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8 Ways to Ensure Your Remote Workers Feel Like They’re in the Conference Room

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Because remote employees are not physically at the conference table, they miss the non-verbal cues and side conversations, while those attending in person often forget who’s on the other end of the speaker phone.

To make your remote colleagues feel connected and valued, here are 8 ways you can help them feel like they’re in the conference room along with everyone else.

1. Make it mobile-first.

The first step toward changing this dynamic is to provide remote employees with the right tools. They need the ability to join meetings from any device with a single click – mobile, tablet, desktop – and any operating system.

2. Set a clear agenda.

A UC solution with a built-in agenda capability enables you to send the meeting plan with the invite. This way, remote employees aren’t at a disadvantage. Everyone is on the same page from the get-go.

3. Establish meeting ground rules.

For instance, one person speaks at a time with no interruptions. Have everyone say their name before speaking to help remote colleagues who are not in the room. This also serves to remind everyone that remote colleagues are on the call.

4. Start with introductions.

Have everyone say “hello,” give their name and role, and explain why they’re on the call. Small talk can help make everyone feel included, especially remote colleagues. If it’s a video call, make sure everyone is on video – not just audio. If someone can’t be on video, ask them to post a photo of themselves.

5. Invite participation.

Since it’s easy to forget who’s calling in, it’s the job of the facilitator to make sure everyone contributes. Keep track of who has spoken – and who has not. Ask direct questions to those who haven’t contributed.

6. Speak clearly.

It is important that the facilitator speak clearly and slowly, with more pauses to make sure everyone is following.

7. Make it visual.

Use collaborative conference software that allows anyone on the call to share their screen. Use visuals to keep everyone engaged. Ask different participants to share documents.

8. Break it up.

When planning the meeting, be conscious of keeping it interactive. For instance, stop after three slides to ask questions. Assign different items on the agenda to each participant. In this way, the remote worker feels like an important contributor to the meeting.

Conference calls have always been challenging, but with more team members working remotely, it’s essential for businesses to make sure they contribute and feel included.

Let TCI help you choose a cloud business communications solution that gives you the tools to create an inclusive, collaborative workspace. Contact us today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

 

 

Remote Work Considerations as the DC Region Prepares for Coronavirus/Covid-19 Impact

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Hope for the best, prepare for the worst… The Covid-19 outbreak is moving fast and you’ll need to be flexible in the coming weeks to minimize disruptions to your business.

TCI is Ready

At TCI, our staff’s welfare and your need for support are top of mind. Rest assured that our customer and tech support staff are equipped to work remotely as necessary and will be able to continue to support you without interruption.

Preparing Your Business

You’re likely thinking about how your business will stay connected to continue operations and serve customers. If your employees need to work at home, there are several teleworking options available. Depending on the licensing and system levels of your phone system or service, TCI experts can help you coordinate…

  • Softphones – implemented via an app installed either on your desktop/laptop or smartphone
  • Twinning – having desk phone and cell phone ring simultaneously
  • Teleworker Phone – a physical phone that can be used at home and programmed with the same features and apps as the business phone at the office
  • Conferencing Services – enables virtual face-to-face meetings to complete projects and make decisions
  • Mass Notification Solutions – broadcasts information to teams, groups or the entire organization via text messages, phone calls, and email.

Arranging Call Forwarding 

In many cases, you may want to forward your main business telephone number to a primary point-of-contact’s extension. As a full-service provider, TCI can get this done quickly.

You can also Call Forward your desktop extension to your teleworker phone prior to leaving the office or set call forward to your smartphone. Make sure you have a way to cover any incoming faxes.

Do Not Delay

News about Coronavirus/Covid-19 is developing fast, so now is the time to arrange your contingency plans and test your solutions in case your main office has to close to protect your employees and customers.

Let’s talk more about safeguarding your business. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Get to Know the Mitel Teamwork App – and Cool Ways to Use it in Your Business

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Mitel’s collaborative Teamwork app is designed for mobility. It transforms the way you work and enables your teams to be more productive and collaborative, whether they’re in the office or on the go.

Watch the Mitel Teamwork video

Here are some of the cool things you can do with Mitel Teamwork…

  • Stay organized: The personal Dashboard allows you to stay organized by delivering a single source for you to view your tasks, @ mentions, and new items.
  • Manage projects: Keep your projects organized by creating virtual rooms for your teams to collaborate in. Workspaces can be private or public to ensure the appropriate team members or anyone within the organization stay engaged.
  • Share files: Upload files directly to a workspace so team members can easily find and access documents from anywhere.
  • Assign tasks and due dates: Provides a holistic view of a workspace’s to-do list to determine workload and appropriate timelines – all within a single app.
  • Conferencing: Join and create conference calls directly from a workspace. With a single click, members can quickly join a conference and automatically launch the call from within their team workspace.
  • Messaging: Chat with all team members within a workspace or one-to-one through direct messaging. Users will be notified of unread messages and any messages they are mentioned in if they are away when the message is sent.
  • Mentions: Get users’ attention by tagging them with @mentions so they are notified of questions and comments within workspaces. The @all mention makes it easy to get the attention of every team member within a specific workspace to quickly address timely questions or concerns.
  • SMS Texting: Incorporate Short Message Service (SMS) texting into the business with one-to-one texting with clients and customers from any Teamwork app that is linked with the sender’s business identity rather than their mobile device number.

When you combine these capabilities with an all-in-one Cloud Voice service, you can increase cross-team productivity and unite your employees to communicate and collaborate effortlessly.

Improving your teams’ communication can improve your business… Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Managing Your Multi-Site Enterprise Voice & UC is Easy with TCI Host

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Now you can simplify managing your enterprise phone systems. Join the wave of Multi-site businesses replacing their mix of vendors and outdated phone systems with a centralized, seamless UC as a Service.

Reduce costs, increase productivity and improve customer service 

Our TCI Host service is built on a powerful, scalable cloud platform. It’s a proven solution for deploying and managing all-in-one Voice, UC and collaboration capabilities across every location in your enterprise.

Seamless Migrations

Cloud communications isn’t an all-or-nothing endeavor. There are several deployment models you can choose from depending on your business’s unique situation, and you can shift from one approach to another over time. Our project teams handle all the details for you.

TCI Host brings your offices closer together, providing award-winning customer experiences, and closing the gap on activity with a powerful feature set. Your communications will never be the same.

More Mobility and Collaboration

TCI Host users can access team collaboration tools from their mobile devices and laptops. Designed for today’s workforce, your work will no longer be a location but an activity that can be tackled anywhere.

An All-inclusive Monthly Subscription

TCI Host eliminates the upfront costs of investing in an expensive on-site system. Your low monthly price connects you to a flexible selection of IP desktop phones, integrated mobile apps, award-winning call control features, and outstanding local support delivered by TCI.

Bring it all together

When you combine business communications, mobility and the cloud, borders disappear, barriers collapse, your costs drop, and productivity rises. If these sound like the kind of results you want, it’s time to move your voice, collaboration and customer service to the cloud.

Let’s talk about how TCI Host can centralize and simplify your enterprise communications. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

 

Is Your Building a Barrier to Your Smartphone’s Cellular Signals?

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Suffering from weak or intermittent cell phone coverage in your building?

You’re not alone… Businesses everywhere are looking for ways to ensure that on-the-go employees and visitors can stay connected in every corner of their buildings. At stake are productivity, customer service, and corporate image.

When mobile carrier signals can’t penetrate your building’s glass, metal, concrete or other obstructions, you can expect poor signal strength or dead zones. Which means more dropped connections, wasted time and a lot of frustration.

What’s needed is a carrier-neutral, in-building Distributed Antenna System (DAS) that allows you to take control of your wireless communications. DAS covers anywhere mobile connections may be a concern, including…

  • Offices in high-rises
  • Parking garages
  • Warehouses and manufacturing facilities
  • Arenas and entertainment venues
  • Hospitals
  • Campuses

TCI offers DAS solutions that have the flexibility to accommodate any space or floor plan. Our network infrastructure experts will design, configure, install and support the latest DAS technology from the industry’s leaders to increase the voice, text, 4G LTE and 5G signals of all carriers and service providers – including Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.

Your DAS project team manages all the details from site survey to configuring the equipment that gets the carrier signals into your building. They will also deploy the antenna systems and cabling that provides the coverage you’ve been missing.

Don’t let spotty in-building cell signal coverage put your business on hold. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

How On-Site, Wireless DECT Phones Offer SMBs Cost-Effective VoIP & Flexible Communications

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Smaller companies need mobility and flexibility. Employees have to be reachable by customers or colleagues from any location in the office or in the building. But your resources are stretched thin and you’re juggling a lot of balls. What should you do?

Going with VoIP DECT phones from TCI and Mitel provides an on-site wireless communications solution. Using a DECT mobile handset or headset, your people can transfer calls, set up conference calls, access the company directory, and more.

With one-touch speed dial everyone can communicate easily and quickly no matter where they are in the building. And because VoIP DECT phones use encrypted technology, you can be confident that all conversations are secure.

Quality, Security and Reach

Cell phones are great, but you can’t depend on them for a clear connection in every setting. With DECT mobile phones you get high-quality sound with no crackling or drop-offs. Both handsets and headsets include an ambient noise filter – essential when you’re calling from a busy environment. DECT’s use of encrypted wideband voice technology provides an extra layer of security to ensure conversations are confidential.

Ease of Use and Installation

VoIP DECT phones are intuitive with user-friendly features, applications and softkey prompts that will enable your people to manage calls with little or no training.

Systems are configurable via a web-based interface. A base station can support up to 20 cordless phones. The unit fits in a small enclosure that can be mounted on a wall or placed on or under a desk. You can expand the system by deploying additional base stations and add more lines without running more cable.

Although the phone’s range from the base station is 150 feet (50 meters), if you need a little more room you can simply add a repeater in another part of the building to boost the signal.

Everything You Need

Just because you’re a small business doesn’t mean you can’t have all the bells and whistles the big guys enjoy. For example, using VoIP DECT phones with a cloud communications solution, your people can access a company directory, transfer and forward calls, use call waiting and hold functions, and conduct conference calls.

When choosing a VoIP DECT phone, ease of use should be a priority. Look for features such as a color backlit handset, intuitive menus and navigation, and a speakerphone option. A long-lasting battery should be a requirement, so you don’t have to worry about recharging mid-day.

If your small business is ready to sound like a big player, contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Webinar Recap… Supporting Your On-the-Go Workforce with Mobile-Ready Cloud Voice Services

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Workers today are no longer tied to their desk. They’re working in the field, traveling, and balancing time between office and home – proving that how work is done is more important than where it is done.

In this Mitel webinar, you’ll learn how you can better support your free-range workforce with cloud communications and collaboration tools. Among the topics covered:

  • How the workplace is shifting and creating new demands for a mobile workforce
  • Ways collaboration tools increase business efficiencies and user productivity
  • Why providing employees with the right tools will make your business more successful

Watch the webinar now [28:22]

TCI mobility experts enable work anywhere, anytime, on any device. Support your on-the-go team… Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Complement Your Mobile Work Style with Mitel’s Powerful 6900 IP Series Desk Phones

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Mitel’s MiVoice 6900 series desk phones enable you to become more mobile with one-touch Bluetooth pairing and seamless integration with your mobile phone. Not only can you stay productive by easily switching calls between your desk phone and your mobile phone, you can have mobile and desktop contacts automatically sync between your devices.

6900 Series Video Introduction [44 sec.]

Elegant Phones – Choose from expansive models to meet the needs of business users at every level.

Advanced Features – Bridge the gap between the desk phone and mobile devices with Bluetooth and MobileLink.

Rich Accessories – A broad array of add-on accessories enable the phones to be tailored to specific user needs.

Outstanding Audio – Mitel’s Hi-Q audio technology delivers exceptional quality with high definition sound for an unmatched communication experience.

Easy Reading & Interaction – LCD displays are easy to read and large enough to easily find out more about a caller.

Enhanced Call Management – Programmable keys may be used for call appearances or speed dial numbers.

Walk & Talk – The enhanced, full duplex speakerphone allows you to multi-task without a break in the conversation, even with multiple callers.

More MiVoice 6900 Series Phone features…

  • Support for Mitel Teleworker, ACD agent and supervisor, hot desking, MiCollab Client and more
  • Secure encrypted voice communication, IEEE 802.1x authentication support
  • Quality of Service support – IEEE 802.1 p/Q VLAN and priority tagging
  • Dual 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet ports (LAN/PC), powered USB 2.0 Host port, sidecar expansion port, dedicated 4-pin modular headset port convertible to DHSG/EHS capable

Ready for the convenience, productivity and security that come from adding mobility to your desk phones? Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Ice & Snow Season Arrives… We Make Connecting Your People from Home Easy

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‘Tis the season when bitter cold, gusty winds and snow storms can pop up at any time. This means weather-related office closings can be expected too.

DC-area businesses cannot afford weather-related shutdowns. Now is the time to review snow emergency plans to ensure your people know how to respond. And if your business does not have a Disaster Recovery plan in place, make time to formalize that too.

TCI makes it easy to set up Voice and Data Mobility for your staff. This keeps your customers happy, while you obtain immediate productivity and efficiency benefits. Plus you get disaster protection when you need it.

With “plug and work” access to your office network, your team can use all of the features and functionality of the company’s phone system while at home or on the road, allowing your business to keep going in spite of the snow. While other businesses are sputtering after a storm, your business continues on course without skipping a beat.

Contact TCI today for more tips on beating Old Man Winter: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

 

 

Aging Phone System Slowing You Down? Mobilize Your Business with Cloud Voice Service

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Still tethered to your desk while taking calls? If your old phone system is still holding you back, now is a great time to upgrade your communications to Cloud Voice.

You’ll get more mobility, quality, and reliability – all at a lower cost than you’re paying now. You’ll be able to easily add offices, users and features as you grow, and customize how you connect with your customers and your team.

Here are 6 ways Cloud Voice can add value to your business…

  • Productivity – With your communications tools in the cloud, users get a seamless experience on any device, anywhere in the world so they can easily manage voice, email and IM from a single screen.
  • Simplicity and Security – You’ll appreciate having a system that’s simple to use and manage, with no boxes to install or software to maintain. You also get high reliability, exceptional quality and enterprise-class security through the cloud.
  • Connectivity – Access the same phone and collaboration features you enjoy from your office anywhere, so you can seamlessly transition from the office to the airport, the golf course, or your kids’ soccer practice without missing an interaction.
  • Management – Easily add, move, change, and delete users from an online portal with a simple click-and-drag interface. Instead of managing routine updates to the system, you can reallocate your IT resources to activities that require more technical expertise.
  • Business Analytics – With powerful data visualization tools accessed via intuitive dashboards, you can view real-time analytics to better plan contact center agent resources and fine tune your organization’s call flow for optimal performance.
  • Customer Service – When you integrate Cloud Voice with your contact center, including Salesforce.com and other CRM solutions, you can link callers and data in real time to deliver an exceptional customer experience.

Don’t let inertia and your old phone system hold you back another day… Let’s talk about Cloud Voice for your business. Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.