Saying that effective workplace communication is important is like saying water is wet, fire is hot, or that people with small children will repeatedly, and painfully, step on Legos many, many times. These are all blatantly self-evident (especially the Lego one).  However, just because everyone knows that effective workplace communication is important, does NOT mean that it’s happening everywhere. Consider these statistics:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kHkr5HrG-A 28% of employees cite ineffective communication as the number one reason why they cannot deliver work on time. 86% of employees and executives believe that ineffective communication is the core reason for workplace failures. Ineffective communication costs large enterprises an average of...

Across the country, organizations from small businesses to large enterprises are experiencing hybrid work for the first time. And just like experiments in a laboratory, sometimes the results are amazing. Other times they are disappointing (and occasionally, they are flat-out disasters). The first thing we should note is that hybrid work — which is when workers spend part of the week in their home office, and part of the week in the corporate office — is here to stay. Now that workers have shown that it is not just viable but a positive change for many, a survey has found that...

Are your outbound calls being labeled as SPAM or being Blocked by a carrier?  If so, read this. Multiple companies provide analytics, each with its own tracking and radar systems. The FCC mandated a new system to authenticate calls with a certificate on every outbound call but has delayed the implementation of this new protocol for another year. The result is that the demand from users to block these unwanted calls has increased and many times causes your call to be blocked because it has been spoofed as a number that has been used by a robocall.  The first option is to report this...

These days, workers spend much of their time away from their desks — and some of them never come into the office at all. Currently, 55% of workers telecommute full-time, and by the year 2020, this is expected to reach 72%. In fact, 48% of workers don’t even believe that traditional offices will exist by the year 2021!This means your company needs a cost-effective, reliable, scalable, and secure way to extend your telecommunications footprint beyond desks and offices — so that your team can be productive, efficient, and successful at all times. That is where our mobile app for iOS...

Before we look at how to choose the best business phone system, let’s highlight why many businesses are frustrated with their current landline (i.e. on-site PBX) phone system:     High Up-Front Costs: Landline phone systems are very costly to purchase, install and maintain.    No Cost Certainty: Costs can fluctuate significantly from month-to-month, making budgeting and forecasting difficult and risky.    Lack of Scalability: If the maximum number of lines are in use, a replacement can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Lack of Business Continuity: A landline system uses a network design with a single point of failure. This means if part of the system fails,...

These days, you can talk to most people about catastrophes, disasters, calamities, and other terrible things, but mention the word “prayer” and the conversation often comes to a screeching halt. Some people call this political correctness. I call it misguided.The way I was raised and where I come from, prayer does not mean trying to force other people to believe certain things. It also does not mean judging and condemning people who believe differently, or who do not believe at all. Instead, prayer is about cultivating an intimate and essential relationship with God. A wonderful pastor advised me many years...

The Era of Working Remotely has arrived — and it is here to stay! In the foreseeable future, hundreds of millions of employees will spend at least part of their week working from a home office. In fact, Gartner projects that a whopping 51% of global knowledge workers will be remote by the end of 2021 — up from 27% in 2019   This is great news for employees who can avoid the time, stress, and cost of commuting. However, it is not great news for some employers who are running into three problems related to working remotely.   Below, we highlight these problems,...

The pandemic has ushered into a new era of remote working. Until early 2020, remote working was generally viewed as an optional perk. But since then, it has shifted into a fundamental necessity. A survey found that 40% of remote workers would consider quitting if forced to return to the office fulltime. In response to this change in work habits, organizations of all sizes and across all sectors —private, public, and non-profit — have pivoted towards tools and technologies that enhance remote work by making it more efficient and productive; and at the same time, boost remote worker engagement and morale....

While some larger organizations can afford to waste money (at least for a little while), most small businesses do not have much margin for error. This is why a small business phone system is vital! If they fail to keep a close eye on the bottom line, then they eventually will fold. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics: Approximately 20 percent of small businesses fail within 12 months of launching. A further 10 percent disappear within 24 months. Another 20 percent are gone within 36 months. Yet another 20 percent bid farewell within 60 months. By the end of a decade, a staggering 70...

Fleet-Plummer is a family business that was founded in 1949 as a hardware store in Greensboro, North Carolina, and remains one of the Triad’s oldest retail stores. Over the years, Fleet-Plummer has grown into an eclectic lifestyle retail destination that offers anything you need for gracious living with Southern style. While Fleet-Plummer offers everything from grills and patio furniture to greeting cards and jewelry, the one thing that Fleet-Plummer was lacking was a dependable telephone system and provider. So, when their telephone system was down for three days, they were desperately trying to find a solution. After a Google search on...