New Year's Resolution for Business?

By Scott Young

2008 is gone and many of us are happy to see it go. That leaves us looking forward to 2009 with more than a little trepidation due in part by the uncertainty of what is to come. The business climate is a little scary to be sure, however, it is my belief that companies hiding under the covers with the lights out will not fare well. Companies that look at the current situation with an eye toward opportunity will have the chance to gain market share and come out in a position of strength. It's all about planning and attitude. There are a few common sense things we can do to make 2009 go a little better. Here are a few that I will be focusing on in 2009.

Plan—I've been consulting businesses for a number of years and have been continuously amazed by the number of them that lack detailed long range strategic plans. They may have goals and most of those are short term but somehow they never get down to the details. My business is planned down to the daily calls I have to make and is about numbers and believe me, they can be cruel, but they are always honest. I know what I have to do every day to achieve the goals I've set for myself. I know how many calls I have to make, how many appointments I need in a week, and what my closing ratio is. If I follow my plan, I will succeed. Each person and department should have a plan and someone holding them accountable for them.

Be profitable—As in any business, there are products that are more profitable than others. Some products are loss leaders, or require higher manpower support. Keep a wary eye on trends within your business.

Be efficient—Pick a week to keep track of your activities. Observe your habits throughout your day to see if there is an hour you can find where you're just not productive. Ten minutes here and 20 minute there can really make a difference. You may even get to go home early.

Be a student always—Perhaps it's because I love to read or maybe it's because I know in technology, I'll never know it all, but I am constantly learning about my business. I study sales and I study the technical aspects of my business. I am fortunate that Connect places a high priority on keeping their people up to date and invests heavily in the training of their people. It's a small fortune to keep everyone certified and knowledgeable in the quick moving field of technology and it is always moving.

Perhaps it's because I love to read or maybe it's because I know in technology, I'll never know it all, but I am constantly learning about my business. I study sales and I study the technical aspects of my business. I am fortunate that Connect places a high priority on keeping their people up to date and invests heavily in the training of their people. It's a small fortune to keep everyone certified and knowledgeable in the quick moving field of technology and it is always moving.

I imagine everyone is looking at 2009 with a wary eye, but I see tremendous opportunity ahead. A wise man once asked me what the meaning to life was. When I stared at him with a blank look on my face he smiled and said, "Life was a series of choices and we get to make them." Opportunity is going to be knocking at someone's door this year. What can you do to help it be your door?

Connectivity Audits can Impact your Bottom Line

Connect offers a service where we will help our clients de–mystify the bills you get from your phone and network companies. We look at those invoices and help you negotiate higher bandwidth, greater services, or better pricing. We have established relationships with all of the leading connectivity providers in Montana and we have the expertise to help you negotiate with these suppliers.

It is a very simple process, we simply take your phone bills and create a list of all of the services you have today and what each of them costs, then we assign those charges to the department or service that uses them.

After accomplishing this task, we will go back and negotiate with all of the suppliers on your behalf and receive quotes from them. We then meet with our clients and go over the recommendations and the pros and cons of each of the suppliers.

After a choice has been made, we will help you transition from your current supplier to a new supplier to make that transition as pain free as possible.

If you are a member of our Gold Seal Partner Program, we provide this service 1 time annually and the fees are waived.

If you are not a member of our Gold Seal Partner Program, we can still perform the audit, and it only costs you if we save you money. If you would like to see how a connectivity audit could impact the bottom line of your organization, please give your "Customer Advocate" a call today.

Connect Announces "NOC" Capabilities

Connect Telephone & Computer Group announces the arrival of their NOC capabilities. NOC stands for Network Operations Center. This is a new system that will allow Connect to pro–actively manage your data and phone systems remotely. The way the technology works is as follows: Your systems will communicate with our Center 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. They let the NOC know how your systems are doing with errors, Operating System Patches, Bandwidth, and availability. The advantage to the system is that it can usually predict catastrophic failures before they happen. It will monitor the health signs of the systems and notify us in the event of an issue. If we can solve the issue before it takes down the system, it saves your company downtime and frustration.

Most companies do not have the ability to effectively monitor these systems manually, so they get managed in a reactive mode: "Our system is down and we need it fixed right away." This creates challenges for the customer because it always seems to happen at the most inopportune time, and sometimes irreversible damage is a result. It also creates a challenge for your internal IT staff or your service provider because they cannot always drop what they are doing to focus on the problem at hand. The system will also provide information that will assist in the diagnosis of problems, bringing quicker resolution to the issues. Remember, the reason we have technology in the workplace is to increase operational efficiencies. When these systems go down we usually will suffer the consequences at the bottom line form lost revenue to non–productive workers. Proactive management of your systems will save your company time and money.

Maintaining Communications Technology in a Down Economy

by Russ Palmer

I have to say that down economies excite me. Everything goes on sale and sanity seems to return to the economic landscape. I had the good fortune to be in the technology business during the dot com bust of 2000. In the late 90's, companies were gobbling up technology as fast as they could for technology sake, convinced that this new found elixir of life would catapult their business into the stratosphere. Process went out the window and gadgets ruled the technology budget. I was personally happy to see the party end and sobriety return to the business landscape.

Profitability, competitive advantage and risk containment are all byproducts of a well thought out business process. When you look at a company that is profitable you are looking at a company with exceptional processes. I find this mantra worth repeating here, technology exists for one reason only, to enhance process. This truth does not change in a down economy, in fact it becomes of even greater importance. Economic sanity involves process sanity and process sanity inevitably leads to a look at technology. So what are some sane technology strategies to consider? I'm going to cover three things to consider as you look at the years technology budget.

If you are still trading dollars for hours with your technology vendor your technology strategy is reactive. This is a terrible process practice and should be stopped! The biggest problem that arises from this process strategy is that the process has to "break" for the next process step to take place, which in all likelihood involves calling someone in a panic and demanding that they love you enough as a customer to drop everything else they have going on to come and bail you out of your poor process. A hard yet true reality all business owners have found themselves in. Most vendors offer proactive bundles of services from routine maintenance to advanced storage and IT services for very reasonable monthly rates. These outsourced services greatly reduce the need for the expense of internal IT resources. From a process stand point outsourcing moves your technology maintenance strategy from reactive to proactive, ensuring problems are prevented rather that repaired after the fact, saving the organization critical cash–flow in a time when cash is fuel.

Look for deals...Money is cheap! As I mentioned earlier, in a down economy deals abound. With interest rates at an all time low, there is no need to pull operating capital from your organization to buy technology. Up economy or down economy, investing operating capital in a depreciating asset like technology is a reactive strategy thus risky at best. Lets get to the bottom line on this issue, technology costs money. Everyone understands this fact. Companies who have properly aligned technologies that enhance the processes of the organization understand that the acquisition and maintenance of the technology is a monthly expense. Once this balance is set, the need for large "one time" capital outputs is eliminated providing instead a technology program that provides a return on investment every month.

Look to innovation to do things more effectively. One example of this is technology tools that promote and support offsite or remote workers. The reliability and enhancement of these tools have finally come to fruition. Increased bandwidth and stable internet connections have made virtual offices a productive possibility at a much lower cost than the real estate to house workers in an office location. Workers are able to be part of the home office phone system, email and calendaring system just as those under the physical roof of the company. These tools give you better reach, not to mention access to a work force that may not have been available previously. Simple tools such as web sharing and web conferencing can be obtained for as little as $49.00 per month. This tool not only allows your workforce to spend less to gather people into a traditional conference situation but allows those you are presenting your product or service to, to do so from their own home or office saving them time and expense.

Know when not to use the technology. Lets not forget the importance of human interaction face to face. This holiday season filled my email box with requests to donate to one cause or another. I don't doubt the validity of any of these organizations, but my money went to a face and a story. Does your process include a face and a story? In this down time it may just be that piece of non–technology that sees you through...Happy New Year!

Worldwide Manufacturer Invites Connect to South Korea

Samsung Telecommunications America sponsored a trip for 6 of it's American dealers to go visit with the product designers and software developers.

The trip took place in November and I got a chance to see the new hardware and software as well as the roadmap for the coming years.

Samsung was simply amazing. Samsung is a huge part of the South Korea economy. I was told that Samsung makes up 20% of the gross domestic product of the country.

Samsung's focus of new development is still on the OfficeServ line, so for those of you who have that system, rest assured that Samsung will continue to deliver new innovations on the product line you have already invested in. I think as we continue to blaze the trail into the future, we will see a great insurgence of desktop—mobile integration. Since Samsung is #1 worldwide in mobile telephones, I think they have a great competitive advantage in the coming years.

VoIP continues to be a driving force for most of the changes and upgrades. It will allow us to run our businesses more efficiently for the same or less cost as we do today.

If you would be interested in seeing how Samsung's innovation in the world of Business Telecommunications could help your business increase profitability and competitive advantage, please call one of our reps today.

Connect Launches Emerging Technology Webinars

The Customer Advocate Team at Connect Telephone & Computer Group is pleased to announce the 2009 Schedule of Emerging Technology Webinars.

The Customer Advocate Team at Connect has one goal. That is to help their customers increase their competitive advantage and profitability. The way they do that is by learning about their clients business and matching new technology that can improve their processes. One way they are working on getting the word out is by hosting these Emerging Technology Webinars. They chose the webinar format because it will allow busy business owners to attend via the comfort of their own desks. This will allow more people to attend since commuting won't be a factor, allowing busy people to attend and learn about the technologies while just committing 30 minutes of time.

The webinars will be non–technical and non–sales. They are informational only. We will be teaming with the best in the industry at each technology and presenting that technology in terms of what it is and how it can help our clients increase their competitive advantage and profitability.

Some of the seminars slated for 2009 are:

• SIP Trunking
• Data Backup Solutions
• Managed Services
• Surveillance Systems
• VoIP
• Collaboration tools
• Disaster Recovery Services

If you are interested in learning more about these topics or others, please check out our website. The entire list of the technologies is available there. Seating is limited, so book your reservations now. If you are interested in learning about any of these technologies prior to the seminars, please get in touch with your "Customer Advocate" today.

Vodavi Merges with Vertical

Vodavi has been purchased by Vertical Communications. Vertical Communications Inc. is a corporation that specializes in communications technology. Vertical Changed its name on January 1st, 2005 from Artisoft Inc. after acquiring Vertical Networks in September 2004. In September of 2005, Vertical acquired Comdial. Vertical's new focus is to bring high end communications integration to small and medium businesses. Vertical has kept the flagship phone system of the Vodavi line the XTS. Vertical will continue to bring new features and functions to this system to allow our clients access to new features and innovations saving them time and money.

Vertical Communications is focused on bringing true Unified Communications to small and medium businesses. Recently, Vertical has announced the arrival of Wave. Wave is a new system that is IP based, but will allow older telephone technologies to "hook" on to the system. Vertical is planning to allow the Vodavi phones to hook to the Wave allowing older Vodavi system owners to keep their substantial investment into phones to roll onto the new systems.

The Wave will be the next generation of system from Vertical. The Wave will support the newer technologies like SIP trunking and IP connectivity.

Vertical is planning on a separate training and education path for the Wave dealers. This certification will include hands on training as well as web based training.

To become certified, we will need to complete both sales and technical certifications. We will keep our clients apprised of our progress.

If your business is looking for ways to increase your productivity and competitive advantage, give one of our representatives a call and we'll see if a Vertical / Vodavi product or enhancement will accomplish that for you.

The United States will get Change

It's official, the United States of America has spoken and we have elected a new president. Whether or not you agree with his political principles, I think we can all agree on the fact that we have a new leader and we wish him well and hope he takes us in the direction of prosperity.

I was very wrapped up in the campaign for some time, like many Americans, but found some intriguing tidbits while following the speeches and debates. Both Obama and McCain talked about Health Care reform and how Electronic Medical Records will reduce the cost of HealthCare.

Since I am in the Technology business, I can see the benefit and how that will trickle down through the system to ultimately lower the cost it takes to process a patient. This is the same type of process that we do for our customers each and every day.

Let's assume for a minute that you call up for an appointment with your doctor. In the world of paper medical records, they need to go pull the file and have it ready for the nurse to review when she comes in the room. Then the doctor will review the file. Once the diagnosis is ready, we will add yet another slip of paper into the file, and then ask someone to go put it back. Paper files take longer to read, more physical room to store, and longer to find. With Electronic records, we can search by name, keywords, or whatever we want to. We don't have to pay every month on real estate to store the files, nor do we have to have a storage unit to keep excess files in there. If you would like to see if there are ways technology could help lower your delivery costs, please call, click or stop by one of our offices today.