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  • HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF CUSTOMER FEEDBACK


    Customer feedback can be one of the most useful tools available to your company when it comes to business telecommunication. The way you use your communications tools to reach customers, hear what they have to say, and turn their feedback into real results will determine whether or not your customers decide to stick with you for the long term. Of course, you must first have mechanisms in place for gathering feedback for this to work.

    GATHERING FEEDBACK

    While some large corporations are known for their customer service surveys, many companies have failed to ask their customers the most basic questions about their service. This often results in customers leaving anonymous reviews online but never communicating their wishes directly to the company. With the help of a modern business telecommunication system, you can implement phone-based customer service surveys as well as social media and email-based surveys. Even a comment box on your website can help generate useful data points.

    ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

    Again, you are probably familiar with simple customer service surveys that ask you to rate the service on a scale of one to five stars, or indicate whether or not you are satisfied with the service. While these kinds of questions can help create a baseline for gathering information, they do not approach the meat of the problem at hand. You need to think more specifically about the information you want to gather, and consider what the customers are not telling you as well.

    Asking if they are generally satisfied with the service being provided is different from asking if they are very satisfied with the service that was provided at your last interaction. Asking if they are willing to refer your service to a friend or family member is another way to hone in on how well you are really doing. They may be generally happy with the service, but not ecstatic enough to share their experience. How can you change that? Lastly, an open-ended question can help you gauge whether or not they are looking elsewhere for services. Are there any other products or services on the market that have caught your interest, which we do not provide? Remember, even satisfied customers may leave if they find a more advanced alternative that serves their needs.

    PUTTING FEEDBACK TO WORK

    Now that you have asked detailed questions about their customer experience, the next step is to use the information to create effective solutions. Your business telecommunication system should be integrated with CRM software to help you categorize customers efficiently. If a group of customers has indicated that they are generally happy, but they are looking for a more advanced solution, you can flag them for your customer service agents. This way, every time you interact with them, you can push for more information about the services they are looking for and find solutions that keep them where they are. A category for unhappy customers is also useful, as your agents can see that they need to be particularly careful when handling these accounts and ensure that their service is top notch. Lastly, customers who are willing to refer you may be placed in a group that gets special recognition or some type of kickback for those referrals.

    Customer feedback is the best way to help your company evolve and ensure that you are keeping in line with market trends. However, you must be very diligent about creating customer surveys that accurately reflect your customer’s thoughts and feelings, and translate that information into real results.

  • Employee training and Cybersecurity

    Employee training & Cybersecurity

    Employee training will form a big part of the cybersecurity initiative that you will take on as an organization. You need to train your employees to identify and respond correctly to cyberthreats. Here are some employee training best practices that you can make a part of your cybersecurity training program.

    Create an IT policy handbook
    Make sure you have a handbook of your IT policy that you share with every new employee, regardless of their position in the company. This IT policy handbook must be provided to everyone–right from the CEO to the newest intern in your organization. Also, ensure this handbook is consistently updated. IT is evolving at great speed and your handbook must keep up

    Make cybersecurity training a part of your official training initiatives
    Cybersecurity training should be a part of your corporate training initiatives for all new employees. You can also conduct refresher sessions once in a while to ensure your existing employees are up-to-date on the latest cyberthreats. At the end of the training session, conduct tests, mock drills, certification exams. Good training includes assessment. Provide follow up training for those who need it. This strong emphasis on training will ensure your employees take cybersecurity seriously.

    Day zero alerts
    As discussed, the cybercrime landscape is constantly evolving. Every day, cybercriminals are finding new vulnerabilities to exploit, and new methods to steal your data or to hack into your system. Day zero alerts are a great way to keep your employees updated. Has a new security threat been discovered or an important plug-in released for the optimal functioning of a browser? Send an email to everyone spelling out clearly what the threat is and what they can do to mitigate it. Then, follow up to verify they took the necessary steps.

    Transparency


    Let your employees know who to contact in the event of any IT related challenges. This is important because someone troubleshooting on the internet for a solution to something as simple as a zipping up a file could end up downloading malware accidentally.

    Considering the serious ramifications brought on by cybercrime attacks, it makes sense for organizations to strengthen their first line of defense against cybercriminals–their own employees.

  • Don’t let hurricanes blow your data away!

    Don’t let hurricanes blow your data away!

    “Life is not about sheltering yourselves from the rain, it is about learning to dance in the storm”, goes a popular saying. But, if you are a small business, you first need to shelter your assets from the rain, before you can afford to dance in the storm without a care in the world. Hurricanes, tornadoes and thunderstorms can catch you off-guard resulting in losses worth thousands of dollars. Your inventory may be damaged, your place of business may be flooded and your critical business data lost. While most small businesses do take timely steps to ensure their inventory and place of business are protected from natural disasters, a lot of them tend to overlook the risk such natural disasters pose to their IT infrastructure and data. To many, it doesn’t seem to be that big an issue–and invariably, this is where they go wrong. Data loss due to natural calamity or any other reason can cause significant damage to a business, resulting in extreme consequences such as complete business shutdown. Safeguarding your data shouldn’t be a project you embark upon after a hurricane warning is issued.

    In this post we discuss the steps you can take to mitigate the risks natural disasters pose to your data and IT infrastructure.

    1. Recognize the need for data safety, security and recovery in times of disaster.
    2. Bring together your key resources and create a team that’s responsible for implementing your disaster backup and recovery plan.
    3. Identify the key areas that need to be addressed. In the event of a disaster, what are the processes that absolutely need to function to keep your business going and what needs to be done so they still function smoothly?
    4. Prepare a solid disaster recovery-business continuity plan. You can enlist your in-house IT team or bring an MSP onboard to do this.
    5. Create a list of all the software programs, applications and hardware that are critical to your business process
    6. Include floor plans, physical access details, entry-exit security codes etc, pertaining to your place of business in the plan.
    7. Include information about your backups in the disaster recovery and business continuity plan.
    8. Conduct mock drills and audits to ensure your plan is executable and gives you the intended results.
    All of this can be overwhelming, especially with a business to run and a Hurricane to watch out for! That’s why most SMBs rely on trusted managed service providers to do it for them, while they focus on their core area–managing their business and customers.

  • Website cloning: Don’t fall for that trap!

    Website cloning: Don’t fall for that trap!

    Have you watched one of those horror movies where the something impersonates the protagonist only to wreak havoc later? Well, website cloning does the same thing–to your business–in real life. Website cloning is one of the most popular methods among scammers to fleece you of your money.

    As the name suggests, the cybercriminal first creates a ‘clone’ site of the original one. There can be a clone of any website, though retail shopping sites, travel booking sites and banks are the favorites of cybercriminals. The clone site looks exactly like the original one, barring a very miniscule change in the url.

    Next, they will create a trap intended to get unsuspecting victims to visit the clone site. This is usually done via links shared through emails, SMS messages or social media posts asking them to click on a link to the clone site. The message urges the recipient to take an action. For example, a message that presents itself as though it is from the IRS, asking the recipient to pay pending taxes by clicking on a specific link to avoid a fine or business shutdown, or an SMS about a time-bound discount on iPads. Sometimes, they go straight for the target and masquerade as a message from your bank asking you to authenticate your credentials by logging into your banking portal–the only glitch, the banking portal will be a clone.

    Staying safe

    So, how do you identify a clone website and a dubious message?
    • Does the email sound too good to be true? Well, then it probably is. Nike giving away free shoes? Emirates Airlines giving you free tickets to Europe? Apple iPhone X for just $20? All of these scream SCAM!
    • Even if the message sounds genuine, such as an email from your bank asking you to authenticate your login credentials, check the email header to see if the sender’s email domain matches your bank’s. For example, if your bank is Bank of America, the sender’s email ID should have that in the domain. Something like customercare@bankofamerica.com could be genuine, whereas, customercare@bankofamerica.net is suspicious.
    • Check the final URL before you enter any information to make sure it is the actual one. Most shopping/banking websites, where payments are made and other personal details are shared are secure (HTTPS)and will have a lock symbol at the beginning of the URL. Also, check the domain. For example, something like- www.customerauthentication.com/bankofamerica is not

    Identifying a cloned website is tricky, but it is not something you can afford to ignore.Giving away your personal and financial information to a fraudster can cause a lot of harm to you and your business.

  • Tech agility: A must-have for crisis survival

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

    Tech agility: A must-have for crisis survival

    It is a known fact that survival of any species depends on its ability to adapt to change. One major change for businesses in 2020 was the need to switch to the work-from-home model to keep things running during the time of pandemic. When countries all over the world started imposing lockdown restrictions, companies had no choice but to switch to remote operations if their line of business allowed them to do so. This blog post discusses the key challenges faced by businesses that had failed to adopt the latest technology on time.
     

  • VISUALIZING THE SLAPPEY PLEDGE: CONFRONT THE FACTS YET NEVER LOSE FAITH


     I WILL CONFRONT THE BRUTAL FACTS YET NEVER LOSE FAITH. I will seek out and embrace the truth. No matter how bad, I will confront each situation head on with unwavering faith that we will prevail. I will choose to have a positive attitude in all circumstances and will embrace every problem as an opportunity.

    WATCH THE VIDEO HERE:



    This pledge comes straight from Jim Collin’s book Good to Great when it describes the “Stockdale Paradox.” The paradox is between two things: confronting the brutal facts, but no matter how bad they are, never losing faith that you will prevail in the end. Below is an excerpt from Collin’s book where he interviews Stockdale and explains the principle.

    The name refers to Admiral Jim Stockdale, who was the highest ranking United States military officer in the “Hanoi Hilton” prisoner-of-war camp during the height of the Vietnam War. Tortured over 20 times during his eight-year imprisonment, Stockdale lived out the war without any prisoner’s rights, no set release date, and no certainty as to whether he would even survive to see his family again. He shouldered the burden of command, doing everything he could to create conditions that would increase the number of prisoners who would survive unbroken, while fighting an internal war against his captors and their attempts to use the prisoners for propaganda. At one point, he beat himself with a stool and cut himself with a razor, deliberately disfiguring himself, so that he could not be put on videotape as an example of a “well-treated prisoner.” He exchanged secret intelligence information with his wife through their letters, knowing that discovery would mean more torture and perhaps death.

    As I moved through the book, I found myself getting depressed. It just seemed so bleak—the uncertainty of his fate, the brutality of his captors, and so forth. And then, it dawned on me: “Here I am sitting in my warm and comfortable office on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I’m getting depressed reading this, and I know the end of the story! I know that he gets out, reunites with his family, and becomes a national hero. If it feels depressing for me, how on earth did he deal with it when he was actually there and did not know the end of the story?”

    “I never lost faith in the end of the story,” he said, when I asked him. “I never doubted not only that I would get out, but also that I would prevail in the end and turn the experience into the defining event of my life, which, in retrospect, I would not trade.”

    I didn’t say anything for many minutes, and we continued the slow walk toward the faculty club, Stockdale limping and arc-swinging his stiff leg that had never fully recovered from repeated torture. Finally, after about a hundred meters of silence, I asked, “Who didn’t make it out?”

    “Oh, that’s easy,” he said. “The optimists.”

    “The optimists? I don’t understand,” I said, now completely confused, given what he’d said a hundred meters earlier.

    “The optimists. Oh, they were the ones who said, ‘We’re going to be out by Christmas.’ And Christmas would come, and Christmas would go. Then they’d say, ‘We’re going to be out by Easter.’ And Easter would come, and Easter would go. And then Thanksgiving, and then it would be Christmas again. And they died of a broken heart.”

    Another long pause, and more walking. Then he turned to me and said, “This is a very important lesson. You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.”


    To this day, I carry a mental image of Stockdale admonishing the optimists: “We’re not getting out by Christmas; deal with it!”


  • CAN A CLOUD PHONE SYSTEM HELP YOUR BUSINESS?


    There are a number of ways that cloud phone system technology can improve your business operations. Both your employees and your customers will experience a real difference in their ability to communicate when you upgrade your phone system to a more modern cloud based arrangement.

    MOBILITY

    Cloud based systems rely on internet connections to carry your phone conversations to mobile phones and desktop IP phones. This means that any network approved device can connect anywhere there is stable internet. Your staff is no longer tied to a specific phone or location because even their phone numbers can be updated as they travel to reflect local area codes.

    INCREASED ACCESSIBILITY

    In the past, the end of the business day often meant that customers were unable to reach anyone if they needed help. Voicemail came at a premium cost to most businesses who wanted to give their customers a way to leave a message after hours. The cloud has simplified this process and made it possible to reroute calls to an open office, an individual device, or just leave a message without any additional equipment or cost. Housing all of the main system equipment off-site also protects your business from local internet and power outages, as the host site can simply redirect calls to mobile devices instantly.

    BUDGET FRIENDLY

    Not only is a cloud phone system less expensive on the front end, but it also provides a number of long-term cost savings for your company. Since you are not being charged by the minute for long distance calls or many of the other services that were once subject to “premium” pricing models, your monthly phone bills will be more predictable and easier to manage. The cloud offers more than just a way to cut costs; it also provides a solution for keeping those costs under control as you expand.

    However, before you get ahead of yourself, it is important to note that IP capable phones are a requirement for this system to work. In addition, routers and stable internet service need to be in place since that is how your phone calls will now be routed. People who do not have IP ready phones or who do not currently have internet capable of handling high volumes will still need to make an investment in equipment up front.

    ALWAYS ADVANCING

    Investing in phone technology used to be a large scale rollout that required a lot of research and comparison to choose the right system. Now it is possible to choose a basic system to work with and add advanced features over time. Most cloud phone system hosts have a vested interest in improving their own services and features, which means that you will automatically be receiving updates and patches as they improve themselves. Additionally, they are constantly searching for the latest and greatest capabilities to add to their packages for more complete communications systems. Since you aren’t actually building the system on-site, you can take your time figuring out which features are and are not working for you and make small changes over time.

    Cloud phone systems have come a long way, and there is plenty of new technology yet to be introduced. Your business can take advantage of the immediate cost savings and improved accessibility by switching to a cloud phone system today. Your provider will provide you with everything you need to get started right away, and they will continue to share helpful tools and updates with you as their system grows as well.


  • Loss of Data: Causes and Prevention

     
     
    Loss of Data: Causes and Prevention
     
    The adoption of technology from the simplest of matters to the most complex problems has rendered us heavily dependent on it. We love paying our bills minutes before they are due. We enjoy seeing loved ones face-to-face on our computer screens. We can access and print our extremely sensitive records from government and financial websites in a matter of minutes instead of waiting for the mail for days. The time and resources that technology saves are invaluable, but this convenience has a very ugly side. This convenience brings costs, which could include irreparable financial, professional, and social damage. The technology that is designed to make life easier can also wreak havoc when criminals use it to breach secured, personal information. So how do we tame this beast called ‘breach of data security’?
     
    Background: The gravity of the problem:   To look for a solution, we first need to understand how serious this problem is. Breaches in data security and loss of data could spell imminent demise for many small companies. According to the National Archives & Records Administration in Washington, 93% of companies that have experienced data loss resulting in ten or more days of downtime have filed for bankruptcy within a year. 50% wasted no time and filed for bankruptcy immediately and 43% that have no data recovery and business continuity plan go out of business following a major data loss. In the past, small- to medium-businesses (SMBs) thought that data security problems were reserved for large corporations, but cybercriminals are finding out that SMBs are more complacent in securing their data thus making themselves easier targets. More importantly, the lightly guarded SMBs can provide backdoor access to the large entities hackers really want to hit. Fewer than half of the SMBs surveyed said they back up their data every week. Only 23% have a plan for data backup and business continuity. That is why the number of cyberattacks on SMBs has doubled in the recent past.
     
    Causes of lost data:  Loss of data can be attributed to two factors.
    • Breach of data security: As we discussed above, theft is the main reason for loss of data. Hackers can get into networks by installing their own software hidden inside emails and other Web content. They take over PCs and networks and then access files containing personal information. They can then use that information to empty people’s bank accounts and exploit data for other purposes.
    • Human error and employee negligence: Humans still have to instruct technology to perform as desired. Examples of negligence include unattended computer systems, weak passwords, opening email attachments or clicking the hyperlinks in spam and visiting restricted websites. Fortunately, this type of loss of data is easily preventable, but it is just as detrimental and can bring your business to a halt. Downtimes can be very harmful to your business continuity and revenue.
    Five ways to minimize data loss
    1. Enforce data security: More than technology, this is the management of human behavior. SMB management must communicate data protection policy to the entire staff and see to it that the policy is adhered to. Rules and policy must be enforced very strictly regarding the use of personal devices. Tell employees to create passwords that are hard to crack and change them frequently.
    2. Stress the consequences: Rules are only good if there are consequences for not following them. Define what those consequences mean for the both the individual and the organization.
    3. Mobile device management: Mobile devices may be the weakest link in data security. “Mobile device management” refers to processes that are designed for the control of mobile devices used within the company. Devices tapping into company systems are identified and monitored 24/7. They are proactively secured via specified password policies, encryption settings, etc. Lost or stolen devices can be located and either locked or stripped of all data.
    4. Snapshots: Fully backing up large amounts of data can be a lengthy process. The data being backed up is also vulnerable to file corruption from read errors. This means sizable chunks of data may not be stored in the backup and be unavailable in the event of a full restoration. This can be avoided by backing up critical data as snapshots.
    5. Cloud replication and disaster recovery services: For SMBs who consider data backup to be too costly, time-consuming and complex there is an answer. The Cloud provides a cost-effective, automated off-site data replication process that provides continuous availability to business-critical data and applications. Cloud replication can often get systems back online in under an hour following a data loss.
    To conclude our conversation, it is very important to understand the causes and consequences of data loss. Be proactive and minimize the likelihood of a data breach and data loss, so you can stay in business without interruption. Make sure you have a solid data recovery and business continuity plan so you don’t become another statistic about small firms who didn’t make it.

  • 4 UPGRADE OPTIONS FOR OFFICE PHONE SYSTEMS

    Office phone systems have changed a lot in the last few years. Fortunately, the majority of these changes take advantage of technology that you are already using day in and day out. For the most part, new office phone systems combine all of this technology to provide you with a more comprehensive customer service solution. Here are a few great ways you can upgrade your phone system today:

    BRING YOUR OWN MOBILE DEVICE

    Your employees are probably already carrying smartphones with them every single day of the week. If your company has a large number of field employees, you may have already purchased phones for all of them. Today’s office phone systems extend beyond your desktop phone banks and connect all of those mobile devices to your network. This means that phones can be answered no matter where your employees are.

    BOOSTING YOUR CONNECTIVITY

    Moving to a VoIP-type phone system is typically seen as a way to improve connectivity and call reliability by providing alternative connection methods. It allows your team members to log into the network from any location with a stable Internet connection. This way, you don’t lose precious time with the customer, no matter where you are in the field or between offices.

    ADDING CRM SUPPORT

    Customer Relationship Management software is a rapidly growing industry. CRM software allows your computer to recognize phone numbers, identify associated account numbers, and bring up customer transaction histories instantly. This helps reduce the amount of time each customer spends on the phone by automating the account access process and simplifying troubleshooting.

    MULTI-CHANNEL CONTACTS

    In addition to offering more complete office phone systems, many service providers also want to help you reach customers through other avenues. This means adding things like video and chat to your phone system. As a result, it’s possible for any of your customer service representatives to handle customers in a way that works for them. We already spend so much time texting from our phones each day that adding text and chat support is a natural extension of your current phone system.

    These are four of the best ways any business can add more functionality to their office phone systems while streamlining their ability to get through calls faster. Depending on the equipment you already have in place, you may be able to carry much of your hardware into your upgraded system and make only a few small investments in new software or computers to handle the additional features of your phone system.

  • Cloud Monitoring Can Be the Difference Maker for SMBs

     
     
    Cloud Monitoring Can Be the Difference Maker for SMBs
     
    It’s a fast-paced world. Not only do people want things, they want things right now. This sometimes-unnerving need for instant satisfaction has only intensified now that we have Wi-Fi and mobile devices that keep us connected regardless of where we are, what we’re doing, or the time of day. There is no longer any tolerance whatsoever for waiting. A business with a website that fails to load, or loads too slowly, will lose customers and leads to competitors.
     
    So what has your business done to address this need for constant accessibility and optimal uptime? Do you feel you’re doing enough to meet the demands and expectations of your customers, new business prospects and those who have just now found you on Google?
     
    If you’re a small-to-medium sized business owner, do you have confidence in your technology infrastructure? Can you say with certainty that your website, internal server, and mobile applications function smoothly, efficiently, and correctly?
     
    When your IT team leaves work to go live their lives, are you confident that things won’t go bump in the night? That you won’t be ringing their cell phone while they’re out having dinner with their family, or worse yet, sleeping?
     
    If you answer no to these questions, you may be one of the many small business owners who could benefit from cloud monitoring. And you’ll be pleased to learn that cloud monitoring can significantly improve all facets of your business – especially your service, productivity, reputation, and profitability.
     
    What is the Cloud?
     
    According to a study conducted by Wakefield Research, 54% of those questioned responded that they’ve never used cloud technology. However, the truth is that they’re in the cloud everyday when they bank or shop online and send or receive email.
     
    Business owners, specifically non tech savvy small business decision makers, are still apprehensive when it comes to moving their server and web monitoring services to the cloud.  But FDR’s famous quote, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” definitely applies here.  The cloud is nothing more than moving the storage and access of your data programs from a computer’s physical hard drive to the web. There is nothing to fear.
     
    Benefits of Cloud Monitoring
     
    Obviously, these physical and virtual servers, their shared resources, and the applications they run on, must be monitored. This can be done from multiple remote locations and it’s called cloud monitoring.
     
    Cloud monitoring makes it easier to identify previously unseen patterns and potential problems within your infrastructure–issues that may be too difficult for any in-house support staff to detect. For instance, monitoring ensures that your site is delivering accurate page content and is meeting anticipated download speeds. It can detect unapproved changes, website tampering, and compromised data.
     
    The continuous analyzing and testing of your network, website, and mobile applications can reduce downtime by as much as 80%. The speed and functionality of e-commerce transactions are also optimized. Additionally, cloud monitoring tests your email server at regular intervals, which minimizes failure deliveries and other issues pertaining to sending and receiving emails.
     
    Clearly, all of the above, along with the alerts that help identify and fix issues before they become catastrophes, make cloud monitoring an attractive way to gain insight into how end-users experience your site, while also enhancing their overall experience.
     
    Contact us at Slappey Communications