While many fear these innovations, they shouldn’t. There are reasons to approach these latest innovations with caution, but outright avoiding them? Not the smart – or sustainable – approach.

Think of AI and ML as the latest iteration of continuously evolving technology, which often leads to businesses evolving and growing. Like many technological advancements before it, the responsible deployment of AI and ML won’t replace humans. Rather, those who know how to leverage these tools in their jobs will replace those who don’t.

Organizations should consider how any new technology solution can bolster their business goals and accelerate growth, including AI and ML.

Why would a company want an experienced, expensive human performing mind-numbing, soul-crushing tasks, especially if they don’t provide significant value, and amid an ongoing IT skills shortage? Instead, companies need people to focus on delivering value to the organization.

Consider the significant cost savings companies can realize by cutting 45 minutes of triage time for every network event. Imagine the cost savings to the business using AI to predict theft in stores or ML to self-diagnose network issues and reduce downtime. AI also has implications that enhance digital collaboration and reduce the need for minute tasks like transcribing, summarizing, and recording.

Predicting traffic flows, generating smarter analytics, and monitoring overall network health may save a few minutes per instance. But the savings could be significant over time.

Anyone who’s used ChatGPT knows it will get to an 80% correct answer today. It may not be perfect yet, but it’s improving daily. Think of AI and ML the same way – as powerful tools in their infancy with massive potential – especially for businesses wanting to maximize the value of their IT investment to focus on running and growing their business.

To evaluate the return on investment in security spending, consider the cost of a data breach, lost customers, or diminished stock value. Any possible scenario from a cyberattack should convince every company to make security an integral part of its IT posture.

New technology is scary. So is being left behind. Are you confident your foundation is built for whatever the business worlds bring next? TPx can help you future-proof your IT infrastructure. Get in touch to get started.

The post Why You Shouldn’t (Totally) Fear AI appeared first on TPx Communications.

With a 60 percent reduction in operational costs, managed IT services are the ideal solution for businesses to maximize their IT budget for the highest value, especially in light of high inflation, decreased consumer spending, and higher-than-ever hardware and software costs. In tighter economic times, every line item counts on a business’s profit and loss statement, and IT is already a top expense. Get access to best-in-class technology and expertise with a managed service provider (MSP) who will act as an extension of your internal team and maximize your IT budget.

1. Reduce the cost of in-house employees while getting access to more specialized expertise for less

The average IT manager makes $152,916 annually, while a specialized cybersecurity analyst can make as much as $183,219 per year. Hiring and retaining top-tier professionals is incredibly expensive, adding up salary, benefits, ongoing training, and continuous certifications. Also, IT’s skills gap and talent shortage don’t make the competition any less fierce for highly experienced professionals. A serious cybersecurity talent shortage means you might not even be able to find the right people at all, regardless of job salary. Whether you want to outsource your entire IT team or augment a few niche skill sets, a managed service provider provides those experienced professionals for less.

2. Lower your overall cybersecurity risk

The only thing more expensive than cybersecurity employees, infrastructure, and frameworks is not having them during a cyberattack. Cyber incidents are crippling for most companies, with 60 percent of small businesses shutting their doors within six months. Ransomware payments exceeded $1 billion for the first time in 2023, and email phishing is getting more successful thanks to the implementation of artificial intelligence and sophisticated organized crime units. Reduce your overall risk and vulnerability by working with an MSP who can recommend, purchase, and implement exactly what your business needs.

3. Improve employee productivity and reduce turnover

The U.S. loses $1.9 trillion in lost employee productivity, and IT and admin teams are often overburdened with small, never-ending tasks like password resets, hardware fixes, and basic troubleshooting. Sourcing your equipment through your managed IT services provider is a smarter choice as they typically offer better pricing and terms thanks to their technology partners. This helps lower initial costs but also provides predictability to IT forecasting and budgeting. Plus, you’ll have clearer visibility on software and hardware costs for new technology in the future as your managed services provider knows multi-year plans for implementation.

4. Alleviate potential downtime

The average cost of downtime across industries is historically reported at $5,600 per minute, with recent studies showing an increase to a whopping $9,000 per minute. If critical systems went off for an hour, a day, or even multiple weeks, how long could your business afford to stay open? Consistent downtime also degrades customer experience and trust, potentially leading to churn. Managed IT providers support proactive backup and disaster recovery so that you can return to business faster and avoid alarming disaster recovery statistics.

5. Improved pricing on hardware and software

Hardware and software costs can quickly add up, especially if you’re upgrading multiple times a year. Sourcing your equipment through your MSP is a smarter choice as they typically offer better pricing and terms thanks to their technology partners. This helps lower initial costs but also provides predictability to IT forecasting and budgeting. Plus, you’ll have clearer visibility into software and hardware costs for new technology in the future as your MSP manages multi-year plans for implementation.

6. 24/7 support without overtime costs

Having human workers available 24/7 isn’t possible without massive overtime costs or a huge team. Managed services providers typically leverage both human and automated monitoring to protect your business around the clock, no matter the time zone. As your business grows and opens new locations, your MSP can scale for you instead of hiring additional staff, growing your company without incurring more hiring costs.

7. Access to best-in-class and emerging technologies to beat the innovation curve

Innovative technologies improve slow websites and applications, provide real-time inventory monitoring on supply chains, create a positive overall customer experience, and solve many other problems your business might face. Working with an MSP gives your organization unparalleled access to best-in-class and emerging technologies in artificial intelligence, machine learning, threat detection, and automation. Plus, you don’t need to hire and retain experts in-house to utilize the latest technology trends.

Partnering with an expert managed IT services provider saves money across your entire budget while getting your company access to world-class technology and expertise. At TPx, we help companies figure out how to maximize their IT budget for the highest value. Show us your IT bill, and chances are, we can help lower it! Get in touch to get started.

The post 7 Ways to Save Your Business Money With Managed IT Services appeared first on TPx Communications.

Online meetings have now been the norm for years. But just because they’re standard doesn’t mean they’re always enjoyable – or effective. They can even be downright boring and isolating. Implement these ten traits to nail your next virtual meeting.

1. Have an Agenda

There’s nothing worse than a surprise meeting with no agenda, outline, or context. Instead, a clear agenda should be sent well before the meeting time to give participants context. It should be realistic, meaning all agenda items can be discussed in the time allotted, and provide invitees with everything they need to be prepared.

2. Encourage Engagement

Encourage all participants to actively engage. This means encouraging the use of video instead of just audio, keeping larger meetings interactive with break-out rooms, and ensuring an inclusive environment where everyone has access to the same information at the same time. Using a unified communication tool can help capture gestures and reactions, critical aspects of communication that allow participants to feel connected on a human level – not just a workplace one.

3. Establish Ground Rules for Large Groups

When running virtual meetings with large groups, it is essential to manage the conversation and mute background noise that may interfere with the conversation. Use tools like the chat box for interactivity, and ask attendees to utilize hand-raising or Q&A functions for effective participation.

4. Ensure Your Technology and Internet Are Working Correctly

Before the meeting begins, check that your meeting video software is operating correctly. Ensure that all documents you need to share are readily available and that your webcam, audio feed, and any other crucial technology components are in good working order. You may even want to test your internet connection. Utilizing a secure connection is also essential to prevent hackers from accessing your meeting unauthorized.

5. Say Goodbye to Multitasking

Set the expectation that this meeting is the only focus at the moment. Don’t look at other screens, check email, or answer calls – and ask participants to do the same. Encouraging video and audio on for all participants is a great way to improve engagement.

6. Invite Only Those Who Need to Attend

Multitasking is difficult to resist when you have been asked to attend a meeting that should not have included you and is a waste of valuable time and resources – yours, and the company’s! Be strategic about who is invited to virtual meetings and respectful of each person’s time and role. It’s never a bad idea to double-check whether you have the right person.

7. Prioritize Human Connection

When possible, start the meeting with conversation that invites human connection. With many of us working from home, create space for the water cooler talk that would have happened in a traditional office setting as people settled into the conference room. Whether you implement formal icebreakers or simply leave room to catch up on participants’ weekends, make sure the meeting begins with the most important component: people.

8. Stick to the Allotted Time

Respecting everyone’s time means starting the meeting on time and ending the meeting on time. Other people will have commitments, so ensure they don’t feel pressured to stay in the meeting beyond the scheduled time.

9. Avoid Scheduling Meetings Back-to-Back

No one likes to go from one virtual meeting to another without regrouping or taking a quick break. If you must schedule back-to-back meetings, consider making them 45 or 50 minutes to give attendees some breathing room.

10. End the Meeting with Clear Next Steps and Action Items

Summarize key takeaways to clarify any decisions that were made. If there are action items, make sure each action item has an owner and a due date. That will give all participants a clear understanding of their responsibilities and the discussion outcomes.

TPx offers the Unified Communications solution you need to nail online meetings and optimize employee productivity and collaboration. Get in touch with us for a demo or more information.

The post 10 Traits of a Great Online Meeting appeared first on TPx Communications.

Organizations of all sizes rely on phone systems for business communications and collaboration. With new capabilities and the improved reliability of cloud-based phone systems, traditional phone systems may not be the answer. Even when some of these benefits are clear, many organizations are hesitant to switch to a cloud-based phone system because of several misconceptions.

In this blog, we’ll cover myths about cloud-based phone systems so you have all the information you need to make an informed decision.

Myth #1: Cloud-based Phone Systems Do Not Have Good Call Quality

Back when cell networks were new and your phone calls could be “out of range,” call quality was lower than it is today. The reality is that most organizations rely on extensive, always-on, high-speed networks and Wi-Fi, giving cloud-based systems excellent audio fidelity. In addition, modern systems include functions such as noise removal and speech enhancement.

Myth #2: Migrating to a Cloud-based Phone System is Too Complex

Another myth about modern phone systems is that the migration and setup are technical, time-consuming, and complex. Many of today’s systems are pre-packaged solutions with self-guided instructions. While most phone system providers attempt to make setup as easy as possible, setting up a phone system can be even easier with the help of a professional.

Work with a managed services provider like TPx to migrate to a cloud-based system and benefit from a smooth transition from an on-premises system to a cloud-based one. Experts guide you through the process, making the transition as easy as possible.

Myth #3: Cloud-based Phone Systems Don’t Work if the Internet Goes Down

While it is true that cloud phone systems rely on the internet to send and receive information, modern features allow for greater reliability. For example, when a cloud phone system detects a network outage, calls can be routed to another cell phone or an answering service. Additionally, when you pair cloud phone systems with SD-WAN technology, you enable redundancy as SD-WAN can prioritize data traffic, increase bandwidth, and improve the reliability of your phone system, giving you 100% uptime.

Myth #4: Setting Up a New Cloud-based Phone System is Expensive

Will investing in cloud phone technology cost my business more money? The truth is that the cost of setting up a new system in the cloud is much lower than purchasing an on-premises system. In addition to providing savings on setup costs, cloud service providers will tailor any telephone services to fit your business needs, ensuring you are only paying for what you will be using. The service provider now handles all maintenance and upgrade costs that your business would traditionally handle. These costs will also come in at a lower price as fewer people are needed to maintain modern cloud-based systems.

Myth #5: Cloud-based Phone Systems Are Not Secure

Because my telephone system is in the cloud, is it more vulnerable to hacking and cyberattacks? Unfortunately, businesses and government agencies are always under attack. How we prepare and respond to an attack makes all the difference. Choose a solution designed with end-to-end encryption, one that provides central administrative controls to be selective as to who has access, and one that adheres to industry regulatory compliance.

Don’t let these myths stop you from quality cloud calling. Learn more about how TPx can help provide the cloud-based phone systems you need to improve your communications and collaboration, or get in touch with our experts to get a customized quote.

The post Busting Myths Around Cloud-Based Phone Systems appeared first on TPx Communications.

In remote and distributed workplaces, it’s a different challenge to build and maintain strong business collaboration. But collaboration is key to success – creating more efficiency, increasing productivity, and boosting your bottom line. The first step in enabling business collaboration is fostering a culture that makes it a priority. Use these seven best practices to improve collaboration in your business.

1. Enable a Collaboration and Communication Solution

Leveraging a single business collaboration platform for calling, meetings, video conferencing, chat, whiteboarding, and screen-sharing creates an environment conducive to effective collaboration. With a centralized solution, you put collaboration tools at your team’s fingertips. You can also empower them to collaborate on a range of devices and from remote locations, making it easier for them to work on their own terms, no matter the time zone or location.

2. Communicate Your Company’s Goals and Objectives

Get everyone on the same page when it comes to your company goals. Make everyone a participant in company-wide initiatives and create buy-in across the organizations. Each team member will be more productive and engaged when they understand how they can contribute to success – and what’s in it for them.

3. Make Connecting Easy

If you give your teams an all-in-one app, they have all the connection tools they need in a single business collaboration platform. They don’t have to hunt for the right app or manage multiple login credentials when it’s time to connect with others.

You also relieve your team members of the burden of having to check their calendars and verify when others are free because your system can automatically keep availability statuses up-to-date. Whether you need a quick chat, a video call, or a full-fledged meeting, all options are at your team’s fingertips.

4. Lead by Example

Prioritize having your leadership set the tone by embracing collaboration and communication tools. This involves leadership both championing a collaborative environment and demonstrating the effectiveness of collaboration tools by using them. Take company-wide meetings as an opportunity to introduce and promote new functionality and encourage participation across the organization. Collaboration must start at the top.

5. Design More Engaging Meetings

With the right solution, your virtual meetings can be more engaging, productive, and enjoyable. Weave in:

• Whiteboarding
• Screen sharing
• Question and answer sessions
• Emoji sharing
• Interactive GIFs
• In-meeting chat

6. Encourage Social Engagement

Encourage relationship-building between employees to create teams of allies ready to interact, solve problems, and rely on each other to meet challenges. Show your teams how to use your communication and collaboration solution to connect, and encourage them to have fun with the system and each other as they use it. Even if your teams are remote, encourage interaction about hobbies, pets, family, and other personal interests. Hold ice breakers at the beginning of recurring meetings. Ask about people’s weekends. Creating an environment built on mutual appreciation and trust will lead to heightened efficiency and business collaboration when your people are in the trenches.

7. Promote Face-to-Face Communication

Face-to-face communication, even with a widely distributed workforce, is relatively easy when you have effective video conferencing technology at your disposal. By encouraging team members to turn on their cameras, verbal and non-verbal communication are equally facilitated, allowing for more authentic interactions. As a result, you’ll gain many of the benefits of in-person meetings along with the sharing and communication features your digital collaboration tools make possible.

Improve Business Collaboration with TPx

TPx helps you achieve your collaboration goals using an award-winning unified communications solution, UCx with Webex, giving you access to best-in-class calling and business collaboration tools. Schedule a demo and see it for yourself.

The post 7 Best Practices to Improve Business Collaboration appeared first on TPx Communications.

Application Prioritization

Application prioritization gives high-priority traffic like VoIP and video first resources, maintaining crystal-clear audio and video. Thanks to SD-WAN, your network detects the application and prioritizes VoIP traffic over other types like email and web browsing. For employees and customers, this improves productivity and the overall communication experience.

Bandwidth Bonding

Bandwidth bonding combines data at the packet level and aggregates multiple connection links — cable, DSL, fiber, wireless, and more — to share their bandwidth. This automatically increases a location’s capacity and encourages session persistence. If problems and connectivity issues arrive, calls are immediately reported to an available connection. This eliminates dropped calls, reduces latency, and boosts reliability.

Forward Error Correction

With forward error connection, the receiving end of SD-WAN duplicates your phone call’s data packets, giving every packet of every phone call two chances to succeed. It also detects and corrects errors in transmitted data, minimizing errors and loss that can make VoIP phone calls sound choppy or drop altogether.

Jitter Buffering

A jitter buffer reduces phone calls to disjointed, choppy pockets of audio, creating lag and frustrating communication experiences. SD-WANs can collect data pockets that compromise your call, store them, and send them out in normally spaced intervals. This temporary storing creates a standard, clear VoIP instead of dealing with poor audio due to network congestion.

Network Security

With cyberattacks on the rise, network security is mission-critical. Increase your network security with a combination of SD-WAN and firewalls. This creates a seamlessly updated threat detection and filter list, protecting your infrastructure and data in real-time. It also adds a layer of protection from vulnerabilities that can cause network slowdowns and failures that impact VoIP call quality and user experience. And if you’re worried about your network security, get a free Network Security Evaluation from TPx.

Leverage SD-WAN for Improved VoIP Quality

VoIP cloud calling provides scalability, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and increased quality, and TPx helps leverage these benefits even more when paired with SD-WAN and firewall solutions. Contact our team today to learn more about our cloud calling, SD-WAN and firewall solutions and how they can deliver increased quality, reliability, and security of your business communications.

The post Improve VoIP Quality With SD-WAN appeared first on TPx Communications.

Continuous Presence

Today’s modern unified communications solutions offer advanced presence capabilities, such as tracking activity across devices and apps and enabling users to set contact preferences. This is not only useful for internal purposes; consider a customer who needs to get in touch with an employee — knowing if that person is available and, if able, transferring the customer to that specific person makes for a better customer experience.

Integrations With Business Applications

Integrating your unified communications solution with popular business applications and CRM systems enables more professional interactions. Planning this integration to include all users and the tools and data they use during customer interactions is key to ensuring a streamlined and successful interaction every time.

Connect Anywhere

Connect effectively from anywhere. With an easy-to-use application that allows users to access voicemail, take and make calls, set up meetings, etc., your employees no longer need to be close to their business phone or company laptop to interact with customers or team members. Let them choose the device that works best for their situation. Working in ways that best suit your employees’ needs will improve team collaboration, increase productivity, and enable everyone to work in a safe environment with the proper security and compliance controls built into your unified communications solution.

Enhanced Audio Quality

A unified communications solution provides clearer audio for an improved customer experience. According to a recently published white paper, 58% of customer service agents say it is sometimes difficult to hear what customers are saying. Digitizing voice fidelity and limiting background noise will maximize the usefulness of that interaction.

TPx’s UCx with Webex unified communications solution offers a best-in-class user experience and helps provide an even better customer experience. Want to see the different of UCx with Webex? Contact TPx’s sales team to see this award-winning solution in action.

The post Unified Communications Enhance Customer Experience appeared first on TPx Communications.

The business landscape is constantly evolving thanks to advancements in technology and new demands and expectations from consumers. Business leaders and IT professionals alike face increasing pressure to adopt technologies that will help drive business growth. While evolving technology has improved operations, collaboration, and efficiency in the workplace, it has made it more complex for IT professionals to manage and keep their infrastructure secure. In this blog, we’ll discuss the top six IT challenges businesses need to be aware of in 2024 and what they mean for your IT teams.

1. Cyber Threats

Cybersecurity attacks dominated the headlines last year. According to Apple’s 2023 study “The Continued Threat to Personal Data: Key Factors Behind the 2023 Increase,” data breaches were at an all-time high in 2023. As businesses adopt more and more technology, it can create the potential for increased vulnerabilities if the right cybersecurity measures, policies, and processes are not in place.

To address these vulnerabilities and mitigate risk, businesses are investing in cybersecurity and making it a priority. According to business consulting firm Gartner, global spending on security risk and management will grow 14% in 2024 — a total of more than $214 billion. However, simply increasing spending is not an effective plan. Cybersecurity efforts require dedicated teams with the right skills to understand and prevent attacks. Businesses also need the right cybersecurity technology and continuous monitoring to identify threats and mitigate them quick before they become an issue.

2. Legacy Infrastructure

All businesses use some form of software, but too often, businesses fall susceptible to the adage, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.” Outdated legacy technology poses significant IT challenges that businesses may be unaware of until issues arise. Not only is legacy infrastructure costly to maintain, but it also often requires significant manpower to support with unique skills set that many employees may not possess. As employees leave the company or retire, they could be leaving your organization without the right skillset to keep legacy technology operating.

Many companies transition to modern tools like cloud-based applications, which is often easier to maintain and requires less manpower to operate. There is also the added benefit of being more secure. Legacy technology often has greater vulnerabilities as patches become less frequent or software becomes unsupported. Cloud-based solutions are continuously updated with proactive cybersecurity measures.

3. Data-Driven Decision-Making

IT professionals have hundreds of decisions they need to make regarding their operations, infrastructure, policies, and processes. Often, businesses don’t have enough data to make educated decisions. Sometimes it’s due to lack of available data in systems, especially if the technology is not cloud-based. Getting access to data becomes much more complicated.

Modern technology offers a plethora of data to help with decision-making, but not all data is created equal. To ensure that the best information is given for critical decisions, IT systems need robust reporting and analytics to ensure that every piece of data is meaningful, particularly regarding potential vulnerabilities.

4. Evolving Regulatory Requirements

Technology regulatory requirements are constantly evolving to keep up with the light-speed pace of innovation. Over the last few years, several different regulatory requirements across industries have adjusted their requirements to address changes in technology and the threat landscape. The recent changes to the FTC’s Safeguards Rule and PCI-DSS 4.0 are just two examples.

There are many different rules across industries and at the state and federal level. IT professionals must now keep a pulse on the regulatory requirements to ensure their business is in compliance. This can be a burdensome task without the right tools and resources at their disposal. Working with a provider that offers security advisory services can help businesses keep better track of compliance requirements.

5. IT Skills Shortage

As if organizational issues and external threats weren’t enough, IT teams face internal challenges as well like an IT skills shortage. Many organizations struggle to attract and retain IT talent with the skills set that’s needed to keep their organization operating smoothly.

Beyond the certifications employees need to stay current on the technology they work with every day, they also need to have the knowledge to address evolving cyber threats. Too often, IT teams have a difficult time addressing their cybersecurity fully in-house without assistance from a vendor or managed services provider. In fact, according to ISC2’s latest Cybersecurity Workforce Study, the cybersecurity workforce skills gap has reached an all-time high. ICS2 reports that while the overall IT workforce has increased by 10%, 4 million jobs sit unfilled as companies struggle to hire enough skilled workers to meet their needs.

6. Supporting Hybrid Work

Many organizations offer a hybrid work or remote work environment for their employees. While these work environments offer greater flexibility for employees, they require significant IT manpower and infrastructure to support it.

Prior to the days of remote and hybrid work, IT professionals had the luxury of managing their network and security in the confines of a secured office environment. Now, IT teams need to keep employees connected and secure from multiple locations.

Address IT Challenges and Optimize Your IT

While IT teams face several challenges in today’s complex business landscape, you don’t have to do it alone. By working with a managed services provider like TPx, we can help address your IT challenges and keep your operations running smoothly and securely. With a full suite of networking, internet, cloud communications, and cybersecurity services, we provide the peace of mind you need ensuring your business remains secure and competitive in the digital age. Interested in learning more about how we can help? Reach out for a free consultation today.

The post The Top Six IT Challenges Businesses Face in 2024 appeared first on TPx Communications.

Unified communications refers to software that provides calling, collaboration, meetings, and messaging within a single application to simplify and improve interactions. As organizations continue to invest in technology to support a distributed workforce, unified communications will become even more essential. Below are the top eight benefits of unified communications:

1. Flexibility and Mobility

One of the best benefits of unified communications is the flexibility it provides users. A unified communications platform enables users to stay connected and productive from anywhere and with any device. This ability can quickly become a competitive advantage, as employees can choose how they collaborate and do so in real time. No longer do employees need to be tied to a desk phone to make or receive calls. A unified communications solution allows you to make or take calls, join meetings, listen to voicemail, chat, and more from anywhere providing greater mobility and flexibility to users.

2. Scalability

Because unified communications platforms are often cloud-based, they will scale to accommodate growth and changing needs as your organization evolves. Whether adding new users, locations, or changing permissions, unified communications platforms make it easy to update functionality as business needs change.

Additionally, how your teams communicate and collaborate may change over time, as some employees may want to work from home, while others may want to work from the office or take a hybrid approach. Legacy phone systems don’t always make it easy to accommodate these changes. The benefits of unified communications make it possible to scale your business and evolve with changing business needs, while maintaining a high-level of performance and productivity.

3. Cost Savings

While unified communications platforms offer better functionality and performance over legacy phone systems, there are also business benefits that help the bottom line. One of the most important benefits of unified communications is the cost savings it provides. Often companies will see substantial savings by consolidating multiple communication tools and services into a single, unified platform. The amount will vary depending on your company’s location, number of employees, and industry. There are a couple of factors that impact cost savings:

• Reduced equipment and maintenance costs: a unified communications platform eliminates the need to invest in multiple systems, maintenance, and service providers to support communications. Because unified communications platforms can be deployed in the cloud, the time and resources needed to maintain the system are drastically decreased, freeing up your staff to work on other projects.
• Reduced travel time and expenses: Because the UC platform enables connectivity and productivity from anywhere at any time and with any device, what was once essential travel may not be necessary anymore. Additionally, those employees who may have had long commutes to be productive in the office can now maintain productivity and connectivity while at home, in the office, or in transit.

4. Enhanced Collaboration

The collaboration benefits of unified communications platforms extend beyond what your typical phone systems can offer. With cloud calling, video conferencing, meetings, messaging, file sharing, screen sharing, whiteboarding, and AI capabilities combined in a single platform, teams can collaborate on a whole new level. If your organization has a distributed workforce, collaboration can be difficult without the right tools. Unified communications solutions like UCx with Webex offers team collaboration that can help your team work more effectively to create new ideas.

5. Increased Productivity

With unified communications, users can leverage the device of their choice for calling, messaging, conferencing, and collaboration. By consolidating phone systems, communication tools, and collaboration apps, organizations can streamline processes to reduce time and effort your employees take switching between different applications. In today’s digital workplace, employees often must pivot between dozens of different applications and systems, but with a single unified communications solution, the user can leverage all the tools and functionality they need within a single app, improving productivity.

6. Streamlined Workflows

Unified communications can help streamline workflows playing a vital role in your team’s overall productivity. Unified communications platforms often offer integrations with other business applications and tools, such as project management systems, customer care systems, and customer relationship (CRM) systems so that you have access to your most important data when you need it most.

7. Improved Customer Experience

By transitioning to a unified communications platform, you are enabling employees to create better customer interactions. Because your communications for calling, messaging, meetings, and video conferencing are in a single application, businesses can provide customers with a seamless and consistent experience regardless of communication channel. Plus, integrations into popular CRM systems make it easy to provide effective communication to your customers, ultimately helping deliver on a better experience.

8. Business Continuity

Communication is a vital part of business today. You can’t afford for it to go down. A unified communications provides greater business continuity and uptime, especially when paired with an SD-WAN solution. When you have both solutions working in tandem, it helps ensure that in the event of a disaster or network outage, communication channels can remain operational, minimizing impact to your business operations.

Experience the Benefits of Unified Communications

UCx with Webex is an award-winning unified communications solution built using best-in-class technology to help transform the way your employees work. Get the best of collaboration, meetings, messaging, and enterprise VoIP in a single solution. Enable your team to do more with leading feature functionality. See the benefits of unified communications first-hand. Contact our sales team today to schedule a demo today.

The post Top Eight Benefits of Unified Communications appeared first on TPx Communications.

When ChatGPT set the world record for the fastest-growing user base, the whole world began taking serious notice of artificial intelligence (AI). Organizations across industries are rapidly revolutionizing thanks to AI and being able to realize improved efficiencies, reduced manual tasks, improved data-driven decision-making, and more. But did you know the power of AI can extend to your virtual meetings? In this blog, we’ll outline how your organization can utilize artificial intelligence in your UCx with Webex virtual meetings.

How AI Redefines the Virtual Meeting Experience

UCx with Webex is a one-of-a-kind, unified cloud communications platform that brings calls, chat, meetings, video conferencing, and collaboration together in a single, easy-to-use application. Today, thanks to remote and hybrid work, virtual meetings are the table stakes for effective communication as organizations are more distributed than ever. As user needs evolve, virtual meeting technology must evolve with it.

With the AI advancements from UCx with Webex, you can enhance your virtual meeting experience, optimize clear communication, and improve accessibility to widely distributed teams. When combined with UCx with Webex’s already rich feature functionality, the AI enhancements help your team collaborate more efficiently to save time and increase productivity.

Top AI Features in UCx with Webex

UCx with Webex offers several different ways you can incorporate AI into your virtual meetings. Some top AI features include:

Virtual Assistant

Webex’s virtual assistant responds both audibly and visually to voice commands during virtual meetings. With the AI-powered virtual assistant, you can ask Webex to write down action items, provide notes, and more. This allows you to stay engaged and focused on the conversation happening in front of you. Plus, if you are presenting a slide deck or walking through visuals, it helps you give commands without breaking your pace.

And there are even more AI advancements underway for the virtual assistant. During WebexOne 2023, Cisco announced that it is adding pervasive, generative artificial intelligence into Webex enabling it to be even more AI-enabled, smarter, more efficient, and easier to use in every way. For example, it will help you get caught up on a meeting you are late to in real-time, automatically summarize an hour-long meeting recording into just a minute, recorded meetings will automatically include chapters, highlights, and even personalized action items, allowing you to get to the most critical information faster.

Gesture Recognition

So much of what we say is nonverbal, which can often get lost during virtual meetings. UCx with Webex’s powerful AI tool auto-recognizes specific facial recognition gestures to display the reactions within the meeting. Gesture recognition helps natural communication that doesn’t interrupt the flow of the conversation. With the gesture recognition feature, you can now raise your hand, clap, give a thumbs up or down, and more to emote your reactions. Gesture recognition makes virtual calls and meetings more dynamic and natural, enhancing communication beyond basic audio.

Webex will also soon exclusively feature an industry-first AI Audio Codec and Super Video Resolution. By leveraging this breakthrough technology in video meetings, we can deliver remarkable audio and video quality, even with poor network conditions, while using a fraction of the bandwidth. This is a true end-to-end solution for speech enhancement and highly resilient communications.

Transcriptions

As ubiquitous as virtual meetings are in today’s business landscape, the demand for written transcriptions has increased. With UCx with Webex, turn your virtual meeting recording into a high-quality, accurate transcription. This enables you to quickly look back at meeting notes versus having to spend time watching the full recording. Let’s also consider that using audio data to populate a video meeting transcription is dependent on the quality of that audio to be understood by the AI – this is where the new Webex AI Codec, mentioned above, comes in to make it all work.

As it relates to the application of AI, most of the industry has focused on text inputs, which Large Language Models (LLMs) use to deliver these transcriptions. Recognizing the value of non-text cues in communication, such as tone of voice, facial expressions, and gestures, Webex has been developed to include Real-time Media Models (RMMs), an industry-first technology that extracts rich real-time insights from multiple audio and video streams. This innovative approach sets a new standard for understanding human interactions within the video meetings and enhances the AI generated transcription summary.

Enhance Your Meetings by Using UCx with Webex

AI tools enhance the quality of your virtual meetings. From saving time with a virtual assistant to creating more engaging conversations with gesture recognition, UCx with Webex is one of the leading AI-enhanced unified communications solutions. Ready to see UCx with Webex in action? Contact our team today for a demo and see what UCx with Webex can do for your business.

The post Bringing AI Into Your Virtual Meetings appeared first on TPx Communications.

Is your business phone system holding your business back? There are so many different options on the market today that you should be able to find the right phone system for your business that fits within your budget. In order to pick the right type of phone system, businesses must really understand their needs and evaluate what they are looking for in terms of service, features, and functionality. Be thoughtful about what capabilities and features you choose, as they need to work with your existing IT infrastructure and support your business as it grows. Not sure which business phone system is right for your business? Make an informed decision by considering the following before purchasing a new business phone system.

1. Affordability

Traditional phone systems mostly relied on in-house private branch exchange (PBX) systems to manage calls and provide voicemail. If your current phone system is in-house, you may be paying more for maintenance, hardware and software costs, and break-fix services. Today’s unified communications systems are often cloud-based, making them more affordable than their on-premises counterparts. Plus, they offer modern features such as video conferencing, team chat, and voicemail-to-email.

2. Calling Capabilities

When evaluating features, consider those that will provide flexibility to all users, such as Call Forwarding to allow employees to take calls wherever and “Do Not Disturb” mode that helps employees gain uninterrupted focus. Every business must determine what call capabilities are necessary for their business as the right functionality can help increase your team’s productivity. Plus, with call analytics and reporting, you can better understand call volume, call duration, and other key metrics that can help increase productivity.

3. Security

Look for a business phone system that is designed with security in mind. Simply choosing to add security after the system is installed is not a thoughtful approach. For example, UCx with Webex is built with enterprise-grade security, including end-to-end encryption, so your communications remain secure.

4. Reliability

Cloud-based business phone systems offer the best reliability, but when you work with a managed services provider that offers more than just voice services, you can gain greater business continuity. For example, TPx offers cloud communications, internet, networking, and cybersecurity services. We are able to provide 100% uptime when you pair our business phone system with SD-WAN.  However, reliability is more than just uptime, and a managed service provider may be able to ensure your system is running without interference or delays.

5. Collaboration

A business phone system should provide much more than just calling. Today’s workers need true collaboration to be productive and feel like a part of the team. A unified communications platform brings together calling functionality plus the ability to meeting, chat, and collaborate in a single application. With integrated collaboration features, users can do more by meeting face-to-face virtually, screen sharing, whiteboarding, and more.

6. Mobility

It has become business-critical to enable your workers to communicate effectively from anywhere. Look for a phone system that offers true mobility and flexibility that enables employees to work where and how they want. Businesses should consider if the phone system offers a mobile app that allows employees to make and receive calls from their mobile devices while maintaining a professional appearance with their business phone number.  A cloud-based business phone system allows you to use the device of your choice, whether that is a traditional desk phone, laptop, tablet, or mobile phone to make and take calls. As businesses continue to adopt Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, having a flexible mobile app and platform is critical.

7. Scalability

Unlike traditional on-site systems, cloud-based phone systems allow you to more easily scale when your business grows without having the burden of an upfront invest in hardware and software. Cloud-based solutions allow you to add only what you need, when you need it making it cost effective and easy to add and remove users. This level of support will enable business growth without the growing pains of a complicated system to install and maintain.

8. Regulatory Compliance

Ensure that any business phone system you are considering is compliant with industry regulations such as e911, HIPAA, and PCI-DSS. A non-compliant phone system could end up costing a lot in regulatory fines.

9. Integrations

Your employees will be much more productive if your phone system integrates with the tools they use the most. Integrations with CRM systems and productivity tools like calendars and email can streamline workflows and improve customer interactions. UCx with Webex offers dozens of business phone system integrations that will enable your employees to have a productive and seamless workday.

Want to learn more about different business phone system options and what type of system is best for your business? Reach out to the experts at TPx to talk through options and see a demo of UCx with Webex. Let us help you find the solution of your dreams.

The post Nine Things to Look for in a Business Phone System appeared first on TPx Communications.

Having more than one retail location doesn’t mean you have to manage multiple IT systems for each storefront. Disparate IT solutions can leave you open to operational inefficiencies and considerable cybersecurity risks not to mention they are costly to manage and maintain. But with the following tips, you can centralize your tech and provide a better IT experience of each store, giving your business the best of both worlds. In this blog, we outline four retail IT solutions that make it easier to do business when you’re managing multiple locations.

Use SD-WAN for an Enhanced Network

SD-WAN allows you to manage and monitor network activity from a centralized location remotely, saving both time and money. More importantly, you can use SD-WAN to optimize your network’s performance across retail locations, deciding which applications and workflows need the most bandwidth and setting up your system accordingly. With SD-WAN, you can benefit from guaranteed performance delivered over the cloud to create seamless enterprise connectedness.

Invest in Unified Communications

Retail IT solutions like unified communications gives you the power to manage multiple phone lines across distributed retail locations—all while using a single backend management system. Not only does this simplify your management, but it also paves the way for better communications between employees and customers at difference retail locations. Since unified communications are cloud-based, you get greater reliability and uptime when paired with SD-WAN to improve customer interactions.

Enable a Network Firewall

Keeping your retail business safe from cyberattacks can be difficult without the proper retail IT solutions in place. A managed firewall can help by being a first line of defense against internet-based attacks.  Not only can it help keep your network and customer information secure, you can also benefit from greater visibility and control of your network.

Incorporate a Centralized Inventory System

By creating a single, centralized inventory solution, you can streamline your purchasing and order fulfillment processes. In this way, you always know what you need to buy to support the inventory of each location—all on one screen. In addition, you pave the way for seamless sharing of inventory between your different locations. Instead of over-investing in buying and shipping inventory to individual stores, you can transport excess stock from one location to another, saving both time and money.

Use Virtual Meetings to Consistently Connect With Employees

It can be very complex to touch base with employees as frequently as you need to when you have multiple locations. But if you use a virtual meeting system as one of your retail IT solutions, you can enjoy meaningful interactions without having to invest time and energy into traveling to your different locations. In this way, employees can be made to feel like an integral part of the company’s culture. When everyone gets the chance to provide and receive feedback, you can create a culture that values everyone on the team. You also get the chance to address employee issues as soon as they arise instead of waiting weeks or longer for an opportunity to visit their site.

These retail IT solutions can make it easier to manage and scale your business to even more new locations. By using cloud-based solutions with centralized management, you save time and money while taking advantage of rich feature functionality that helps improve operations. To learn how managed retail IT solutions can make using these and other technologies easy, connect with TPx today!

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