2024 Budget Season is Here… Schedule Your TCI Technology & Business Review Today!

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Improving Operations with Better Technology Starts with Your 2024 Planning Session

With budget season here and 2024 right around the corner, now is a great time to start evaluating your office technologies and setting strategic goals.

A TCI Technology & Business Review gets you prepared for the new year, whether you’re looking to simplify your technology, connect your Hybrid Workforce, or thinking about Faster Broadband, Online Collaboration, Disaster Recovery, Cloud, or Managed Voice Services.

Not familiar with the latest innovations or apps?

We’ll get you up to speed so your business can connect more easily and become more productive than ever.

Schedule your 2024 planning session with TCI today. Call (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 


Managing Field Service Techs? Learn How TCI’s Collaboration Solutions & Tools Improve Field Operations

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With embedded communications technology, you can eliminate delays, manage operations more efficiently, and generate improved customer satisfaction and greater profitability for your business.

  • Have you looked at your field service applications lately?
  • Are your field techs getting tired of jumping back and forth between mobile apps, dialers, text windows, video players, and more to get their job done?

There’s a more efficient way to stay connected and run communications seamlessly with TCI’s Mitel-powered solutions.

Field service companies juggle a lot of moving parts – including scheduled and emergency customer calls, tracking technician status and availability, and being able to resolve a customer’s problem on the first visit.

When it comes to running a smooth and efficient field services operation, a unified communications solution with built-in collaboration tools is the only way to keep a mobile and disparate team connected, informed, and prepared.

Here’s how UC tools get the job done…

  • A mobile app for truck fleets with turn-by-turn directions keeps technicians connected, on schedule, and productive. It provides access to everything they need to complete a call without having to navigate between systems. Service calls are shorter, reducing the overall cost per call.
  • SMS notifications keep the customer up to date on the technician’s estimated arrival time, along with their name and job number.
  • CRM integration provides technicians with access to customer information, including the last service date, equipment on site, the current problem, and even possible solutions. A qualified technician arrives at the customer site with the right parts on the truck.
  • Video conferencing enables real-time communications between technicians and subject matter experts. Techs receive assistance in the field if questions arise about how to resolve a difficult issue.
  • Automatic rescheduling empowers customers and gives your service reps more time to spend on complicated issues.
  • All data for a service call is stored within the system, including video communications and the customer’s signature, so the job can be closed out at the time of service.

Field services companies that implement these collaboration tools not only see greater workflow efficiencies, they generate more revenue and improve their bottom lines.

Ready to transform your field services operation? TCI can help… Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 


In-Building Broadband Connections Made Easy with TCI’s Wi-Fi Service

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TCI’s Managed Wi-Fi Service… Simplify and speed up your day-to-day operations. Our Managed Wi-Fi puts intuitive yet powerful tools in the hands of your network administrators:

  • Add wireless capacity in minutes with fully automatic provisioning
  • Manage complex, dynamic environments using Auto RF
  • Throttle bandwidth and block unauthorized applications
  • Streamline device onboarding with built-in Mobile Device Management

Wi-Fi 6 Support… TCI supports enterprise-class Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) access points to solve density and throughput challenges. With up to 8 transmit and 8 receive antennas, your applications will always operate at peak performance. In addition to 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios, many APs offer a dedicated security radio that:

  • Continuously scans and protects against security threats
  • Senses the RF environment and adapts to interference
  • Automatically configures RF settings to maximize performance

Wireless Made Easy… From growing offices to large corporate enterprises, TCI designs, implements and maintains the wireless networks that keep local businesses connected and running strong. Our expertise includes:

  • Wireless site surveys
  • Wireless coverage testing
  • Access point cabling
  • Wireless security
  • Wireless network management

Whatever your environment and business goals, TCI can design, deploy, and support a cloud-managed wireless solution for you.

Our certified infrastructure experts will ensure your mobile workforce has access to the connections they need to stay productive. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 


Supporting DC Metro Leaders in Education, Hospitality and Retail with On-Premises & Hybrid Unified Communications

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The on-prem, private hosted, and hybrid Unified Communications (UC) platforms TCI deploys and supports offer unique advantages for education, hospitality, and retail organizations.

A 2023 Metrigy global survey found 64.7% of those in the hospitality industry are on-premises or private-hosted, 56.7% of education, and 50% of retail. These high adoption rates of on-prem and private hosted UC platforms, coupled with the relatively small percentage of those planning to move to UCaaS, highlight significant benefits for the on-premises, private-hosted, and hybrid models for these industries.

4 Reasons Why Education, Hospitality, and Retail stick with On-Prem and Hybrid UC

1. Reliability – The primary reason cited across all three industries for staying with on-premises and private-hosted solutions is their reliability. In the retail space, with large numbers of distributed locations, stores must be able to operate even if there is a network outage. Individual locations must be able to place and receive calls and ensure that systems such as alarms can always function. Hospitality operates under a similar model. A hotel, for example, can’t tolerate downtime for its in-room communications or be unreachable by those looking to make a reservation if there is a network outage or a UCaaS outage. Educational organizations, too, must ensure reliability, especially for higher education institutions spread out across campuses, and support communications modalities, including emergency calling systems.

2. Cost Savings – Nearly 46% overall, including half of retail and hospitality organizations, say that cost savings are the primary reason they stay with on-premises or private-hosted deployment models. On-prem or private-hosted models can often be less expensive and may already be fully depreciated. They also can allow companies, through hybrid solutions, to add additional cloud-based features, such as analytics and application integrations, without making wholesale changes to UC and contact center platforms. And they can preserve existing investments in endpoints and infrastructure such as gateways.

3. Security and Data Privacy – On-premises and private-hosted deployment models allow organizations to control their own data. Educational organizations may use their UC platforms to manage student data, including potentially sensitive information such as grades and health records. Hospitality companies may hold information related to customer location, travel history, and payment preferences. Retail organizations must process payment information per Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance standards. Organizations may have sensitive competitive information they wish to ensure isn’t shared with service providers or potentially outside their control.

4. Integrations – Education, hospitality, and retail organizations will likely have extensive and unique integrations between business applications and their communications platforms. In our research, the need to integrate file management, project and task management, HR, CRM, and ERP applications into collaboration platforms is common to all three.

Beyond those drivers, there are several industry-specific examples of how On-Prem and Hybrid UC supports unique requirements, including:

Education:

  • Self-service portals allow students to check their account balances and billing information by phone or messaging app bot.
  • Student management platforms integrated with call centers enable students to click to call for support from within a learning management app such as Ellucian Banner or Blackboard.

Hospitality:

  • Guest management platforms enable customers to check account information, order food, movies, or services, or easily reach a concierge through a single click on an in-room phone or via an integrated mobile app.

Retail:

  • Inventory and order management systems allow customers to check product availability or order status by phone or receive text updates.
  • In-store wireless communications platforms for employees allow on-the-go communications and enable mobile staff to take incoming calls from customers seeking assistance.
  • Marketing automation systems send special offers and updates to customers via text.

Education, hospitality, and retail organizations may also integrate security systems into calling and paging platforms to provide automated notifications in an emergency.

In all these cases, on-premises and private-hosted solutions allow education, hospitality, and retail organizations to customize and control their communications environment.

Furthermore, education, hospitality, and retail organizations can use hybrid solutions to add additional features and functionality from the cloud while preserving their existing investments in on-premises and private-hosted platforms.

TCI has decades of industry-specific expertise. Let’s talk about leveraging the best technology to help achieve your organizational goals.

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