A report recently published by Mitel Solutions asserts that, “We are on the tipping point of a workplace revolution that will signal a model for a dynamic, adaptive and smarter business that is focused around the human cloud workforce.”
Flexibility. Virtualization. Bring Your Own Device. These are all things that characterize a new era of business technology that Mitel and the tech-world call “Work 3.0.” It has the potential to provide businesses with more skilled talent, happier employees, and in turn, huge gains in productivity.
But what is this transition to Work 3.0 all about, and what does it mean for small business?
While it’s no secret that business technology and culture has become increasingly reliant on virtual communication thanks to rapid technological innovation, many companies who felt the sting of the recent recession found the cost-saving merit of making a complete switch to virtual voice and data technology through use of cloud computing and unified communications (UC).
With UC, companies can provide their employees the ability to work from anywhere, be it their home office, the coffee shop down the street, or on a plane.
Working remotely is admittedly not a new concept, but UC’s emphasis on mobile capability transcends anything we’ve seen prior. It allows workers to make their job a seamless part of their “on-the-go” lifestyle. Imagine doing your entire job from a smartphone. Unified communications technology makes this possible.
It also makes expansive physical office spaces a little less relevant. In fact, there are quite a few companies who have harnessed the power of UC and gotten rid of their offices altogether in favor of virtual communication between employees.
Since these voice and data innovations have made collaboration and communication as easy as a click of a mouse, companies have access to a larger talent pool that isn’t constrained by location or ability to commute. This means that businesses can hire people on other coasts and in other countries who are truly best-suited for open positions, with a lot less overhead.
The essence of Work 3.0 is facilitating a work environment that interacts seamlessly with the lives of employees. They choose (in part, at least) when they want to work, where they want to work, and how they want to work. It used to be that one’s office was the only place to find the technology needed to get work done. Now, with the ubiquity of smartphones, tablets, advanced laptops and cloud computing, people are just as capable of getting work done at home as they are at the office, if not more so. For a growing number of companies, small and large alike, the days of the 9 to 5 workday are coming to an end.
Your business can harness the power of Work 3.0 without getting rid of your office space or regular business hours. As a Mitel partner, BCS Voice and Data Solutions leads the way for advanced voice and data technology in Hampton Roads. Among other things, we provide desktop and mobile integrated phone systems, wireless networking solutions, and high level teleconferencing equipment that can help your company stay on the cutting edge of innovative communication and increase overall productivity and ROI. Call us at 757-497-3100. We can help.
Source: Mitel 3.0 Whitepaper
Interactive Whiteboards in the Classroom
/in Uncategorized /by BCS Voice & DataImagine that you are a child sitting at your desk in a classroom waiting to start the day…
The teacher walks in, presses a button, and all of a sudden you and your classmates are teleconferencing with another classroom across the world in China for your social studies lesson. When you move on to math, the teacher displays multiplication tables on the same board and you and your classmates go up to the front of the room and take turns dragging and dropping the correct answers. The English lesson is exciting, too, because you get to read a book along with your class on the board, complete with pictures, right from your desk. At the end of the day, your teacher emails an absent classmate an audiovisual recording of everything that happened on the board that day, so even he doesn’t miss out.
Until recently, this kind of scenario seemed positively futuristic. With the incredible technology of interactive whiteboards (IWBs), it looks like the future is here.
For the past 20 years, interactive whiteboards have made their way into classrooms across the globe. In many K-12 schools, the traditional blackboard has been phased out entirely by the IWB because of the latter’s innovative flexibility.
Structurally, your general IWB is a large screen placed at the front of a classroom (or boardroom.) Many have desktop or tablet hubs from which the instructor writes on and navigates across programs and the web for students to see.
The uses and benefits of interactive whiteboards in the classroom are many:
-Presentations
-Ability to record information and lessons for those not in class
-Digital Storytelling -Teaching the fundamentals of Internet navigation in real time
-Demonstrating the correct usage of editing marks on typed text for the whole class to see.
Perhaps the most important contribution of interactive whiteboards to education is how readily they appeal to diverse learning styles in the classroom. For instance, in a classroom with a traditional blackboard, an audio learner is likely to be less intellectually stimulated than a student who is visual or tactile. An interactive whiteboard allows the teacher to integrate sound bytes in the form of music and video clips to instruct the audio learner more effectively and with ease. The interactive whiteboard is especially helpful to tactile learners because it gives them the ability to drag, drop, draw, and erase more clearly and decisively than they might on a blackboard.
We can’t underestimate the value of this technology in the classroom for a generation of students that is readily responsive to the Internet, touch screens, and everything digital. Interactive whiteboards meet children where they are cognitively, and they afford teachers a seemingly endless horizon of creative possibilities.
BCS is a first class proprietor of interactive whiteboards and we can answer any questions you may have about choosing, installing, and using an IWB in your classroom or office. Call us today.
image source: www.edudemic.com
source: http://www.rmtc.fsdb.k12.fl.us
BYOD Policy and Your Wireless Network
/in BCS News, IT Tips /by BCS Voice & DataWe live in an increasingly interconnected world and the line between people’s work lives and their personal lives becomes blurrier every day. In the workplace, this “Work 3.0” culture translates to the common practice of employees using their personal technology (smartphones, laptops, etc.) to access the corporate wireless network both in the office and out of the office. It used to be that employees came in at 9 a.m. with their company issued cell phones to sit in their company-issued cubicles and work at their company-issued desktop computers. At five, those employees went home—and more or less left work at the workplace.
These days, thanks to the consumerization of technology, corporate employees have no reservations about accessing company information and enterprise via their own smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers from the office, from home, or from the coffee shop down the street. Check out this breakdown of employee behavior on personal devices:
source
While this culture enhances productivity and the flexibility of employee daily life, it presents a huge security challenge for IT professionals who must attempt to protect company information on a number of vastly different devices on and off of the network. It’s enough to make a CIO want to throw their hands up and ban all personal devices from accessing the server on the wireless network—which is a strategic option. The problem is that too many companies neglect to form any kind of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policy at all, thus putting their sensitive data at great risk. Mitigate the risks associated with BYOD and reap the productivity benefits by following these three steps:
Define your policy
Weigh the pros and cons of BYOD for your business if you haven’t already. Are the productivity gains and the lower hardware costs worth the headache of Mobile Device Management (MDM) across myriad platforms for your IT department? Your policy is likely to fall in a grey area between total tech license for employees and total barring of non-company owned devices from the wireless network.
Promulgate your policy
You can develop the clearest, most reasonable BYOD policy out there, but if your employees are unaware of it, your efforts will be wasted. In our last blog post we talked about the importance of well-structured business-IT alignment, and the need for a top to bottom understanding of BYOD policy is a perfect example of why said alignment matters. When everyone is on the same page, your sensitive data is safer.
Enforce your policy
Once your BYOD policy is well known by all involved in the organization, enforcement of it becomes top priority. Of course, most of the continued implementation relies on experts in IT who must ensure that all firewalls and encryption mechanisms are in good working order.
How solid is your BYOD policy? Or perhaps it’s better to ask, how safe is your sensitive data on the wireless network? Let BCS provide you with a free IT consultation. We can help you decide the best course of action for a BYOD policy and provide wireless network monitoring solutions for your company. With these services, you can rest assured that no unauthorized device is infringing on your wireless network. Call us today. 757.497.1300.
Business-IT Alignment
/in Industry News /by BCS Voice & DataHow long has it been since your company last assessed the quality of its business-IT alignment? If it has been a while, there is a good chance that your company isn’t operating as efficiently as it could with an IT strategy revised to support current business objectives and fiscal needs. Especially in an age when business depends so heavily on technology, it is vital that the two elements interact strategically toward one goal. As we enter 2013, it’s a good time to take account of your business-IT alignment and make changes as necessary. Let’s look at three ways you as a forward-thinking business professional can adjust the business-IT relationship for the better and reap the rewards as the year ensues:
Make your company’s customer the focal point of IT
Like a company’s product or service offering, marketing and advertising, and fiscal planning, IT strategy should be tailored to the company’s ultimate client-base. Often internal IT departments begin to view the company as their customer, when in order to operate effectively, all departments including IT should focus on serving the needs of the customer. How you make this happen depends on your type industry. If you sell to people, you can simply ask them how your technology can serve them better. B2B operations are a little more complex, but by considering the nature of the businesses to which you sell, you should be able to make small changes to your IT strategy that will enhance customer experience.
Come together frequently to assess business-IT alignment
While this seems like a function of common sense, the daily grind can put up a wall of non-communication between a business’ leaders and its IT department that neither party intended to be there. In order to avoid this issue, companies should hold regular meetings in which business and IT goals are coordinated, service problems/failures are accounted for and evaluated, and, in general, everybody makes sure they are on the same page.
Outsource discriminately
If your IT operations are handled offsite, make sure that you work with a service provider that considers and understands not only your company’s technology needs, but also its overall goals, mission, and client base. Just as you would an internal IT department, stay accountable to your service provider and demand the same in return.
BCS Voice and Data Solutions works closely with its clients to provide tailored outsourcing solutions that will drive your business forward. Call us today.
Source: SearchCIO
Work 3.0
/in Uncategorized /by BCS Voice & DataA report recently published by Mitel Solutions asserts that, “We are on the tipping point of a workplace revolution that will signal a model for a dynamic, adaptive and smarter business that is focused around the human cloud workforce.”
Flexibility. Virtualization. Bring Your Own Device. These are all things that characterize a new era of business technology that Mitel and the tech-world call “Work 3.0.” It has the potential to provide businesses with more skilled talent, happier employees, and in turn, huge gains in productivity.
But what is this transition to Work 3.0 all about, and what does it mean for small business?
While it’s no secret that business technology and culture has become increasingly reliant on virtual communication thanks to rapid technological innovation, many companies who felt the sting of the recent recession found the cost-saving merit of making a complete switch to virtual voice and data technology through use of cloud computing and unified communications (UC).
With UC, companies can provide their employees the ability to work from anywhere, be it their home office, the coffee shop down the street, or on a plane.
Working remotely is admittedly not a new concept, but UC’s emphasis on mobile capability transcends anything we’ve seen prior. It allows workers to make their job a seamless part of their “on-the-go” lifestyle. Imagine doing your entire job from a smartphone. Unified communications technology makes this possible.
It also makes expansive physical office spaces a little less relevant. In fact, there are quite a few companies who have harnessed the power of UC and gotten rid of their offices altogether in favor of virtual communication between employees.
Since these voice and data innovations have made collaboration and communication as easy as a click of a mouse, companies have access to a larger talent pool that isn’t constrained by location or ability to commute. This means that businesses can hire people on other coasts and in other countries who are truly best-suited for open positions, with a lot less overhead.
The essence of Work 3.0 is facilitating a work environment that interacts seamlessly with the lives of employees. They choose (in part, at least) when they want to work, where they want to work, and how they want to work. It used to be that one’s office was the only place to find the technology needed to get work done. Now, with the ubiquity of smartphones, tablets, advanced laptops and cloud computing, people are just as capable of getting work done at home as they are at the office, if not more so. For a growing number of companies, small and large alike, the days of the 9 to 5 workday are coming to an end.
Your business can harness the power of Work 3.0 without getting rid of your office space or regular business hours. As a Mitel partner, BCS Voice and Data Solutions leads the way for advanced voice and data technology in Hampton Roads. Among other things, we provide desktop and mobile integrated phone systems, wireless networking solutions, and high level teleconferencing equipment that can help your company stay on the cutting edge of innovative communication and increase overall productivity and ROI. Call us at 757-497-3100. We can help.
Source: Mitel 3.0 Whitepaper
VoIP Helps Hotels Provide Better Customer Service for Guests
/in BCS News /by BCS Voice & DataDue to the popularity of mobile phones, many hotel managers may be concerned over the plummeting hotel telephone service revenue.
The best way to compensate for this loss in revenue is to take advantage of Voice-Over-IP Telephony (VoIP). It puts phones on the bottom line, and offers guests a lower cost than they can get from their own mobile phone operator.
As technology has developed, charging for long distance calls has become an old business model and the prices are now considered excessive. VoIP allows hotels to provide guests with a phone service for free. It provides better customer service and happier guests at a very low cost for the hotels.
One hotel chain has taken it a few steps further. Hotel 1000 in Seattle used a unified communication system and a series of VoIP applications to create a superior hotel experience.
The converged network provides a single infrastructure for data, voice, video and security communication. Among the unique applications is a video valet system, an automated system that gathers room ambience preferences and sets them prior to the guests entering their rooms, and a hotel entry application that sends video of a visitor to the hotel guest’s phone.
Anything IP-addressable can be put on the system–from security cameras to intelligent thermostats and minibar applications to phone management systems.
As an integral part of any business infrastructure, IP telephone systems can maximize the flexibility and functionality of your business communications. If you’re interested in learning more about what VoIP can do for your business, give BCS Voice & Data a call today at 757-497-3100.
Source: eweek.com
Protect Your Company’s Data from Disaster. Create an IT Disaster Recovery Plan Today.
/in Uncategorized /by BCS Voice & DataModern businesses handle huge volumes of electronic data every day. It is easy, convenient, and environmentally conscious to store records electronically, use technologies like VoIP and digital signage in lieu of traditional mediums, and depend on teleconferencing to keep business going strong. Since some kind of computing is necessary to complete most tasks these days, data and data equipment needs to be secure in the event of a natural disaster. Is your company prepared for the worst?
In the wake of the Hurricane Sandy, all business owners should step back and evaluate the security of their company’s technology. When a natural disaster hits, be it a flood, a hurricane, a tornado, or an earthquake, your electronic information and technical components can be particularly vulnerable. What steps can you take to protect your data before calamity strikes? First, establish a protocol. FEMA recommends that all businesses create an IT disaster recovery plan by following a few smart steps:
The kind of protocol you establish for your company and the type of business insurance you purchase are contingent upon the natural disasters likely to happen in your area. If your business is located on a hill in a high-altitude region, you probably don’t need extensive flood insurance. But if located in an area prone to flooding, buy that insurance and make it company policy to place IT equipment above even aggressive estimated flood levels.
You can prevent many of the stressful and costly effects of natural disasters on your business and the technology that helps it run with careful forethought and some practical preparation. Keep your data safe and secure by taking the time to back it up in a way that makes sense and minimizes risk. Review your company’s existing insurance policies and make sure that they cover your critical IT components. Last but not least, depend on IT professionals with sharp expertise to help you develop the best protocol for protecting your data and data equipment. Call BCS Voice and Data Solutions today at 757-497-3100 to schedule an IT needs analysis with one of our professionals. We will help you prepare your vital data and technology for any emergency and advise you as to best IT practices for your business. Let us provide you with intelligent solutions.
If Hurricane Sandy hurt your small business, refer to this article from Forbes.com for details on where you can find assistance to get your company back on its feet.
BCS Named 2012 Platinum Mitel Channel Partner
/in BCS News /by BCS Voice & DataBCS Voice & Data Solutions has been named a Mitel Platinum Business Channel Partner by Phil Keenan, Executive Vice President of North American operations for Mitel. The recognition of superior business performance, technical expertise and customer satisfaction is awarded to only a few Mitel partners each year.
“I want to extend my heartfelt thanks for your extraordinary effort and value that your organization brings to Mitel,” writes Keenan in the award letter. “You exemplify the expertise, behaviors and customer care qualities that reinforce your status as a trusted advisor in the market.”
Founded in 1973, Mitel (Nasdaq: MITL) is a global provider of business communications and collaboration software and services. The company operates in more than 90 countries and has more than 1,600 partners, serving more than 100,000 customers worldwide.