Hosted VoIP Phone System for Business

5 Best Practices that Lead to Dramatic Improvements with Workplace Communication

Saying that effective workplace communication is important is like saying water is wet, fire is hot, or that people with small children will repeatedly, and painfully, step on Legos many, many times. These are all blatantly self-evident (especially the Lego one). However, just because everyone knows that effective workplace communication is important, does NOT mean that it’s happening everywhere. Consider these statistics: 28% of employees cite ineffective communications as the number one reason why they cannot deliver work on time. 86% of employees and executives believe that ineffective communication is the core reason for workplace failures. Ineffective communication costs large enterprises an average of $62.4 million per year in reduced productivity, re-work, lost sales, lack of innovation, and missed opportunities.…

16 Sep 21 Nicky Smith

3 Essential Rules to Get Hybrid Work Right

Across the country, organizations from small businesses to large enterprises are experiencing hybrid work for the first time. And just like experiments in a laboratory, sometimes the results are amazing — while other times they are disappointing (and occasionally, they are flat-out disasters). The first thing we should note is that hybrid work — which is when workers spend part of the week in their home office, and part of the week in the corporate office — is here to stay. Now that workers have shown that it is not just viable but a positive change for many, a survey has found that 4 out of 10 workers would quit if forced to return to the corporate office full-time. And…

1 Sep 21 Nicky Smith

Is Your Office Phone System Prepared for Another Lockdown?

The latest dispatch from the pandemic front brings some good news and some bad news. The good news is that despite yet another surge of cases and hospitalizations — this time is driven by the Delta variant — there is no official plan to enter into another lockdown. But the bad news is that the White House recently stated that “in all probability” there will be guidelines and restrictions issued in the weeks and months ahead. Unfortunately, we all know from experience that “in all probability” is political-speak for “it’s going to happen.” This begs a vital question for business owners and leaders across the country: is your office phone system prepared for another lockdown? If you have an all-in-one…

21 Aug 21 Nicky Smith

VoIP Features that ROCK for Small Businesses

One of the biggest advantages of an all-in-one small business VoIP phone system vs. a landline phone system is features, features, and yet more features. You know the saying “it’s like being a kid in a candy store?” Well, employees who use a small business VoIP phone system for the very first time have the same experience. Within minutes, they go from “what does this feature do?” to “how on earth did we ever survive without this feature?” Here are five small business VoIP phone features that create plenty of enthusiasm and excitement — in other words: THEY ROCK! 1. Small Business VoIP Phone System Feature: Auto Attendant Auto Attendant is an automated, customizable, and extremely easy-to-use virtual receptionist. This…

9 Aug 21 Nicky Smith

GUIDE: How to Choose the Best Business Phone System

Before we look at how to choose the best business phone system, let’s highlight why many businesses are frustrated with their current landline (i.e. on-site PBX) phone system: High Up-Front Costs: Landline phone systems are very costly to purchase, install and maintain. No Cost Certainty: Costs can fluctuate significantly from month to month based on factors like domestic long-distance calls. This makes budgeting and forecasting difficult and risky. Lack of Scalability: If the maximum number of lines are in use, then it is necessary to purchase another system — which can cost tens of thousands of dollars. Lack of Business Continuity: A landline system uses a network design with a single point of failure. This means if part of the…

6 Aug 21 Nicky Smith

Cisco Unified Communications Manager EOL (End of Life)

“And now, the end is near…” for Cisco Unified Communications Manager v11.5 When it comes to updating software and hardware for either personal or business applications, not everyone makes it a priority to be the first on the block. After all, the rule of “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it” serves most of us in our day-to-day lives. It only becomes a priority to replace our car, television, computer, and such when they are no longer functional for our needs or flat out stop working. One of those milestones is approaching for Cisco Unified Communication users. Cisco announced on November 30, 2020, the End-of-Life (EoL) timeline for their Version 11.5 Software of Cisco Unified Communications Manager, Cisco Emergency Responder,…

24 Jul 21 Nicky Smith

How the United States will solve an International Cyberwar?

The facts on the frequency and cost of cyberwar and data breaches all speak to the reality that the current cybersecurity approach is fundamentally flawed, and the problem appears to be worsening. Hackers recently gained access to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's computers and targeted the energy sector, with the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack affecting 45 percent of the East Coast's gasoline supply. Recent rhetoric from a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology and representative of the Second District of North Carolina would have people believe that more federal oversight is the solution. However, the federal government lacks the foresight and innovation that the private sector possesses and is not well-suited to make significant strides in solving…

21 Jul 21 Nicky Smith

Features in Our Cloud Business Phone Service Offers That You Might Not Know About

4 Surprising Features in Our Cloud Business Phone Service (Hint: They Have Nothing to Do with Phone Calls!) Surprises come in two versions. There is the “wow, how exciting and wonderful!” variety. And then there is the “oh please let this be a bad dream that I’m about to wake up from!” kind (otherwise known as the “birthday party from hell”). Well, here at Carolina Digital Phone we are all about giving our customers delightful surprises. And with this in mind, we are pleased to highlight four surprising features that are included in our all-in-one cloud business phone service. Why are they “surprising”? There are two reasons: because they have nothing to do with making and receiving phone calls, and…

20 Jul 21 Nicky Smith

Everything You Need to Know about Hosted PBX Service

As a small business owner, you will be happy to know that you can get all the big business telephone features without the extra costs or worries – all you need to do is to use a Cloud-Based Hosted PBX from Carolina Digital Phone. A good network will connect all of your staff to each other and to your customers, regardless of their location. Headquarters, remote offices, home offices, and employees who are always on the go can be reached via a single telephone number. With the good quality Cloud-based Hosted PBX solution from Carolina Digital Phone, all you will need is the provider’s phone and a connection to the internet. The best part is that you do not have…

19 Jul 21 Nicky Smith

GAME-CHANGER: Queue Callback Feature Dramatically Improves Customer Satisfaction

There are very few things that customers dislike more than being placed on hold. Research has found that 31% of customers will not wait on hold for more than five minutes. Even worse, many of these unhappy customers are unlikely to come back and give a business a second chance. Separate research has found that after a single bad experience: 58% of customers stopped buying from the business. 52% of customers switched to a different business for that particular product or service. 52% of customers told others not to buy that particular product or service from the business. 48% of customers were unlikely to consider that business when making future purchases of any kind. Ideally, businesses would always be able…