TCI… Your Local Experts in Assisted and Senior Living Community Technology Solutions

/0 Comments/in /by

When families are evaluating senior living facilities for their loved ones, they are looking for amenities, responsive service and care, convenience, and peace of mind.

TCI supports your goal to deliver those benefits with advanced Communication and Networking solutions that better connect your residents and staff.

We bring everything together to make sure your solutions work as one integrated system.

  • HIPAA-compliant Voice Communications Platforms and Service
  • Mobile Communications for Caregivers and Staff
  • Facility and campus-wide Wireless & IT Networking Solutions
  • Monitoring & Call Response
  • Customized Broadcast & Paging Systems that notify everyone who needs a specific type of alert.
  • Integration with Nurse Call Systems
  • E911 Compliance Solutions
  • Video communications that help residents and family stay in touch

We back up our customized Senior Living technology solutions with outstanding support…

  • Remote Monitoring and Managed Service & Support
  • Emergency Service and 24×7 On Call Technicians

TCI is the DC region’s local source for customized Senior Living Community solutions that offer the peace-of-mind caregivers and families deserve and expect.

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


Stay Safe and Keep it Simple… 4 Essential Actions to Take During Cybersecurity Awareness Month

/0 Comments/in /by

The theme of CISA’s, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, Cybersecurity Awareness Month is “Secure Our World.” They are asking all of us to do our part.

CISA offers helpful tips, videos and resources to protect yourself, your family, and your business from online threats here:

https://www.cisa.gov/secure-our-world

CISA recommends all of us – individuals, families and businesses – to keep it simple and focus on these four critical actions this month – and all year long.

  • Use Strong Passwords – Strong passwords are long, random, unique, and include all four character types (uppercase, lowercase, numbers and symbols). Password managers are a powerful tool to help you create strong passwords for each of your accounts.
  • Turn On MFA – You need more than a password to protect your online accounts and enabling MFA makes you significantly less likely to get hacked. Enable MFA on all your online accounts that offer it, especially email, social media and financial accounts.
  • Recognize & Report Phishing – Be cautious of unsolicited messages asking for personal information. Avoid sharing sensitive information or credentials with unknown sources. Report phishing attempts and delete the message.
  • Update Software – Ensuring your software is up to date is the best way to make sure you have the latest security patches and updates on your devices. Regularly check for updates if automatic updates are not available.

Your UC and Voice Communications need to be protected too. Need help with your UC or Voice communications security?

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


Choosing the Right Cloud Infrastructure for Your Organization

/0 Comments/in /by

By definition, Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a unified telecommunications system based in the cloud. But which cloud? Your own, or one you share with people and organizations you don’t know?

Public and private cloud environments are very different regarding security, flexibility, performance, control, and other essential factors. Today, organizations can experience the best of both worlds — with some due diligence.

What is a Public Cloud?

In a public cloud environment, multiple organizations share space on a server or, more likely, a virtual server. This platform offers the benefits of simplicity, scale, and savings.

  • Companies don’t have to worry about maintenance; the public cloud service provider handles updates and upgrades.
  • Organizations can add or decrease seats based on business demands.
  • A public cloud platform eliminates the expense of maintaining communications equipment and servers.

At the same time, a public cloud has limitations. Operating systems and software, for instance, are upgraded when the public cloud service provider — not the client organization — chooses. Users who want customization, such as other applications or additional security for their virtual machines, are generally out of luck.

Think of it as an apartment building filled with tenants. The building owner, not the tenants, decides when to shovel the snow off the steps and repave the parking lot. The tenants can request security cameras or electrical vehicle chargers, but the building owner ultimately decides whether to install them.

What is a Private Cloud?

A private cloud system works like a public cloud, but as the name suggests, the resources are limited to a private network. These systems pair the efficiency of virtualization and a centralized infrastructure with the security of dedicated virtual servers. A private cloud gives organizations great flexibility, maximum control, and security.

  • Like public clouds, private clouds are scalable and cost-effective.
  • Upgrades and updates happen when the company chooses.
  • Organizations determine who and what can access the private cloud, significantly reducing the data breach risk.

However, adding and managing data centers, servers, and phone lines can get expensive and complicated and take engineering staff away from other duties. System maintenance can also require staff that may be difficult to find and expensive. In addition, modern communications requirements can mean significant liability.

Many services, including e911 and the calculation and remittance of regulatory fees and taxes, are required for cloud-based systems. Companies that maintain a private cloud must stay abreast of — and comply with — government regulations, such as STIR/SHAKEN compliance; Kari’s Law, which ensures the ability to dial 911 directly; and RAY BAUM’s Act, which requires that all 911 calls include dispatchable location information.

What is a Managed Private Cloud?

The expense and liability of managing data centers have driven many organizations to migrate their private cloud environments to a managed private cloud service. This third offering combines many of the benefits of a public cloud with the increased control and security of a private cloud.

  • Service providers handle maintenance and upgrades at the customer’s convenience.
  • Companies have dedicated virtual servers for each unique application.
  • Regulatory compliance responsibilities (e.g., 911-related services, calculation/collection/remittance of regulatory fees and taxes) lie with the service provider.
  • Billing services lie with the service provider.
  • Geo-redundant data centers offer enhanced security and reliability.
  • Service providers include all inbound/outbound calling services within the 48 contiguous US.

Choosing the Right Service Provider

For more than 40 years, we’ve served as a trusted partner to innovative DC region organizations that need intelligent communications solutions to engage with their clients and accelerate operations.

Let’s explore which cloud infrastructure approach and customized UCaaS can help grow your business. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 




Check Out This Easy-to-Deploy Game Changer – Your New Virtual Receptionist: Mitel Voice Assist

/0 Comments/in /by

If excellent customer service is your goal, Mitel has stepped up with the solution you need… their new Voice Assist solution.

Voice Assist is like having a virtual receptionist to help answer basic customer questions, route calls, and deliver personal service without tying up an employee on your team. Voice Assist is a simple application that’s added to your Mitel communication server solution.

If you’re spending too much time helping to route calls to the right person and answering simple questions, Voice Assist can help. If your customers are spending too much time navigating your voice system to find the right person, Voice Assist can help them, too.

Designed for organizations that don’t require a contact center solution, but still need to deliver a professional call experience.

Voice Assist features powerful text-to-speech and speech recognition capabilities for a natural, conversational experience – customers can choose the language and voice they want to hear. Instead of a busy signal or a generic voicemail message, your customers immediately get the assistance they need, and you get the help you need to focus on your primary job while ensuring your customers feel heard and served.

Requires no coding or advanced programming knowledge and is a free add-on for users with a Mitel Software Assurance license.

Although built to be simple and easy to deploy in the cloud, Mitel didn’t leave out sophisticated features like text-to-speech and speech recognition, multilingual support, and full integration with Google Places. That last feature is great for small businesses that use Google Places to advertise their business. It now means that your intelligent auto attendant and Google Places can be linked and synched for a better customer experience.

PDF: Mitel Voice Assist Admin Guide

The Low-code, No-code Future

The communications applications of tomorrow won’t have complex interfaces that require heavy coding skills. They’ll be graphically based, intuitive to use, and require no or minimal coding for customization. This is the direction that system designers are moving in, and Voice Assist is Mitel’s first product to fully leverage this low-code, no-code design.

This means more freedom for small businesses to quickly build the digital customer front door they want. Creating call routes, voice menus, and pre-recorded messages can be easily accomplished through prebuilt templates and a drag-and-drop interface. If your organization is spread out across different geographic regions, Voice Assist’s user interface can be customized to support local languages with the click of a button.

Voice Assist is another example of more value for your money. If you’re not a TCI customer today, now is the perfect time to look at our innovative solutions for your business.

Learn about Mitel Voice Assist and how you can deliver a professional call experience for your customers. Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 




Follow These 4 Tips to Keep Your Voice & IT Networks Up and Running

/0 Comments/in /by

Many businesses manage an IT environment that includes a complicated maze of technology services and equipment of varying ages, performance, and overall health.

Even for the most tech-savvy, it can be a challenge to identify potential problems before something fails and disaster strikes.

Fortunately, there are best practices you can employ now to minimize the risk…

1. Infrastructure updates – Many problems can be prevented with proactive hardware and software updates that help keep pace with security vulnerabilities and interoperability demands.

2. Monitoring – End-to-end network monitoring will provide vital insights into the health of the devices on your network. You can catch a misconfigured router or endpoint and deal with failing equipment to prevent voice quality or connection problems.

3. Go deeper with analytics – Usage data can tell you in advance when it’s time to expand your network or add new licenses. Alarm analytics can direct you to the most important issues on your network faster.

4. Get a partner to help – Networks are not created equal. They all have quirks that ‘out of the box’ network management systems can miss. Remote monitoring and specialized enterprise-class tools can see more events on your network that could impact your communications.

Be proactive to head off communications downtime before it happens… Let’s talk about your Voice and IT environment.

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




Gig Work Expands Across Industries Enabled by UC Technology

/0 Comments/in /by

Freelance work isn’t new, but recently it has come to the forefront of attention as more workers and businesses embrace the gig economy. A whopping 36% of employed Americans identified as independent workers in 2022 – up from 27% in 2016.

Across industries, with the gig economy in full swing, businesses can scale their workforces to meet high demand or control costs when times are tough. It also allows them to bring in specialized expertise when needed.

Beyond the 9-to-5 Workforce

Workers across industries from healthcare to education and government are taking a hard look at the advantages of gig work.

  • Healthcare – One of the hallmarks of the new economy is the appearance of gig workers in places you don’t expect, like hospitals. Nurses have been sourced through agencies for quite some time. But what about doctors? More physicians are embracing the gig economy. As community hospitals face a labor shortage, they increasingly turn to “physicians-for-hire.” At the same time, more doctors are looking for a better work-life balance.
  • Hospitality – Hotel and restaurant operations have long depended upon contract workers, from bartenders to front desk staff. This approach allows managers to add staff as business swells over holidays, then scale back as demand softens. Scheduling has become more challenging in the wake of the pandemic. Many laid-off workers have migrated to other careers. Now, hospitality leaders hope to fill the gap with gig workers.
  • Education – The pandemic also kicked off a teacher shortage, and administrators struggle to fully staff their schools. As of February 2023, there were nearly 150,000 more job openings than hires. One way to close this gap is to hire substitute teachers – another traditional type of gig worker. However, these workers are also in short supply, with 20% of requests for substitutes going unfulfilled.
  • Government – We don’t often consider contract workers’ significant role in making government services available to the public. Yet, gig work is pervasive across federal and local agencies. Public agencies are the biggest employers of contract workers who fill temporary and seasonal positions in parks, schools, and offices. Gig workers play crucial roles as electoral workers and are essential for long-term research work.
  • Financial Services – These institutions face two issues in the gig economy. First, they need to contract IT workers to help with software development as they ramp up new apps to enhance the customer experience. As this part of their specialized workforce grows, financial institutions have a lucrative opportunity to build services that will meet gig workers’ consumer and employment needs.

Role of Unified Communications and Collaboration

Organizations that want to thrive in this new way of working – and attract top talent – need the right technologies to connect and empower gig workers.

  • Healthcare Providers Collaborating in Harmony – Healthcare staff need constant communication. Whether it’s a small rural hospital or a sprawling urban healthcare system, staying connected is vital. Full-time and gig workers need real-time, secure access to patient information and hospital systems. Healthcare communications solutions that streamline workflows make it easy for remote nurses and contract physicians to stay connected and deliver quality care from their mobile devices.
  • Hotel Staff on the Road with Mobile Communications – Like their guests, hotel staff are always on the move. And whether they’re on the top floor or another property, they must be reachable. Mobile solutions allow hotels to deliver exceptional guest experiences while also streamlining operations. For gig workers to collaborate effectively, communications should be integrated with existing hospitality apps. A single communications and collaboration application allows hospitality workers to access everything they need without missing a beat.
  • Educators want Plug-and-play Flexibility – Substitute teachers need the same access to communications and collaboration tools as permanent staff. Flexible solutions that integrate with existing applications like Google Workspace are necessary for any school district. Your UC solution should also be subscription-based, so adding and removing substitute teachers doesn’t bust your budget.
  • Cost Efficiency in the Public Sector – Like other industries, public sector entities face tremendous pressure to stay within budget and deliver a fast ROI on systems. Yet communications solutions must be powerful enough to collaborate across departmental teams. Cost-effective integrations with existing systems and flexible deployment options will help you control your budget while securely supporting your workforce.
  • Financial Service Providers Need to Adapt to a New Beat – The gig economy is about flexibility, speed, and ease of use. That’s what today’s workers want in every gig and what they want in a bank. With a solution built specifically for financial services, you can engage with customers on their preferred channels and seamlessly move between them. Your gig employees will benefit, too: they’re empowered with real-time client information and tools that help them improve performance, such as interaction recording and workforce management.

Learn how TCI can help your organization leverage the gig economy – no matter what industry you’re in. Contact us at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 


Overwhelmed by the RFP Process? Simplify Your Life with Our Sourcewell Contract

/0 Comments/in /by

Work for a government, education, or nonprofit agency? You can choose between two options when you’re ready to purchase a communications system — both of which will satisfy your bid requirements:

  1. Request for Proposal (RFP)
  2. Sourcewell Contract Purchasing

Why Do Bid Requirements Exist?

Every publicly funded agency must put projects up for bid to provide companies with equal opportunity to win the agency’s business in a standardized format to ensure fairness. Agencies must also use the bidding process to document how they spend the funds they’re being given. The most common method for doing this has traditionally been an RFP. But depending on your needs, Mitel’s Sourcewell cooperative purchasing contract may be a better alternative.

Though the traditional RFP process was designed with good intentions, it can present some purchasing challenges for government, education, and nonprofit agencies.

First, RFPs can limit the quality of responses you receive (not necessarily the quantity). Responding to RFPs is time-consuming, so it can cause the following:

  • Best agencies choose not to respond.
  • Businesses only respond if they see a significant benefit and/or a high chance of winning the bid.
  • Those that do respond put little energy into their proposal.

Second, and more importantly, this process is very time-consuming for agencies going out to bid. In a standard RFP process, each agency will typically go through the following steps:

  1. Identify potential providers
  2. Develop equipment and service specifications
  3. Create and advertise RFP
  4. Receive responses to RFP
  5. Evaluate proposals
  6. Award lowest bid
  7. Offer a protest period
  8. Have equipment delivered and installed
  9. Review and maintain the contract throughout its term

At a minimum, the RFP process takes three to six months but usually takes six to nine months from RFP build to installation. And even after all that, the way the RFP process is designed means there is no way to guarantee you will get the products or services that best suit your needs. Factors like cheap hardware and contract structuring barely related to your core needs may skew the final decision.

The Sourcewell Alternative

Sourcewell contracts eliminate these RFP challenges. They take the burden of RFPs off government, education, and nonprofit agencies. Sourcewell is a government agency that conducts its own rigorous RFP process and awards a vendor a national contract. Since the RFP work is already done, agencies can purchase communication technology outright through a Sourcewell contract, saving months, words, and uncertainty.

If you’re interested in a Mitel communication system, you’re in luck — Sourcewell has awarded Mitel a communications solutions vendor contract.

The purchasing process and timeline are significantly reduced using Sourcewell cooperative contracts. Instead of the time-consuming, nine-step process listed above, you only need to complete four steps:

  1. Become a member of Sourcewell (if you aren’t already)
  2. Get in contact with TCI to determine your specific phone system needs
  3. Indicate that you want Sourcewell pricing for procurement
  4. Coordinate with TCI for design, installation, and implementation.

Reach out today. We’ll step you through your options. Contact TCI at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 




Hurricane Season & Stronger Storms – How Business Continuity Planning with TCI Helps Protect Your IT Assets

/0 Comments/in /by

TCI’s cutting-edge Disaster Recovery solutions are tailored to help protect your entire IT environment – from data and applications to office computers, mobile devices, networks, and phone systems.

Will your business continue to operate when disaster strikes?

Here are just some of the ways TCI’s comprehensive approach helps you safeguard what counts:

  • Determine appropriate risk reduction strategies, remedies, and alternatives for critical systems and networks, including affordable ways to address voice and data protection measures like off-grid power sourcing and secure off-site storage.
  • Enable a remote work program that can keep your business open when your office is shut down during an emergency.
  • Avoid critical data loss or recovery delays dealing with missing databases, disrupted systems, networks, and more.

And if you’re considering moving to the cloud, remember you don’t have to do it all at once.

Create a plan. Identify what should stay in-house and what should go to the cloud. Focus on what you’d need to operate if a major interruption or disaster occurred. Determine the connectivity your employees need to do their jobs remotely. Also, work toward consistent and seamless end-to-end communications. TCI can help you build a hybrid or full cloud solution that meets the needs you’ve identified.

The cloud gives your company the agility it needs to respond to any disruption, be it a natural disaster, pandemic, a security breach, or a failure of your network or hardware.

Schedule your Business Continuity Planning meeting today. Contact TCI at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 


Four Tips to Close the Remote Work Gap

/0 Comments/in /by

Working from home isn’t going away – in fact, 68% of employees globally still want a hybrid arrangement – even if it means risking upward mobility for more control over their schedule. And companies are looking for ways to create equal opportunities for employees in all locations.

Fortunately, the right culture and managerial style backed by modern Unified Communications and Collaboration technologies from TCI can help close the remote work gap – benefiting both employees and companies.

When employers want to retain top remote talent, maintain productivity, and future-proof their workforce, they’ll need ways to level the playing field between remote and in-person employees. With the right approach, they can ensure equal career opportunities for all their workers, regardless of location.

1. Maximize Hybrid Schedules

Finding one day a week for in-person collaboration can make a big difference in productivity and teamwork. If a single schedule can’t be arranged or remote employees live far away, aim to have monthly or quarterly in-person meetings to build face-to-face relationships. Workforce scheduling software can analyze employees’ availability and suggest the best days for everyone.

2. Try Alternate Methods of Management

Managers should have a “no employee left behind” approach regarding hybrid teams. That might mean checking in with remote workers via video calls to ensure they receive the same feedback and training as their in-person peers. Employees should be held to the same performance goals regardless of location, and leadership should track KPIs, promotions, and pay across staff to ensure everyone has the same opportunities.

3. Improve Remote Employee Engagement

If their office colleagues get all the face time, remote workers might start to feel invisible. “Drop-in” video conferences, more “fun” meetings, and open chats can allow them to have conversations they might be missing and get comfortable talking with their team.

4. Bridge the Divide with Unified Communications

Remote employees can feel disconnected from their coworkers. Give them the tools to do their jobs just as well as their in-person colleagues, like collaboration software with seamless chat-to-video capabilities. If there’s only one remote worker on a team, have in-person members dial in because it can be challenging to be the only one not in the room.

Don’t leave it to remote employees to close the gap themselves…

Organizational leaders must proactively provide equal opportunities for remote and in-person employees. If they don’t, sooner or later, they’ll be putting the stability of their workforce at risk.

Unified Communications solutions from TCI help level the playing field for remote and in-person employees.

Chat with one of our experts to learn how your hybrid teams can benefit from better collaboration tools. Call TCI at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 


8 Ways TCI Host Cloud Voice Connects Your Teams and Makes Your Life Easier

/0 Comments/in /by

In today’s remote working world, it is essential for your team to be connected seamlessly no matter what device they are using. If you are exploring ways to improve how your team communicates, TCI’s Host provides a locally supported, customized service with all-in-one collaboration and mobility tools, so your business won’t miss a beat.

Here are 8 ways TCI Host helps you keep your employees connected – wherever they are – and how it makes your job easier…

1. Never Lose Your Place with One Stop for Communication.

How much time do you waste by losing the thread of a conversation? TCI Host makes all your communications available from a single hub on your desktop. It’s always there but never in the way. Keep an eye on every call and message and never lose sight of important details.

2. Work from Anywhere, together.

Gone are the days when teams worked in close proximity and shared a simple project document. In paper, no less. Nowadays team members can be anywhere – at home, on the road, in another country. To stay connected, multi-party videoconferencing, desktop sharing and audio conferencing are essential. Everyone on the team can collaborate in real-time.

3. Take the Conversation Smoothly from Text to Voice with Ad-Hoc Meetings.

Big deal on the table? Need fast thinking and even faster decision making? TCI Host helps you connect with the one person who has the information you need to close the deal – at the precise moment you need their help. With one click, start a meeting and keep the conversation going.

4. Get to The Right Person at the Right Time.

The flexibility to work anywhere is a benefit – except when an answer is needed fast. With presence, employees make their whereabouts known to everyone in the organization. So, when a customer calls in asking a question only a subject matter expert can answer, everyone knows where and how to reach them.

5. Be as Productive on the Road as in the Office.

Working outside the office is often frustrating because employees don’t have access to the tools they have in the office. But TCI Host transforms this experience. With its mobile app, employees take the office everywhere and get the same experience on the road as they do at their desks. Whether in the office or on the road, they can join a meeting with a single click, without the need to enter those cumbersome participant codes. It’s that easy.

6. Live in Your CRM…

Which does your sales team love more? Their phone or their CRM? Please, don’t make them choose! When you integrate your phones with your CRM application, salespeople never have to switch between the two. They stay in the CRM to make and receive phone calls. Plus, it saves them from the dreaded task of data entry. Just by answering their phone, items are automatically added to their to-do lists.

7. …Or in Outlook or G Suite.

Sales teams shouldn’t be the only ones who have all the fun. TCI Host also integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook and G Suite, easing the adoption of your new phone system throughout your business.

8. Do More, Spend Less.

Here’s one last thing you might not know, and it may be the best part… You can have a seamless and reliable communications and collaboration tool without breaking the bank. TCI Host offers everything as an affordable monthly subscription.

Our project team handles all the transition details to get it all going for you! Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.