density traffic being generated by critical business applications. IT managers today are finding wireless networks demanding and not capable of meeting their needs because they were designed for lower traffic. High-bandwidth applications are now demanding more and more of the resources. Scaling up old networks to accommodate the needs of the traffic coming from the main location and remote sites has become daunting and difficult, so …

Is Your Phone System Part of Your Communication Crisis Plan?

Most of us don’t love the idea of spending our valuable time putting a crisis plan in place because what are the chances you are really going to need it? However, anyone who has experienced a business crisis would be quick to point out that in the event of a crisis, having a response plan in place helps to minimize the impact of that crisis.

One of the most important tools your business has is its phone system. Your phones serve as the main tool for you to communicate the level of the emergency, get the help needed, and ensure the safety of your business. If you lose dial tone on the phone system, your response efforts could be hindered.

Phones are Essential to Productivity

While we usually think of massive issues like floods, earthquakes and fires as disasters, smaller events like water damage or burglary can be equally catastrophic to businesses. When essential business elements like the phone system are compromised, productivity is lost, and the costs to the business can escalate rapidly.

Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail

According to FEMA, 40% of businesses who fall victim to a crisis never reopen, and 25% fail within the first year following the crisis. Successful businesses today understand it is worth the investment to prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. When crisis strikes, employees will want to understand what is happening, neighboring businesses may need to be informed, and emergency response teams may need …

Up to 1GB of Bandwidth within 7 Days, No Smoke or Mirrors Needed

With the advent of the BYOD and the “Internet of Everything”, bandwidth is King. So what do you do when you need more bandwidth? You probably call your local telco person and they provide you with a few quotes from the likes of At&T, Comcast, etc.

According to the yearly statflash by Vertical Systems Group, metro fiber passed the 40% threshold this year. Fiber penetration into commercial buildings with 20+ employees has now reached 42.5%, moving up strongly from 39.3% last year. Five years ago, the figure stood at 22.9% of such buildings, a number which we may even officially double in 2016. Of course, that still means that 57.5% of those buildings still get their bandwidth from the likes of copper and occasionally microwave. The penetration rate is much higher in large cities, but rather lower when you get out into less populated areas.

If you have ever ordered bandwidth or changed your carrier, you know this is not a quick process, often taking six months to fully deploy. What if you do not have six months? Enter 123Net Metro Wireless solution. 123Net is the largest provider in Michigan for High Speed Fixed wireless. 123Net’s SLA for this product is the exact same as the SLA’s for fiber, so please do not think the quality will suffer.

Below are a few of the Highlights

Speeds of up to 1 Gbps over secure, fixed wireless links
Fast installation turnaround of 7-14 days
Low installation and …

Establish Continuous Communication With Anyone, Anywhere, Anytime

In June of last year, the London Business School held a Global Leadership Summit. During the event, the school conducted a survey of the attendees regarding the variety of modern business challenges. The survey covered a variety of different topics, but one of the interesting findings included that half of the respondents expected to be working remotely by year 2020.

Believe it or not, 2020 is only six years away. That means 50% of your organization will be working from somewhere other than the office in just a few short years. You may think that figure sounds crazy, but a recent article identified that working remotely grew about 79% between 2005-2012, with that number expected to rise again over the next decade.

But what does that mean for businesses of the future?

To begin, it means organizations will need to find ways to motivate and empower workers to work efficiently from anywhere. Thankfully, the move to cloud-based technology is making this possible. Employees now can gain access to virtually any business-related item they need from anywhere, as long as they have a secure and reliable internet connection.

Traditional Equipment and Modern Communication Simply Don’t Mix

Phone systems are a lifeline for ensuring consistent communication happens effectively while working remote.

With traditional phone systems, creating network connectivity with flexibility is incredibly challenging. Even if you are able to make it work, it’s likely that you may still experience a handful of other issues, such as:

Service Quality: It may seem as if …

Unified Communications: 4 Challenges and How to Overcome Them

The 4 Most Common Obstacles of UC Implementation

The implementation of a Unified Communications (UC) system is becoming increasingly popular for companies of all sizes. Organizations realize these technologies can reduce costs, streamline processes and enhance productivity. These system changes can not only improve the business operations in-house, but also with offsite employees who need to collaborate and connect to various systems in order to work effectively at other sites or mobile locations.

Typically though, no massive system change from a desk phone over to a softphone is viewed as an easy task for businesses. When changing what has become a force of habit for day-to-day business tasks, there may be some growing pains. However, most of these obstacles are manageable as long as proper preparation occurs.

In order to best prepare for the possible concerns with a UC change over, let’s evaluate the most common obstacles:

Obstacle #1 Resistance Giving Up Established Systems

Let’s be honest, sometimes it’s just nice to do things the way we’ve always done them. Many employees feel this way about their phone systems. However, with the proper training program implemented regarding the features and benefits of the new system, the transition becomes more accepted and understood.

Obstacle #2 Financial Concerns

Although UC systems are often a much less expensive option than traditional phone systems of the past, they still require an investment. About 73% of companies with $5,000 or more employees report that cost is an issue for implementing a new system. This concern is partially …

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Millennia Technologies is a full-service voice and data solutions company for midsize to enterprise customers. Specializing in UCaaS , CCaaS , Cybersecurity , IoT , Voice , Cloud , and more. Our passion is firmly rooted in showing clients how well-designed data solutions can significantly accelerate business operations, and then celebrating their goal-shattering successes.