OptiNet Blog

Cloud communications is a hot topic and everyone's doing it.  Is it right for you? It might be.  It's not perfect for every business, but for most it is a great fit.   Cloud PBX, or Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) is a cost effective way of delivering advanced communication features to small and medium businesses.   Integration with Outlook and your CRM, instant messaging, video calling, desktop and document sharing, mobile access, call recording, even call centre functionality are all available to anyone.  These features used to only be available to companies with the money to shell out for an on-premise UC system - but not anymore. Why hosted? You are likely already hosting some or all of your data and applications in the cloud.  Many at least are using Office 365.  This is another opportunity to eliminate the capital and maintenance costs of hardware and software running in your office, as well as reduce ongoing costs fo...

Unified Communications can save money and improve customer satisfaction We discussed in our last blog how unified communications can hoster greater collaboration and workplace functionality, but today we’ll look its value to the “back of the house” and external customers. Unified communications offers opportunities for operational improvements and cost savings, as well as opening up new pathways to create greater customer satisfaction. Move many IT expenses out of the expense budget - Unified communications can migrate many of your channels to the cloud, eliminating a lot of IT hardware expenses, and moving them into a more predictable, monthly expense. Cuts down on internal IT support - Because much of Unified communications relies of the cloud and the SaaS (Software- as- a -service) model to integrate communications, you have less hardware and software on the ground that all require support, upgrades, backups, and maintenance. Create a more centralized point of responsibi...

Four ways unified communications can improve productivity Part II In our last blog we suggested that unified communications has value to an organization's efforts to increase productivity. It can facilitate smoother, more efficient collaboration in a 24/7 workspace. Unified communications can Improve the functionality of our 24/7 workplace - The reality of 24/7 availability has been around for a while, and learning to place constraints on that is for another e-guide. However, unified communications can play a role on the 24/7 expectation problem. For one thing, with a single portal to an individual’s multiple communication channels, an employee can more easily communicate across those channels that they are not available and therefore limit expectations for an immediate or timely response when that is not possible. Also, with a unified portal, responding to different channels in off times can be easier and therefore less time-intrusive. Improve client satisfaction - Nothin...

Four ways unified communications can improve productivity Part I Today's blog will give a quick definition of unified communications and then explain reasons why this concept can lead to improved productivity in the workplace. So what is unified communications? First of all, it is more of a broad concept than any specific, concrete product or service that comes in a box. There are many different vendors that offer some form of unified communications technology and there are many flavors of it. In general, however, unified communications can be understood as the effort to unify the communications channels that we use singularly and/or in parallel and pull them together. For example, a unified communication system might create a unified mailbox whereby a user could access email, v-mail, voice, text and video using only one number. It works to eliminate the parallel structure of our communications channels. Unified communications may also be applied to begin to integrate our social me...

So, what is this “Unified Communications” thing, anyhow? Have you heard the term unified communications tossed around lately? It seems to be used a lot in IT, telecomm, and work collaboration circles. Unified communications is a newer concept that refers to a conceptual platform where multiple communications channels can join together to increase productivity and facilitate collaboration. Here’s one way to look at it. Imagine that you only own one car. And imagine it is a sporty two seater. And then imagine you decide to invite five of your friends, none of whom are able to drive, out to dinner. This means you would have to pick each one up separately and drive him or her to the restaurant. And of course, one of them lives down an old rough farm road, so you have to drive very slowly so you don’t damage the underside of your expensive little two seater. This scenario is pretty similar to the way we handle business communications today. We aren't able to just throw everyone together...

Multi-Channel communications: are they enough?   Do you use the multi-channel communications model? This approach toward communication with customers and prospects is very important, but are you recognizing the limitations that this model has for today’s digital users? This blog will outline what is meant by the term “multi-channel communications” and discuss the limitations of this model for encouraging effective and responsive communications with your customers.   Multi-channel communications means that you have more than one channel available for communications with your customers. At its root, it is a model that creates extra channels for customers to communicate with the organization so that they can meet you on the channel that is most convenient for them. For instance, you may have an 800 number that they can use to ask product questions or place an order. The multi-channel communications model develops when you add an online order form, or perhaps a chat box for questions. Toda...