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Attn. DC Region Financial Services Firms: Check Out the 2023 eGuide to Improve Client Experience and Grow with UC

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TCI Serves Leading Banks and Credit Unions Across the DC Region

Financial organizations must innovate to compete, which is why you need to plan ahead – and stay ahead – of emerging technology trends.

Today’s unified communications technology can help your bank or credit union stay on top of customer demand, achieve compliance objectives, and help differentiate your organization in the marketplace.

In this guide, we provide valuable insights into successful Customer Experience and Unified Communications strategies that will enable you to deliver greater connection, personalization, and convenience.

Learn about…

  • Transformational UC and Setting Up for Success
  • Analyzing Insights to Keep Pace with Customer Demands
  • Connection is the key to Successful CX and EX
  • Applying UC to Financial Services: The Benefits to Users and Customers
  • Omnichannel Communications: Faster Decisions and Better CX
  • Back-Office Processes That Deliver Front-End Service
  • 2023 and Beyond: The Future of UC in Finance
  • Protect Your Future with the Right UC Investment

eGuide: Powering the Digital Journey with Mitel Financial Services Solutions

Let’s talk about new ways to serve your customers and compete in a rapidly changing marketplace. Contact TCI at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 

Keeping Up with the New Generations of Workers and the Electronic Workplace

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The Connected Generations

Millennials and Generation Z, born from the early 1980s to early 2010s, now represent a significant proportion of the workplace. These generations have grown up in a world where the internet, smart devices and instant connectivity are ubiquitous. They expect the same simple, connected communication platforms at work as they’ve been used to in other areas of their lives.

The frequency and preference of communication channels vary depending on the generation. Millennials, for example, often avoid face-to-face interactions in the workplace, with 55% preferring online messaging software and 28% choosing email to communicate. And for Gen Z, frequency is critical. Over 65% say they need regular feedback from their line manager to stay in their job. For business leaders and IT teams, it means finding a simple way to accommodate these diverse preferences to ensure maximum productivity and inclusion.

The Race to Stay Ahead

These changes have brought an influx of applications and communication channels, which can negatively impact productivity. Using disparate systems will slow down a business. When systems aren’t compatible, transferring data and knowledge from one program to another or person to another can be arduous. And for IT teams, staying on top of management and training to use the systems takes even longer.

Plus, employees are less than impressed with the daunting number of channels. Almost a quarter of IT professionals have found that the communication options available can overwhelm staff. It also makes tracking information harder and more time-consuming, forcing a long search across platforms to see the details needed. The solution is simple: implement one easy-to-use tool.

Today’s IT departments are under more pressure than ever. From the growing demands of the workforce to disparate systems, the current day-to-day workload is complex and time-consuming. TCI recommends exploring a solution that unifies communication into one platform across the whole business – simplifying life for your IT teams and the workforce.

Choose to Embrace the Future

TCI offers unified communications and collaboration solutions that support IT teams. We give you the power to choose which systems to make available and how to roll them out. Our flexible approach lets you choose on-prem, cloud, or hybrid, when to upgrade, and which systems to make available to which employees. We’ll work with you to uncover your unique business requirements before tailoring a solution to meet them.

Are you ready for the evolution of the electronic office? We’re here to help you drive your business forward.
Contact us today: (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 

Big Features for Your Small Business – Mitel adds SMB Controller for On-Prem, Big Business Capabilities

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We recognize that one size does NOT fit all!

That’s why TCI is excited to announce that Mitel has rolled out their new SMB Controller – it provides a full communications solution for small businesses with customized messaging, collaboration and contact center capabilities.

The MiVoice SMB controller is flexible to fit your organization, providing a full range of deployment and financing options. It’s ideal for the smaller customer or branch office that wants Enterprise-level features in a small business package for up to 150 users.

Advanced Enterprise-Level Communication Features

With MiVoice Business, you and your employees get embedded mobility to deliver greater freedom to communicate from wherever business takes you. It offers Unified Communications and collaboration with voice mail, unified messaging, and automated attendants. And it delivers excellent customer service with a fully integrated contact center solution.

Integrated Collaboration, Conferencing, and Customer Experience Solution

It’s easier to do business when your messaging, collaboration, and contact center capabilities are all part of an integrated communications solution like MiVoice Business.

With MiCollab and MiTeam Meetings, you get enterprise collaboration software and real-time video conferencing for locations across time zones and geographies that securely and swiftly power communications. And you can also integrate MiContact Center Business, to support a few call center agents or a thousand omnichannel agents.

Deployment Flexibility

You can deploy MiVoice Business on-premises, in a public cloud, or in a private cloud environment. You can also license the platform with either a traditional upfront CapEx purchase or with an OpEx subscription.

Large, small, or in between, MiVoice Business is designed to fit the unique needs of any size organization at each stage of growth.

Full Range of IP Desktop Devices and Accessories

When you’re on MiVoice Business, you can take advantage of a full range of IP desktop devices, accessories, and meeting room solutions that deliver advanced applications when and where you need them.

Why MiVoice Business?

  • Deep call control, collaboration, meetings with MiVoice Business and MiCollab
  • Advanced enterprise-level features comparable to those you have enjoyed with your current Mitel communications platform
  • Deployment flexibility: On-site, private cloud, public cloud (AWS /Azure)
  • In-office, hybrid or work-from-home options
  • Broad portfolio of IP phones, market-leading wireless SIP-DECT devices, and accessories for growth
  • OpEx option via monthly subscription
  • Smooth transition from your current Mitel communications platform to MiVoice Business

Let’s talk about an affordable way to provide enterprise-level tools for your small or mid-sized organization. Contact us today: (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.
 

4 Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Improve Your Communications & How to Mitigate AI Security Issues

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Unified Communications enable your employees to communicate and collaborate more effectively through screen sharing, video conferencing, mobile apps, and more. Adding artificial intelligence (AI) to the mix promises to send productivity through the roof, so it’s not surprising to see enterprises jump at the chance to experiment.

Still, even as AI transforms communications and collaboration, it raises new security concerns. Let’s dive deeper to understand how AI enhances Unified Communications and what enterprises need to do to maintain a secure environment.

4 Ways AI Is Improving Communications and Productivity

1. Improved Collaboration – Integrating AI chatbots into UC applications opens new doors for collaboration by gathering status updates from team members and alerting members via an app, email, SMS, or push notification if an error occurs on a product or process. When chatbots keep everyone and everything connected employees can more easily troubleshoot together, keep track of each other’s progress on projects and share ideas and information.

2. Easier Access and Use Of Data – AI virtual assistants improve access to documents and other information, automatically gathering and distributing data to employees’ devices — whether a presentation, a video, or a PDF. If questions on a prior discussion or topic arise during a meeting, the assistant retrieves pertinent emails, messages, or documents. As AI voice assistants such as Cortana and Alexa become more ingrained in the workplace, these requests may be made through voice recognition. Attendees stay focused and engaged in the conversation, with all information at their fingertips.

3. Increased Productivity – Chatbots field straightforward calls and online chats with customers, allowing your customer service team to focus on more complex calls and issues. In meetings, attendees concentrate on the content and discussion rather than on the communications tools. The AI assistant even initiates the conference automatically.

4. Better Efficiencies – Wouldn’t it be great to have someone else send meeting notes, assign action items, and schedule follow-up calls? The AI assistant handles all of it, allowing human attendees to spend their time on more complex and higher-value activities. AI also simplifies scheduling by identifying times that work for everyone. In the not-too-distant future, facial and voice recognition technologies will take attendance at meetings, eliminating yet another mundane and time-consuming task.

How To Mitigate AI Security Issues

While the benefits of AI and UC are many, the security of your communications system will also require more attention. AI technology accesses vast amounts of enterprise data on products, processes, and customers. If an attack occurs, all that data becomes vulnerable.

  • New standards and protocols will emerge as AI plays a more significant role in enterprise communications systems, so organizations must remain vigilant to stay compliant with the latest requirements.
  • There are likely security challenges with BYOD as employees’ AI-enhanced personal devices enter the workplace. Some organizations opt to disable voice assistants such as Google Assistant or Siri in the workplace. But as employees bring newer devices to the office, organizations must assess emerging AI technologies for security threats and establish clear guidelines in a formal security policy.
  • A positive note here is that AI enhances data and communications security. It will scan for potential threats and alert IT and security teams when vulnerabilities or possible attacks occur. Security professionals can respond far more quickly with the help of these technologies.

As AI and UC blend, productivity skyrockets, efficiency improves, and data is more accessible. But the architecture must have a stable base, with security as a main priority.

Thinking about adding new technology and capabilities to get more from your UC platform? Contact us today: ((703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.

Using Microsoft Teams? Mitel Offers No-Cost Integration with MiVoice Business + MiCollab

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As hybrid work continues to expand, and Unified Communications capabilities continue to evolve, more customers are looking to integrate their Mitel telephony solutions with their Microsoft infrastructure.

In an environment where Microsoft Teams has already been selected or installed, many customers are looking for a user experience that retains full access to Mitel’s powerful communications capabilities.

Mitel has announced an important update to its MiVoice Presence Sync service and Mitel Assistant:

  • Mitel telephony presence information is now visible in Teams, Outlook or anywhere Microsoft presence is visible.
  • Brings call history directly into the Mitel Assistant client, which is free to download.
  • Mitel Assistant in “Telephony Only Client” mode provides a simple easy-to-use user interface.
  • No extra investments in Microsoft licenses are required.

Mitel Assistant in tandem with the Mitel softphone provides a blended Mitel + Microsoft Teams environment:

  • Removes the need for customers to go to Microsoft E5 / Phone System License
  • No need to pay additional fees for your DID (Direct Inward Dial) number to be hosted by MS Teams
  • Integrated user experience
  • Will let your Microsoft Teams users know when another user is on a phone call

Mitel Call Server presence integration for MiVoice Business

For businesses using Microsoft Teams together with Mitel call control platforms, your users can be busy in the Microsoft Teams system (for instance when attending a meeting) as well as in the Mitel system (busy on a phone call).

Mitel now provides existing Microsoft users with Mitel Call Server presence information as part of Microsoft user presence information. This feature requires the Mitel customer to have a UCC License and Software Assurance (SWA) active on their Mitel call server system.

Once installed, users get access to the following:

  • Dialpad & Directory Search – Supports manual phone calls from the dialpad or you can search using the corporate directory or Outlook contacts to initiate phone calls. Mitel Assistant will show presence information for searched contacts so that the user can know whether a user is busy or free to take a phone call.
  • Call History – Gives users MiVoice access to Mitel Call History in a dedicated tab. The user can stay within the Microsoft Teams Client when initiating calls from the call history. The user will also see presence when originating from call history.
  • Speed Dial – Users can search the corporate directory or personal Outlook contacts and add the speed dials that will show up as contact cards including avatar pictures and phone number information. Mitel Assistant will also show presence information for Speed Dials.
  • Escalate chat to phone call – Mitel Assistant also offers the user the possibility to escalate a direct chat to a phone call by clicking on the Mitel Assistant icon at the bottom of the chat view.
  • Optimized Mitel Softphone – When initiating a phone call from Microsoft Teams using Mitel Assistant, the new optimized experience using the MiCollab Telephony Only Client mode has been developed to provide the user with a discrete call floater window, that can be used to control the call without leaving the application in focus (for instance Microsoft Teams). The user can choose to use the floater in a collapsed layout or expand it to access all mid-call features, including Mute, Dialpad, Audio device management, Hold, Conference & Transfer.
  • Desktop phone or softphone – Users can either control the Mitel desk phone or use the built-in softphone to use the computer audio for calling. If needed the user also has access to more MiCollab functionality by expanding the MiCollab tray bar icon with access to Dynamic Status, Call History, Visual Voice Mail, and Settings.

Let Mitel be your Voice in Teams. Easy Upgrade. Free to download.

Mitel Assistant can be found in the Mitel Software Download Center as well as in the Microsoft Teams Store and users can easily install it into their Microsoft Teams client. To get full customer value out of the solution, Mitel Assistant should be used together with MiCollab in Telephony Only client mode.

If you’re interested or have questions, just let us know. Contact your local TCI experts at (703) 321-3030 or GetHelp@tcicomm.com.


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.