by | Sep 20, 2016 | Uncategorized
As swiftly as telecommunication equipment continues to improve, the phone system you have may seem to meet your current needs but may fall well short of the capabilities of today’s technology. More importantly, your present system may be woefully inadequate in meeting the future needs of your business. In an increasingly digitized world, once discrete technologies have become more and more integrated, which has had a significant impact on the telecommunication industry – and it can have a positive impact on your business. To improve productivity now and prepare for growth down the road, this may be the time to upgrade your phone system and take advantage of new technology in the marketplace. But how do you know when it’s the right time to make a change? Here are some things to consider: If you are thinking about adding to staff or expanding to a new location, you will want to know if your phone system can be scaled to satisfy the projected needs of the enterprise. Will it be able to handle more volume? Can it accommodate multiple locations in a seamless fashion? Or consider how integrating a phone system with other technologies will enhance the productivity of your employees. That may lead you to voice over internet (VoIP) as a solution, or perhaps to a cloud-based platform such as Quorum. You may want email notification of voicemail messages that are received. As technology has become ever more mobile with the advent of smart phones and tablets, for example, ask if you’re taking advantage of the tools that will keep your work force in the field connected to...
by | Sep 20, 2016 | Uncategorized
To answer that question you could pick a number out of the air that seems right or if you are moving to a new location decide that “since we had 4 trunk lines in the old place, 4 lines should suit us just fine when we move to the new place.” Let me suggest a more analytical approach. The best answer to the question of how many lines are needed to conduct business efficiently can be derived through a series of calculations using telephone traffic engineering formulas. Telephone traffic engineering is something of an arcane science. It is a field of study founded by Dutch mathematician and engineer A. K. Erlang early in the 20th century. Not limited solely to the realm of telecommunications, though, traffic engineering is just as readily applied to determining, for example, how many tellers are needed in a bank branch to take care of customers on a busy Monday morning or how many lanes of highway are needed to reduce commuter congestion on those get-away Friday afternoons. But regardless of the type of traffic being measured, the goal is always the same: to rationalize resources and satisfy demand in an efficient, cost-effective manner. Having the right number of trunk lines in place is critical to the performance of your telephone system, to the level of service your customers and prospects receive, and to the profitability of your business. To ascertain what that number is, traffic engineering uses probability analysis and statistical forecasting tools to predict levels of caller activity to establish the number of lines needed to handle an expected volume of calls. These...
by | Sep 20, 2016 | Uncategorized
Mobotix Night & Day Camera There are few areas of technology where advances have been more profound than in video surveillance systems. Where once video surveillance consisted of one or two fixed cameras feeding blurred video into a black and white monitor at a central location that was viewed by a security guard who may or may not have dozed off, there now are high resolution computerized camera systems with multiple functions mounted on a network platform that allow for nearly unlimited user options. Built-in software organizes digital video into a manageable database and by the use of video analysis software greatly facilitates targeted monitoring. When looking at video surveillance system manufacturers, industry leader, Germany-based Mobotix, A.G., most often comes to mind. So, let’s see why Mobotix equipment enjoys the market appeal that it does and how it may well serve the security needs of your business. Mobotix manufactures megapixel IP cameras that create accurate, high resolution images that are easily viewed. These durable instruments, with built-in software, are cameras with the attributes of computers. What is more, since software is provided with each camera, there are no licensing or update fees, as updates are delivered free of charge via the company’s website. Moreover, the cameras have no moving parts, no lenses or positioning motors, which translates to minimal maintenance requirements. And weatherproof models can withstand temperatures from -22 degrees to +140 degrees Fahrenheit. High resolution cameras with up to 360 degree views reduce the number of cameras needed to monitor a work area, thus producing a cost savings for the business owner. Mobotix, by building a high-speed computer...
by | Sep 20, 2016 | Uncategorized
No doubt every enterprise is careful to arm its computers with surge protection devices, as nothing can wreak havoc on the operations of a business like damaged hard drives and fried servers. Do telephone systems, so integral to commercial activity, receive the same level of attention? Perhaps not, but they certainly should. A telephone system failure caused by a power surge or lightning strike can inflict a damaging blow to a business. And it can be an expensive ordeal, both in terms of real, out-of-pocket costs to repair or replace a system and in terms of the opportunity costs of missed calls during downtime. These are costs that can be easily avoided by having the right surge protectors on the job. Surge protectors are designed to insulate equipment from voltage spikes, and they do so by diverting and curtailing the voltage supplied to electrical devices. A surge constitutes a level of voltage beyond a safe threshold, which in a typical business setting would be 120 volts. When voltage exceeds that level, the surge protector diverts the stream of current to a ground, thus preventing damage to equipment like telephone systems. While lightning strikes can be the cause of power surges, particularly during summer months, the more typical causes of surges are downed power lines, faulty wiring or the cycling on and off of high-powered electrical components like heavy duty compressors and motors, air-conditioning units and elevators. Though these more common causes don’t inflict nearly the jolt of a lightning strike, they can be strong enough to damage a telephone system. A telephone system actually requires two levels of surge...
by | Sep 20, 2016 | Uncategorized
Polycom Conference Telephone With so many businesses having facilities in far flung locations and with more and more employees working at home these days, teleconferencing has become an effective, rational way to conduct group meetings without the expense and disruption of gathering staff members in a central location. Consequently, improved technology and the economic imperative of businesses to reduce expenses have been responsible for the broader use of teleconferencing telephone systems that we have witnessed in recent years. Examining the benefits of teleconferencing may well be a timely exercise for your business. Teleconferencing is an efficient way of assembling any number of people to communicate interactively by telephone. Typically, in a business setting, the purposes of such conference calls are management or sales meetings to discuss operational developments, to introduce new products or procedures, to train staff, or for periodic progress reports on important projects. Participating in a conference call ordinarily requires that attendees dial a designated number and enter a log-in or PIN in order to connect to the call by way of a conference bridge. A conference bridge is a server that can accommodate multiple calls simultaneously, which makes dialing in easier when a call involves a large number of participants. Depending on the size of the business, a company may deploy its own bridge or utilize a service provider to host conference calls. The use of a log-in or PIN ensures confidentiality and protects proprietary information from being divulged during a teleconference. Communication on a teleconferencing system is two-way, so that everyone on a call can participate. A note of caution here: if the meeting is...
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