Improving Your Customer Experience… Consumers Want More Human Interaction

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According to the latest research, 8 in 10 consumers want more human interaction from businesses, yet 64% believe companies have lost touch with the human element of the Customer Experience, especially as they add more technology into the mix.

Here’s some practical advice on how you can humanize the Customer Experience in your business…

  • Create an engaged workforce by investing in more self-serve and automation options for customer service. By using chatbots, for example, to answer routine questions, customers can resolve issues on their own more quickly. Employees are then free to focus on the more unique and challenging customer interactions where their performance can add real value to the relationship.
  • Empower your workforce. Frontline employees know first-hand what irks your customers. Yet, many companies fail to tap this vital source of business intelligence. One way to fix this problem is to empower employees to suggest process improvements. As they become more invested in making customers happy, they’ll become more engaged and welcome opportunities to use their skills and creativity to solve problems and stretch further.
  • Provide tools that help employees succeed. Contact center agents usually bear the brunt of customer ire. And they get hit with a double whammy: Agents who can’t solve a customer issue on the first call find themselves on the wrong foot with the customer and their supervisor. To change this situation, an agent can deliver a more personalized and human interaction when CRM data is integrated with the communications solution.
  • Make collaboration easy by reorganizing the workplace to enable employees to collaborate on demand. They’ll not only be more productive, they’ll have the tools to build stronger internal working relationships with each other and with remote colleagues. Tools like web chat or video conferencing make the distance between home and office disappear.
  • Invest in training by incorporating tools such as personalization and self-service into internal portals and dashboards. Making it easy to access knowledge bases and subject matter experts will improve employees’ interactions with clients.

When employees are happy and engaged, they bring that outlook to every client conversation. Companies that focus on the employee experience first will deliver a stellar Customer Experience every time.

Let’s talk about next steps to improve your Customer Experience. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Unified Communications… Telework Included to Empower High-performance Employees

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With telework, your company’s business activities no longer need to be tied to specific times or locations. Your employees can work remotely and collaboratively – whenever they want – to access company data and expertise from their homes, across town, or around the world. The result is happier staff, lower overhead and improved efficiency for your business.

For many years these benefits were delivered through add-on telework packages that were tied to specific premises voice platforms. The cloud has changed all that…

Today when you adopt Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS), you get a cloud-based enterprise-grade communication infrastructure with built-in telework capabilities to support your high-performance employees.

Successful decision making requires immediate access to the right information and the right people at the right time. With the consistent and responsive user experience offered by UCaaS your teleworkers can seamlessly communicate and collaborate as needed using their smartphones, iPads, laptops – whatever mobile device they prefer.

Your teleworkers will have instant access to the same productivity tools as their office colleagues. Automatic updates are performed in the cloud to ensure the latest features are always enabled for your users.

In fact, UCaaS simplifies everything for your IT staff too. They’ll be relieved of the daily hassle of system upgrades, maintenance and feature updates, or worrying about disaster recovery.

Let’s talk more about how telework can boost the performance of your business… Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Getting More from Your Technology Investments

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Staying competitive, taking advantage of opportunities, and saving money do not always require abandoning technologies you already have in favor of a single silver-bullet breakthrough.

TCI can help you optimize your business processes at incremental cost simply by extending your current technologies to achieve transformative results.

  • Take the Cloud, for example… This is now a mainstream technology that includes deployment options that easily combine the benefits of hosted solutions with your existing systems. The Cloud’s inherent flexibility allows you to meet different business needs without force-fitting all of your technology into a single approach that may fall short of expectations.
  • Add collaboration tools to your Cloud Voice and you have Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). It turns out that built-in disaster recovery and business continuity capabilities add even more value to UCaaS.
  • Most businesses rely heavily on wireless networks but tend to “set and forget” them. Our Managed Wireless service ensures your office Wi-Fi can easily adapt to keep up with growing demands.
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a rapidly emerging technology that you can integrate into established business applications. It can be added to contact centers, for example, to significantly improve your Customer Experience.

Let’s talk about how you can leverage recent innovations with your existing technologies to transform your business. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Time for a Tune Up? Ensure Your Office Wi-Fi is Keeping Up With Demand

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With the proliferation of Wi-Fi enabled devices, every business is adapting to keep up with more access points, bandwidth and the latest IEEE 802.11 standards.

High-speed Wireless LANs allow your employees and visitors to work anywhere in your building or campus with convenient, worry-free access to the Internet or your local IT resources.

We Make Wireless Easy  

TCI delivers WLAN projects on time, tested and ready to support seamless mobile access. Our experts manage all the details to ensure your office Wi-Fi infrastructure is keeping up with demand…

  • Wireless Site Surveys
  • Wireless Coverage RF Testing
  • Optimized Coverage Maps
  • Access Points | Placement and Cabling
  • Wireless Security
  • Testing and Certification

Whether you need Wi-Fi for a new building – or you just want to extend what you already have – TCI has the experience and expertise to get the job done right.

Learn more about secure, high-speed Wireless Networks for your business. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Mitel Study of Business Executives Reveals What’s Driving Cloud Voice Adoption

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Mitel recently issued a study of the perceptions and motivations of executives for migrating to a cloud-based model for their business communications. Key takeaways include…

Innovation is at the heart of cloud migration

Access to innovative features not available with traditional telephony solutions was by far the main driver for migrating to a cloud model. With cloud technology delivering faster and easier access to key productivity tools, companies now view such functionality as indispensable.

Unified communication features, including presence, secure instant messaging, voice and video calls, are top of their “must-have” list. Advanced collaboration functions, such as audio and video conferencing and seamless content sharing were also cited as essential.

Migration costs are critical for measuring ROI

The costs of migrating existing telephony architecture to the cloud are top-of-mind for most businesses, compared with other costs for such things as ongoing management, equipment and maintenance. Companies also reported migration costs as the primary factor to consider when it comes to ROI. The performance improvements they can expect from the cloud are deemed heavily dependent on the quality of underlying IT systems.

Businesses are looking for cloud expertise

Companies are choosing different paths to the cloud, whether their business model aligns to a public, private or hybrid approach. According to the research, most businesses report a need for experienced advisors to help them migrate to the cloud in a manner that makes the most sense for their organization. Cloud deployments are considered a critical part of their long-term communications strategies, and companies are investing in expertise to guarantee future success.

With Mitel as its strategic partner, TCI is well positioned to design and implement the best cloud solution for your needs. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

 

Unified Communication as a Service… Move Your Voice to the Cloud – Get DR and BC at No Cost!

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Businesses are investing in Cloud Voice for a variety of reasons, including cost savings, mobility, scalability and the desire to shift financing from CAPEX to OPEX.

Others are taking Cloud Voice a step further – not only adopting UC as a Service (UCaaS) for its collaboration tools, but for its built-in disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) capabilities as well.

When you think of how important communications continuity is to your business, moving to UCaaS is a very smart move, especially when the platform already relies on a resilient cloud infrastructure. Trying to replicate this internally would require a redundant PBX and a duplicate cluster of UC servers at a backup location, in addition to paying monthly carrier fees to maintain network connections to that site.

Supporting Daily & Emergency Communications

When you incorporate UCaaS into your daily operations, you also cover your emergency communications. Using the same UCaaS tools for daily operations and disaster situations also means your users and IT staff won’t have to worry about getting familiar with a backup system in the middle of a crisis.

With UCaaS, no matter where you work or what device you use, you have access to the same set of collaboration and communication tools. When a local emergency shuts down your building, your team can work offsite without interruption. Communications continue seamlessly, regardless of the type or duration of the disaster.

Ready to put your built-in business continuity plan in place? Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Cut Your Network & Telecom Costs and Enhance Your Services

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Wondering if you’re getting the best pricing, service, and solutions? Need faster broadband, voice or data? A more reliable connection to your data center? Want great customer service when you need it?

Now you can have it all…

Get all the communications support you need from your single-source partner – TCI. We find the best solutions for you and manage everything… acting as your advocate with the service providers every step of the way.

You call us. We do the rest.

We recognize that networks and phone systems are essential to your daily operations. Our team of carrier, broadband, and network services experts review your entire IT and Telecom environment. We look for opportunities to optimize what you have or find you better solutions and better pricing.

You pay nothing extra for our expert advice and coordination – and you get TCI’s outstanding support.

Get started today! Contact TCI at: (703) 321-3030 or CustomerService@tcicomm.com.

 

Evaluating Your Voice and IT Support? TCI Offers Customized Ad Hoc and Annual Plans

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Our customers appreciate having a choice of service programs for keeping their Voice and IT systems running smoothly. We support everything from traditional ad hoc support to annual plans.

Certified Technicians

TCI’s factory certified technicians provide installation, repair and maintenance services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year…

  • Telecom system moves, upgrades and service
  • Maintenance contracts
  • Managed Services
  • Monitoring service (Telecom and Network)
  • Service level programs

Extended Service and Support

  • Discounted labor bundles (2, 4, 6 and 8-hour units)
  • Labor can be used for anything
  • Flat rate annual contract with no trip charges
  • Extended hours 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday

Maintenance Contracts

  • Flexible programs
  • Alarm monitoring and reporting option
  • Four packages to choose from:
  • Parts coverage
  • Parts & Labor business hours
  • Parts & Labor business hours, plus free remote MAC
  • Parts & Labor with 24 hour labor coverage, plus free remote MAC

Take the headaches out of managing your Voice and IT…

Contact the TCI relief team to customize a support plan that makes the most sense for your business: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

4 Team Collaboration Trends Easing Email Overload

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Information overload can dilute employee engagement, drop productivity and raise turnover rates. Easing this burden requires having the right balance between communication, collaboration and technology without contributing to overload. Here are some trends to adopt that can ease the burden for your business…

  • Trend #1: Integration of Team Collaboration Tools – Rather than stretch email as a “one-size-fits-all” communications channel, it’s more productive to use team collaboration tools. From instant messaging and team workspaces to audio/video conferencing and desktop sharing, collaboration tools will transform the way you work and enable your teams to be more productive, whether they’re in the office or off-site.
  • Trend #2: Shared Calendars & Presence Capabilities – Many emails are from people trying to coordinate schedules. A better way to organize meetings is to adopt shared calendar functionality and integrate presence features. That way, colleagues will know instantly who is currently in a meeting or on the phone. Everyone will be more productive when group interactions are centralized into a single, synchronized workspace.
  • Trend #3: Document Collaboration – Shared document collaboration systems store and organize documents in a central online location. Team members can log into the system and edit, comment or review documents whenever they need to. With only a single instance of every document stored online, there’s no problem of multiple versions floating around or multiple emails causing confusion and delays. This makes teams more productive and businesses more efficient.
  • Trend #4: Unified Collaboration for Project Management – Projects don’t have to get bogged down with a disconnected array of messages and tools. Collaboration technology makes it easier than ever to keep up to date on projects, assign to-dos with deadlines and track the progress of team members within a single application. The entire team can have a common view of where the project stands and everyone’s roles and contributions.

Embracing one or all of these trends will reduce employee stress and lead to better, faster decision-making.

Email isn’t going away any time soon, but the deluge of information created by disparate systems is a factor you can control. Contact us today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Simplify & Secure Your Wi-Fi/Wireless Networks with Our Cloud Managed Service

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Your business depends on having a reliable network infrastructure that is continuously monitored for proper operation. Wireless connections are a critical element of today’s network infrastructure and one that consumes a growing share of IT resources to secure and manage.

To support your wireless connections TCI has launched a cloud-managed solution – powered by Cisco Meraki – that enables you to streamline switching, routing, and security tasks via the web – all delivered in one comprehensive package.

When it comes to protecting your Wi-Fi networks, for example, you can arrange to dynamically grant or restrict network access to a device based on its security status, location, installed software and OS version, and more. And when a user fails to comply with a set security measure – such as disabling the antivirus program, jail-breaking a device, removing a pass code, or leaving a given territory – that person’s access to your Wi-Fi networks will be automatically revoked.

Combining Cisco Meraki’s cloud management and TCI’s certified network expertise, we optimize and manage hosting of your entire Wi-Fi infrastructure by offering:

  • Immediate implementation and expansion of Wi-Fi, switching, and security to new sites.
  • Upgrades, patches and maintenance, which become the responsibility of Meraki Cloud and TCI Managed Services Teams.
  • Support to allow mobile and remote workers to become as productive on the road as in the office.
  • Tiered services to suit the needs of any sized organization.

Our Managed Meraki Service relieves the 24×7 monitoring and management burden of Wi-Fi networks from your IT shop so it can focus on delivering greater value to your business.

Ready to open more doors to converse with your customers? Contact us today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.