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Using Your Mitel 6900 Phones on RingCentral MVP

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2022 has been a big year for Mitel’s investment in communications.

  • They’re continuing to support and provide Best-in-Class Solutions in the enterprise, global, and vertical markets where on-prem unified communications (UC) and contact center (CC) thrive. Your existing investment is protected and will remain up to date with the latest capabilities.
  • Mitel supports consumption models that can be capital expenditure (CapEx), operational expenditure (OpEx), or a hybrid of the two.
  • Mitel’s deployment models can be traditional on-prem PBX style or virtualized and deployed in your data center of choice including TCI Host, Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services.
  • And, for current cloud and UC customers that are better served by a pure Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) option, they’re partnering with RingCentral, the Gartner Magic Quadrant leader for UCaaS solutions, to provide best-in-class options for the cloud.

Your paths to the cloud are as flexible and simple as ever with Mitel’s industry-leading technology and local, expert support from TCI.

Migrate To RingCentral MVP with Ease

As a huge bonus for Mitel on-prem customers still looking to extract value from their existing equipment, your current 6900 phones are now certified to work with RingCentral MVP and provide great investment protection.
When migrating to RingCentral MVP, Mitel devices have three provisioning options…

Manual Provisioning – refers to connecting a Mitel phone to the RingCentral MVP service using a Mitel-created phone configuration file for login. With Manual Provisioning, the phone firmware updates do not happen automatically. In this scenario, there is some manual intervention, but there is no need to unbox, set up, plugin, and most importantly, pay for a different phone.

Assisted Provisioning – where the devices allow customers to automatically connect their Mitel phone to the RingCentral MVP service. Phone firmware is managed and upgraded as part of the RingCentral MVP service. Note that anyone using Manual Provisioning will be automatically converted to Assisted Provisioning when available.

Zero Touch Provisioning – Another great feature of Assisted Provisioning is Zero Touch Provisioning (ZTP), a method that requires no user interaction. With ZTP in place, you can simply:

  • Add the media access control (MAC) address of the Mitel 6900 phone into the RingCentral portal and,
  • Your phone becomes aware and ready to move to RingCentral MVP.
  • All user and configuration information are loaded to the Mitel 6900 Series phone and you are ready to make and take calls.

TCI is always here to support you in the executing and planning of any of your communications technology decisions. Contact us today for help with buying and migration decisions before you make the leap: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

The 2022 HR Challenge – Building a Supportive Company Culture in the Digital Era

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As companies continue with hybrid and remote work arrangements, human resource departments have had to reorganize their priorities. When asked what they saw as their primary role in their organizations in 2021, 65% of HR professionals pointed to “keeping employees engaged and building a supportive company culture,” according to a recent survey.

Replacing the Physical Workplace with a Collaborative Space

The first thing that usually comes to mind when attempting to define “corporate culture” is the physical office. Historically, the workplace environment has had an outsized influence on corporate identity, employee productivity, job satisfaction, and morale.

The needs and values of today’s employees have evolved. Rather than speculating on ways to revive the old culture and re-create it, companies should be using employee input to visualize and create a new culture that transcends the confines of physical space.

How to Create an Authentic Company Culture using UC

Of the organizations that indicated significant transformation since the beginning of 2020, three out of four reported they expect to be more reliant on remote work, according to a recent survey. Not surprisingly, 69% also said they expect to be more reliant on technology for internal collaboration.

Here are some ways organizations can use UC tools like those from Mitel to create and support company culture:

  • Leverage video conferencing tools so both in-office and remote employees can stay informed and engaged on important topics. Equal facetime is important for employees to feel involved and valued.
  • Create shared workspaces where employees can exchange files and documents and store them in one place. This can stem virtual meeting fatigue by reducing the number of status calls and facilitating collaboration across time zones and geographical locations.
  • Record calls when you need to use flex hours and catch up on what you missed by listening to the recordings at a later time. This feature allows employees to achieve better work-life balance while staying involved.
  • Use UC monitoring tools to track project completion and delivery milestones, rather than just time spent on a given project. Employees are more empowered when they’re able to determine their personal workflows.

No two employees work the same way, and UC tools can be used to accommodate different approaches to achieving goals. By providing employees with the flexibility and tools they need, managers can make everyone feel like they’re part of a community, rather than just cogs in a machine.

Your local TCI team is ready to implement UC technologies that support your company culture and employee work styles. Contact us today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Keep Your Workforce Connected with TCI… Your Local Technology Partner

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It’s not easy in these challenging times to keep your current Voice & IT systems running – let alone add new technology for more flexibility and mobility during our new ‘normal’ hybrid work arrangements.

To keep your business moving forward, you’ll need easy-to-use-anywhere collaboration tools – delivered on a reliable, secure communications platform. Getting access to these tools begins with having the right local technology partner.

For over four decades, we’ve improved the bottom line for thousands of TCI customers including SMBs, commercial and financial institutions, associations, non-profit, and leaders in the DC region’s public and private sector.

Our customers appreciate the value we provide them, including higher levels of staff productivity, improvements in operational efficiency, increased satisfaction, and strong return on investment. Our solutions and services include:

Voice & Unified Communications

  • Business Phones, VoIP, UC, UCaaS
  • Hosted Voice – Public, Private and Hybrid
  • Conferencing – Web, Audio, Video
  • Mobility, Telework, Remote Access
  • Network Services – Telco, Carriers, ISP

Infrastructure

  • Data, Voice, Video Cabling
  • LAN, WAN, IP Networks
  • Data Center and Collocation
  • Wireless Networks

Managed Services Plans

  • Full-Service Support
  • Proactive Monitoring
  • Prepaid Support
  • Ad hoc Support

Cloud Services

  • Cloud Computing
  • Hosted Services
  • Managed Services
  • Relocation Services

Professional Services

  • Strategic Planning & Policy
  • Technical Assessments & Audits
  • Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery
  • Procurement & Bid Consulting
  • Third Party Vendor Management
  • Project Consulting & Services

TCI is ready to support your organization’s workforce initiatives. Let’s map out a plan for your business… Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 


Exploring UC as a Service? Questions that Uncover what Your Business Actually Needs

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With constant change, how can you be confident you’re making technology investments that will help your business meet the needs of employees and customers today while also supporting future growth? Unified Communications as a Service certainly makes it easier to scale and add new features as needed, but there’s a bit more to the equation that requires consideration.

1. What Technologies Will You Need To Future-Proof Your Organization?

Shared workspaces, single-click access to real-time audio and video conferencing, and a seamless experience across multiple devices are just a few of the features you may need right now. Unified interfaces and omnichannel communication are other popular features.

But what might you need in three, five or 10 years? You may not know the answer, so partner with a provider with a focus on innovation. TCI’s Mitel-powered solutions have a track record of being one step ahead. Mitel has been a global leader in the move to the cloud, and your local TCI experts have been supporting remote work well before it took over the working world.

2. What Type Of Workforce Do You Need To Support?

In-person, remote, hybrid – chances are your business needs to be able to support them all. Flexibility and scalability are the most important characteristics when it comes to meeting the needs of today’s ever-changing workforce.

What are the most important communications tools your staff needs to thrive no matter where they are? Some of the items that may be top of mind are a mobile-first design and a unified experience across devices.

Depending on your business, however, file sharing, archiving projects by subject or a personal dashboard for task tracking may be what your employees really need. Be certain the solution you select gives your employees a wide array of options when it comes to communicating and collaborating with each other. The system should make it easier to get work done, and employees should find it simple to use – from anywhere and on any device.

3. What UC Provider Qualities Matter Most For Success?

Every business will answer this question slightly differently, but you can’t go wrong by starting with your partner’s history and reputation. What do their customers say about them? What kind of success stories can they share?

And while a strong relationship can take time to develop, there’s still nothing wrong with trusting your gut. In your initial meetings, anyone who tries to push a cookie-cutter solution that doesn’t exactly meet your needs is definite cause for concern.

Does the provider have a history of reliability? How focused are they on security? Do they make you feel confident your business will stay connected no matter what challenges may arise?

It’s critical to properly assess your needs before you make any big technology investments. With TCI you can rest easy knowing your long-term success is just as important to us as it is to you. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

3 Easy Ways to Strengthen Customer Relationships with Unified Communication Tools

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Darwin’s Theory is that species must adapt to their environment in order to survive. The same is true in business, and the pandemic has been a hard lesson for many companies as they battle to stay afloat. The “fittest” have embraced (and even accelerated) digital transformation, finding new and meaningful ways to engage customers remotely. Even when social distancing restrictions relax, customers have grown accustomed to digital interactions. And for good reason: they’re faster and more convenient. But people still want to feel connected, perhaps even more so than before.

So how can you strengthen ties with customers and create a personal experience in a predominantly digital world? Unified communications technology makes it possible. Here are three specific ways to leverage digital communications tools to solidify customer relationships—and business survival.

1. Know Your Customer

We’re all in need of a little extra TLC these days, and companies that can find a way to show they care are rising to the top. What better way to do that than to demonstrate how well you know your customers? CRM integration with your communications system gives staff real-time access to information that can be used to create a memorable experience. As soon as a customer contacts your business, agents can see detailed customer data, ranging from past order history and previous communications. Agents can immediately jump into action, providing updates on recent orders and answering questions the customer may have before they even ask them.

2. Make It Omnichannel

Customers have been interacting with businesses across multiple digital channels for years now, but the pandemic has forced even the most tech-resistant customers to become more digitally savvy. Consumers will be more likely to use digital wallets or cards in the future, and the use of chat and social media has seen a huge increase.

Today, customers expect to be able to communicate with businesses via multiple social media channels, web chat, SMS messages, email and messaging apps. But it’s not enough to offer multiple means of communications. They all need to play nice together, allowing customers to seamlessly move from one channel to another. The digital customer simply expects to be able to start a conversation with a chatbot and move to a live agent via chat or phone (depending on their preference) without having to repeat any of the information they already shared. Smart bots powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) make this possible by routing customers to an agent with the right level of expertise and providing them with a full history of the interaction.

3. Personalize It

Customers may be looking for ways to avoid physical interaction with your staff, but they’re craving personalization more than ever. They want to know you understand their needs and desires, that you value their time and business and that you truly care about giving them what they need. When agents have access to a full customer history, they can personalize the interaction and make customers feel appreciated and valued.

AI technology takes personalization to a new level, with virtual agents monitoring conversations and providing human agents with relevant information to resolve issues and answer questions more quickly. Integration with other internal systems such as supply chain and logistics platforms empower agents to answer just about any question a customer may have.

Powerful unified communications technology arms your business with the right tools to outperform the competition and adapt to changing customer expectations. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Adding Staff? Deploy UC Apps & Mobile Tools on Day One so They Can Hit the Ground Running

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Assimilating new employees can be a slow, cumbersome process for any business, especially during COVID. If things don’t go well, new employees can take longer to reach their full potential, which can negatively impact your bottom line. If new employees get frustrated, they might even quit, forcing you to start all over.

The key to successful onboarding is making sure new employees get up to speed quickly by equipping them with robust, intuitive tools and capabilities…

  • Unified Communications – With real-time presence technology, new hires can instantly see which colleagues are available for a call. Immediate, real-time collaboration with group calling and chat allows new hires to get their questions answered in real-time.
  • Mobile communications app – Built on top of UC, new hires can instantly have everything necessary to meet customer needs and the ability to see all colleagues on a single screen within the app. With an intuitive app, they can quickly master its features, becoming instantly productive.
  • Platform Integration – To keep employees connected there must be seamless integration with either iOS or Android mobile devices. The ability to answer incoming calls supporting one or multiple company locations means new hires can be accessible and productive wherever they work.
  • Single User Interface – The UI must be designed to offer a single look and feel across ALL hardware and software deployments. Once new people learn one, they can use them all.

Need relief from the pain of onboarding? TCI solutions boost confidence, productivity and job satisfaction. Learn more today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Digital Transformation in 2021… Keeping Up with Touchless & New Ways to Connect with Customers

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Adaptation has always been a necessity for survival, but now businesses are finding that they have to adapt virtually overnight to stay afloat. Touchless technology in the form of contactless payments, expanded mobile app offerings and remote contact centers is becoming the new normal for businesses across industries.

Touchless technology is impacting the B2C world primarily in payment transactions and customer communications. For example, contactless digital payments are replacing traditional paper checks in many transactions. While the primary driver is health and safety, there are other benefits: digital payments are received faster and cost less to process, improving cash flow and reducing costs.

B2B companies, as well as organizations with call centers or large sales teams, have had to quickly figure out how to stay in touch with customers and clients via a largely remote workforce…

  • Unified communications technology keeps the lines of communication open from any device and any location.
  • Cloud-based VoIP phones enable employees to communicate and collaborate via voice, text and screen share, making it easy to assist customers even when working from home.
  • A unified communications contact center empowers businesses to communicate with customers via chat, SMS, voice, email and social media – all with a virtual workforce.

All companies should consider the impact touchless tech will have on how their business is run, and we encourage you to explore Digital Transformation and new avenues of communications with your customers.

Looking for new ways to connect that will grow your business? Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Offer Extended! Move to TCI Host/Cloud Voice… Upgrade Your MiVoice, Toshiba, ShoreTel, or Inter-Tel system

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To get your communications up to speed, TCI Host’s Migration Program makes upgrading to the cloud easier and more affordable than ever.

Act Now… This is a Limited Time Offer!

TCI Host is our complete, locally supported Unified Communications service, powered by Mitel. Get everything you need to connect your business – all for a budget-friendly monthly subscription.

When you migrate to TCI Host service from your legacy MiVoice, Toshiba, ShoreTel and Inter-Tel equipment, you’ll get up to 25% off new user licenses and 50% off hardware.

Migrating a MiVoice Business system? Receive one free 6900 series phone (6920, 6930, 6940 models) for every three you buy of the same model.

TCI Host Makes Cloud Voice Easy 

TCI Host is designed for today’s connected workforce, and serves up voice, instant messaging, screen sharing, video and audio conferencing, file sharing, contact center, business app integration and other capabilities from a single interface.

TCI Host is Flexible

We customize every client’s service and our local team handles all the implementation details for you. Our flexible service supports a range of deployment options. Need tailored financing to meet budget requirements? We can support that too.

Time is running out on this offer… Let’s talk now about connecting your business with locally supported TCI Host. Contact our cloud experts today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Move to the Cloud with TCI Host’s Migration Offer! Upgrade Your MiVoice, Toshiba, ShoreTel, or Inter-Tel System

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Legacy on-premises phone system providers like ShoreTel, Toshiba and Inter-Tel eventually came to market with cloud offerings, but for many businesses, their old phone system equipment continued to get the job done.

But like everything technology related, new advancements in the cloud and better online collaboration tools have put these older platforms at a disadvantage, especially with more employees spread out and working at home.

To get your communications up to speed, TCI Host’s Migration Program makes upgrading to the cloud easier and more affordable than ever.

TCI Host Migration Offer Highlights

  • TCI Host is our complete, locally supported Unified Communications service, powered by Mitel. Get everything you need to connect your business – all for a budget-friendly monthly subscription.
  • When you migrate to TCI Host service from your legacy MiVoice, Toshiba, ShoreTel and Inter-Tel equipment, you’ll get up to 25% off new user licenses and 50% off hardware.
  • Migrating a MiVoice Business system? Receive one free 6900 series phone (6920, 6930, 6940 models) for every three you buy of the same model.

TCI Host makes Cloud Voice easy

TCI Host is designed for today’s connected workforce, and serves up voice, instant messaging, screen sharing, video and audio conferencing, file sharing, contact center, business app integration and other capabilities from a single interface.

TCI Host is Flexible 

We customize every client’s service and our local team handles all the implementation details for you. Our flexible service supports a range of deployment options. Need tailored financing to meet budget requirements? We can support that too.

Let’s talk about connecting your business with locally supported TCI Host. Contact our cloud experts today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

6 Glaring Signs Your Business Needs Cloud Voice Technology

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Almost overnight, the number of remote workers has increased dramatically with mandated “work-from-home” policies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s no telling when this situation will change.

If your current phone system wasn’t able to easily handle the office exodus, that’s a glaring sign you’re due for a change. The good news… A cloud phone solution can deliver the latest in mobility and ensure your employees can work and collaborate from anywhere.

If you’ve noticed any of the following warning signs, now is the time to make the switch from outdated technology:

  • Traffic – With fewer people working in the office, just about all communications is now handled remotely. Is your current phone system supporting the increased demand? If not, busy signals, dropped calls and low-quality video will impede conversations, frustrating employees and customers.
  • Security – With more employees working from home, protecting sensitive information is a top priority. But if you’re not 100% confident in your communications system, you’ll want to ask vendors some hard questions such as: Do they offer Secure Real-Time Transfer Protocol (SRTP), which ensures voice, web and signaling traffic is encrypted? What cloud platform are they using and what levels of security do they offer?
  • Regulation – If you operate in a regulated industry like healthcare or finance, compliance looms large. Violations are expensive and can tarnish your reputation. However, when you work with a cloud phone provider committed to ensuring high levels of security and protecting sensitive data, you can ease your compliance worries.
  • Rapid Response – The onset of COVID-19 was a classic example of the need to be able to rapidly respond to changing demands and requirements. Ask yourself how difficult it is to add or remove lines, features, and users to your current system. If it requires a call to the vendor every time you need to make a change, then it’s time for a cloud phone solution.
  • Client Expectations – A stellar customer experience is more important than ever, but it can be difficult to deliver when employees need to jump through extra hoops to share documents or discuss issues remotely. When collaboration is built into your communications, it’s easier for your people to exceed customer expectations. When employee collaboration is easy and seamless outside the physical office, customers get answers faster and satisfaction soars.
  • License Management – When you’re trying to run a remote employee workforce and keep customers engaged, you don’t have time to worry about managing multiple licenses for your communications system. With a cloud phone solution, you can mix and match license types on a single plan. Need a contact center? Collaboration tools? It’s simple to add licenses on-demand and manage each user via their own profile.

If any of the signs discussed above are flashing red or yellow in your organization, it’s time to start exploring what cloud phone technology can do for your business. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.