May 9, 2023 | SMB Technology, SMB Technology, SMB Technology, SMB Technology, Technology News
Like rock and roll, remote work is here to stay. Customers have numerous ways to reach your business, but not until the advent of communications and collaboration software have these methods been integrated. Read on to learn more about this way of connecting multiple touchpoints. The Benefits of Communications and Collaboration Anyone who has used Zoom phone and videoconferencing or Microsoft Teams over the past few years has learned how easy collaboration and communication is between coworkers and customers. Such integration can help workers collaborate online and on video along with sharing files and customer information, anytime and anywhere. What’s more, customers can choose how they communicate with you, switching easily from one channel to another. On the customer-facing side, providing customers with their favorite way of communicating gives them a positive experience with your company. Integrating communications and collaboration applications, more than having them available separately, allows a customer to stay connected from voice mail, to phone, to video, without missing a beat. This positive Customer Experience (CX) can help you not just please customers but stand out from the competition. Using Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software can expedite calls, allowing workers to serve customers more quickly. Justifying the Investment in Customer Experience While such flexible and fluid communication sounds ideal, your company still has a budget. How, then, can you justify the omnichannel investment? According to a trends article by CompTIA, a third of channel firms report they will seek workers with experience in communications and collaboration (including social media) approaches to customer communications. An earlier article reports that companies using an integrated...
May 2, 2023 | SMB Technology, SMB Technology, SMB Technology, SMB Technology, Technology News
As shown by recent wild weather, one never knows when a natural disaster – or for that matter, a man-made one – might strike. How can you prepare your business to stay running and have access to data in case of such an event? Read on to learn more about using cloud backup to safeguard critical data. Importance of Data Backup Backing up your data is obviously necessary, but where to put it? Keep it on premises and risk having it inaccessible if a disaster disrupts your business? What if your business is closed for weeks or even months? One rule, the 3-2-1 rule, advises having copies of your data in multiple locations. Loss of critical data can result in interruptions to business operations, loss of trust of customers and other stakeholders, and even penalties for failing to comply with data protection regulations. What if one of the locations for data backup and storage is the cloud, with your data managed by a cloud service provider? Benefits of Cloud Backup to Protect Data Simply put, cloud backup is making copies of your data to store in the cloud, with the cloud provider supervising its security and integrity. Your business will have access to data in case of a minor or even major disaster, whether a power outage of a couple hours or a longer disruption. Your IT team can send copies of your data to the CSP for storage and backup, allowing workers to access it anywhere. With the CSP furnishing the infrastructure, as well as providing monitoring and reporting services, data remains safe from...
