Alliance Residential Company, one of the largest multifamily housing real estate developers in the United States, needed to rebuild many of its internal corporate support departments, including the IT department, after its sale of its management division.
Read MoreTopics: Cloud, Cisco, Unified Communications, Cyber Security, Infrastructure, Microsoft, Cloud Infrastructure
My past several blog posts have been talking about the characteristics of a modern communications platform. We’ve talked about the technical things we need to pay attention to in order to deliver a better end-user experience. We’ve talked about the embracing of a mobile-first philosophy, the need for an 11-digit E.164 dial plan to enable better directory integration and click-to-call, the advantages of SIP signaling for endpoints, and so on. We’ve still got a few topics to talk about, but I wanted to share a personal experience I had recently that reminded me why it is so critically important to have these modernization conversations proactively as opposed to waiting until it’s too late.
Read MoreTopics: Unified Communications, Collaboration, Innovation, Infrastructure, Modernization
Maintaining an optimized, healthy, and modern IT infrastructure is crucial for the survival of any business. ConvergeOne Managed Services, powered by OnGuard, allows IT staff to rest easy knowing that a highly-skilled team of engineers leveraging an industry-leading management platform are watching over their customer’s environment. OnGuard has been developed by ConvergeOne from real-world engineering insights and decades of experience managing client infrastructures.
Read MoreTopics: Cloud, Unified Communications, Data Center, Infrastructure, Cloud Infrastructure, Information Technology
Continuing our discussion of Communication Modernization from my last post, I want to talk about migrating to SIP endpoints. What about SIP trunks, you ask? I’m not sure I’d consider SIP trunks a “modernization” thing anymore. Many made that switch a LONG time ago—it’s a complete no-brainer for most customers that I deal with. Reduce hardware, decrease cost, increase flexibility, easier redundancy… what’s not to love? No, instead I’m talking about hardphones and softphones. Using SIP as the signaling protocol is almost always the right answer. Let’s talk about why.
Read MoreTopics: Unified Communications, Digital Transformation, Collaboration, Modernization
The Financial, Technical, and Security Benefits of Administration Automation
Posted on September 7, 2021 by David Lover
Today I want to talk about one of the guiding principles of modernization: Automation. When I talk about automation, I’m specifically talking about administration automation. At first, it would seem like this is mostly about making life easier for the administrators—and yes, that’s part of it. However, there’s actually a lot of business value that goes along with this type of automation. Let’s take a look at the benefits from the lens of the different stakeholders.
Read MoreTopics: Security, Unified Communications, Cyber Security, Automation
When people talk about endpoint modernization, everyone assumes that we’re referring to the elimination of hard physical phones. My response to that is a big MAYBE! If you’re telling me that you’re eliminating hardphones to enable a collaborative architecture that more easily supports a remote and mobile-first user-base, then you had me at hello. But sadly, the response I usually get is “We’re looking to cut costs.” And there, you lost me. I always suggest you recheck your math.
Read MoreTopics: Unified Communications, Digital Transformation, Collaboration
What role does the IT department play in your business? Does it contribute to strategic initiatives, or does it mostly provide day-to-day support for your users and systems?
Read MoreTopics: Managed Services, Unified Communications, Digital Transformation, Collaboration, Innovation, Professional Services
We’ve been dialing 911 for emergencies since 1968. So 911 calling wouldn’t appear to be a hot topic among business and technology professionals today.
Read MoreTopics: Unified Communications, E911
Misconceptions About Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS)
Posted on May 4, 2021 by David Lover
Recently, I was asked to speak about Public Cloud Services, and specifically, CPaaS (Communication Platform as a Service) during a training call. It was actually really good timing, because this has been a hot topic with vendors, partners, and customers. In those discussions, I find that there’s a lot of misconceptions about what CPaaS actually is. As mentioned, CPaaS stands for Communication Platform as a Service, but even that term can mislead you into thinking that it’s a much broader and more inclusive thing than it actually is.
Read MoreTopics: Contact Center, Cloud, Customer Experience, Unified Communications, Collaboration
We cannot go back to normal, and even if we could, we shouldn’t. Why? The normal we knew was not sustainable. Too huge of a carbon footprint, too slow to meet the demands of the “fast fashion” economy, too stressful for associates, and too high of a cost to support.
Read MoreTopics: Unified Communications, Remote Working