Some business telecommunications manufacturers only have one flavor, so of course they claim their way is best. Some say Digital is best because it’s more reliable. Others claim IP is more cost-effective and offers the latest features.
See the Best of Both Worlds with Toshiba Strata CIX and the new Toshiba IPedge. http://www.youtube.com/telecomtoshiba/#p/a/u/1/W4tKci2dPKc
Which type of technology works best for your business – VoIP, Digital or Converged?
Thursday, June 2nd about 3:30PM… There was a loud boom and the power went out. Almost immediately, it came back up and everyone in the office was relieved. Moments later, the power went out again, but this time it went up and down several times before it was finally gone for sure.
Anyone who knows electronics knows that power fluctuations and outages can damage or ruin electronic equipment. The beeping sound of Uninterruptible Power Supplies (UPSs) filled the office verifying that the power was indeed out and they had kicked in to protect our electronic equipment and keep it working. There was no interruption to the conference call I was on because the power backup system kept the phone system working. The power was out, but we were still in business.
Apparently our “disaster” was caused by a driver who just wasn’t thinking. He left the bucket raised on his cherry-picker truck as he drove down the street by our building. The bucket caught on power lines and snapped a power pole in half taking the power down. The police and KCPL responded quickly. Traffic was rerouted, spectators were kept away from the downed power lines and the work of restoring power began.
The protections we had in place allowed time to safely shut down systems. Incoming calls were transitioned to our emergency plan. Clients could still reach us and we could respond in a timely manner. In fact, one client experienced a disaster of their own and our Technical staff responded and quickly repaired the problem. None of our equipment was damaged and none of our customers were impacted by our “disaster” because we were prepared.
How have you planned to protect your equipment and keep your business running in a disaster?
A study cited in the April 2011 Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine finds extensive business travel could be a health risk. Frequent business travelers were 260% more likely to rate their health as fair or poor than light travelers. Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health studied 13,000 employees and found obesity was 92% more likely in extensive travelers. Cholesterol and blood pressure levels were also higher. The research points at fattening foods, poor sleep and inactivity as likely culprits.
If you must travel for business, have a plan for maintaining wellness. And why not consider using technology instead of travel? A high quality conference call could be good for your health.
Has technology reduced the amount of business travel in your company?
During World War II as American men went off to war, women stepped up to take positions in the workforce. The U.S. government needed secretaries and other workers to help in the war effort. As a result of this need, the National Secretaries Association (now the International Association of Administrative Professionals) was formed in May 1942. In addition to filling regular jobs, many Association members also served in the military or volunteered in the war effort.
In June 1952, the first National Secretaries Week and National Secretaries Day were proclaimed by then U.S. Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer. The two objectives were to recognize “the secretary, upon whose skills, loyalty, and efficiency the functions of business and government offices depend,” and to publicize “the tremendous potential of the secretarial career.”
The organization’s name was changed to Professional Secretaries International in 1981 and then to the International Association of Administrative Professionals in 1998. The names of the organization and the celebration have changed to reflect changes in the workplace. Beginning in 2000, the nation has celebrated Administrative Professionals Week during the last week of April and Administrative Professionals Day on Wednesday of that week. This year, the Association encourages a celebration of all office professionals for their hard work and for pulling together through down-sizing and economic challenges.
Questions you may be asking…
Happy Administrative Professionals Week!
Sources: www.iaap-hq.org, www.secretarysday.net, www.funfactsgirls.com, www.word-origins.com, http://etymonline.com
Yesterday CommWorld of Kansas City received a faxed “invoice” for $49 from one of those Yellow Pages knock offs. You know the ones that send you an advertisement that looks like an invoice. This one is called Your Yellow Book and surprise, surprise – the company doesn’t appear to exist on the internet.
Some unsuspecting people must be paying those invoices because somebody keeps sending them. So, how much is $49 times 50 companies or 100 or maybe 500 companies? (I did the math…$49 x 500 = $24,500.) I’m not sure that’s enough money to risk sending all those broadcast faxes.
Has your company received one of these “invoices”?
We’re not saying, “The sky is falling, run for your lives!” but we do encourage you to think ahead and be prepared.
All of us are part of the global economy. The earthquake, tsunami and resulting nuclear incident which hit Japan have rippling effects. Of course, the loss of life and the suffering of the people are of greatest importance. Our prayers and support go out to them as they begin the process of rebuilding their economy, the damaged and devastated structures and their lives.
This enormous disaster also has effects on electronics industries throughout the world. Japan is a major supplier of components used in all types of electronics from computers to cell phones, TVs, copiers, cameras, LCDs, automobiles, batteries, tablets, telephone equipment and more. Whether an electronic device is “made in America” or any other country, it probably includes components from Japan.
The process of making chips is especially sensitive to power interruptions, dust and vibration. Even manufacturing facilities which were not damaged may experience problems. Electricity interruptions, transportation and shipping problems and employee absences can contribute to a slowdown or shutdown. The research firm, IHS iSuppli, reports that the current inventory of components should be enough to keep production running at global electronics manufacturers if the interruptions only last a couple of weeks.
Reports of shortages, both real and imagined, may result in price increases. Already an article in Information Week reports prices for flash memory found in smartphones up as much as 10% and prices for system memory used in PCs up by 7%. It is actually too soon to know for sure if prices will increase or by how much.
After 30 years in business, COMMWORLD of Kansas City has lived through product shortages before and we know how challenging it can be. It was especially hard for customers who experienced an equipment failure when replacements were difficult to get.
We have not received official notification of product shortages or price increases, but we do encourage you to be prepared. If you’re planning to acquire electronics equipment this year, it may be wise to get it now. If you’re trying to keep old equipment alive, but you know its days are numbered, now would be a good time to replace it. If you haven’t protected electronic equipment with a battery backup or UPS, do it now and if the batteries in those units haven’t been changed in 3 years, be sure to get them changed, too.
COMMWORLD will continue to monitor the situation and provide updates the best that we can.
Sources: Information Week, eweek.com, TechNewsDaily, Los Angeles Times ,guardian.co.uk, The Christian Science Monitor
Congratulations to Sly James, a long time COMMWORLD of Kansas City client, fellow member of the Kansas City Metropolitan Bar Association and now Kansas City’s new mayor!
