Increased Productivity

4 REASONS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER BYOD

Before the days of smartphones and laptops, the idea of asking an employee to bring their own devices would be considered laughable. Can you imagine, employees hauling bulky desktops and towers to work each day? BYOD has made what was impossible, possible.

The evolution of technology has been rapid. At this point, BYOD is old news. However, the buzz surrounding it hasn’t quieted down. Its popularity is expected to grow. Companies aren’t asking if they need BOYD, but rather what is the best practice for implementation. It’s quickly taken its place as a part of our modern business culture.

That being said, some organizations are still hesitant to adopt a BYOD policy. Here are a few reasons why it’s beneficial.

 
Productivity
One of the most significant benefits of BYOD is the boost in productivity seen in all departments of an organization. Employees are using devices they are familiar with making it easier to take full advantage of device features. IT Technicians are using tools they already understand, requiring less training. Organizations can maximize revenue through productivity.

 
Cost
If you’re a business owner, you know the costs of technology can be substantial. Supplying an entire company with devices can add up quickly. BYOD programs shift costs to the individual user. Businesses have noticed as employees use their smartphones and tablets maintenance and service fees are drastically reduced. Additionally, employees who use their own devices are more likely to have the latest technology, meaning you don’t have to …

Is Unified Communications Worth It for Small Businesses?

Every business has budget items that are higher priority than others, but for small businesses, that priority list is usually adhered to a little more strictly. After all, it makes sense to make only the most strategic investments when so many things demand your attention. But even if a better communications solution is somewhere on your budget, it may not be at the top of your list. Should it be? Investing in a small business unified communications system could bring significant benefits to your company.
Do More with Fewer Employees
Hiring and retaining employees is a huge expenditure for a small business, and in some industries, wages and benefits may take up a significant portion of the yearly budget. And while expansion is a success milestone for many small businesses, hiring is not a decision to be taken lightly.

As a result, employees of small businesses often wear more than one hat. Sometimes, a salesperson may also take on customer service duties, or an accountant may handle some aspects of HR compliance. These employees are usually up to their ears in work, and in combination with their highly important roles, maintaining easy and productive contact is both vital to operations and difficult to achieve.

For those on-the-fly meetings or out-of-office calls, small business unified communications makes hectic work schedules easier to manage. VoIP phone systems enable employees to take and make business calls wherever they are – so that salesperson can handle current …

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 …

Don’t Stay Stuck at Your Desk

Modern society has been engineered to keep you sitting down. You sit while you work at the office, you sit when you drive, you sit when you watch TV, and through so many of your day’s activities. We all know and acknowledge that exercise is good for our health, but are you aware that sitting down might be actually killing you?

Sitting has been linked to obesity, heart disease, and even premature death. Thankfully, many workplaces have begun to recognize these negative effects and the value of allowing their team to move around for both health and productivity. Unified communications have significantly simplified the ability of people to communicate “on the go” so that they are never forced to remain sedentary.

Here are some of the ways you can work outside of your cubicle:

 

1. Take a break to walk around after you finish a task

Every time you get something done at the office, make it a point to stand and move around for a while. Get up, stretch those tight muscles, or even take a lap around the building. If you’re worried about your boss giving you a hard time for taking a break, make use of the instant messaging capabilities of your unified communications 2017 system.

Instant messaging will allow you to keep your projects moving without the need for calling meetings and writing lengthy emails. This is “work while you move and move while you work” in the truest sense.

2. Go out for lunch

You …

Mitel Now Offers Google Chrome App

Mitel, one of the world’s leading VoIP and unified communications solutions provider, has launched an integrated solution that aims to deliver the unified communications experience across Mitel Connect, G suite, and Google Chrome. This integrated solution for the Chrome web browser will let you save time and eliminate duplicate work.

Now, you can join a Mitel conference bridge, view the contact’s presence, and place and accept calls via Google Chrome’s Mitel Connect browser extension. This extension for chrome browser is available for both on-site and cloud users in the US and Canada.

 
Benefits of using Mitel Connect for chrome browser
Easy contact search: Now, you can merge Google and Mitel contacts in a single list for ease of search and reference. By using Connect’s extension, you’ll have all your contacts in a single place with no more than just a press of a few buttons.

Quick integration: Mitel’s Connect extension integrates with Google Chrome in just a matter of seconds. Just install the extension from Chrome Web Store to get the system up and running and receive new functionalities as they’re released.

Improve productivity: Thanks to integrated call control, users will now be able to place and accept calls on the fly, schedule and join events, and view presence from the web browser itself without having to switch between multiple screens.

No extra costs: Connect is available for chrome browser with Essentials, Standard, or Advanced service and product plans at no extra cost. This browser extension not only aims to solve your …

Mitel and The Boston Red Sox

Mitel and Millennia would like to welcome the Boston Red Sox to the world of Unified Communications. Yes, the 115-year-old baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, has chosen Mitel’s IP-PBX solution with integrated unified communications to carry forward the team’s communication systems.

This decision came after the organization felt that their existing telephony services, provided by Avaya, was starting to show their age with mounting costs of maintenance and failing reliability.

The club chose Mitel after deciding to explore modern telephony features to not only boost communications for staff but also improve their productivity and communication with the fans.
Why Mitel?
At the heart of the decision made by the Red Sox, there was a desire to shift towards a system that provides easy to manage solutions with little intervention from IT. So, the company began evaluating services offered by different vendors from the perspective of front office personnel, sales teams, season ticket holders, and even baseball scouting personnel.

Mitel eventually emerged as the ultimate choice because at the core of their design is a distributed architecture that is capable of delivering extremely secure network features across a multisite environment.

The telephony company’s key advantage aligned with the club’s desire to have easy-to-manage unified communications systems, and so this deal came to be. Brian Shield, vice president of IT for the Boston Red Sox said, “The goal for our new systems of communication is to improve efficiency and employee productivity, simplify maintenance, and reduce costs.”

He further went on to …

10 Ways Your Phone System Improves Your Customers’ Experience

Business competition in today’s economy is fierce. Your customers expect the highest level of care, and you and your staff need to be reachable, professional and customer-focused at all times – no matter where you’re working.

If that’s your business model, is your phone system supporting you and your employees like you need to support your customers?

Use this checklist to evaluate if your business communications give your customers the experience they expect from their chosen providers. Give yourself a point for every line you can check off. When you’re done, count your checks.
Reachability and Professionalism

Customers can access your sales staff anytime and anywhere, with mobile capabilities that direct incoming office calls to your sales staff’s mobile phones.
Outbound calls look professional, coming from the main company number, even when your employees are using their smartphones or other mobile devices.
Customer focus is enhanced by integrating your Outlook and CRM tools with your phone system to track conversation history with your client.
Employee productivity is increased by merging call records with customer records to improve sales trending projections and staffing optimization.

Employee Productivity

Employees can bring their own device and integrate it with your phone network.
Teamwork is made easy with voice and video calling, instant messaging and desktop sharing.
Employees feel secure that voice and data are safe, even in public hotspots.

Cost Effectiveness

Ongoing administration, such as adding a new employee, is easy vs. labor intensive.
Local support is available to train your staff to use features …

Does More Technology Really Improve Business Productivity?

For many business owners, and senior executives, the thought of embracing the latest business technology can be daunting for numerous reasons. Reason being, making a significant technology change can quickly impact how the entire organization gets work done – so it must be carefully executed. So, the first logical question posed is: will these investments truly improve team productivity?

The second consideration involves the financial expenditures needed to fund these changes effectively. In this type of situation, stakeholders need to feel comfortable with the cost and benefits as it relates to their ROI.
Technology Should Make Work Easier – Not Harder
It’s important for management to understand how investing in new technologies can not only improve ROI but also enhance the overall workplace environment and productivity. For example, having an employee utilizing numerous applications on different devices that aren’t synced with one another can cause that employee to spend more time trying to track down just to get one piece of information they need.

Cloud VoIP solutions are helping to solve these types of problems by providing access to big IT without the headache of setting it up internally. Many technology companies offer services that are already linked together with advanced productivity applications and tools. These services also come with additional security features and updates – another line item that can relieve concerns for top executives.
The New Standard For Business
In today’s competitive business environment, there’s a massive shift taking place toward cloud VoIP solutions. …

Are Your Meetings As Efficient as Possible?

Whether your next meeting is an effective, productive one, or one your staff barely manages to “get through” is up to you. When evaluating your meeting effectiveness, consider if you regard them as part of a routinely practiced growth vehicle, or are just gathering everyone for the sake of routine? Sad to say, many reports conclude that meetings came in as the leading killer of office productivity, even beating out office politics. If you want to make your meetings the best they can be, set aside time to consider these items:

Is This Meeting Necessary?
Having a meeting for the sake of a having a meeting thinly veiled as an update serves no purpose, other than an opportunity for everyone to get up and moving, and away from their desks for an hour or so. Before you even block the meeting time, make sure you have a defined purpose and clear objectives. Does your staff need to be made aware of a change of management or a shift in strategy? Do you need their input in making a decision? Is there a problem facing the company? If you can’t identify a valuable reason, there’s no reason to hold a meeting.
Who Should Attend?
Often, in a misguided attempt to be inclusive, a manager or department head will summon all his staff to a meeting. However, if the discussions have nothing to do with their responsibilities, workers will consider the meeting a waste of time and spend …

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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.