Trying to make sense of fraud, robocalling, and spam can be overwhelming (and more than a little exhausting). Combat telecom fraud: Understand types, regulations, and protect business and users.
Types of telecom fraud
While there are almost too many different types of telecom fraud to list them all, there are five (5) main types that we, and our customers, see most often [source]. They are:
International Revenue Sharing Fraud (IRSF)
Traffic Pumping
Domestic Premium Rate Service
Interconnect Bypass
Arbitrage
While we won’t go into detail about each of these (check out our Fraud Overview post for a more in-depth look at each type), it’s important to know that taking proactive steps to protect yourself and your users is one of the best ways to stop telecom fraud from happening.
Illegal robocalling
Robocalling has (perhaps rightfully so) built a reputation as being spammy, used mainly by scammers to try and defraud individuals and businesses out of money or sensitive information. There are, however, legitimate (and legal) use cases for robocalls. These can include receiving updates you’ve opted into, like a flight update or getting an update that your prescriptions are ready to be picked up. Sports teams have even been known to use robocalls to remind players to come for practices.
The new STIR/SHAKEN regulations, which go into effect June 30, 2021, rely on a technology framework designed to help prevent scammers from taking advantage of businesses and individuals by reducing fraudulent robocalls and illegal number spoofing. It verifies that the caller ID you see on your phone matches the calling party’s phone number.
Bandwidth deployed STIR/SHAKEN in their network well in advance of the June 2021 deadline. Today, Bandwidth signs over 4.5B calls each month for top UCaaS and CCaaS brands, allowing them to bypass the lengthy STIR/SHAKEN token application and implementation process and rely on Bandwidth for call signing and authentication.
You can learn more about STIR/SHAKEN by visiting our STIR/SHAKEN Regulations page.
Spam (no, not that one)
If you’ve had an email address for more than five minutes, you know what spam is. In the world of telecom, it’s mostly associated with unwanted messaging traffic that’s sent unsolicited to a user’s phone.
Companies work hard to detect and prevent spam.24/7 Fraud Team blocks more than 500,000 spam texts every day through a combination of hands-on analysis and the use of automated tools to monitor traffic and identify trends and anomalies that signal fraudulent and spam activity.
Using call blocking to mitigate toll fraud
The use of call blocking tools can enable carriers to prevent numbers with specific unlawful characteristics from traversing their networks. These tools aim to take a proactive approach to preventing telecom fraud, by stopping the traffic from ever entering a network.
Fraud teams use advanced analytics to continuously monitor traffic patterns and potential robocalling campaigns that identify bad actors at work. Once detected, we work to aggressively leverage modern tools to block the offenders from reaching our network, protecting our customers and the entire ecosystem.
Perhaps you’ve found yourself needing to return an item recently. If the return was a bit complicated, odds are your experience using lack luster omnichannel communications was something like this:
Open a discussion with a chatbot. Provide a few details about what you need.
Trigger a live chat with a representative. Provide those details again.
The issue can’t be resolved in live chat. Get in a line for a phone call.
Speak with a call center agent. Provide the same details.
Get bumped to a manager. Explain your details again.
Finally resolve your issue. Receive an email with your details.
What does the future of customer service hold? Drive competitiveness with personalized, omnichannel client communications, blending automation and human touch for customer and representative satisfaction.
Tip #1: Meet Your Customers Where They Are With Omnichannel Communications
By this point, we’re familiar with the multichannel model of reaching consumers. Physical stores, websites, emails, phone calls, apps and social media are all channels through which we can engage. If you have more than one way to communicate with customers, your business is multichannel.
The problem with the multichannel practice is that often there is no real sense of connection between the different modes. Seamless channels prevent lost information and enhance customer experience.
The concept of omnichannel ties all the different aspects of multichannel communications together in a thoughtful way. An effective omnichannel presence maintains continuity through each contact method, ensures that your agents are knowledgeable at each stage of the process and feels like a personalized, holistic experience for the customer.
All-in-one customer relationship management (CRM) platforms create consistent customer experiences no matter what method they choose to use, because they keep interaction histories ready for representatives in one place.
Tip #2: Create Seamless Transitions From Channel To Channel
Say your customer opens a help ticket through their browser, but then has to leave their desk. They’ll want to be able to check in on the status of their issue from their mobile device. If the ticket needs to be elevated to a phone call, the agent should be able to easily access their history and offer updates.
Seamless communications are also efficient communications. Needing to repeat the same information over and over again can be exhausting and frustrating for customers. Being able to transition easily from one channel to the next saves time and effort on behalf of both the customer and agent, ensuring faster resolution and higher satisfaction.
Empower agents with access to customer history and efficient query routing, providing the right tools for successful customer interactions.istory and efficient query routing, providing the right tools for successful customer interactions.
Seamlessly integrate multi-modal continuity with advanced call center technology like click-to-dial, ensuring uninterrupted customer communication and smooth transitions between channels.
Tip #3: Bring In The Human Element
With more and more interactions moving into the digital space, it can be easy to forget that there are real people on the other side of the keyboard and involved in your company’s omnichannel communications. When it comes to a truly personalized experience, though, it’s important to make sure the human element comes through.
Now more than ever, the practice of empathy can go a long way even in professional interactions. Letting your customers know that you sympathize with their issues and are working to resolve them helps keep emotions calm through the process. It also helps to remind customers that the agents on the other end of the phone or keyboard are people, too.
Retaining and easily referencing interaction histories helps customers feel like their issues matter. Agents with access to this greater depth of knowledge can resolve problems more efficiently and gain the trust and respect of their clients.
A Holistic Way To Communicate
The key to distinguishing yourself as a customer service leader in the future will be directly tied to your ability to offer clients a personalized, seamless and empathetic omnichannel communication experience. Mitel offers solutions that enable your business to respond to customer needs with flexibility and expertise.
Is your business ready to seize the opportunities for digital transformation ahead in 2022? Will your communications system be an invaluable asset in achieving growth — or a burden that limits your performance?
Many businesses are finding they are weighed down by technology choices they had to make quickly during the pandemic. In the face of shutdowns, communications software became the lynchpin to allow employees to keep collaborating, meet with customers, and work productively from home. And, with little time to assess communications platform pros and cons, they made quick purchase decisions that left them with:
A mix of disjointed communications tools that are awkward for employees navigate
Unanticipated costs associated with higher maintenance expenses and complex IT support
Uneven performance, with some tools more reliable than others, creating dissatisfied customers and frustrated staff
Looking ahead, your business has the opportunity to evolve from worrying about ‘keeping things moving’ to focus on optimizing operations. Maximize productivity and adaptability with a purpose-built communications platform for the evolving hybrid work environment. To take advantage of that opportunity, you’ll want to make 3 smart choices:
Choose the best communications architecture
Select the right communications solution
Identify the ideal migration path for your business
#1 Choose The Cloud To Streamline And Strengthen Your Technology
The cloud is the easiest way to simplify and supercharge your communications technology. By consolidating disjointed communications tools into an all-in-one, cloud-based solution that offers team and video collaboration, mobility, and voice capabilities, you can unleash greater productivity and performance, while eliminating the cost and resource burdens of managing your current systems. A cloud-based communications solution:
Is easier to manage and maintain:
Cloud comms platforms: flexible, scalable, low maintenance, freeing IT for growth initiatives.
Provides more for less:
Cost-effective solution with integrated powerful features for your business needs.
Removes uncertainty and costs:
Cloud-based solutions eliminate large, up-front technology investments and unexpected repair costs. All you pay is a predictable and affordable monthly subscription fee.
Remains effortlessly up to date:
Cloud comms platform ensures up-to-date software and security, hassle-free for businesses.
#2 Choose The UCaaS Leader To Meet Your Needs Today And Tomorrow
Customer and employee expectations have permanently changed. Businesses have gained new confidence in their staffs’ ability to work from anywhere. Employees value the balance that hybrid working environments provide. And customers just want great service — and don’t care where the employee supporting them is working from.
For these reasons, business communications software will remain your foundation for employee productivity and customer service excellence. Empower growth with an intuitive, scalable, cloud-based business communications platform
That’s why Mitel has embarked on a strategic partnership with RingCentral. The RingCentral MVP solution has been ranked a leader in the UCaaS Gartner Magic Quadrant for seven consecutive years. Mitel and RingCentral unite for powerful UCaaS solution enhancing businesses’ agility.
Increasing employee engagement: Your state-of-the-art RingCentral MVP communications solution will allow employees and customers to interact quickly, easily, and efficiently. Increase productivity with an all-in-one app for seamless remote and hybrid work, integrated with critical systems.
Meeting higher customer expectations:
Boost employee productivity, serve customers seamlessly with Mitel and RingCentral’s leading UCaaS and contact center solutions, offering flexibility and choice.
Achieving unprecedented agility:
The pace of business has never been faster. So, it’s important to know you can count on the Mitel and RingCentral partnership to provide superior performance and reliability. In 2021, RingCentral earned Gartner’s #1 ranking among UCaaS vendors for ‘completeness of vision.’ So when you choose RingCentral MVP, you can be confident that they are already anticipating your future communications needs and preparing to add new, next-generation innovations to the platform.
#3 Choose A Trusted Partner To Customize Your Digital Transformation Path
If you create the right migration plan to the right cloud-based communications solution, you can have your cake and eat it, too. Chances are, your business has already made investments in a communications platform. You’ll want a migration plan that takes that into consideration, so you’ll need the guidance of a trusted partner with extensive expertise in the full range of communications deployments — including on-premise, private cloud, and public cloud systems. That’s why you can trust Mitel and our experienced partner network to ensure a smooth transition that’s based on a custom migration plan and timeline for your business.
You’re in charge: Mitel has a track record of being 100% customer focused. Let us do the heavy lifting. We start every customer migration by listening to your needs and understanding your existing investments, so we can provide you with a range of options to choose from.
Investment protection: After evaluating your options, if the best plan for your business means staying with an on-premises or private cloud platform for the time-being, Mitel remains a global market leader in these segments and has a clear, innovative roadmap for these platforms going forward.
Leading technology to facilitate your migration: Mitel’s CloudLink architecture is a tested and proven technology that helps customers enhance the performance of their existing investments while they migrate to the cloud. That’s why Mitel’s CloudLink architecture will become tightly integrated with RingCentral’s MVP solution, paving the path for Mitel on-premises customers to move to the cloud at the pace that is best for them.
AT&T said it’s investigating and has “taken steps to mitigate” a botnet that infected more than 5,700 VoIP servers located inside its network, a spokesperson has told The Record earlier today in DDoS attack.
All the infected devices were EdgeMarc Enterprise Session Border Controllers, a type of Voice-over-IP server designed to balance and reroute internet telephony traffic from smaller enterprise customers to upstream mobile providers.
According to Netlab, a network security division of Chinese tech giant Qihoo 360, a threat actor used an old exploit (CVE-2017-6079) to hack into unpatched EdgeMarc servers and install a modular malware strain named EwDoor.
“[W]e confirmed that the attacked devices were EdgeMarc Enterprise Session Border Controller, belonging to the telecom company AT&T, and that all 5.7k active victims that we saw […] were all geographically located in the US.”
The Chinese security firm said it’s been tracking the EwDoor botnet and its attacks since late October 2021, during which time the malware went through at least three versions.
An analysis of the malware revealed extensive backdoor and DDoS capabilities, which Netlab researchers suggested could be used to access devices to gather and steal sensitive information, such as VoIP call logs.
But AT&T says it has not seen any evidence to sustain Netlab’s assessment.
“We have no evidence that customer data was accessed,” the company said in an email earlier today.
Netlab said that the 5,700 estimate it provided today was gathered following a brief window of visibility into the botnet’s operations on November 8.
Internet-wide scans suggest that more than 100,000 devices are using the same SSL certificate used on EdgeMarc VoIP servers, but it’s unclear how many of these are vulnerable to CVE-2017-6079 and exposed to attacks.
Telecom sector prime target for complex DDoS attacks, warns Lumen Technologies’ cybersecurity report.
In its third Quarterly DDoS Report, Lumen revealed that 34% of the 500 largest DDoS attacks in Q3 took aim at the telecommunications sector. That figure compared to 9% of attacks in Q1 and 32% in Q2.
All told, the telecommunications industry faced 956 incidents in Q3, including both the largest bandwidth attack (612 Gbps) and the largest packet-based attack (252 Mpps) overall across all the segments Lumen tracked. The bandwidth attack marked a 49% increase from the largest seen in Q2, while the packet-rate attack was a whopping 91% bigger than the largest in the previous quarter. Just over half (52%) of attacks against telecommunications companies used a multi-vector approach and the longest incident lasted 6 days.
Mark Dehus, Lumen’s director of information security and threat intelligence, told Fierce there’s been an uptick in attacks on voice-over-IP services using a combination of different methods. The two most common are reflection and application specific attacks, he said.
In the former, an instigator sends a request to a server, prompting it to respond to and overwhelm the targeted IP address with a large amount of traffic. Application specific attacks, meanwhile, go after the specific protocols – like the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) – that enable voice services and remote collaboration tools. Examples of entities and services which use SIP include mobile virtual network operators, which sometimes use SIP-enabled VoIP services to offload cellular traffic to their own networks; managed voice infrastructure and the operators that supply it; and video conferencing services, he said.
Dehus noted reflection attacks don’t necessarily require a lot of skill, meaning “actors that are not as sophisticated can launch” them and demand money either in advance of or during the incident to halt the attack. He added threat actors are increasingly using multi-vector attacks to amplify their impact and bypass the protective countermeasures companies might take.
Lumen is working to track misconfigured reflectors and what services are being abused in an effort to try to help prevent future attacks, Dehus said. “The more the telecom industry in general can do to help clean up these open reflectors, the more it will take away from the malicious actors in terms of their ability to launch extremely impactful DDoS attacks,” he added.
When we’re talking tech, latency is the time that elapses between a user request and the completion of that request. Even processes that seem instantaneous have some measurable delay. The goal is to have the shortest latency possible!
Why does it matter?
Nearly all applications and functions that we rely on today…especially today, require very low latency in order to perform as intended. Think quicker and improved user experience and customer satisfaction. Things like cloud hosting,virtual meeting solutions like zoom and teams, or mission-critical computation applications.
Why does it happen?
When a trigger happens like a user, app, or solution requests information from another system, the info request gets processed locally, then sent over the network to a server or system. There, it is processed again, and a response is formed, starting the reply transmission process for the return trip.
Along the way, and in each direction, are network components known as switches, routers, protocol changes, translators, and changes between the network cabling, fiber, and wireless transmission. At each step, tiny delays are introduced, which can add up to discernible wait times for the user.
Think of driving on a highway, what’s it like during rush hour, high travel times? As all network traffic continues to grow, inactivity is increased for all users as the line to complete transmissions backs up and micro-latencies add up. This creates high latency, a frustrating delay before the webpage loading begins. You wont likely notice a 5 second delay on the internet, but you will notice it on a voice call. This is why it’s incredibly important to set up a voice network which is separate from the network that all of your other IT solutions run off of.
The geographical distance that data must travel can also have a significant effect. This is why edge computing, the practice of locating data and applications closer to users, is a well-known strategy for reducing latency. In some cases (see below), reducing this distance is a smart, effective way to lower network latency.
A latency network? WHAT?
An LL network is one that has been designed and optimized to reduce lag as much as possible. However, a low latency network can’t improve latency caused by factors outside the network.
What is jitter?
Jitters when it deviates unpredictably from an average; in other words, when it is low at one moment, high at the next. For some applications, this unpredictability is more problematic than high latency.
What is ultra-low latency?
A ULL is measured in nanoseconds, while low latency is measured in milliseconds. Therefore, ultra-low latency delivers a response much faster, with fewer delays than low latency.
How is low latency achieved?
For new deployments, lag is improved through the use of a next-generation programmable network platform built on software-defined hardware, programmable network switches, smart network interface cards, and FPGA-based software applications.
To reduce latency in an existing network, follow the steps below:
Identify the network problems and impacts
Confirm that the problems and impacts are caused by high latency
Identify the IT infrastructure that is contributing to the high-latency problem
Evaluate which network switches and network interface cards can be replaced to create a low latency environment
Evaluate which network functions can be offloaded to a field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-programmable switch or smart network interface cards (SmartNICs) to reduce latency to milliseconds or nanosecondsl
by Reuben Yonatan on September 01, 2021 | published on Mitel.com
New remote workers unaware of risks, while experienced ones may feel hopeless amidst the situation.
Remote work is all the rage, and it’s easy to see why. Employees want flexibility and freedom while executives want less overhead and more productivity. Since most businesses have already transitioned communications to the cloud, it just makes sense.
Rise in remote teams and hybrid work has led to a surge in cybersecurity breaches. For example, Google registered more than 2 million phishing sites in 2020, up from 1.7 million in 2019 (a 27% increase in one year). The number of identity thefts reported by the FTC doubled from 2019. In addition to this, CybSafe reported that one-third of UK businesses have suffered a data breach in the past 12 months because of remote work.
According to a recent IDG Research Services survey commissioned by Insight Enterprises, almost 80% of senior IT workers believe their organizations lack sufficient protection against cyberattacks despite increased IT security investments in 2020 and according to Shred-it, 86% of C-level executives believe that the risk of a data breach is higher when employees work remotely.
There is hope, however. Implementing strong cybersecurity practices ensures protection, avoiding financial loss and headaches for your business.
The Unique Security Challenges Of A Hybrid Workforce
Cybersecurity is essential, whether your workers are in the office, hybrid, or remote. However, in-office workers are generally protected by layers of security when it comes to data and communication. Once workers move outside the office, new vulnerabilities appear. For example, an office network will likely be secured by firewalls, VPNs, antivirus software, and other measures to ensure VoIP security.
Home routers lack firewalls, and even those doubling as firewalls may be less secure than business counterparts. Employees bear software responsibility when working remotely.
Minimize remote work security vulnerabilities with policies, training, and IT support for your remote workforce.
Checklist Of Best Practices
Cybersecurity professionals recommend these practices to prevent or minimize breaches. Inform and enforce them for optimal protection.
1. No Public Wi-Fi Working out of a Starbucks may seem idyllic, but using their Wi-Fi can cause a host of problems. The lack of firewalls allows anyone using that network to easily hack into your company’s data. In fact, hackers that are on public networks anywhere that your data hits between you and your office can monitor traffic as it goes by. If you still want to work from Starbucks, set up a personal hotspot and VPN.
2. Be Aware of Surroundings According to a study done by Code 42, a laptop is stolen every 53 seconds in airports alone. Losing a laptop is bad enough, but if there is a data breach on top of that, it could be a catastrophe.
Instruct your remote workers not to be careless with their work laptops. If they happen to be working in a public space, they should remain alert. They should make sure that their sightlines are blocked, meaning, no one can sit behind them and watch/record everything they are doing.
Employees should take their device with them to the restroom and avoid leaving it in a car (even a locked car). It is also important that remote workers keep the doors of their homes locked just as the office is locked up every night.
3. Encrypt Stored Data
In the case that a device is stolen, you can avoid the disaster of a data breach if the data on your device is encrypted. Make sure that remote workers are all using devices that are set to encrypt all stored data.
4. Do Not Use Personal Devices for Work
If your remote workers are using their own personal devices to conduct work on, chances are, they are exposing the company to a security breach. The protocols that your company has for keeping data safe such as regular updates, virus scans, and malicious site blocking are likely not being kept up by remote workers on their personal devices.
Your remote worker may not be aware of all that your company does to keep data safe, for one, and secondly, your remote worker likely does not have the same budget for cybersecurity that you have for your business.
5. Enable Email Encryption
Emails are another point of vulnerability for remote workers. Just as you want to ensure that all stored data is encrypted, it’s also a good idea to encrypt the data attached to any email, as this will prevent an unintended recipient from viewing the information.
6. Don’t Allow Non-Employees To Access Work Devices
When it comes to cybersecurity, it’s important to keep as much control as possible over devices. Remote employees should never share their devices with non-employees. Even if it is someone they know, a non-employee who doesn’t understand your company’s security policies could unknowingly open up a pathway for malicious actors.
This is true even if the non-employee only wants to use the employee’s work device as a temporary “charging station”. Additionally, some of your employees may be too trusting, and it is easier just to have an “employee only” policy than to have rules about who can and can’t use work devices.
7. Disable All External Drives
USB thumb drives are some of the most popular vehicles for bad actors to use to install malware. These malicious actors would install malware onto 30 or 60 thumb drives and then distribute them where an unsuspecting worker would pick one up and, thinking it was theirs, plug it into their device. With the advancement of cloud storage solutions, there is almost never a reason to use an external drive of any type, USB or otherwise. Unless your employee is a photographer or videographer, you should disable all external drives on work devices.
8. Password Policies
Your employees may unknowingly invalidate several expensive security measures if they have weak or repetitive passwords. Make sure that your company has a password policy in place instructing employees to choose strong, unique passwords and to have different passwords for different applications that they need to use for work. Work passwords should also be different from any personal passwords.
9. Train Employees To Recognize Signs of a Breach And Report Immediately
The sooner your IT or security team finds out about a breach, the better the outlook will be. Train your employees to recognize the signs of a security breach and to report it as soon as possible to your IT or security team. Some things that should tip off your remote workers to a breach are:
An alert from the anti-malware software indicating that a virus or malware is present.
A new homepage or default search engine comes up unexpectedly.
There is a sudden and significant decrease in performance.
There is a sudden increase in spam and pop-ups.
They are receiving frequent error messages.
10. Consider a Secure Access Service Edge (SASE) solution
SASE is essentially an “as-a-Service” cloud solution that combines wide-area networking (WAN) with network security functions, cloud access security broker (CASB), firewall as a service (FWaaS), and zero-trust network access (ZTNA). SASE tools can identify malware, decrypt the content, and continuously monitor sessions for risk.
11. Keep Your Employees Away From Nefarious Websites
Torrent and pirating websites will obviously expose your business to a host of malware. Most companies will have a prohibition against employees going to such sites on work devices, but if it ever happens and one of your employees accidentally downloads a file of malware from a website of ill repute, firing them for breaking company policy will be of little solace.
Here is a creative tip to keep your employees from ever breaking this very important rule in the first place: Use some of the money you save from transitioning to a remote or hybrid workforce to buy your employees subscriptions to reputable music and movie websites such as YouTube Premium, Disney+ or Netflix. This investment will serve double duty as a fun perk for your team as well as a strong deterrent to visit nefarious entertainment sites.
Final Thoughts
Remote and hybrid work has become more appealing than ever to both employees and business owners, but the threat of a security breach is a big drawback. To address this, consider investing some of the savings you receive by going remote into a solid cybersecurity plan. If you implement the best cybersecurity practices now, you and your team will be able to enjoy all the benefits of remote work without the dark cloud of a security breach looming overhead.
RAY BAUM’s Act is broad in scope, but the aspect most commonly focused on is Section 506. FCC’s rules mandate MLTS enterprises to provide automated dispatchable location for all 911 calls.
Dispatchable location information provided to the public safety answering point (PSAP) includes a valid civic address, plus other information such as building, floor, suite, or room number “necessary to adequately identify the location of the calling party.” Dispatchable location can include “dynamic” or “nomadic” location information or more granular-level “fixed” location information.
Why is RAY BAUM’s Act important?
Today’s enterprise and campus environments consist of large, multi-story buildings with complex layouts. A first responder arriving at one of these buildings armed only with the main street address is unlikely to quickly find a 911 caller located in a 4th floor conference room.
RAY BAUM’s Act establishes the concept of “dispatchable location” for Interconnected VoIP services and other 911-capable services. This more precise location information is critical to achieving successful emergency outcomes for calls that originate from multi-line telephone systems (MLTS).
When does it go into effect?
The FCC published its new rules in the December 6, 2019 Federal Register. Refer to the table below for the initial compliance dates of the Section 506 “dispatchable location” components.
“My job really … is the growth and development of the person — and not really in their career because that will come.” Julie Towner CEO Towner Communications
We’re beyond proud of our CEO Julie Towner, who was honored to be inducted into the Women Who Means Business Class of 2021. Please help us congratulate her and the other honorees.
HEY! What is the most important thing in a relationship? What is it about a partner that makes you want to DRT (determine the relationship talk)? Sure, flashy cars, fine dining, a million-dollar smile, and ridiculous good looks grab your attention. But what happens when life happens? When your dog dies, or you get awful food poisoning from that posh eatery they took you to, leaving you in the bathroom for no less than 24 hours. Are those pearly white teeth offering to hold back your hair? Gosh we hope so! Really when it comes down to brass tacks, what we really want is a partner we can TRUST. One we can lean on and grow with. A partner who understands our needs, who is there for the celebrations and holds our hands through the tough times. If trust is paramount in our personal relationships, wouldn’t just make sense that it should also be key in our business partnerships as well? You trust your accountant, you trust your attorney, you trust your mentor. You should trust your IT and Communications partner too!
Building trust takes time, and just like in your personal friendships and partnerships, sometimes you have to kiss A LOT of frogs before you find your perfect partner. Technology vendors hold the key to your company’s success in the palm of their hands. Their expertise, support, and reliability (especially in the post covid space) will make or break the trust of your staff, and your customers. Technology partners are literally the only business partner that can directly impact the success of your business and how it makes money. SO why are you still viewing technology and communications as a commodity? As an acquaintance or a one-night stand? There is a massive amount of fish in the technology sea, not all are keepers.
We’re going to let you in on all of the GREEN FLAGS that you need to watch for when searching for your IT/Communications Life Partner.
Let us fill you in on something you don’t know (sarcasm…) the pandemic has forever changed the workplace. Companies are transitioning to either permanent work from home or hybrid models. To support this new, scalable and flexible work model for all employees, companies will need a modern unified communications system, and IT environment. In the industry we refer to this as Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C). A solution that up until 2020 was only something that innovative, cutting edge companies bought into. Now it’s imperative for every businesses sustainability no matter size, location, or industry.
Discover The Next-Gen Workplace >
However, implementing this solution based on the lowest bid from any vendor is likely the biggest business killer of this era. Lowest price is fabulous until it’s not. Flashy promises of easy customer service is heartwarming until you’re on hold for 3 hours after being transferred 5 times only to have the call drop. Million-dollars are pretty until the only time you can reach the company is when you need to purchase new licenses or add to your contract.
So don’t find yourself in a messy breakup with all of your business pals saying “I told you so” Ask hard questions, take it slow, and never kiss on the first day.
Here are the green flags that mean go!
They have happy customers
A vendor’s reputation in the marketplace is one of the best indicators of trustworthiness. How happy are their current customers with the quality of service and support? Do they have a good track record for building lasting relationships? How are they ranked in the marketplace among other providers? Case studies are another great resource for gaining deeper insight into how companies in your industry have benefitted from a specific unified communications solution. Ask potential vendors if they can share real-world examples including hard data and customer testimonials. Always ask for references!!!
If you don’t need it, they’re not selling it
Solutions are never cookie cutter; they are highly customizable and should be engineered to your company’s particular needs. What works for one organization won’t work for another. A partner should take the time to learn about your company’s communications needs. Is an on-site or cloud solution better? Or perhaps a hybrid model is the best place to start. Do you require integrations with third-party applications? A trusted partner won’t try to sell you more than you need in order to get started. They’ll even help you leverage your investment in existing technologies rather than rip everything out if that’s the right approach at the time. Then, as you’re ready to progress, they’ll support you as your needs change with a scalable and flexible solution. If a salesperson say’s “we’ll ship you the equipment and you just have to plug it in!” RUN…FAST
They Make It Easy
Implementation is always a bumpy road, no matter how organized or prepared you and your partner are. It’s technology folks! A great partner makes that bumpy road a little less stomach tossing, but keeping you in the loop. Anticipating hiccups, answering questions in a timely manner, and offering logistic solutions. Project management is a very strong sign the provider is a proven and reliable leader in the marketplace. When implementation is completed, is it easy to get ahold of an account manager, your project manager, and your service team? It should be, and it should be a quick response time!
They’re Ride or Die
A trusted partner does more than support your communications needs today—they stay ahead of the curve and prepare your business for the future. They know your company’s network environment, and help you prepare for new innovations. Great partners will also work with your other vendors to ensure that your business is holistically taken care of, and everything works in harmony. Outstanding partners ensure that your business can flex and remain agile. They’re just as concerned with the health and growth of your business as you are.
So, there you have it! In the world of technology, flashy cars are the equivalent to lowest bid, fine dining is cookie cutter, and million-dollar smile means that you’ve been sold either the wrong solution or way more than you need. Look for the green flags, and settle down with a partner for life!
And…Who Knows maybe Towner is the best Communications Partner for you!
Here are the green flags that mean go!
