In the Event We Don’t Have an Exact Category for a Blog Post, You’ll Find it Here!

Does Your School Need A New Phone System?

August and September may be busy months for students, but they are even busier for teachers and school employees. August prompts last-minute phone calls about registration, class schedules, and individual student needs. September brings calls about school supplies, schedule changes, books, and parent nights. If your school, daycare center or private academy has an older phone system, the influx of calls at the start of the school year can be tough to manage. Calls can be disconnected, transferred to the wrong person, or never picked up at all. Avoid frustrated employees and upset parents by updating your phone system before school starts!

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Windows Server 2003 Support is Ending

Microsoft is shuttering its Windows Server 2003 support on July 14, 2015. This gives business owners, entrepreneurs, and IT professionals just a few months to replace their systems and migrate to new platforms.

And trust us, you will want to migrate. The end of support from Microsoft means that the 2003 version of Windows Server will not receive any more security updates, will not receive patches for any remaining software bugs, and may not interact well with other (newer) products that companies may integrate with. The software will become a cancer of security risk and outdated technology that will limit the potential growth of your computer systems.

Many business will ultimately have to upgrade, and there are several “next steps” in the migration process that BCS can assist with:

  • The first step is to discover how much of your infrastructure relies on Microsoft Server 2003. This includes applications, workloads, documents, and more. A business that heavily relies on the antiquated service will need to invest more time and more money in their upgrade process, but that business may also stand the most to gain in a well-facilitated upgrade with new opportunity and competitive advantage.
  • In the upgrade process you are likely to find that more than just Microsoft Server 2003 is out of date. Prioritizing all of your applications and workloads that rely on the service will give you a larger picture of your network strengths and vulnerabilities.
  • After researching and prioritizing your current situation and pitfalls (or lack thereof) its time to determine the best migration path for you. This may include transferring to cloud computing and off-site data-centers. Virtualization using the Windows Cloud OS network or Microsoft Azure could be the next big step for your business, but any transition you make will require research and planning.
  • The final step is to build a detailed migration plan that meets the requirements that you have set forth in the steps above. They will give you a detailed list of what you need and help define where your business fits in the growing digital landscape.

The change can be daunting but it also allows for new opportunity and a time to upgrade. BCS can help facilitate the transition to new platforms and ensure that your business reacts in a way that fits your budget and your needs.

Structured Cabling for the Smart Office

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You’ve likely seen news stories about the “smart home” of the future.  You may even have a smart home feature like the Nest thermostat installed already. But what about your office? Established office and retail spaces should have the structured cabling in place to take advantage of many of the new automation technologies coming to market. Sometimes retrofitting of the existing cabling is needed to take full advantage of the new systems.

While WiFi is great for many applications, when it comes to high quality AV applications, hard wiring is still superior.  In areas where you have projectors or monitors meant for display it’s important to have both Cat5 and coax cable run.  Likewise, alarm systems for security, smoke, and carbon monoxide are best hardwired with a cellular backup feature. There are numerous options for automating functions like lighting and surveillance cameras that involve a combination of structured cabling and wireless technologies.  

You may also want to rewire if you have suspicions of unsafe wiring. You should have your wiring inspected at least once every five years to ensure that your equipment stays in good working order. If at any time you notice any scorch marks on plugs or sockets, hear the sound of arcing (buzzing or cracking), or anything unusual you should have your wiring inspected or repaired immediately.

If you’re interested in wiring or rewiring your business to handle all your security and automation needs, call BCS at (757) 497-3100 to talk to one of our structured cabling specialists.

 

Mobile Business Solutions

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Not all business is done in the office. For companies with sales people, trainers, or repair personnel, on-the-road mobile phone connectivity is vital.  For companies that need mobile connectivity, Mitel Mobile Solutions offers many advantages over regular consumer cell phone plans.  Regular consumer cell phone plans have caps on data, charge extra for the use of a mobile hotspot, and mean yet another separate bill to deal with.

Mitel Mobile can support businesses of all sizes and any industry.  They offer the latest and most popular Android and Blackberry phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy models, as well as USB and wireless mobile hotspot–all for a price much smaller than other major cell phone carriers.  Plus! Mitel offers unlimited talk, text, data and hotspot use on all plans with no overage charges or data throttling.

If you’re looking for mobile phones to unify your office and wireless communications, we have the devices and rate plans that will work for your business.  For more information on how BCS can help your business communicate, call us at 757-497-3100.

BCS is a proud Mitel Exclusive Business Partner.

What is VoIP?

VoIP is short for Voice over Internet Protocol

There are quite a few benefits to using VoIP, but is it right for your business? Well, let’s take a look at some of the features:

  • Calls use Internet connection, not a phone line. This saves you money by avoiding long distance charges and by eliminating the need for an expensive landline.
  • VoIP is easy to use. Using VoIP is intuitive and some have video conferencing built right into the device.
  • Employees keep the same extension when working remotely. This increases productivity and makes it easier for clients to contact the employee working out of the office.

Is VoIP right for you?

There are several user-related factors to consider when deciding to purchase a business telephone system. For 30 years, the people at BCS Voice & Data have been the trusted experts in business telephone solutions. We would love to discuss your options.

 

Calling us is the easiest and fastest way to get the answers you need to decide on a phone system. We’ll provide you with a written estimate so you can compare and share what you find.

 

Give us a call.

 

—The Staff at BCS Voice and Data… 757-497-3100

Is VMware Right for My Business?

VMware is a great tool for leveraging your IT infrastructure, allowing your your comptuers to run multiple operating systems and applications, without the expense of adding additional machines or servers.  You can consolidate servers, improve automation and implement disaster recovery solutions.

If you use leading business software operating on your servers, such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, SAP, Microsoft Exchange, Sharepoint and more, VMware can create a more seamless and accessible system, using virtualization to access multiple systems.  Typical clients implementing VMware experience 80 percent greater utilization of server resources, up to 50 percent savings in capital and operating costs and a significant benefit in server consolidation.

In addition to server virtualization, we can help with network virtualization — letting you run applications on a virtual network, rather than a physical one.  This is particularly beneficial to growing businesses that need a highly scalable network and fast provisioning, troubleshooting, cloning and monitoring.

There’s no simple answer to the question is “VMware right for your business?”, however, the experts at BCS Voice & Data Solutions use a collaborative approach to identify business needs, future potential needs, and help you and your team identify options that are right for you situation.  Contact us today for a no-obligation conversation.

 

Business Technology FAQ: What equipment does a VoIP business phone system require?

As a trusted hosted telephone solution provider in Hampton Roads, BCS is well-equipped to answer any question you may have about VoIP, Unified Communications, and more, because we’ve just about heard them all.

We get this one a lot from clients: “I understand that VoIP provides lower ongoing costs, but what equipment do I need to make it worth my while? How much do other system components drive up costs?” 

 

Here’s our answer:

First off, there are two approaches to VoIP — a premise-based system that doesn’t use an internet connection, and a hosted or cloud-based solution that does use the internet.  In either case you can use an IP-based business phone system.

 

Internet Connection and a Hosted or Cloud Solution

For hosted or cloud-based phone systems, a fast and reliable internet connection is its main requirement.  However, you don’t need to have a fast internet connection to take advantage of VoIP benefits within your office.  If you’re not sure if your network can support a hosted phone system, give BCS a call and we can perform a network analysis and help you select the best system for your current, and future, situation.

VoIP Business Phone System

If the situation calls for it, a business may not even need a phone system, since VoIP calls can be made from a desktop, laptop or mobile phone as part of a Unified Communications solution.

Newer systems are quite affordable, adaptable, and many are even more feature-rich than the leading analog-based business phones.  IP phone systems like the kinds Mitel offers through BCS grows with your business without the fuss of complicated installation and hardware rewiring.

 

Most of the costs incurred by switching to a VoIP business phone system pay for themselves over time, whether they are cloud-based or premise-based. With minimal ongoing maintenance charges, lower (or nonexistent) local and long-distance rates, and the flexibility of modern business phone systems, you’d be surprised how much you can save by upgrading.

Are you interested in discovering the VoIP phone solutions that are right for your business? Call or contact BCS today to learn more.

Mitel AnyWare

At BCS Voice and Data Solutions, we believe that your business should be able to communicate flexibly, reliably and in a way that maximizes your bottom line.

If yours is like many small to medium sized companies, you may find that managing a complicated, premises-based executive phone system can be anything but flexible and reliable and often  incurs extra (and unpredictable!) communication costs. Some of the more complex systems require a specialized IT staff to fix even small issues, and employing such a staff isn’t always an option for still-growing businesses.

For those businesses, BCS recommends using a virtually hosted telephone solution (aka hosted PBX service) like Mitel AnyWare. With Mitel AnyWare’s low cost monthly per-user subscription, you receive everything you need to streamline business continuity and take the headache out of phone system management. What’s that exactly? Mitel AnyWare gives your business:

  • Mitel’s feature-rich, intuitive, executive class business telephones. One for every user.   And Mitel’s phones aren’t simply phones. They are cutting-edge, unified communications clients that put the world at your employees’ fingertips.
  • Reliable and pristine call quality.
  • Unlimited calls to the US and Canada.
  • Mobile device integration, or “Mobile Twinning.” This means that, if you so choose, calls to an employee’s desktop phone can be directly routed to his or her mobile phone. Your remote workers never have to worry about missing a call, no matter how far they are from the office.
  • Faster disaster recovery with less downtime. Mitel AnyWare’s mobile Auto Attendant continues to run your phone system, even in the event of a power outage. And with Mobile Twinning, business doesn’t have to stop short for Mother Nature.
  • Highly customizable and user-friendly web-based interface.

We can’t say enough about the benefits of using a truly complete hosted phone solution like Mitel AnyWare. Lots of voice and data solution companies provide bits and pieces of the necessary communication arsenal, but BCS in its partnership with Mitel offers the full spectrum. We come to your business, install the phone system and even train your users so they can make the most of Mitel AnyWare. And when your business grows enough that it requires a more complex premise-based phone system, we can help you with that too.

 

Do you think that Mitel AnyWare hosted PBX service might be the right choice for your business? Do you have some questions?  Call or contact BCS today. We are looking forward to helping you make business happen!

Today’s the Day to Protect Your Data

Did you know that today, March 31, is World Backup Day? Well, if you didn’t you do now, and it is time to take action! What better day than today to back up or plan to back up your important personal files and business critical data? After you’re done with the egg hunts and chocolate bunnies, consider taking steps to protect your data.

According to Worldbackupday.com:

“More than 60 million computers will fail worldwide in 2013. Only 1 in 4 people back up their information regularly–that’s roughly 45 million times this year where files will be lost forever. Even worse–113 cell phones are lost or stolen every minute in the United States alone. That’s hundreds of photos, conversations, calendars and more, gone in an instant.”

The statistics are staggering. What is even more shocking is how much trust we put into technology to protect vital information in our businesses and in our personal lives, when we all know that that technology sometimes fails. Are you ready to place yourself among the wise and tech-savvy by backing up your data? We sure hope so.

First thing’s first, read our blog post from last month, A Data Backup Strategy is Your Best Defense. It details the options you have for backing up business-critical information as well as the structure of a good security strategy for today’s small business. The best option for most businesses is cloud-based data backup and storage in the VMware virtual environment.

As for personal data, the strategic backup decisions are less complex and overwhelming. Whether on an external hard drive or an online cloud backup service, make and store copies of all important files on all data-heavy devices and websites. These might include:

  • Desktop and laptop computers
  • Smartphones
  • Mp3 players
  • Tablets
  • Social Networks where you store valuable pictures

And remember, one copy is not enough! It is wise to make one or two copies of the initial copy, just to be safe. Store those extra copies somewhere different than your home or office (online or at a friend’s home). Give yourself some peace of mind by making the effort today to start protecting the files and the information that are precious to you.

If you have any questions about business data backup and storage, please don’t hesitate to call or contact BCS Voice and Data Solutions. We are here for you on World Backup Day and every other day of the year!

interactive whiteboards in the classroom

Interactive Whiteboards in the Classroom

interactive whiteboards in the classroom

Imagine that you are a child sitting at your desk in a classroom waiting to start the day…

The teacher walks in, presses a button, and all of a sudden you and your classmates are teleconferencing with another classroom across the world in China for your social studies lesson. When you move on to math, the teacher displays multiplication tables on the same board and you and your classmates go up to the front of the room and take turns dragging and dropping the correct answers. The English lesson is exciting, too, because you get to read a book along with your class on the board, complete with pictures, right from your desk. At the end of the day, your teacher emails an absent classmate an audiovisual recording of everything that happened on the board that day, so even he doesn’t miss out.

Until recently, this kind of scenario seemed positively futuristic. With the incredible technology of interactive whiteboards (IWBs), it looks like the future is here.

For the past 20 years, interactive whiteboards have made their way into classrooms across the globe. In many K-12 schools, the traditional blackboard has been phased out entirely by the IWB because of the latter’s innovative flexibility.

Structurally, your general IWB is a large screen placed at the front of a classroom (or boardroom.) Many have desktop or tablet hubs from which the instructor writes on and navigates across programs and the web for students to see.

The uses and benefits of interactive whiteboards in the classroom are many:

-Presentations

-Ability to record information and lessons for those not in class

-Digital Storytelling -Teaching the fundamentals of Internet navigation in real time

-Demonstrating the correct usage of editing marks on typed text for the whole class to see.

Perhaps the most important contribution of interactive whiteboards to education is how readily they appeal to diverse learning styles in the classroom. For instance, in a classroom with a traditional blackboard, an audio learner is likely to be less intellectually stimulated than a student who is visual or tactile. An interactive whiteboard allows the teacher to integrate sound bytes in the form of music and video clips to instruct the audio learner more effectively and with ease. The interactive whiteboard is especially helpful to tactile learners because it gives them the ability to drag, drop, draw, and erase more clearly and decisively than they might on a blackboard.

We can’t underestimate the value of this technology in the classroom for a generation of students that is readily responsive to the Internet, touch screens, and everything digital. Interactive whiteboards meet children where they are cognitively, and they afford teachers a seemingly endless horizon of creative possibilities.

BCS is a first class proprietor of interactive whiteboards and we can answer any questions you may have about choosing, installing, and using an IWB in your classroom or office. Call us today.

image source: www.edudemic.com

source: http://www.rmtc.fsdb.k12.fl.us