Connectivity Between Multiple Locations (VPN and MPLS)

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More and more modern businesses and organizations are finding themselves struggling to handle an increasingly diverse workforce. Some organizations simply operate from multiple locations, while an increasingly large number of organizations are either hiring a remotely located workforce or allowing their employees to perform their duties wherever they’d prefer. No matter the reason behind your need for connectivity between multiple locations, the solution to this problem is remarkably uniform - you either need to set up a VPN or MPLS.

A VPN is a Virtual Private Network, which essentially allows a single computer or a single network to connect with another single computer or network in a different physical location. The biggest benefit of setting up a VPN is simple - every member of your organization will be able access the same files, the same network resources, and the same collaborative tools as every other member of your organization, no matter where they are all located. In essence VPNs are great for sharing resources among any number of remote workers or networks.

MPLS refers to Multi-Protocol Label Switching technology, which works very similarly to VPN technology but with a few minor adjustments. The main difference between VPN and MPLS technologies is the fact MPLS technologies are generally set up by service providers, while individual users are able to set up VPN systems. VPN connections generally occur over public connections, such as the internet at-large, while MPLS systems generally occur over a private network. This makes information sent over MPLS connections safer and more secure than information sent over VPN connections.

Overall both VPN and MPLS connections provide an excellent solution for businesses that need to handle connectivity between multiple locations. If you’re interested in one of these solutions it’s a good idea to speak with a service provider or intermediary to determine which solution is best for you. 

What Good Customer Service REALLY Looks Like

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“Customer service” is one of those popular phrases that gets thrown around by most companies and organizations out there. Businesses want to make it seem like they take the utmost care of their customers and that they will bend over backwards for all of their clients. But do most companies really know what customer service is all about?

Most companies seem to think customer service refers to nothing more than doing the bare minimum to close the deal and make sure they get paid, and that’s IT. They put together some good sales materials, they will provide seemingly “expert” advice that sounds like it will meet your needs, they produce the paperwork, and then they disappear. Does that sound like great customer service to you?

We believe customer service means something else altogether. We believe customer service means performing a thorough, guided evaluation to make sure we fully understand our clients and their needs. We believe customer service means being present through every step of the process to make sure our clients feel confident and secure about the choices they’re making. We believe customer service means taking care of all the details so our clients can relax, secure in the knowledge they’re telecom needs are being taken care of. And we believe customer service means sticking around, taking care of any and all problems that crop up, and making sure our clients are kept up to date on any new solutions that might better serve them.

Which definition of “customer service” sounds better to you?

Are VoIP or Hosted VoIP Solutions Right For Your Business?

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VoIP and Hosted VoIP telecom solutions are increasingly popular these days, but what are these solutions really and do they represent an appropriate upgrade for your organization?

Don’t let the confusing acronym fool you into thinking VoIP is anything particularly complicated or far beyond your personal understanding of technology. VoIP technology, which is short for Voice Over Internet Protocol, represents nothing more than using the internet to transmit voices instead of either landlines or satellites. There are a number of benefits to using VoIP, as well as a few less positive aspects of the technology, which are worth considering when deciding whether VoIP is right for your business or not.

First, VoIP and Hosted VoIP solutions are often less expensive than traditional telephony systems. Due to the fact that it uses your internet connection, it’s easy to install, implement, and utilize VoIP solutions. VoIP telephony solutions are also highly portable and allow you to create a communication system that is more remote and disperse than most traditional telephony solutions allow. Finally, VoIP systems tend to be much easier and cheaper to scale up as your organization grows in size.

 VoIP and Hosted VoIP offer an excellent solution for the majority of businesses and their professional applications. 

The Importance of High Bandwidth and Fast Internet Speed

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It’s difficult to overstate the importance of maintaining consistently high-speed internet connections within your organization. This is true whether you’re providing internet connections simply for your employees, or whether a high-speed internet connection is one of the services you offer your clients. In both cases, slow connection speeds and low bandwidth are recipes for disaster.

If you primarily provide bandwidth to your employees then sluggish internet connections will massively reduce their productivity. Think for a moment about the last time you encountered a slow internet connection when you were trying to get a work task done. How much time did that slow connection waste? A few seconds? A few minutes?

Keeping in mind how much of your time was wasted the last time you personally encountered a slow internet connection, multiply that amount by all of your employees and the number of encounters with slow connections they might run into on any given day. Slow internet connection speeds at work almost always amount to a vast sum of wasted time. During that time you will be paying your employees to sit around and do nothing but wait - not exactly a highly productive or efficient way to spend your organization’s resources!

If your organization offers high-speed internet to your clients then unreliable connection speeds will likely create with an even bigger problem for your organization than just lost productivity - you’ll have to contend with lost clients. Think about a coffee shop that hosts laptop workers all day and consider how long they’ll stay in business if the wireless signal they provide is slow and unreliable. Think about a hotel that provides complimentary high-speed internet to its lodgers and consider how long that hotel will stay in business if it can’t handle its client’s bandwidth demands.

High bandwidth, blazing fast internet is a MUST for ALL businesses these days.