Client: Intermedia

Assignment: B2B Solutions Brief

Introduction: Prioritizing your Phone System

It’s a cold hard fact that some executives wait too long to accept. After all your hard work to build your company – including expensive websites, slick videos, customer research, next-gen SEO tactics, sophisticated CRM systems, carefully designed product and service enhancements – if you still use a phone system from 20 years ago you are probably putting your business at risk. 

Your phone system is still a vital component of your communications plan, and thriving organizations know they need to get the most from it. Today, savvy SMB’s see that their business phone line can be more than a simple chatterbox, and have developed a few priorities for this vital channel. 

  1. Proactively accommodate the ever-changing needs of customers.
  2. Optimize a new workforce that has a different set of wants and desires. 
  3. Manage costs and eliminate surprise expenses. 

Priority 1: Put your customers first

Your phone system is likely a primary touchpoint, where customers buy or expand their business with you, or receive service and support. And today’s consumers expect everything to be “always available.”  

Any minute that your phone system is down is a minute that a customer cannot reach you. Downtime can be completely out of your control, such as a natural disaster, or a function of your own limitations, such as lacking your own IT support team. But either way, if you have a PBX system, this can be costly, ruin your reputation, and diminish your credibility. And we all know that an unsatisfied customer will tell more people about their negative experience.

It’s an undebatable fact – Consumers are changing how they engage with businesses. Research by Forrester shows 77% of US adults say that valuing their time is the most important thing a company can do to provide them with good service. And Gartner studies report that when it comes to making a purchase, 64% of people find customer experience more important than price. 

And it’s not just acquisition, but retention as well. According to Salesforce, 50% of consumers are likely to switch brands if a company doesn’t anticipate their needs, while American Express reports that 33% of Americans say they’ll consider switching companies after just a single instance of poor service. That means investing in brand loyalty is more important than ever before. A loyal customer is 5x as likely to repurchase, 5x as likely to forgive, 7x as likely to try a new offering and 4x as likely to refer. 

In a nutshell, your current phone system is not “growing or scaling” with the pace of your business. The speed of business continues to accelerate. Customers and clients demand responses are immediate, easy, easy to understand, and actionable. 

Therefore, as your business grows, you need to add more features, and the traditional phone companies have still not evolved to help you with this transition. It’s now standard for a business to have call forwarding, voice to text, video conferencing and more. No matter how many times your cleaners polish your old PBX phones, they still won’t be able to do these things.

Plus, in a mobile world where instant gratification is now table stakes, it is disastrous if customers face frustration about not being able to hear someone, get hold of who they need to reach, or be able to schedule a timely follow-up.  You need to be able to quickly put your customers in touch with exactly who matters when they want to have a conversation. So when your PBX phone system can’t integrate with your team’s mobile devices, you leave yourself open to providing a terrible customer experience unless your sales representative happens to be sitting at their desk at the very moment the customer calls. You worked hard to get that customer on the phone. Why take the risk of missing the call?

Bullet Box: Where your current phone system is failing you 

  • Customers are changing and demand quicker access to salespeople and customer support.
  • Any minute that your phone system is down is a minute that a customer cannot reach you. This can be costly, ruin your reputation, and diminish your credibility.
  • With a modern phone service, a successful connection is not limited to times where an employee is sitting at their desk.

Priority 2: Equip your employees for success

Today’s workforce is doing more, in more locations, around the clock. More than one-in-three American labor force participants (35%) are Millennials who grew up living in a mobile world, making them the largest generation in the U.S. labor force, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data. And they aren’t the only part of the workforce that expect to be able to work from anywhere, optimize their commute time, take calls outside of business hours, and more. 

An employee who is NOT carrying a mobile phone or similar device today is now the exception rather than the rule.  But PBX usually can’t support mobile capabilities, meaning employees can’t use their business phone number on their mobile phone, work remotely easily, leverage visual voicemail, and more. 

Employees want – or sometimes demand – this freedom to work from anywhere. Companies that support remote work have 25 percent lower employee turnover than companies that don’t. This research makes sense when you think about your own experience. When you are out on the road and a hot issue comes in requiring immediate attention, are you set up to respond from the road?  Giving employees access to essential tools that empower them to chat, share files, or attend a video conference may be the very best way to pull the right team members together on the spot for issue resolution.  Being forced to wait for the entire team to travel back into the office may delay the solution until it’s too late to act. 

Leading companies realize that speed and agility offer a distinct advantage against the competition and it comes with employees who can connect and collaborate whenever they need to, wherever they are, and on any device. A PBX system fails in this regard, providing limited or no integration with other systems, and rarely providing features such as video conferencing, file storage, file backup, call forwarding and other mission-critical features that employees need to do their jobs. Even if your PBX can handle some of these by adding on features from multiple vendors, it can be complicated and difficult to manage all these multiple providers on top of managing the PBX.

In summary, the Millennial workforce has arrived and is influencing those around them.

  • 71% knowledge workers want mobile apps for peace of mind, 66% feel they make them more efficient 
  • 59% knowledge workers would rather use video than travel for work
  • 1 in 4 respondents say they wouldn’t take a role at a company if they didn’t have mobile phones, video conferencing and instant messaging

Bullet Box: Where your current phone system is failing you

  • PBX usually does not handle mobile capabilities.
  • Employees without mobile capabilities can’t use their business phone number on their mobile phone, easily work remotely, or use visual voicemail. 
  • PBX systems often have limited or no integration with other systems, or have features like video conferencing, file storage, backup, etc. that employees need to do their jobs.
  • Trying to bolt features onto a traditional PBX can be complicated, as each service may require its own provider, requiring additional overhead on top of managing the PBX as a whole. 

Priority 3: Guard against unexpected costs

Many businesses invested large amounts of money and time installing a pricey PBX system. Now that it’s paid off, an easy point of view is to just leave it be. But like wearing a 20-year-old suit to an interview, your PBX system can’t keep pace with the requirements of your customers and partners, causing opportunity costs to skyrocket by hanging onto it. 

Some companies are scared to abandon their sunk costs and think the fix is to add current-day business tools to their antiquated PBX. But this is more costly than just starting a new cloud-based service from scratch.  

It surprises some people that adding functionality can come at a lower price. The technology that drives a cloud-based phone system eliminates a number of fixed costs of a traditional landline. These technological advances mean that you can save up to 45% on monthly phone bill when compared to traditional phone service.

Even if you decide against using modern productivity tools in a phone system, a PBX system comes with variable costs that don’t occur with a cloud-based service. Your PBX bill can be unpredictable, hard to scale, and complicated to manage through periods of growth or consolidation. 

For example, with a cloud-based service, you do not need to buy expensive hardware or pay someone to install and manage it. Plus, when it’s time to update your hardware, a cloud-based provider will often simply send you upgrade and replacement equipment at no cost. No hardware to buy, install, manage, upgrade or replace. Furthermore, since the lines are simply plugged into your internet, you have a reduction in infrastructure costs, and potentially no operating costs. 

Finally, whether your calls are in your neighborhood or Nepal, a cloud-based system provides flat, per user rates with a predictable monthly bill. No long distance fees, plus no annual contracts, unexpected maintenance fee, or any other hidden fees that a traditional phone provider seems to add to the bottom of the bill.

Bullet Box: here your current phone system is failing you

  • Even if a PBX system is paid off, companies have continuing costs of managing it. Old systems need to be upgraded, fixed, and expanded to support new users.
  • Purchasing additional services from other providers – such as video conferencing, chat, file storage, backup, and more – can be expensive and difficult to integrate.
  • It can be costly to hire people to manage a PBX system, whether it’s fixing a business critical issue or just managing monthly maintenance.
  • Traditional phone services come with additional unexpected costs such as equipment, long distance fees, maintenance, and more.

The Business Owner’s FAQ Check

  1. How does my cloud-based system scale with growth?

While an on-premises phone system comes with a fixed price, the cloud enables you to ramp up and down the number of lines so you’re never paying for lines you don’t need. Since there are no long-term contracts, each month you only pay for the lines you need.

  1. Is the cloud reliable?

VoIP call quality no meets or exceeds landlines, and offers enterprise type features that are often inaccessible to a small business. Plus, some companies can ensure as high as 99.999% uptime (less than 26 minutes of downtime per year) with the added benefit that your system is not jeopardized by earthquake, storm, flood, fire, power outage or other natural disasters in your area. 

  1. It sounds complex. How do I set it up and train my team?

A cloud-based phone system is easy to implement, and usually doesn’t even require a visit from your vendor. Every phone is shipped to you with simple instructions about how to plug it into your existing internet. An account representative can answer any questions you have.  With no routers or construction. Do deal with, you won’t need any expensive technicians to install equipment. Then you, or someone on your team, just use an online dashboard to configure numbers, assign call forwarding and more. 

  1. Do calls over the internet sound funny?

VoIP calls usually sound as clear or clearer than land-lines. Your cloud-based provider will often run system checks and pre-qualify you before any kind of deployment, to ensure your network has the necessary bandwidth for a quality connection. 

  1. Do cloud-based systems have hidden costs?

A cloud-based system is based on a per-user, flat monthly fee. Services such as voicemail, call forwarding, conferencing, video, and others are all included in the costs. Compare that to a landline that charges for any feature set, and requires annual commitments.

Conclusion: 

Change the equation – Mitigate risk and make your phone system a business advantage

Technology continually advances, and your phone system is no exception. What was once a simple phone line dominated by a single phone company, is now an efficient and more effective way for co-workers, customers, vendors, and recruits to unite. 

Whether it’s call forwarding, video conferencing, voicemail to text message, or any other office productivity feature, today’s cloud-based systems have been developed to make your communications easier, more reliable, and less expensive. 

Choosing a cloud phone system can help resolve these issues easily, quickly and more cost-effectively. If you haven’t considered a move to the cloud before, now is the time. 

Client: Actian

Assignment: A series of emails promoting their participation in conferences

Gartner Data & Analytics Summit – Orlando, FL


Email 1: 

(Style = Newsletter)

Subject: Join Actian and Gartner in Orlando this March

Pre-Header Text: The Data & Analytics Summit will sell-out. Early registration recommended.

The Gartner Data and Analytics Summit in Orlando features eight separate tracks on Data-Science, Data-Centric Architecture, Innovation, Leadership, Business Analytics, Pervasive Analytics, Strategy, and Governance. 

An expert lineup of speakers from around the globe will cover the hottest topics in the industry, including Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain, Citizen Data scientists and developers, Data Fluency, Governance and Trust, IoT, and the Roles of the Chief Data and Analytics Officers.


You don’t want to miss this chance to get guidance on how to: 

  • Leverage data and analytics to optimize every decision, every process and every action
  • Overcome complexity and ambiguity to drive business value
  • Drive innovation through leading technologies – AI, machine learning, blockchain, Virtual/Augmented Reality, IoT and digital twins
  • Lead by building a foundation of trust, accountability, governance, security, and privacy
  • Cut through the AI hype to develop a strategy that impacts the business

Date: March 18-21, 2019

Location: Orlando, FL 

Register: https://www.gartner.com/en/conferences/na/data-analytics-us


Assignment: Blog Post

5 Signs Your Company is Ready for a Corporate Card Program

When your company is just starting out, you can usually get by with a small business card or by having employees use their own cards for travel and purchases. But when your company reaches a certain stage of growth, there are clear advantages to setting up a corporate card program. Here are a few signs that it’s time.

1. It’s time for a faster and more predictable expense cycle.

Revenue is growing. Marketing is killing it on Google AdWords. Account execs are cutting deals across the country. It’s going to be a great quarter!

And then the expense reports come rolling in. Employees who held on to receipts for 5 months want to be reimbursed for expenses that no one knew were coming. $13,000 for online ads. $15,000 for flights. $8,000 for meals. $500 for a hot air balloon ride? The list goes on.

Establishing a corporate card program helps get your whole team on the same cycle of statements and reports, which helps prevent painful budget surprises.

Achieve more: With CenterCard, managers can quickly answer the question “How am I tracking to my travel and entertainment budget this month?”

2. It’s time to set clear parameters around spending.

When employees are spending money on behalf of the company, things can get a little messy. It’s easy to fall into a pattern of spend now, ask permission later. Tough conversations about what is OK and what is not take place after the fact—or they don’t happen at all. At best, you’re spending more than you need to be on discretionary expenses like subscriptions and office supplies. And at worst, you’re increasing the risk of fraud.

Rolling out a corporate card program is an ideal time to establish clear policies so everyone can be on the same page about the plan.

Achieve more: With CenterCard you can pre-approve spend before it happens—for every purchase, or for those that fall outside of agreed-upon parameters. For example, you could pre-approve $100 for office supplies each month, but require explicit approval for a laptop.  

3. It’s time to analyze your spending more closely.

Whether you’re building a company from scratch and analyzing return on every investment or growing your team and trying to allocate budgets efficiently, you need an effective way to track your discretionary spend—which can add up to a whopping 25% of your overall budget. When expenses come in piecemeal, on faded-out receipts taped to sheets of copy paper, this is difficult to do.  

Corporate card programs help by delivering your expenses in a clear, consistent format and organizing them by merchant category code. You can more easily identify opportunities to trim costs and to negotiate volume discounts with frequent suppliers.

Achieve more: CenterCard integrates with your financial expense software for even faster and more powerful analysis and reporting.

4. It’s time to empower your employees to spend.

A growing company needs to be nimble—not every opportunity can be anticipated a quarter ahead of time. Bureaucracy and personal credit card limits can’t slow down your team from acting on opportunities that will help you grow, whether it’s executing a quick ad buy, upgrading your trade show presence on the fly, or closing a big sale over a fancy dinner. Requiring your team members to use their own cards can limit their ability to act, or place extra pressure on their personal finances.

When you have a well-structured corporate card program in place, your employees are empowered to spend for the good of the company (and to make a good impression at that client dinner).

Achieve more: CenterCard displays the available budget right on each card, so employees always know how much they are empowered to spend in the moment.

5. You’ve experienced, or suspected, expense fraud.

We believe that employees generally want to do the right thing, but unfortunately, there are some who don’t. We have heard about cases where employees falsified receipts or even manufactured fake ones to cover personal sushi dinners, golf outings, or sporting events—or where they purchased and expensed items, and later returned them for cash.

Corporate cards make it easy to ensure that the amount charged always matches the amount expensed, and if a purchase is returned, then the refund goes directly to the company.   

Achieve more: CenterCard includes standard industry fraud and security protections. What’s more, if a card is lost, it’s easy to turn it off to prevent other transactions.

To the Point

A thoughtfully designed corporate credit card program can help your growing company manage its discretionary spend predictably and flexibly, empowering your employees to spend with the right controls in place. It’s a powerful first step toward transforming your budget into a strategic tool.


SmarTek21 Blog: 

Keys to Implementing Digital Transformation Initiatives

Today’s enterprises are looking to accelerate their Digital Transformation initiatives. But even then, 90% of these goals are never met.

By turning to technology solutions providers to complement their existing team, companies can rent the expertise they need to make a smooth transition. These partnerships bridge the gap between technology strategy and execution. Successful firms often leverage an Agile Delivery Method and High Engagement Model to mitigate the risk of failing at critically important strategic goals.

A successful transformation often relies on a five-step process:

  • Empathize and Define
  • Discover and Analyze
  • Enhance the Roadmap
  • Prototype and Adopt
  • Execute and Sustain

These steps are a foundation for programs in any of the three major areas for Digital Transformation; Engineering Operations, Sales and Marketing, and Enterprise Applications catering to the whole customer experience.

ENGINEERING OPERATIONS

Enterprise Data Systems

If your technology strategy includes cloud-based computing or Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), then you know that one of the advantages is the ability to scale your capacity up or down as needed.  Gartner says, “CIOs and IT leaders should not be migrating everything toward cloud services, nor should they be sitting back and waiting for the market to settle. A prudent data center strategy incorporates the best of both worlds, for the right reasons, at the right time.”

A successful program can achieve the following:

  • Reduce operational overhead
  • Get the most out of current and planned technology investments
  • Align technology capabilities with business demands
  • Reclaim employee cycles with Managed Support Services
  • Recover systems after critical issues or security incidents

Software Lifecycle Management

Digital Architecture is a methodology that leverages the efficiencies of agile software development and DevOps automation, along with an analytics and reporting focus, to achieve a high degree of effectiveness in improving productivity and increase throughput.

Common outcomes include the following:

  • Shorter time to market for new features
  • Improved customer satisfaction
  • Improved product quality
  • Improved productivity and efficiency
  • A highly iterative process that produces products closer aligned with business requirements
  • Sustainable, scalable and reliable application lifecycle

SALES AND MARKETING

Sales Compensation Management (ICM/SPM)

Effective sales compensation management is key to any sales organization’s success. Make it easy for your team to manage all forms of compensation and commissions for salespeople, agents, and partners with one integrated solution. Enable fair incentives, ensure error-free results, and increase visibility with real-time analytics.

Gartner states, “By 2022, organizations using a sales performance management solution will use employee-facing digital assistants to handle 75% of compensation disputes.”

Outcomes of this approach include the following:

  • Reduced overpayment/underpayment, saving organizations 3% to 5% in compensation expense
  • Increased scalability and performance through automation
  • Increase sales representative (rep) performance by aligning compensation with corporate goals and objectives
  • Optimization of business processes and compensation plan design
  • Increased revenue/profitability growth through compensation plan design that is based on historical results

Salesforce Integrations

The Salesforce Platform is widely leveraged by organizations looking to develop can scale applications for a broad and geographically dispersed audience. A successful partner will understand the importance of platform standardization, as well as the business value of seamless integration of Enterprise systems and data. This approach is highly effective in achieving the maximum impact of Salesforce.com initiatives.

A successful Salesforce implementation provides the following office 365 benefits:

  • Access to industry-leading CRM platform and toolsets, global infrastructure
  • Leverage common development languages like Ruby, Java, PHP and more
  • Innovative UI/UX platforming for critical business information
  • Integrated DevOps capabilities with common toolsets
  • Simplified distribution of application portfolio to users as well as customers

ENTERPRISE APPLICATIONS

K2 / Business Process Optimization

The K2 low-code process automation platform allows businesses to build and deploy automation across the business.  A typical approach includes a detailed understanding of the platform, as well as an ability to engage the business in order to drive process optimization and productivity gains.

Optimizing business processes delivers many opportunities:

  • Reduction in business process automation time
  • Development costs reduced, more engagement with business users
  • Improved business productivity gains and user experience
  • Create insightful data points within business data across the organization
  • Security and Governance over critical business data

SharePoint and Office 365

The Microsoft SharePoint platform has served as a cornerstone in the world of content management and business intelligence.  As the industry has evolved, and the complexity of Enterprise data/systems and infrastructure has increased exponentially, and the Microsoft stack has led the way with insightful analytics and leading tools for feeding corporate data systems and businesses worldwide.

By focusing on solving real business challenges, you can achieve process optimizations that fit well with the Microsoft vision of using software t transform and innovate. Some benefits include  the following:

  • Access to industry leading and global cloud infrastructure, content management and integrated business intelligence
  • Increased productivity by shortening time spent looking for key business data
  • Easier collaboration with teammates, partners, and customers through portals and tools
  • Mobile business productivity by on and offline access to key data, remote workforce
  • Transformation of disparate data silos into insightful decisions, with Power BI-driven reporting and dashboards

CONCLUSION

SmarTek21’s purpose is to develop and deliver technology solutions that accelerate our customers’ performance and increase company value. With more than 100+ years of C-Level and Senior Leadership serving Tech, E-Commerce, Advertising, Telecom, Insurance, and Financial Services Sectors, and a team of 500 technology professionals in the United States and India, we can deliver on the promise to deliver Digital Transformation initiatives with Twice the Output, for Half the Cost.