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Entries by Richard Reiffer

Upgrade Your Phone System to Reduce Risk of Cyberattacks

Just like technology itself, cyberattacks have been evolving. In the past, cyber criminals targeted mainly company databases and connected devices, or simple, remotely controlled tech that is connected to company networks, such as building controls and security cameras. While these attacks still make up almost two-thirds of all hacking attempts, the past year has shown a shift in what is being targeted by cyber crime. With remote desktops and private communication channels in hacker’s scopes, now is the time to be proactive with your company’s cyber securityand upgrade your phone system to a hosted VoIP solution.

 
Hackers Exploit Any Weakness
Your business probably already uses traditional cyber security measures such as firewalls and malware protection software, but more and more, these defenses aren’t enough to deal with new threats. Recent wide-reaching attacks such as WannaCry and Petya ransomware took advantage of vulnerabilities in Windows operating systems that hadn’t been updated to the latest version. In fact, non-current versions of operating systems and software are how a lot of malware gains purchase into computer systems.

While making sure that everything is up-to-date on your company computers seems like a simple enough task, it becomes harder when you think about all the software and applications you use every day. Not to mention, keeping drivers, apps and software updated is only the tip of the cyber security iceberg. For IT professionals and departments, performing cyber security tasks can be a full-time job, and can be sidelined for …

How a Hosted VoIP Solution Can Increase Revenue

If you’re considering hosted VoIP for your business, you’ve probably heard all about how it can save you money. With little hardware and no maintenance, the lower cost is a major selling point. But what about all the ways that a hosted VoIP solution can help you earn money? In this blog we’ll take a look at some VoIP features that drive better sales, customer service, and more.
 
1. Better Routing Means Better Customer Service
There are so many reasons why customers call businesses: sales, questions, complaints, order or account inquiries, and more. And depending on the size of your company, you might have different people addressing different calls. When a customer needs to be rerouted several times to answer his or her question, it can be frustrating for both the customer and the representatives. Hosted VoIP solutions have highly customizable and intuitive routing features that make it easier to get the right person straight from the start. If a customer receives fast, knowledgeable support, they’re more likely to stay happy and come back for more business.

 
2. Multiple Phone Numbers Give Customers Options
Companies that do any amount of business outside their local area know the importance of a phone number. If all they have is a local number, are they deterring potential long distance and international customers because they don’t want to pay hefty phone bills? With VoIP, in most cases you can keep the number that people are already familiar with, while adding features such as …

Do You Need a Cloud Consultant?

Cloud computing has become so pervasive in technology today that you may be using it without realizing. Everyday processes such as file storage and sharing or backing up the data on your phone use the cloud, but its capabilities go far beyond that. Migrating business applications to the cloud can not only save you money on internal data solutions but also enable your business to be flexible and scalable without a strain on your budget. And if you’re not quite sure what that means, don’t worry – a cloud consultant can help.
Cloud Consultants Mean Tailored Data Solutions
A rapidly advancing technology such as cloud computing can be confusing, and if you’re starting to get lost researching solutions, you’re not alone. While migrating to the cloud has many benefits, it can be frustrating and potentially costly if not done correctly. But don’t let that dissuade you: there are new IT specialists on the block, and they’re here to solve your cloud woes.

Cloud consultants have a different set of goals and values from traditional IT specialists. Old school IT is more or less about hardware, whether it be maintenance of devices and servers or upgrading and introducing newer, better tech. That’s not to say traditional IT doesn’t handle business software and network needs, but its goal is to acquire and sustain technology things that the business needs. Cloud consultants bring a different perspective to the IT table.

Because the cloud enables you to pay for only what …

Upgrade Your Phone System to Go Green

For businesses today, going green is more than a trend. With a wide range of benefits, including increased consumer support and reduced energy costs, making a conscious effort to reduce negative environmental impact is just good business. What’s more, becoming an environmentally friendly business is no longer difficult or expensive to achieve. By simply making green changes to your everyday practices, you can achieve a smaller footprint without disrupting operations. For example, choosing to upgrade your phone system can have a huge impact. Here’s how:

You may not realize it, but your desktop phones are horrible for the environment. Implementing Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and Unified Communications (UC) in your business can simultaneously improve both efficiency and environmentalism, meaning double the benefits.
VoIP Requires Less Hardware
Your plain old telephone system (POTS) requires a lot of stuff. From the plastic used to make handsets, to underground copper cable systems, to switchboards and satellites, a lot of material and energy goes into communication that we take for granted. POTS require upgrades every two years or less, on average, which results in a lot of hardware being dumped in landfills. In comparison, VoIP requires much less investment in physical devices. Because it uses your existing internet connection, and doesn’t require a dedicated handset — your telephone hardware could consist of as little as just one VoIP router. With options such as softphones on desktops or laptops, or integration with employees’ personal mobile phones with a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy, you can say goodbye …

Comparing Hosted VoIP Solutions

Businesses are turning to VoIP solutions for their communication to increase the effectiveness of their voice systems and save money. But with increased demand comes increased supply, and it can be difficult to wade through the many companies and services offering VoIP to find the best fit for your company. When looking for your hosted VoIP solution, you should be able to find one that fits your current needs and budget, as well as offers new opportunities to increase productivity. In this blog, we’ll discuss a few key things to consider when shopping for VoIP services.
Reliability
One of the benefits of a hosted VoIP system is its mobility, enabling users to make and receive business calls wherever and whenever they need to. This makes it all the more important that your phone system is working when you are. Outages can happen, so make sure that any VoIP provider you are considering has procedures to prevent them. Read reviews and references to see how good they are at responding to incidents, and determine from there whether or not the provider seems reliable. Remember: reviewers are more likely to comment on negative experiences than positive, so no news might be good news!
Included Features
To stay competitive, VoIP providers offer a variety of features that could significantly boost your phone system’s effectiveness. Features like the ability to migrate your current phone numbers, enhanced voicemail, and auto attendant are included free-of-charge in some plans, available at a …

Why IT Productivity is Important

IT departments work hard to make sure their company’s equipment is functioning properly, but what happens when everything is working the way it should? Although solving computer problems and other technological issues is no small task, an IT department that only focuses on putting out fires is not living up to its full potential. IT department productivity requires that teams have the time and flexibility to focus on strategic business goals, not just responding to requests.

Outside of the department, IT teams are perfectly poised to solve problems within their companies and drive forward company innovation. With an intimate knowledge of the company’s technological systems, IT specialists have insights that are valuable to any number of company issues or initiatives. Their involvement could lead to forward-thinking solutions with technology seamlessly integrated, saving them the future work of trying to incorporate company systems into a policy, service, or product that wasn’t designed with technology in mind.

By encouraging IT specialists to do work in other departments, they also have the opportunity to see the way other employees use company technology. This could lead to better practices and the streamlining of processes, saving both time and frustration among employees. When IT department employees are in problem solving and task groups, the company gains new perspectives that could lead to better solutions.

Within the IT department, teams should be collaborating to set expectations and business goals. Teams should know exactly what their job entails, including all duties. …

UC Implementation Mistakes to Avoid

Picture this: your employees aren’t being as productive as you know they could be, but you can’t figure out why. It could simply be that they are not getting the data and information they need at the right time. Unified Communications (UC) can have a huge impact on your employees’ collaboration, and as a result, their productivity. However, it’s almost impossible to implement a UC system and expect it to work overnight! Some companies that attempt to make the switch to a UC system suffer from a few common pitfalls that could be avoided.

Read below for some tips for UC implementation:

 
Pitfall #1: Lack of Employee Training
Since UC systems are designed to be used by you and your employees, your employees are your best asset in getting your UC system in place. Make sure they know what is happening, how it can improve their work experience, and what they can do to help. When in doubt, opt for a slow integration process. While it may be frustrating to you, knowing what exciting new features are going to be available in the future, adding only a few tools at a time gives your employees the time they need to get used to them.

 
Pitfall #2: Unnecessary Features
Speaking of exciting new features, sometimes tools included in your UC system may bog down your employees with redundant information. The best way to prevent a backslide in productivity is to know your company and its technological needs. Training …

7 Reasons You Might be Losing Customers

A business that is losing customers on a consistent basis is in trouble over the long haul. Customers are the lifeline of any organization. However, today’s business environment is characterized by high customer turnover due to stiff competition. If you’re losing customers and can’t figure out why, it’s time to take a good hard look at how you’re doing business.

1. Changing Too Many Players

Customers do not buy from companies but from people. Relationships are the lifeblood of a business, irrespective of its size. Therefore, to retain long-term customers, a company should not rotate salespeople, key contacts, or customer service representatives unless it has to. A business should foster any relationships forged by employees since they are rarely interchangeable.

2. Treating Existing and New Customers Differently

Offering incentives and discounts to only new customers may cause resentment among the existing ones. A business should think carefully about the carrots its offers new customers and ensure that it rewards existing ones equally – if not more. Although new clients have an immediate top-line impact, total sales to existing ones typically result in a greater impact on the business’ bottom line. And it’s always more cost effective to keep a customer than it is to earn a new one.

3. Focusing on Price Rather Than Value

Being a low-cost provider offers a competitive edge at first, but this strategy is difficult to sustain over the long haul. Instead, a business’ goal should be providing the best …

5 Tips for Unified Communications Implementation

The majority of organizations face the challenge of delays caused by lack of adequate communication. Such a scenario often, has adverse impacts on the performance of the team, the efficiency of the company, and the competitiveness of any business. Unified Communications (UC) describes the integration of devices and applications to enhance the efficiency and mode of communication for the purpose of increasing productivity, enhancing team collaboration, and streamline business processes. The lack of UC compromises major operations in an organization.

Does your organization have poor performance, inadequate team collaboration, or does it suffer from reduced productivity due to increased delays and ineffective communication?-having Unified Communications will help you sort all the communications challenges and problems that you experience in your organization. How then do you have your communications unified?

Here are a few tips that you can follow to ensure successful implementation of UC in your organization or business.

Review the existing infrastructure

 

Before adopting UC, you need to be aware of the specific aspects within your organization that require such advancement based on the needs of your organization. What communication models and channels are already in place-emails? Then, assess approaches to ensure that your email systems, protocols, and practices are refined prior to implementing unified communications.

Have a robust foundation

 

You need to ensure that you are not building on sand! Having your Unified Communications on an aging network infrastructure will definitely not give you the results that you want. Ensure that your available …

What a Local VoIP Vendor Can Offer

VoIP (Voice Over IP) can offer huge advantages to modern businesses. However, buying a VoIP phone system for your organization can prove to be a challenge. In addition to choosing between an on-premise and cloud-based VoIP solution, you also have to find the right vendor for the job.

Regardless of which VoIP service provider you decide to hire, having local support from them can make a big difference. It’s always a better idea to hire a local VoIP Michigan provider because of the following reasons:
1. On-site support from qualified technicians
When you buy VoIP services from a local vendor, you can count on getting the assistance of trained professionals on the spot. They will not only answer all your queries regarding system implementation but also suggest which solution (on-premise or cloud-hosted) would be better for your needs.

Great technicians will be able to guide you every step of the way so that you know exactly what you’re signing up for.
2. Work alongside your IT department
Working with a local VoIP means no more going back and forth questioning who is doing what to your systems. The skilled members of the VoIP team will work closely with your IT department so that everything goes smoothly.

The team will do their best to ensure that no outages or downtimes occur, and every part of your communication technology functions exactly as it should. Good things happen when the expertise of a local vendor and the experience of IT …

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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.