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Are You Getting the Full Value Out of Your CRM Platform?

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Getting the most out of your CRM requires that you integrate it with your Business Voice applications. Almost all of the popular CRM services on the market seamlessly integrate with Mitel’s systems. Using a customized CRM? Our experienced development team can bring your customer data, phone system and call center together.

When your CRM is integrated with Mitel’s MiVoice or MiContact Center, for example, the contact’s personal details can be set to pop-up on your phone or computer screen. Imagine how much time will be saved when your people don’t need to search for important information like customer preferences and details on past transactions.

Enhanced call functionality like click-to-dial, automated call logging, intelligent dialing, and screen pops and transfer can all be enabled and integrated with your customer data.

Bringing CRM and Voice together makes every employee and contact center agent in your business significantly more productive, while improving the calling experience for your customers.

Let’s talk about connecting your CRM to your phone system and contact center. Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

10 Contact Center Tools You Should be Using… But Probably Aren’t

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You may think you are running an efficient and cost effective contact center, but there is always room for improvement when it comes to the Customer Experience.

Mitel recommends adopting the following capabilities to help boost productivity, ensure resiliency, and improve the efficiency of your contact center…

  • Cradle-to-Grave Lifecycle Reporting
  • Customizable Reporting
  • Agent Forecasting
  • Schedule Adherence Monitoring
  • Interactive Agent, Queue and Call Control
  • Self-Service Interactive Voice Response
  • Outbound Dialing
  • Social Media Monitoring
  • Disaster Recovery
  • Contact Center as a Service

Learn more about these essential tools… Download the 4-page Mitel whitepaper

Ready to empower your contact center team? Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Shifting From a ‘Project Outcome’ to ‘Business Outcome’ Mindset

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In a fast-moving economy, with companies jockeying for every competitive advantage, it pays to take stock of how successful you are in achieving business goals.

Are you satisfied with merely executing the latest projects, or are you focused on achieving specific Business Outcomes?

For example, if the Business Outcome you need is to attract the best talent, an upgrade to the company website to permit the collection of resumes, by itself, may not achieve the goal, even though the project was executed perfectly, on time and within budget.

With a focus on Business Outcomes, however, attention is paid to putting policies, processes and technologies in place to ensure success. Here’s how that might work for the goal of attracting the best talent:

  • Policy – BYOD, telework and flexible hours are permitted within the guidelines established by the company.
  • Process – In support of the policy, the company must extend management and security to end-user devices and establish access privileges to protect sensitive data.
  • Technology – With the policy and process defined, the right technologies can be implemented such as VoIP, remote access, virtual desktops, and various productivity apps.

Shifting from a Project Outcome to Business Outcome mindset can go a long way toward getting the results you are looking for, whether it is to attract the best talent, increase retention rates, improve acquisition rates, increase revenue, reduce costs, or improve efficiency.

Need help defining business outcomes and implementing technology that will move your company to the next level? Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Which WAN Service is Right for Your Organization? MPLS, SD-WAN… or Both?

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When you’re optimizing your WAN, choosing between SD-WAN and MPLS can be a challenge. The choice involves weighing the pros and cons of each network technology and then applying them to your business needs.

MPLS Pros & Cons
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) provides a high Quality of Service (QoS) by managing and avoiding packet loss. This is good for real-time applications like VoIP, video conferencing, and virtual desktops.

The disadvantages of MPLS are that it can be complex to deploy and often comes with a higher cost for bandwidth, extra costs for security, and hidden costs for hardware reconfigurations whenever connections have to be added or changed.

SD-WAN Pros & Cons
Software-Defined Wide Area Networks (SD-WAN) offer global availability, visibility, scalability, control, and performance. It’s easy and quick to implement, and bandwidth can be added or reduced as necessary without requiring infrastructure changes. With SD-WAN, you also get end-to-end encryption across the entire network – including the Internet and the Cloud.

On the other hand, the reliability of SD-WAN doesn’t quite match that of MPLS. With SD-WAN, Internet uplinks can occasionally fail. And while SD-WANs make it easier to connect to the Cloud, there is still the possibility of packet loss once your traffic arrives.

Making the Best Choice for Your Business
For businesses that rely on Cloud applications, SD-WAN offers direct access from any location. However, if QoS is important to you, or you have very specific connectivity requirements, MPLS might be the better way to go, despite the higher cost.

The good news is that SD-WAN can interface with legacy technologies, including MPLS, so you can deploy both when you need to support diverse business needs.

TCI’s certified network engineers can help you sort out the best WAN deployment for your business. Contact us today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Planning Ahead as Verizon’s Copper-Based Telephone Network Fades Away

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Verizon plans to sunset its Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) by 2020 – along with all the associated copper wires and legacy equipment that sustained it. Instead, Verizon will totally rely on an all-IP broadband infrastructure for service delivery.

If your business is among the 50+% that still use a mix of PBX, ISDN circuits and T1 lines, now is the time to start thinking about what your organization will need to ensure a successful transition.

In recent years, the growth of VoIP has been driven in part by the realization that the end is near for the copper-based PSTN. In addition, there is now wide appreciation of the features and capabilities offered by VoIP.

TCI is ready to assist you with this transition in any or all of the following ways…

  • Inventory your applications and their network performance and security requirements
  • Develop an IP technology roadmap
  • Walk you through product and service selection
  • Help you plan the migration
  • Provide deployment assistance
  • Manage the IP infrastructure for you

Start planning now… When Verizon cuts the copper cord, you want to be ready. Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Meet Your Customers Where & How They Want with Omnichannel Contact Centers

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The term omnichannel refers to connecting your customers to your business across all available channels – web, voice, smartphones, social media, PCs, email, text, etc. – with a consistent experience and message.

In our digital world, customers want to choose the method of contact that makes the most sense for them at any given time.

Using new technology, a well-executed omnichannel Customer Experience connects the dots between each available channel. To keep pace with this trend and increase your customer loyalty, Mitel’s MiContact Center solutions provide the tools your business needs to deliver a smooth Customer Experience across all media types.

Empower your Contact Center Team

  • Set your customers’ expectations and guide their actions, offering helpful information like their wait times for inbound calls, emails, Web chat and callbacks.
  • Online access to real-time and historical reports provide the insights you need into daily operations and agent performance.
  • When it comes to control and coaching, a simple interface provides a single point of administration for configuring omnichannel workflows.

Mitel’s portfolio delivers everything your small or big business needs…

  • MiContact Center Solidus: A rich suite of seamlessly integrated Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) and contact center applications for intelligent interaction in your enterprise.
  • MiContact Center Workgroup Edition: Designed for the MiVoice Business platform, this solution helps your informal contact centers deliver excellent customer service.
  • MiContact Center Enterprise Edition: Designed for the MiVoice Business platform, this solution is ideal for sophisticated contact centers of all sizes.
  • MiContact Center with Skype for Business (formerly Lync): The only true end-to-end multimedia contact center today that utilizes both Microsoft back-office and desktop solutions.
  • MiContact Center Business: An enterprise-grade, omni-channel customer experience management platform designed to power your customer-centric organization.

Ready to meet the omnichannel demands of your customers? Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Get to Know MiCloud Flex… A High Performance UCaaS Environment Supporting Seamless Integration with Top Business Apps

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With MiCloud Flex, you get a business phone system that just works…

Designed for large enterprises and companies that require a more customized unified communications (UC) environment, MiCloud Flex delivers the highest levels of performance, reliability and security through Mitel’s global, mobile cloud.

The brains of the system reside in geo-redundant data centers. Your people access the same tools regardless of whether they’re in an office, on the road, or working from home.

Get all of this with MiCloud Flex…

  • Hosted Unified Communications as a Service: Get a complete UCaaS environment with customizable options and seamless integration with top business applications like Microsoft Lync/Skype, Salesforce, Google and more.
  • Delight Your Customers: Combine your contact center with CRM or other business applications to deliver real-time customer intelligence to agents across any medium (voice, video, chat, etc.) and identify customers based on stored profiles and intelligently route them to the right agents/resources.
  • Mobile, Simple and Flexible: Get maximum flexibility to create your own communications environment without the complexity of managing it yourself. MiCloud Flex can scale from 75 to 10,000 users. Grow and add features at your own pace.
  • Ideal for Multi-Office Environments: Users enjoy the same communications experience anywhere, anytime on any device. Applications and information move seamlessly because they’re stored in the cloud. Advanced security protection ensures sensitive data remains safe.
  • Work Anywhere: Deliver a single communications portal that displays consistently on desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets including Android, iOS and Microsoft devices. This gives customers the freedom to communicate using voice, email, text or chat from any device.
  • Collaborate Smarter: Bring Microsoft Outlook, Lotus Notes, Google, Lync/Skype and other applications into the conversation for true UC. Provide users with presence-based awareness, instant video meetings, visual voicemail, attendant console and much more.

Let’s talk about how MiCloud Flex capabilities will take your business to the next level. Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Raise Your MiVoice Office 250 to the Cloud with OfficeLink… Mitel’s New Mobility App

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Looking to stay more connected with your customers and co-workers? Missing critical calls? Does your business rely on being available for every revenue opportunity?

Available as a subscription-based service for the MiVoice Office 250 platform, Mitel’s new OfficeLink App connects your phone system to the Cloud.

The app supports mid-call functionality features not typically available with general-purpose UC phones or devices, bundling together easy-to-use collaboration features into one single platform.

Deliver the best features of a business desk phone to your smartphones:

  • Simultaneous ring means you’ll never miss any important call
  • Secure chat with other users to quickly stay in touch
  • Live status of users and extensions
  • Dynamic call history
  • Contact synchronization and management
  • Business voice features, including transfer, hunt groups, group calling, call park and more
  • Simple admin controls

OfficeLink puts the power of cloud-based Mitel solutions right in your hands. To learn more about the convenience and productivity you’ll get using mobile apps, contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Get to Know Affordable MiCloud Connect… the Mitel-Powered Cloud Voice Service for Small & Mid-Sized Businesses

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Is your business outgrowing its phone system? Looking for more mobility or new tools to compete? 

MiCloud Connect lets you move communications and collaboration to the cloud with confidence… And beat the competition by making your teams more productive, enhancing the Customer Experience, and improving your business intelligence.

All this from Mitel, the global leader in cloud-based business communications…

Mitel Connect Collaboration: unifies today’s communications on one screen – including video, online meetings, on-the-fly conferencing, messaging and more – so your employees, customers and prospects can communicate anytime, anywhere.

Mitel Connect Contact Center: extends contact center functionality to your entire business. It’s managed by Mitel at its data centers, so you can rely on it worry-free, while maintaining local control over system call flow scripting and reports.

Mitel Connect Advanced Applications: multiplies team effectiveness by tying organizational communications into your core business processes. Innovative apps help increase employee productivity, shorten response times, encourage collaboration, and improve customer satisfaction.

Mitel Connect Global Numbers: provides a virtual presence with local caller IDs and numbers in all the markets your company serves. Incoming calls are easily routed for handling by the team in your headquarters so you can establish a local city or country presence without adding headcount.

Wondering if MiCloud Connect is a good fit for your business? Contact TCI today to arrange a meeting and a demo: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Mitel’s CloudLink Solution… Everything Begins with the Gateway Connecting Your On-Premises Platforms to the Cloud

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CloudLink is Mitel’s innovative application development and delivery solution. Our Blog Post from last month provides an introduction and overview. As discussed, CloudLink allows businesses to leverage their existing Voice and IT assets, while adding and extending new capabilities from the Cloud.

A key component of this app development and delivery solution is the CloudLink Gateway. This device connects your PBX to the CloudLink platform and CloudLink applications. It can be deployed on premises, or in the cloud as part of Mitel’s MiCloud service, or as part of a third-party Mitel-powered service.

Adaptors within the gateway communicate with the underlying call control platform of the connected PBX using its signaling protocol or generic SIP. The gateway normalizes the signaling protocols from disparate PBXs so only one signaling and messaging protocol is shared between the gateway and the CloudLink platform.

The CloudLink Gateway enables a cost-effective path to the Cloud. It supports convenient access to customized cloud-based apps and delivery to any device at any location, including your mobile devices and IoT appliances.

Mitel’s CloudLink technology is being rolled out to support businesses of any size. For example, small businesses using MiVoice Office 250 have built-in support for the CloudLink Gateway with Release 6.3.

Next month, we’ll explore the development platform elements of Mitel CloudLink. Meanwhile, if you are wondering how CloudLink can benefit your business, contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.