Over time, enterprises grow, technological requirements increase, and ICT (information and communications technology) infrastructure becomes more complex. This complexity adds administrative overhead, can result in an inconsistency of system performance, and increases the probability of downtime due to human error.

One way to manage this complexity is to use the concept of configuration management (CM). In this article, we describe configuration management and show you how it can help streamline your VoIP, data, and ICT infrastructure lifecycle as a whole.

Topics: Trends, Productivity, Network Design, Business Strategy, Unified Communications

The coronavirus pandemic has caused demand for videoconferencing services to surge. ZoomInfo reports the adoption rates for web conferencing leaped a whopping 87% between January and April of this year.

In this article, we review Yealink Meetings, a distributed cloud-based service platform tailored for multi-way videoconferencing collaboration. This is a versatile system that combines multiple cloud-based and terminal-based options and delivers them using the latest technological advancements in the industry.

Topics: Yealink, Trends, Videoconferencing, Conferencing, Productivity, Product Review, Unified Communications

Artificial intelligence is affecting every area of our life, and is increasingly playing a role in all types of technological developments. Business telephone systems are no exception. In this article, we take a look at how AI can enhance your call center technology.

Topics: Customer Service, Business Telephone System, Total Voice Solution, Software Integration, Trends, Productivity, Unified Communications

In uncertain or unfamiliar times such as these, customers tend to call companies more than usual to get answers to their questions. Advanced technologies can significantly improve the caller’s experience, provided they are used appropriately. Last week, we looked at best practices in call center design. In this article, we examine speech recognition and how it should (and should not) be used to add value, efficiency, and effectiveness to your contact center procedures.

Topics: Customer Service, Business Telephone System, Software Integration, Trends, Productivity, Unified Communications

Couldn't make ITEXPO in Ft. Lauderdale last week? Here's a recap.

This year at ITEXPO we saw a number of new events and happenings. There was a good attendee and exhibitor turnout, despite the fact that all of the Chinese factories and representatives were unable to attend due to the coronavirus. Nonetheless, the products and services from these manufacturers were on full display. The attendees expected nothing less from the #TECHSUPERSHOW! 

Topics: VoIP, Trends, Network Security, Events, SD-WAN, IoT, Unified Communications

In today's virtual world, telecom and network services have come a long way, from being offered using locally installed, standalone monolithic servers to ethereal entities residing in the cloud. This evolution has touched every part of network service provisioning, and one of the most fascinating facets of this trend is that the network infrastructure itself can be virtualized.

Network function virtualization (NFV) is a network architecture philosophy that virtualizes the network infrastructure. In this article, we take a look at what NFV is, how it works, how it fits in with other virtualization technologies, and how it can be of benefit for enterprise networks.

Topics: Trends, Network Design, Cloud

The cloud is used to offer services directly to the end user, as well as to provide a platform on which vendors can develop their online applications (including VoIP) for their customers. In a previous article, we covered SaaS, PaaS and IaaS as the three most prominent cloud-based models that are used to offer services to clients. In this article, we take a more in-depth look at the various cloud deployment models that are available (including private, public and hybrid) and how they are useful for businesses of different sizes. The article concludes with the factors to consider when choosing which deployment model to use when offering VoIP and other cloud services to your customers.

Topics: Customer Service, Business Telephone System, VoIP, Total Voice Solution, Trends, Cloud, Business Strategy, Unified Communications

Redundancy and scalability are important for VoIP systems. Virtualization makes both of these easier, less costly, and more efficient. Coupled with cloud services, virtualization has revolutionized how network services are provided, and in particular, how VoIP deployment is executed.

In this article, we explain what virtualization is, the trends governing its newest technologies, and how all of this can be leveraged for use with VoIP services.

Topics: VoIP, Trends, Productivity, Network Design

Software-defined networking (SDN) is changing the way networks are managed and designed. In this article, we take a look at how an SDN approach can be of great benefit to VoIP and video telephony deployments in particular.

Topics: QoS, Trends, Productivity, Network Design, Unified Communications

A major challenge inherent in designing and maintaining an enterprise network is the administration costs. Software-defined networking (SDN) can dramatically reduce both the hard costs (money) and soft costs (time) of managing a network. Although this tends to be the most compelling argument in favor of using SDN, it in fact offers may more advantages than this. In this article, we introduce SDN and examine some of its key benefits.

Topics: Trends, Productivity, Routers, Network Design, Gateway, Switches, Unified Communications