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Why TCI? Best Practices & Questions for Choosing the Right Tech Partner for Your Business Communications

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Many companies sell communication solutions but lack the product expertise and experience to recommend the right product or migration strategy for your business. They’re simply focused on making sales.

A true technology partner is focused on developing a long-term relationship with your business. It acts as a trusted advisor — actively engaged in your mission, understanding your goals, and fully dedicated to helping you achieve them.

The Right Balance: A Local Partner with Global Backing

When you’re evaluating technology partners, proximity is essential. Your ideal technology partner should be near enough to your business that company representatives can get to your site, if needed, in a reasonable timeframe.

But size and stability are essential, too. Choose a partner backed by a well-known, proven global organization with a robust, established partner program.

This combination will give you peace of mind, knowing your partner is fully trained in their communications systems, and you have fast, easy access to additional expertise and insight when required.

You’re an expert in your business area, but your technology partner’s job is to bring expertise in the best communications strategies and solutions to drive your business forward.

Look for a knowledgeable partner who can clearly explain each technology and solution, the difference between an update and an upgrade, the reasons you need both, and the best way to approach a communication solution that can grow alongside your business.

Your technology partner should also be able to speak about the security risks of using outdated communications technologies and the security benefits of keeping your system current. It should be able to help you evaluate the different deployment models available to ensure you choose the approach that best fits your business.

Flexible and in it for the Long-Term

Be wary of technology companies that take a short-term “in-and-out” or “one-size-fits-all” approach. If you feel their primary goal is to sell you on a particular strategy or solution – ‘move to the cloud today or go away’– or simply to get you to sign on the dotted line, it’s time to look for another partner.

The ideal technology partner understands where you want to go but isn’t panicking to get you there. They realize you need to make decisions that are right for your business. They also understand that there are as many different paths to communication solutions as there are companies. As true partners, they take a consultative approach to meeting your requirements in the short term and the long term. Their goal is to get you from here to there in the way that best matches your business goals, budget, and priorities.

Specialist in Your Industry and Business Size

Depending on your industry, choosing a technology partner with specialized knowledge of industry requirements and a history of working in your industry can be extremely important. For example:

  • Businesses in the healthcare industry need communications systems that enable compliance with regulatory and privacy requirements, helping streamline workflows and improve conversations between care providers and patients.
  • Businesses in the hospitality industry need communications systems that help them improve guest services, simplify complex workflows, and integrate communications across locations and systems.
  • Government organizations need communications systems that reduce operational costs, enhance service delivery, and make it easy to support a hybrid local and remote workforce.

Best Practice: Ask a Lot of Questions

You must feel fully informed and comfortable with your choice of a technology partner. When evaluating potential partners, don’t hesitate to ask every question that comes to mind. Consider questions related to:

  • Technology options, where they’re installed, and how they’re managed.
  • Communications features and functions and how they’re accessed.
  • Short-term and long-term IT efforts required on your side.
  • Solution deployment and migration processes and timing.
  • Payment options, schedules, and processes.
  • Ongoing communications and notifications about updates and upgrades.
  • After-sales service and support.

Talk to the Partner’s Other Customers

The best technology partners will ask if you’d like to speak with other customers they’ve served. If they don’t proactively offer the opportunity to contact their other customers – especially customers in your industry – ask for it. If they hesitate or don’t want you to speak with their other customers, it’s important to ask why that is.

TCI supports voice and data network solutions for 3,000+ businesses, associations, and governments in the DC region. Let’s talk about your organization. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 


Serving the Public Sector… Get Responsible, Reliable Communications Without the Hassle of Procurement

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Governments require a unique mix of features, flexibility, and economy in their telecommunications solutions. TCI enables organizations in the public sector to increase productivity with seamless communications solutions tailored to their unique needs.

Challenges You Might Be Facing

  • Every crisis needs a tailored response – No matter what their size, emergencies cause both uncertainty and confusion. A one-size-fits-all communications system hampers your efforts to tailor and enhance public safety alerts and limits your ability to take advantage of proactive solutions.
  • Taxpayers expect cost-effective solutions – Being able to demonstrate to taxpayers that communications, services, and access will be heightened while being judicious with the budget goes a long way to building credibility.
  • Resources – Outdated telecommunications technology is expensive to maintain, making it hard to invest in new initiatives.
  • The demand for smart services is growing – With sensor technology and the Internet of Things (IoT), agencies can manage assets and resources more efficiently as they meet consumer demand for smart infrastructure.

How the Right Communications Can Drive Results

  • Enhance public safety – Your communications system should extend the possibilities of mass notification, enabling you to message the entire community or target only affected neighborhoods.
  • Easily integrate – The system should streamline interoperability with other applications, like G Suite. Its APIs should need minimal coding to solve unique communications needs.
  • Be forward-looking – Your system should be ready for technical advances such as artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things.
  • Meet government mandates – Flexibility is critical to meeting new mandates and legal requirements.
  • Reduce expenses – By lowering capital and operating expenses. UCaaS enables government teams to fund new projects.

Significant Discounts

Working with TCI as your local technology partner, Sourcewell members in the public sector – i.e., schools, non-profits and agencies – can purchase Mitel telecom solutions without issuing an RFP, including:

  • Public Cloud
  • Private Cloud and On-site Systems
  • Contact Center
  • Team Collaboration
  • Mass Notification
  • Business Phones
  • Devices and Accessories

Mitel is the exclusive Sourcewell telecommunications equipment vendor based on its record of innovation, product quality, customer service, pricing, and overall market leadership.

For simplified procurement and savings, get started with TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.


Hospitality Loyalty Program for SX-200 ICP Customers

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You’ve trusted your property’s communications with Mitel for years…

We know how vital it is for you to provide the best guest experience while making it as efficient and smooth as possible for your staff to run their daily activities.

Whether you have a big hotel in a bustling city square or a series of cottages by a peaceful lake, having the latest communications and collaboration tools is essential to provide a positive guest experience.

Mitel’s new Hospitality Loyalty Program protects your current investment and enables you to benefit from incredible discounts when switching to Mitel’s flagship software platform for hospitality – MiVoice Business Hospitality Suite.

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


Existing MiVoice Office 250 Customers… Act before June 30th to Arrange a Discounted Path to MiVoice Business

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Following Mitel’s end-of-lifecycle announcements about MiVoice Office 250, this migration program has been rolled out to provide existing Office 250 customers with a smooth transition to MiVoice Business.

Mitel is offering no-charge or discounted MiVoice Business licensing arrangements for MiVoice 250 customers. This program also supports the transfer of the remaining months of MiVoice Office 250 software assurance (SWA) to MiVoice Business SWA.

Mitel has evolved MiVoice Business to cater to the needs of any size organization and provides a full range of deployment and commercial options.

  • Mitel recently introduced a new SMB Controller to address the smaller customer or branch office segment for MiVoice Business, which offers Enterprise-level features in a small business package for up to 150 users. This is the perfect solution for customers previously on MiVoice Office 250.
  • MiVoice Business can be implemented as a one-time CapEx investment or you can choose a monthly subscription offering.
  • MiVoice Business can be deployed on-premises, in your private cloud, or in a public cloud (either AWS or Azure).

Contact us today for help with your buying and migration decisions: (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.


Stay Competitive… Ensure Your Communications System is a Strategic Asset in 2023 & Beyond

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Today’s business reality is that you can’t be competitive without a fully optimized communications system. That’s why it’s important to regularly take a hard look at what you have and what you should have.

Many communications system features that may have seemed unnecessary a few years ago are now table stakes. Likewise, features you thought would improve operations may no longer be delivering the benefits they should be providing.

  • Efficiency – Research shows that 85% of small businesses agree that efficient communication between different teams is fundamental to staying ahead of the competition. But a poor technology strategy can have serious repercussions on a business and even affect a company’s ability to compete. For example, inefficient communications can cost upwards of $6,000 per employee per year to a small business, even more for an enterprise.
  • Integration – Systems that aren’t integrated with core applications, like CRM, that don’t provide a single unified view of all communications options and that don’t enable team collaboration, video conferencing and anytime, anywhere access to email, text and chat are no longer adequate.
  • Software Updates – Likewise, systems that offer all those things but are two or three software updates behind are not operating at peak efficiency and may, in fact, be reducing productivity and increasing the IT threat surface.
  • Reassessment – Organizations that don’t view their communications system as a strategic asset, reassess their investments regularly and optimize their systems at every opportunity can find themselves in situations where their communication technology mix does not meet today’s demands.

Keeping pace with ever-changing communications technologies will position your business for success when an unexpected crisis arises.

Schedule a technology consultation or site survey to ensure your Business Communications are ready for 2023. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.

 

Improving Operations with Better Technology Starts with Your 2023 TCI Planning Session

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With budget season here and 2023 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 connecting a Hybrid Workforce or thinking about Faster Broadband, Online Collaboration, Disaster Recovery, Cloud, or Managed 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 2023 planning session with TCI today. Contact us at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.

How Successful SMBs Are Exploiting New Opportunities in the Future of Work

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Coming out of the disruption of the past few years, how the world of work is changing is becoming more apparent. Challenges remain, but there are also opportunities for small- and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) to set a course for sustained success.

Successful SMBs are adapting to the shifting terrain. A recent SMG Group study reveals two main challenges to navigating ongoing changes and preparing for a prosperous future…

  • There has been a significant power shift from employers to employees. It has, in many ways and many sectors, become a seller’s market for employees’ skills, expertise, and time. As a result, competition between businesses to attract and retain the best people is intense.
  • There is a need for longer-term strategic thinking. Businesses are reviewing the decisions they made to survive during the pandemic. And many are realizing those decisions have led to disjointed technology solutions, overly complex processes, and inefficient systems.

Factors making successful SMBs optimistic about the future…

1. Resilience

Many digital transformation strategies adopted over the past few years were applied reactively and ad hoc. Businesses implemented disjointed technologies, putting multiple systems in place that don’t necessarily play nice with one another. Many of the solutions were needlessly complex and may buckle in a changing environment.

Unified and simplified technologies have played a role in making businesses more resilient. This is particularly true for Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) options. Industry-leading UCaaS systems bring features like advanced messaging, phone, and video together in one app, centralizing and simplifying communication. By bringing internal and external communications together, teammates can collaborate more efficiently and communicate more effectively with customers.

2. Putting People First

As important as technology is, it is simply an enabler. Running a successful business is about people: your employees and your customers.

The SMG report identifies people as a significant priority for businesses that want to future-proof their operations and continue to thrive. Hybrid work, once a rare offering for unusual circumstances, has been fully embraced by both employees and employers: 90% of SMBs that have adopted hybrid work find it valuable. And for job seekers, hybrid work is a significant priority: over 80% of applicants to a well-known job board said they’d feel more loyal to their employers if their work environments were flexible.

When many businesses switched to a digital workplace, much of the focus was on the technology needed to facilitate it, not on the people who would be using that technology. Working remotely exposed significant gaps in the digital employee experience, with some employees feeling they have been left on their own to manage multiple incongruous technologies without timely support.

Simplified UC tools that bring together multiple modes of communication make it easy for people to work together and work flexibly. Collaboration across geographies is faster and easier for employees, ensuring they feel supported no matter where they work. Using centralized, cloud-based tools eliminates the hassle of deploying and managing systems in multiple locations and helps keep your business agile.

3. Getting and Staying Agile

The agility that new technologies provide has proven to be a fundamental enabler of SMB growth. The SMG report shows that 80% of SMBs committed to technology adoption and investment anticipate revenue increases. The reason is simple. Many businesses have discovered that the customer experience is directly correlated to the employee experience. Happy, productive employees have happy, productive interactions with customers. And agility enabled by new technologies is fundamental to employee happiness because it allows them to work effectively from anywhere and still deliver excellent customer service.

Giving employees the ability to quickly adapt to changes like this while still working in a hybrid or remote environment, without struggling with outdated technology, is crucial to an employer’s ability to attract and retain top talent.

Plan Now for a More Prosperous 2023

Let’s talk about your Future of Work. Your local TCI experts are here to help you create an agile, successful work environment. Contact us: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Better Business Performance in 2022 Starts with Your TCI Technology Planning Session

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With budget season here and 2022 right around the corner, now is a great time to start aligning your office technologies with your strategic business goals.

Don’t let aging or out-of-date technology slow you down…

A TCI Technology & Business Review gets you prepared for the year ahead, whether you’re considering…

  • Cloud, Onsite, and Hybrid Voice Migrations
  • e911 and Mitel-powered HIPAA compliant solutions
  • CRM/customer database integration
  • Managed Services
  • Data Protection
  • Dedicated Space, Infrastructure, Cabling, and Wi-Fi
  • Telecom and Broadband services
  • Meeting and Team Collaboration
  • Call Recording for voice documentation
  • and much more

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 with better tools.

Schedule your 2022 technology planning session with TCI today. Contact us at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Why it’s Time to Make Your Move to the Cloud

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Whether your old phone system can’t be upgraded anymore, or you need to enable remote work, or a new regulatory requirement can’t be supported, at some point you’ll have to hang up your trusted old phones and move to the cloud. Here’s what you can look forward to…

Simplify Communication, Management, and Budgeting

When you combine flexible communications, mobility, and the cloud, borders disappear, barriers collapse, costs drop, and productivity rises. If these sound like the kind of advantages you want to bring to your business, let’s talk about a move to TCI Host, our customized Cloud Voice service.

  • Talk, Chat, Share & Meet – TCI Host offers all the features of advanced on-premises platforms without the hardware and management headaches. Plus, you get the unlimited scalability, seamless mobility, and open integrated technology that you’ve been looking for to bring your business communications and business intelligence together.
  • Any Device. Anywhere. Anytime Communications – TCI Host fits into the way your office team works. Use a desktop phone, smartphone, or softphone on your laptop. Just one phone system supporting your business no matter when and where your team is working – office, home, or branch locations.
  • We deliver & set up everything – Unlike many providers, who will drop-ship phones and expect you to install and configure everything, our certified Cloud Voice experts come to you and set up everything to your specifications. After we install it, we’ll test everything to make sure it all runs smoothly.

With Cloud Voice, your team can deliver an exceptional Customer Experience. More competitive advantages to look forward to…

  • Be more productive – Bring all of your communications tools into one cloud and one application for a seamless experience on any device – anywhere in the world. Easily manage voice, email, and IM from a single screen to reduce management complexity and boost productivity.
  • No hardware, no headaches – Say goodbye to capital expenses, maintenance, and service fees with a hosted business phone system. You get great call quality, industry-leading reliability, and an easy-to-manage phone system with no upfront costs – everything you need for one low monthly price.
  • Free up IT resources – Don’t waste valuable IT resources on aging PBX hardware. With TCI Host, you enjoy new features faster, you can add or remove lines in minutes, and you always stay up to date with automated upgrades.
  • Pay as you grow – Unlike premises-based PBX systems, TCI Host always provides just the right amount of capacity at the right time to ensure you’re paying for only what you need and not a penny more.
  • Keep your business running – TCI’s cloud-based hosting platform can deliver ultra-high reliability and seamless disaster recovery so you always stay connected with colleagues and customers.

TCI can help you migrate to a cloud solution customized for your business needs. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

5 Ways Your Current Phone System Can Limit Your Success

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Has your phone system kept pace with the times? More importantly, is it capable of helping you meet tomorrow’s challenges? Here, we outline five attributes you’ll want to consider when you’re thinking about improving your technology.

1. Ability to Add Features and Functionality

Make sure your phone system can keep pace with technological change and has the ability to embrace cloud-based applications and customized solutions as required. Look for these features and attributes:

  • Third-party integrations allow you to take advantage of cloud-based business process applications.
  • Easy & intuitive communications tools that are as simple as consumer apps will speed adoption.
  • Admin portal enables users to make real-time changes to preferences, permissions and groups.
  • Flexible service plans enable users to change service plans in real time as their needs change.

2. Productivity

Is your phone system boosting worker productivity or draining it? Reduce employee frustration and increase productive work time with these features:

  • Find me – Follows employees so they can get the call the first time around, regardless of the device they are using.
  • Presence – Enables employees to see when other co-workers are available, in a meeting, on a call or out of the office.
  • Collaboration tools – Makes it easier to exchange ideas and get work done with video, instant messaging and file and desktop sharing.
  • Application integration – Boosts the power of your CRM by seamlessly integrating calling features, call histories and customer data.

3. Scalability

Nearly every organization can benefit from the agility that comes from aligning its phone system with business needs. Look for these attributes:

  • Plug-and-play – Provides phones that are easy to install without costly upgrades.
  • Flexibility – Easily scales to support both the office and your mobile workforce.
  • Reduced complexity – Avoids complications that add costs and hinder your ability to scale.
  • Intuitive – Supports easy deployment by administrators and enables users to quickly be productive.
  • Simple licensing – Delivers flexible licensing so businesses can scale up or down as their needs change.

4. Mobility

Does your current phone system provide the same easy features and functionality to all staff members, no matter their location or device? If not, consider these capabilities:

  • Mobile applications – Allows personal devices to be integrated with your phone network.
  • Connectivity – Wi-Fi/cellular call handover to stay connected everywhere.
  • Collaboration tools – Provides team and video collaboration, instant messaging, and conferencing to facilitate greater collaboration from anywhere.
  • Security – Delivers features that keep voice and signaling safe, even in public hot spots.

5. Your Budget

Consider whether a CapEx or OpEx budgeting approach makes more sense:

  • Purchasing a standalone system can add complexity and require additional staff and time-consuming administration, resulting in greater costs over time.
  • Consider productivity-boosting options to upgrade your system in an easy-to-manage way that frees up IT resources and saves money.
  • Add new capabilities that seamlessly work with your existing system as your business needs change – without having to pay for features you don’t need.
  • If your system needs a complete overhaul, it may be cheaper to move to the cloud.

Communications are vital to your organization’s success. If your current phone system is holding you back, it’s time to discuss an upgrade. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.