Four Digital Tools That You Should Consider As a CIO

Businesses are getting competitive by the day and the need for better communication facilities is only growing. It has been estimated that voice calls are still the most preferred option of communication in business environments.

In spite of the growth of other mediums like texting, social media, and video conferencing, 67 percent of all business communications still happens through voice calls. Hence, as a CIO (Chief Information Officer), it is pertinent to see that communication happens seamlessly within an organization and SaaS (Software as a Service) can help in realizing it immensely.

Better communication management can only happen when state-of-the-art products are used for it. There are many such tools that can aid in the process but for a CIO, the following four can be the gamechanger for any enterprise. After all, if a change has to be made, the economics and resources must also be considered. Therefore, we limit ourselves to the following four tools.

Four tools to consider for better communication management for your business

Premise systems should be smart

Gone are the days when traditional PBX systems were used abundantly. With increased business, there is always a need for advanced systems that can aid the business process smartly. SaaS systems have made its foray into the market and they can help immensely towards this endeavor. There are premise systems that are specifically meant for Small and Medium businesses as well as large enterprise.

These types of systems can help in accommodating at least 10 to 5,000 users at a time and can help in providing high-performance SSD (Solid State Drive) storage with enhanced speed. These are also quite small, typically with 1U or 2U requirements so that they can be placed anywhere. They may also have provision for expansion modules and high availability clusters so that there can be uninterrupted communication at all times. With these types of systems, remote management can also be done effectively. A business can also expect to get universal power supplies with this type of complete PBX (Private Branch Exchange) solution.

Cloud-based phones are amazing

The introduction of Cloud-based phones has simply changed the dynamics of many businesses. Organizations have taken note of the advantages that are associated with it and start-ups and SMB (Small and Medium Businesses) units particularly stand to gain from it. As more business models are shifting towards the off-site requirements, acquiring this type of phone can be quite helpful for remote employees to keep in touch with one’s office. Enterprises that want to outsource the management of their phone infrastructure should consider hosted collaboration services. This way, even being away, an employee can stay connected to his office at all times.

Zero-touch provisioning tools like Redirection Server and End Point Manager can be very useful for many businesses. Enterprises can also use phone apps through it like queue control, hot-desking and voice mail notifications that can help in achieving higher productivity. This type of phone also offers a high level of security as they come with built-in VPN features.

Connectivity has to be given preference

However, advanced a PBX system may be but it will always need connectivity so that its features can be enjoyed amply. Hence, connectivity is an aspect that cannot be neglected at any cost. So, whether a PBX connects to a PSTN using legacy T1/E1, BRI or analog lines or a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) trunk, each of them must be reliable and should offer a considerably high up time. Hence, as a CIO, selecting the proper last mile connectivity is very essential.

It can have a substantial effect on the overall communication within an organization. Utilizing specific products like Session Border Controllers, Telecom Expansion Cards, PBX systems and VoIP Gateways can be highly productive towards meeting this goal. All these products apart from some others can be highly useful so that a successful communication initiative of any business can critically depend on their performance.

SIP trunking is making huge waves

SIP trunking is a kind of VoIP technology and a streaming media utility by which Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) provide phone services and also unified communications (UC) to customers who have SIP-based PBX facilities. Thus, UC can help with voice, video, as well as other types of streaming media applications like web conferencing, desktop sharing, shared whiteboard, etc. Any dynamic CEO cannot help but include SIP trunking in his repertoire as it can be a hot potato for any business. Hence, an SIP trunking facility can help a PBX to receive and send calls through the Internet. As SIP is useful for signaling various real-time applications, it can manage voice, video as well as messaging applications superbly.

It can also help in saving a lot of money spent on telephone bills. A SIP trunking service can be easily and quickly configured and combined with a UC. Any business can sign up online from the PBX GUI (Graphics User Interface), get a new DID (Direct Inward Dialing) or can even port an existing DID. Therefore, calls can be made with it in no time and an unlimited SIP trunking experience can be availed at a fixed monthly fee.

All these SaaS products can bring in the needed vibrancy to an organization so that there can be more productivity and increased participation from employees. They can also help in staying abreast with all the latest developments that take place in any sector so that increased business awareness can be expected. SaaS products are changing the landscape of businesses in a massive way and there is no reason why a business shouldn’t adopt them today.

Featured image source: Freepik