Buying/Evaluating a phone system?
October 27, 2009
For starters interview several vendors and “partner” with the one that you want to do business with. This is an important first step as most reputable manufactures (Avaya, Interactive Intelligence, Siemens and Cisco) all have similar products and depending on the size of your company all will perform well. This is why it’s important to find the correct vendor for your business and make sure that they understand what you do, how you do it and what goals you’re trying to accomplish – not just how many phones you need and what the “flavor of the week” is in terms of the technology. It’s not the technology that solves problems, it’s the people; the technology is the vehicle in which the problem is solved. Also, try to find a vendor that will educate you on what is available in the market place and also represents several manufactures. This will enable you to make the correct decision that is right for you – empower yourself. The sales cycle is typically 6-9 months (give or take) because there is so much that goes into the evaluation process. Most legitimate best in class business phone systems range in price from $8k to over $100k depending on applications and complexity.
Most Common Communication Pains Inside Companies
April 16, 2008
Recently, I read a white paper done by Insignia. It was prepared on behalf of one of our suppliers, Siemens.
In it, they revealed a study they completed in 2007– and it had some interesting information in it.
They talked to over 500 people in a variety of industries to find out what the most common communication problems were inside companies today. I wanted to share the list with you, then in subsequent posts, we will address each one, one-by-one.
Here is the list:
1. Waiting for Information. Attempting to get in touch with/get information from an individual with multiple means of communication in order to make progress on a particular process or task.
2. Unscheduled/Unauthorized Communications. Communications that disrupt the flow of work.
3. Coordination Inefficiency. Inability to fully direct or interact within a team in order to move it towards its goals.
4. Planning to plan. Time spent on planning and arrangements in preparation to actually make progress towards completing work.
5. Barriers to Collaboration. Inaccessibility of the tools needed to collaborate fully with colleagues.
6. Offsite Productivity Loss. Reduced output when working from a location other than one of the company’s offices.
7. Customer Complaints Due to Communications. Handling complaints and other incidents of customer dissatisfaction that stem from the communication policies/technology of the company.
8. Trips with Additional Communication Costs. Added costs of communication while on business trips.
9. Trips to Synch Up. Business trips taken for the purpose of receiving information that will be disseminated to a number of individuals at the same time/place and in the same manner.
10.Working from Home – Extra Costs. Added costs of communication when working from home.
I thought these were a neat way of looking at some of the ways technology can help you run your business better. You might print this off, circulate inside your company and see where your team(s) might be lacking.