Many municipalities were caught off-guard when the COVID-19 pandemic required them to make a swift change to remote work. Businesses at all levels, but particularly in local government, were forced to address a host of concerns from a shortage of secure infrastructure and increased risks of cyber-attacks to untrained staff managing critical information without the help of their IT team. Let’s take a look:InfrastructureWithout pre-planning for a teleworking-friendly structure, many offices were ill-prepared for the stay-at-home orders at the outset of the pandemic. Lacking reliable communication and collaboration tools like VoIP or a committed hosting platform, many didn’t even have...

Now that it has been a few months since the COVID-19 pandemic forced many of us to change our daily routines, it’s time for a refresher course in video conferencing etiquette. If sweatpants have become your new office attire, and your daily commute has moved to a stroll from the bedroom to the kitchen to the sofa, you don’t want to let your guard down. Even though we may have become accustomed to working from home that doesn’t give us a pass from looking presentable for the onslaught of web meetings we still must attend on a weekly and often...

The global demand for cloud-based communication has been increasing at a rapid pace recently. It is estimated that the global cloud PBX market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 13%, reaching a value of 6.36 billion dollars by 2027.If you don’t switch to cloud communications, your competition will have an advantage. Many organizations have either already switched or are beginning the move to cloud technology. The benefits of switching your business to cloud include increased flexibility, improved performance, and lower cost. Nevertheless, there are still businesses that have not taken the final step to convert to...

With signs that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic may finally be receding into our rearview mirror, it’s time to focus our attention on restarting North Carolina’s economy. But where do we start on the roadmap to recovery? Certainly, we don’t want to do anything to fuel the second wave of potentially more severe infections or mortality. However, we need to recognize the catastrophic economic hardship inflicted on businesses and workers. A slow road into a recession is one thing. It’s different to go from a record low unemployment rate to slamming on the brakes and losing 36 million jobs...

In the 21st century, communication is the key to success in business. Whatever the nature, size and scope of your enterprise you need to be able to make the outbound calls that secure new business and facilitate healthy operations while ensuring that when your clients need you, you’re never more than a phone call away. And in the digital age, more and more businesses are choosing to eschew traditional telecoms networks for VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) services to facilitate their business communications.If you’re considering changing over to VoIP for the first time, you risk walking into a potential minefield....

While a lot of business communication these days has shifted to email, chat and instant messaging, rumors that the phone has died have been greatly exaggerated. Here are some eye-opening statistics:Calls to businesses are expected to surpass 169 billion per year by 2020, and are 10-15 times more likely to generate a successful sale or follow-up activity vs. digital form submissions. (Source: BIA/Kelsey)65% of customers prefer to contact a business by phone, while only 24% are satisfied with only a web form. (Source: Invoca)75% percent of customers believe that calling is the most effective way to get a quick response...