Tag Archives: Telecom Expense

Tips for Reducing Telecom Expense

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Telecom ExpenseBusinesses today rely on resilient network connectivity to ensure employee communications, collaboration, and productivity. Applications including Voice over IP (VoIP), Hosted Contact Center, Cloud Backup, and more, need a bulletproof telecom network. What’s more, for companies with Remote Offices/Branch Offices ROBO), telecom expense can quickly add up.

Here are some tips to keep your telecom expense in check:

Audit Your Telecom Expense

By periodically performing a telecom expense audit, you can compare your telecom bills to the contracts for your voice and data network solution. Billing errors can add up, and the savings from catching these errors can be significant. Having an independent expert review your telecom expense can save you a lot of money.

Revisit Your Carrier Network at Renewal Time

When your telecom network contracts are up for renewal, you may be able to get better service for less. You may also find cost-effective alternatives when you add a new Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO).The market for carrier services is competitive, with new technologies introduced all the time.

Consider Software Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN)

SD-WAN is an emerging wide area network approach allowing you to use multiple business- class Internet providers to get the same reliability as MPLS or other networking alternatives. By using multiple carriers to connect your Remote Offices/Branch Offices with each other, the savings can quickly add up.

Proactively Monitor Your Network

By proactively monitoring your network you can avoid downtime and ensure better network performance. Many of these issues can be rapidly resolved using remote management. This proactive managed service approach will reduce network failure while saving IT expense. In many cases you can subscribe to a flat fee managed service providing predictable costs and savings.

If you feel you are paying too much for network services, contact your technology advisor today. An independent advocate can evaluate your needs and find ways for your to save.

New Year’s Resolutions for Your IT Systems

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shutterstock_326576246Are your IT Systems on the naughty or nice list? Do you proactively monitor your networks for compliance, cyberthreat and performance? Are your data back ups up to date? Have you begun your migration to the Cloud? Are you getting the most from your broadband network? Have you trained your employees on the risks of cybersecurity attacks and do they change their passwords regularly? Here is a list of things to add to your list of New Year’s resolutions for 2016.

Proactive Network Monitoring

Your networks should be periodically monitored to ensure application and operating system (O/S) patches are up to date. In addition, you should maintain your anit-virus definitions and keep your malware threat detection up to date. By doing so, you could prevent an unwanted cybersecurity breach and data loss. Worse, loss of reputation resulting from data leaks or loss.

Beyond Backup

There are a variety of remote back up and data protection solutions to ensure you can recover your systems to keep your business running. It is a good idea to test those backups periodically to ensure you can restore your data quickly. Many older tape backup solutions can be slow and unreliable. What’s more, there are many new file sync and sharing solutions allowing your employees to securely access information anywhere. We put more and more reliance on our applications to run our daily operations, so make sure your data is protected in 2016.

Lift Your Business to the Cloud

Cloud Solutions offer many advantages over premise based systems. Using subscription based services help ensure you are always on the latest version. What’s more, you can shift some of your IT costs from a capital expense (Capex)  to an operating expense (Opex). Starting with migrating email, which is an easy first step, to clean up inboxes, secure and encrypt your communications and take many hassles out of IT. Considering following on with files, applications, single sign on and other IT infrastructure to gain the full benefit of Cloud Computing.

Broadband Network Review

Business class Internet services are as affordable as they have ever been. Consider a telecom expense audit to see if you are getting the most bandwidth for the buck. You may not only save money, you may increase your bandwidth and network performance. With mobile computing, cloud computing and eCommerce on the rise, it is important to get the most from your Broadband network.

Cyber Security Training for Employees

Ensure your employees can identify malware threats, man in the middle attacks, phishing schemes and other Cyber Security hacks. Your employees should have a good understanding of what to do in the event of a data loss (for example lost mobile device) and change their passwords periodically. Your employees are your first line of defense against Cyber Attack, so take the time to remind them of their role in protecting your IT Systems.

This is the time of year to spend with family and friends and reflect on the past, while looking forward to the future. Resolve to be the best you can be in 2016 and ensure your IT Systems are ready for prosperity in the new year.