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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.

10 Ways TCI Host Service Connects Your Mobile Team and Makes Managing Tech Easier

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Without the right tools in place, transitioning from in-office to home-office communications gave a lot of businesses a taste of how difficult it can be to keep conversations going.

In today’s remote working world, don’t you wish your team could be connected seamlessly no matter what device they’re using?

If you’re exploring ways to improve how your team communicates, TCI Host provides a locally supported, customized service with all-in-one collaboration and mobility tools, so your business won’t miss a beat.

How TCI Host keeps your employees connected and simplifies your job…

1. Never Lose Your Place with One Stop For Communication.

How much time do you waste by losing the thread of the conversation? TCI Host makes all your communications available from a single hub on your desktop. It’s always there but never in the way. Keep an eye on every call and message and never lose sight of important details.

2. Work From Anywhere, Together.

Gone are the days when teams worked in close proximity and shared a simple project document. In paper, no less. Nowadays, though, team members can be anywhere – at home, on the road, in another country. To stay connected, multi-party videoconferencing, desktop sharing and audio conferencing are key. Everyone on the team can collaborate in real-time.

3. Take The Conversation Smoothly From Text To Voice with Ad-Hoc Meetings.

Big deal on the table? Need fast thinking and even faster decision making? TCI Host helps you connect with the one person who has the information you need to close the deal – at the precise moment you need their help. With one click, start a meeting and keep the conversation going.

4. Respond To Important Messages Faster With Visual Voicemail.

Nothing ushers in a greater sense of urgency – and stress – than checking your voicemail after a long morning of meetings. With our Outlook voicemail integration, messages are sent to email so you can scan and prioritize who to call back first.

5. Get To The Right Person At The Right Time.

The flexibility to work anywhere is a benefit – except when an answer is needed fast. With presence, employees make their whereabouts known to everyone in the organization. So, when a customer calls asking the question only a subject matter expert can answer, everyone knows where and how to reach them.

6. Know Your Communications Will Be There.

Communications is the heart of any business. You can’t afford a moment of downtime, especially if you’ve invested in integrating your line of business apps with your phone system. If you’re seeking fail-proof redundancy that’s affordable and easy to manage, TCI Host’s architecture and system redundancy is designed to be reliable.

7. Be as Productive On the Road as in the Office.

Working outside the office is often frustrating because employees don’t have access to the tools they have in the office. But TCI Host transforms this experience. With its mobile app, employees take the office everywhere and get the same experience on the road as they do on at their desk. Whether in the office or on the road, they can join a meeting with a single click, without the need to enter those cumbersome participant codes. It’s that easy.

8. Live In Your CRM…

Which does your sales team love more? Their phone or their CRM? Please, don’t make them choose! When you integrate your phones with your CRM application, salespeople never have to switch between the two. They stay in the CRM to make and receive phone calls. Plus, it saves them from the dreaded task of data entry. Just by answering their phone, items are automatically added to their to-do lists.

9. …Or in Outlook or G Suite.

Sales teams shouldn’t be the only ones who have all the fun. TCI Host also integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Outlook and G Suite, easing adoption of your new phone system throughout your business.

10. Do More, Spend Less.

Here’s one last thing you might not know, and it may be the best part… You can have a seamless and reliable communications and collaboration tool without breaking the bank. TCI Host offers everything as an affordable monthly subscription.

The good news doesn’t stop there… Our project team handles all the transition details to get it all going for you! Contact TCI 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.

 

Auto-renewals Sneaking Up on You? Let TCI Experts Optimize Your Broadband & Network Services

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In this tentative business climate, it’s best to conserve resources. One way to do this is to avoid unnecessary spending on broadband and network services. Whether it’s a Broadband contract, VoIP Services contract, or a Maintenance renewal on a phone system, it’s important to be aware of their upcoming renewal dates.

Don’t Miss Out on the Best Deals for Your Business

If you don’t track your contracts’ anniversary dates, they could auto-renew without you being aware of it. This means you could miss out on opportunities to save money by negotiating better deals or seeking alternative service providers.

When you work with TCI, our team will be your advocate when it comes to uncovering the best service arrangements and deals for your business, especially when it comes to:

  • Business Voice | Unified Communications
  • Carrier & Telecom Services
  • IT Services & Support

You can count on TCI for… 

  • Speedier negotiations and contract execution. No more wasted time comparing apples-to-oranges, trying to deal with one-size-fits-all solutions, or getting locked out of better solutions that become available
  • Improved savings and ROI through negotiated price reductions and/or quantity discounts
  • Reduced miscommunication and disputes with suppliers and service providers by leveraging Performance Guarantees and SLAs
  • Ongoing consultation to keep Network and carrier services in line with your business objectives

When it comes to getting better deals on your technology services, we’ve got you covered. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Tips and Best Practices for Running Your Next Virtual Event

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When social distancing brought in-person events and conferences to a screeching halt in early March, meeting organizers needed an alternate solution for the long term. Virtual events became the obvious choice, and many companies reworked their calendars and plans to launch digital conferences, workshops and meetings.

3 Essential Elements for a Successful Virtual Event…

  • Content – Plan to offer a variety of sessions that appeal to all levels of your audience. Some attendees may want to hear about the company strategy and attend roadmap sessions, while others want to talk to product experts. Some want to focus on expanding their skill set through training classes. Your content should be broad and deep enough to appeal to all types of attendees.
  • Balance – The second element is striking the right balance between static content and live engagement. You want to create a sense of energy, even though the event is virtual. Announcements and notifications of what’s coming up next keep traffic flowing and attendees engaged.
  • Planning – Most importantly, you need a strong project manager. With the exception of live sessions, almost everything is pre-loaded in a virtual environment. This means it’s critical to hit deadlines and the project manager plays a vital role in ensuring that everything loads on time.

Successful virtual events also need sufficient bandwidth and adaptable online collaboration tools to get – and keep – everyone connected. Your technology needs to support the different types of media, messaging and engagement options you’ll want to offer in order to maintain your attendees’ focus and interest.

Ensure your broadband and collaboration tools can support the virtual events in your future. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Home Office Upgrade… Get to Know Mitel’s MiVoice 6900 Premium Series

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Mitel’s MiVoice 6900 series family of desk phones enables office and home mobility 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.]

Mobile phone users can leverage the exceptional HD audio and comfortable ergonomics of the 6900 series phones for both IP and cellphone calls. The 6900 phones deliver crystal clear audio through a unique corded or cordless voice-optimized handset and high performance hands-free speakerphone.

More MiVoice 6900 Series Phone Features…

  • High resolution color displays: 3.5” (320×240) LCD, 4.3” (480×272) LCD, and 7” (800×480) Touchscreen LCD
  • 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
  • Bluetooth 4.1 wireless interface

The 6900 series also offer a broad array of add-on user installable accessories that enable the phones to be tailored to specific user needs.

Get the convenience and productivity that come from adding mobility to your desk phones…Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Wi-Fi 6 Delivers More Range & Speed for More Devices

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Whether you need improved Wi-Fi in a new building, across your campus or to support a growing number of mobile workers, TCI’s experienced network infrastructure team has the know-how to get the job done right. Give your staff and visitors the freedom to work on-the-go with a fast, flexible and secure Wireless Network.

Must-Have Technology

Also known as 802.11ax, Wi-Fi 6 nearly quadruples the speed offered by the previous standard 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5), while delivering more efficient operation, tighter security, better ease of use, self-deployment, and long-term compatibility. Wi-Fi 6 also provides a more reliable user experience in areas of high demand.

Benefits of Wi-Fi 6

  • Consistent data throughput in dense environments
  • Wider coverage range
  • Increased reliability and reduced disconnections
  • Additional frequency spectrum for IoT and other monitoring devices
  • Power savings for wireless devices
  • Improved outdoor performance

With the advent of the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard, wireless technology has taken a huge leap in performance. It’s ideal for connecting your current and emerging business applications, along with more devices and users.

Wi-Fi 6 is a must-have technology for today’s fast-paced businesses. Our experts manage all the details. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

 

Work Arrangements for Reopening… Supporting Hybrid Workers at-Home and in-Office with UC

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COVID-19 has become a global orientation session for remote working and opened the eyes of many to the productivity advantages of working from home.

As some employees start returning to the office while others remain at home – some permanently – it’s time to consider the best technology solutions for supporting this new hybrid work arrangement.

Unified Communications (UC) delivered from the Cloud offers a straightforward way to bridge your home and office workers. The cloud makes it easier to access company resources, like documents and spreadsheets, as well as meet and collaborate using built-in audio and video conferencing and messaging tools.

Mitel CMO David Silke sits down with Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst of ZK Research, to explore the technologies and practices that will support the emerging hybrid work environments many businesses will adopt…

Watch the 27-minute Video

When it comes to customizing technology for your business or non-profit, we can map out the best mix of cloud, on-premises and hybrid deployments to connect your workforce at the office, in the field and at home.

Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

What’s Driving Adoption of Hybrid & Cloud Computing?

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IT systems and data networks should move a business forward, not hold it back. That’s why companies in every industry are looking to the cloud. By using a network of remote servers to store, manage and process data, rather than the traditional local servers they might have on-site today, businesses can reap the advantages of high performance, reliability, affordable prices, easy collaboration, and secure data access.

And that’s not all… Hybrid and cloud arrangements offer a number of practical bottom-line benefits:

  • Deliver secure remote access to employees: Ensure your employees receive a consistent, high-quality user experience to rely on for secure access to the apps and data they need – no matter what type of network connection they use.
  • Provide employees with flexibility to work anytime, anywhere: Work is no longer a place – it’s something you enable with the greatest security and flexibility. Use app and desktop virtualization to embrace workforce mobility and empower your employees to work anywhere, anytime, on any device.
  • Empower mobile users without compromising security: Having sensitive business data stored on employee devices increases vulnerability. By virtualizing your apps and desktops to keep data secure in your datacenter or the cloud you don’t have to worry about lost or stolen devices.
  • Make managing desktops easier and more efficient: Implement app and desktop virtualization to automate and centralize management. You can stop patching and updating your employees’ desktops on an individual, manual basis – saving you time, money and frustration.
  • Get new employees up and running in minutes: Use any available devices – aging legacy PCs, thin clients, laptops or mobile devices – and reduce new employee time to productivity.
  • Keep employees productive during business disruptions: Empower your employees to work remotely during business disruptions – anywhere, anytime, on any device – with secure access to the apps and data they depend on.
  • Reduce IT costs: App and desktop virtualization significantly reduce your IT costs, management time, and complexity compared to traditional desktop management.

Many businesses are still under the impression that the Cloud is a one-size-fits-all solution. That’s why having a trusted technology partner who can work with you to develop a cloud roadmap and strategy is so important.

Have questions about what IT platform and cloud deployment option is best for your business? Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Adjusting to Work at Home… Small Changes Can Help

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Many of your employees and managers are still adjusting to the new challenges they face while working at home. These are unchartered waters for everyone.

Some of the folks you lead may have little or no experience working remotely.

Add in some young children who can’t go to school or daycare, or the need to provide care for an elderly parent, and you can begin to appreciate the stress of trying to balance work and family responsibilities.

Whether you are a manager or an employee, we are all called to be more patient and flexible. We’re all looking for ways to manage our converging responsibilities at home. With that in mind, here are some strategies that can make life easier.

  • Keep the focus on getting the work done as opposed to number of hours worked.
  • Take more breaks to relieve stress, improve your health, and maintain a better work-life balance.
  • Get outside and move… You’ll give yourself an energy boost so you can be more creative, productive, and responsive.
  • Consider extending the workday (or week) – start earlier or end later – so you have more time for family matters, chores, and catching up with friends.
  • Resist the urge to watch TV, view social media or shop online – before you know it you can waste a good part of your day.
  • Dress properly… You never know when you’ll receive a request to join a video call with a client or colleague.

Of course, it will take more than changing our behavior to overcome the challenges of working at home. Also essential are having the right technologies, connections, and apps in place to enable work to be performed efficiently and effectively. This is where TCI comes in.

We have proven remote workforce solutions for any size organization. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.