While healthcare, religious, consulting and many other different types of companies have been showcased through this blog, the recruitment industry certainly requires an integrated business phone system that can handle high volumes of calls on multiple platforms simultaneously.

Take for example Reed Recruitment – a global job placement firm with offices in 13 different countries and more than 2,500 employees – that, until recently, had been operating with 270 different telephony systems, according to an article published by ComputerWorld.

In order to streamline processes and maximize employee productivity and collaboration, company officials decided to invest in an IP-based telephony platform that puts all of those formerly disjointed systems under one umbrella with one service provider. So far, the program has been rolled out to 10 different locations.

After making this investment, employees from the C-level suite down to the entry level are expected to be better positioned to focus on core business processes rather than worry about technical maintenance.

"We believe the current network monitoring model is broken, with too much emphasis on simply meeting technical criteria," Sean Whetstone, the head of Reed's IT services department told the news source. "So instead of monitoring in terms of latency, jitter and packet loss, we wanted to ensure the health of our business applications could be measured and alerted based on the end user's experience."

Businesses in Ohio interested in procuring an IP-based telephony system such as Voice over IP (VOIP) for their operation can do so by partnering with a Cincinatti IT partner that can provide around the clock consultation and maintenance.

From our offices in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, PRO OnCall is your single-source technology consulting service, offering managed IT support, unified communications solutions and on-call IT support.
 

However, while these innovations have laid the framework for time, energy and fiscal savings, there are few things more bothersome to an enterprise official than dealing with a technical malfunction. Moreover, should a company not have the in-house IT staff to quickly troubleshoot any tech issues that arise, it could be left with significant service disruptions that damage the integrity of the business.

In order to prevent the likelihood of a technical malfunction standing in the way of normal business processes, Shoretel – a provider of cloud-based technologies – recently announced the availability of a new solution called Remote Monitoring.

When a client procures Remote Monitoring, the software will automatically keep tabs on the Shoretel products on a customer's premises to isolate any errors that may occur right when they happen. As such, the average time that it takes for a repair to transpire is diminished as the client's service provider of choice will be notified immediately after a problem arises, further allowing officials to focus on their core processes rather than worrying about IT maintenance.

"The great thing about this service is that it moves support and problem response out in front of the end-user experience," said Don Joos of ShoreTel in a press release. "System events and notifications can provide information for action before an end user experiences any problem. With this service it is possible to fix issues before they are even noticed."

Companies in Ohio interested in securing Remote Monitoring for their business would be best advised to partner with a Cincinatti IT consulting firm that serves as an authorized reseller of Shoretel products and that can provide around the clock product implementation, maintenance and support.

From our offices in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, PRO OnCall is your single-source technology consulting service, offering managed IT support, unified communications solutions and on-call IT support. 

As such, some experts have argued that IT has become so fundamental to everyday activity that it has become akin to electricity: technology that is so widely available to virtually anyone that it cannot exactly be used as a means to drive competitive advantage.

However, in an effort to debunk this idea, Joe Weinman – the author of Cloudonomics: The Business Value of Cloud Computing – recently wrote an article for Forbes Magazine that puts forth several methods in which cloud technology in particular can be deployed to generate innovation.

One of the foremost examples provided by Weinman is the idea of customer intimacy generated through the cloud. For example, customer-centric companies such as Amazon and Netflix utilize a cloud strategy that enables them not only to better understand their consumers through established behaviors, but use sophisticated algorithms to amalgamate millions of transactional and purchase data points to provide a more tailored service.

"Sure, the cloud can be mundane and tactical, easing the mechanics of running data centers or reducing costs," writes Weinman. "But more importantly, the cloud can be a source of competitive advantage through operational excellence, customer intimacy, product/service leadership, and accelerated innovation … What could be a higher priority for senior executives?"

Business officials in Ohio looking to obtain these unique services for their core processes can do so by partnering with a Cincinatti IT partner that can provide tailored cloud computing solutions.

From our offices in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, PRO OnCall is your single-source technology consulting service, offering managed IT support, unified communications solutions and on-call IT support. 

Naturally, for an organization such as this, being able to successfully communicate and maintain availability for the community using modern technology is of the utmost importance. However, understanding that the organization was failing to provide service because of holes in its technological infrastructure, officials reached out to a Columbus IT partner in order to provide a small network analysis and design a plan for improvement.

After the IT consultants surveyed the organization's existing technology, it was determined that an old dial-up program was resulting in an incredible lag in service. Additionally, the system was so rigid that multiple staff members trying to use it at once resulted in widespread network errors. Moreover, the system was costing a ludicrous $300 per month that had no modern security software, meaning it was vulnerable to hacking as well as data loss.

In response, the system was upgraded with new memory and hard drive functioning so that the network would run faster. Modern anti-virus software as well as updated firewalls were implemented as well to improve network security and new servers were installed, all resulting in greater stability and performance.

Any business officials in the Ohio or Indiana area that believe an outdated technological infrastructure is holding their organization back from innovation and growth, a Columbus IT support firm can provide around the clock consultation, product implementation and maintenance.

From our offices in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, PRO OnCall is your single-source technology consulting service, offering managed IT support, unified communications solutions and on-call IT support. 

Another technology that has already carved out its explicit niche in businesses all over the world is broadband. Referring to a large digital frequency that allows a significant volume of data to pass through all at once, broadband diminishes the downtime that characterizes servers with less bandwidth.

Consequently, employees can be more productive when using broadband because they can zip around the internet and obtain necessary business data very quickly rather than sitting around idly waiting for the next page to load.

And according to a recent survey of more than 7,000 businesses in nine different states entitled "The 2012 Jobs and Broadband Report, National Projections On How American Businesses Use Computers and Broadband to Grow, Hire, and Thrive," the enhanced productivity can lead to vastly increased revenue generation.

For example, the researchers found that one in three businesses in the U.S. have developed online sales strategies, providing an outlet for roughly 2.4 million different companies.

However, it was determined that of those companies, the ones that are using broadband can obtain approximately $300,000 more in median annual revenue than those that do not.

"These findings have important implications for all policymakers and business leaders," said Tom Ferree of the research team. "Expanding broadband access, adoption, and use is a proven driver of economic growth and is vital to ensure the United States’ place in the global digital economy."

Considering these statistics, businesses in Ohio that have not developed broadband strategies would be well advised to partner with a Cincinatti IT partner that can provide a small network analysis to determine what solution would be most beneficial to generate a fast ROI.  

While a small company may actually have a product or service offering that is as good or perhaps better than a larger competitor, it is crucial to be able to successfully relay this message to clients.

However, without the resources to staff a substantial service department with employees capable of handling the volume of incoming calls in addition to digital customer correspondences, it may be difficult to accomplish this task.

And according to a recent study of consumer calling practices, failing to have a live service representative available at the phone could have major consequences for a small company with regard to lost patronage.

In fact, as recorded in the study, 82 percent more callers were found to leave messages if it was with a real person than if presented with the opportunity to do the same on an answering machine.

In response, small businesses need a solution to route more calls to a real person, which is difficult considering many have fewer personnel juggling more tasks who are out of the office with more frequency.

As such, one way for small businesses in Ohio to address the issue is by partnering with a Cincinnati phone service that can offer VoIP solutions. Because VoIP phone systems have the capability to route calls coming into a business phone line to employees' mobile devices, small business officials on the move will be better positioned to answer a higher volume of calls by being able to answer them from any location.

From our offices in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, PRO OnCall is your single-source technology consulting service, offering managed IT support, unified communications solutions and on-call IT support.

For example, because cloud technology allows a business' employees to access the information necessary to complete their jobs from anywhere at anytime, the opportunity for remote work becomes a legitimate possibility.

This can sound rather enticing in theory. Because employees are undertaking their duties outside the office on their own devices, companies can save a significant amount of funds on energy and hardware costs. And from a staff perspective, they can enjoy greater flexibility in their schedule, potentially raising morale and enabling greater operational efficiency.

But, deploying cloud technology to enable remote work may be a hard sell for employers based on the less-than-concrete reasoning described above. Luckily for proponents of remote work though, researchers at Stanford University in collaboration with a major Chinese travel agency designed a scientifically-sound study to determine whether the practice was actually beneficial.

After enabling 255 employees (selected based on a satisfactory home office setup and clean work record) of the 12,00 person agency to work from home, the researchers determined the following: "After a few weeks of the experiment, it was clear that the telecommuters were performing better than their counterparts in the office. They took more calls (it was quieter and there were fewer distractions at home) and worked more hours (they lost less time to late arrivals and sick breaks) and more days (fewer sick days). This translated into greater profits for the company,"

Considering these results, businesses in Ohio seeking the benefits of remote work can turn to a Cincinnati IT support firm that can provide cloud computing solutions. 

However, it was also noted that 73 percent were unaware of the various features of different enterprise phone options and service providers.

As such, it is important for organizations considering service providers to do their research and choose an organization that can provide both reliable and scalable options that will meet the particular needs of a business model at any given point in time.

This is especially true for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that require a flexible communications infrastructure that can accommodate frequent growth, extra employees and additional technology.

As it is put in a recent press release on the best solutions for securing a fast ROI on tech investments: "In growing companies, the imperative for a reliable and scalable system is compounded. When companies add locations, they may or may not use the same communications system at each site. IT loses oversight and employees lose productivity as they grapple with disparate systems. Similar effects happen when employees use personal collaboration tools on their mobile and remote computers, a growing phenomenon known as consumerization."

One of the best ways for businesses in Ohio to avoid communications problems often encountered by growing companies is partnering with a Cincinatti IT consulting firm that can provide unified communications solutions.

By integrating core communications processes (text, video, file sharing, voicemail, phone) under one platform with one service provider, the technology will require less maintenance and be able to generate a quick ROI as huge time and energy savings will manifest.

From our offices in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, PRO OnCall is your single-source technology consulting service, offering managed IT support, unified communications solutions and on-call IT support.

Considering the nature of these practices, firms in the actuarial consulting industry must make the integrity and well-being of client data a foremost priority. However, for Cuni, Rust and Strenk (CRS) – an actuarial consulting firm based out of Cincinnati, Ohio – the company's dated technological processes were preventing the business from undertaking this necessity with optimal functionality.

In response, CRS officials decided to invest in the services of a Cincinatti IT consulting firm for a small office network analysis. Ultimately, IT consultants determined that the actuarial software being used to complete complex calculations was not supported by a properly advanced infrastructure.

Consequently, CRS worked with the consulting firm to better understand what areas of the business needed prioritization after which consultants developed a proposal to optimize the company's operations within their budget and without forcing employees to lose productivity in transition.

The result was a three-pronged plan in which data stability, backup and security – three of the most integral aspects of CRS's business model – were all stabilized. New servers were brought in to maximize data security and automate both daily and weekly data backup schedules. Additionally, new firewalls and antivirus software was implemented so that data was optimally secure from intrusion.

CRS is now able to achieve superior functionality and diminished downtime with more efficient processes and scalability for future growth.

Business officials in any industry looking to optimize their technological infrastructure can do so by similarly partnering with a managed IT support service that can provide operational analyses, product implementation and ongoing support.

From our offices in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, PRO OnCall is your single-source technology consulting service, offering managed IT support, unified communications solutions and on-call IT support.

An excellent alternative being adopted in a variety of ways across the enterprise spectrum is IP-based telephony systems such as Voice over IP (VoIP). For companies that have sufficient internal resources to hire a full-time VoIP expert, a hybrid fixed line/VoIP program could potentially work. This platform would require less in the way of transition and has certain innovative features, but requires internal maintenance.

Additionally, it requires upgrades once every few years, potentially making it a less appealing option for business officials that want a phone system that can run on autopilot.

Another alternative is to engage in premise-based VoIP deployment in which an infrastructure transitions entirely to an IP-based platform that is both managed and maintained internally. This system has modern features including voicemail to email and the ability to have calls ring multiple phones simultaneously. However, it requires constant maintenance from an internal VoIP expert and cannot be moved easily should a business change its location.

Consequently, one of the best options for companies new to IP-based telephony is partnering with a Columbus phone company for a hosted VoIP solution. In this instance, IT consultants can provide all the same benefits of call forwarding, voice-to-text and adding additional phone lines at a very low cost and negate the stress of internal maintenance.

From our offices in Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati and Cleveland, PRO OnCall is your single-source technology consulting service, offering managed IT support, unified communications solutions and on-call IT support.