Team

The Apps That Help You Stay Connected

The way teams work is changing. Remote work and mobile offices can make it hard to stay productive and stay in touch. But every day new apps and programs are released that are designed to help us be productive, stay connected and get more done. These are just a few of those apps.
Asana/Teamwork:
These project management tools help your team stay connected, productive and on task. Both let you assign tasks and subtasks, tracking a project from start to finish. Assign certain tasks, leave comments, add files and connect with those outside your organization. Which one you use is up to to you, and there are even more to choose from, but a project management tool is a must for collaboration.
Evernote
Evernote is note-taking on steroids. And every business owner, creative, go-getter and idea man needs a place to take notes. Evernote provides that and more. It’s a space where you can store notes, documents, images and more. And, you can share those notes (or entire notebooks) with the team members you need to collaborate with.
Trello
Trello is a project management app that is not only great for working with teams, but can also help organize your personal life. A visual list that lets you drag, drop, upload images and share, Trello gives you an overview of your life.
G Suite
The Cloud, Drive, Docs, Calendar, Gmail; G Suite are all Google apps that make your life easier and make it easier to work together as a team. Share documents, save them …

Millennia Technologies is Growing!

Here at Millennia Technologies, we have been excited about the growth and changes our organization has experienced recently. And we’re so thrilled about what’s happening that we’d love to share some of the exciting details with you!

As our partnership with Mitel has grown, our President saw opportunities for expansion in our technical and support side of the business. These changes are made to better service our loyal customers as our business continues to respond to our growth. Here are some of our staffing additions and product upgrades that are currently taking place:
New Director of Engineering and Technical Services (E&TS)
Robert Bonnell joins us with over two decades of experience as a technical director for one of the largest Orthopaedic private practices in the Mid-West, which was also among our first customers at Millennia Technologies. And in addition to 36 years of IT experience from both the customer and vendor perspective, he brings managerial, team development, and process improvement experience to our growing organization. Having been a Mitel customer for over 15 years, he also brings a unique customer advocacy perspective to the Millennia Technologies team.
Other E&TS Additions

Kim Taylor – Customer Advocate / Tier 1 support
Jamie Cushman, PMP – Project Manager

 

And the majority of our entire E&TS team has one or more Mitel certifications.

Millennia Technologies would also like to welcome back Sr. Telecommunications Systems Engineer, Becky Emerick! Becky has 6 IT Certifications and we are delighted to have such a talented individual back …

5 Tips for Better Team Collaboration

Being a part of a group of people who are putting their minds together to accomplish something amazing is a pretty inspiring experience. For the most part, the more minds you have on a project the more successful it will become. So, it makes sense to try to create that environment at your business, because who doesn’t want to have amazing ideas and collaborations that help result in profitability? But how do you create this collaborative mindset at your company?

Here are a few tips to help ignite a collaborative business environment:
Collaboration Tip #1: Build a Creative Atmosphere
When you look around at your business, does it motivate you to greatness? If not, create the spaces where team members feel encouraged to brainstorm comfortably. Also, promote a positive and dedicated attitude in every aspect of your collaborative discussions. Challenge and discuss ideas with a mindset that isn’t judgmental, but driven by a team-wide goal of creating the best possible results.
Collaboration Tip #2: Set Expectations
Set the expectation at your organization that collaboration is a standard process. Establish who will be in charge of each aspect as well as what the expected results are. In the end, all team members should understand that they take responsibility for all positive outcomes of the collaboration.
Collaboration Tip #3: Identify Individual Strengths
Your business is filled with a variety of people that bring a wealth of different skill sets, education, and passions to your organization. Seize those individualized …

how technology can improve interpersonal communication in businesses

How Technology Can Improve Interpersonal Communication

As technology advances, we hear more and more about how disengaged people are becoming as they spend less time talking to each other and more time staring at device screens. But let’s think for a moment about taking advantage of all that staring and turning it into something positive!

How about using those screens to enhance employee collaboration and interpersonal communication? Perhaps instead of asking employees to stay off of social media, turn off their cell phones and disengage from the outside world, instead organizations should shift their focus to finding ways to take advantage of the use of these tools. Because maybe doing so will allow workers to incorporate the technology they love into the business operations, which can increase employee productivity and interpersonal communication.

But how can businesses today make this (sometimes drastic) transition effectively? Here are a few technology transition tips:
Tip #1: Encourage BYOD
Businesses can’t fight the mobile shift any longer, and they’re implementing policies and procedures that promote a ‘work from anywhere’ atmosphere. Allowing an employee to answer emails or conference into a meeting provides the flexibility they need to perhaps catch their daughter’s track meet that afternoon, while still remaining engaged and aware of what’s happening with the business. It’s a convenience that’s seen as a fair trade.

Creating a BYOD (bring your own device) environment keeps employees more deeply connected to the business, encouraging them to respond to emails faster, return phone calls and take care …

How Mitel Communicator Can Improve Team Communication

Team communication is critical to the success of any business, so it makes sense that you would want to give your team every advantage. The Mitel Communicator, call manager software that integrates with Mitel communication systems, may be just the advantage you need.
What is the Mitel Communicator?
Mitel Communicator is the unified communications interface that works with Mitel Premise systems to streamline all user communications across your company. Accessible from virtually any internet-enabled devices, for many users, Mitel communicator becomes their first stop for any type of communication.
How Does Mitel Communicator Improve Teams?
There are a few ways that this user-friendly interface can actually improve how teams communicate and collaborate effectively.
Works Across Devices & Platforms
Mitel Communicator is available as a web application via your favorite web browser, as a desktop application, and on a majority of mobile devices. Switching to a new phone system can often mean a learning curve towards full utilization, but because devices remain the same and the interface so simple, users are able to get up to speed almost immediately.
Intelligent Calling
One of the best ways to nurture great team communication is to allow team members to communicate on their own terms. Mitel Communicator allows users to decide how to route their calls based on who is calling them. That means they can send team calls directly to their cell phones when they’re away from the office while salespeople go to voicemail. That means less time returning important calls, and less time dealing with …

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 …

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 …

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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.