Category: News

Covid-19 forced many changes to the way we do business. One of the major changes was the widespread adoption of Microsoft Teams, with over 90% of fortune 100 companies using the system.

MS Teams has become the hub of internal company communications with great features that also loop in external customers and suppliers for video meetings or webinars. Chances are you’re already using (and loving) Microsoft Teams to collaborate with your workers and colleagues wherever they are. Unfortunately, traditional business phone systems can’t keep up, forcing people to swap back and forth between using MS Teams, their mobile phone and the desk phone, none of which were working together. In short, it’s been a compromise.

But now there’s a simple solution.

Did you know that with Microsoft Teams Calling, you can now make phone calls through an online collaboration system? Take your team’s collaboration capacity to the next level! Yes, Microsoft Teams Calling can completely replace the PBX (Private Branch Exchange) phone system sitting in your office, freeing you and your co-workers up to continue working from anywhere.

Microsoft Teams Calling keeps all the MS Teams features you love while also allowing you to make and receive normal business calls, effectively creating a single collaboration platform for all your internal and external contacts. The power of this is so much greater than the sum of its parts. Your business will have a unified communication platform, improving your collaboration and productivity.

You may be wondering what you’ll get from Microsoft Teams Calling.

• Increased Connectivity, Collaboration and Productivity
  You’re already enjoying the benefits of Microsoft Teams, but to maximise your team’s connectivity, productivity and collaboration, add Microsoft Teams Calling and cut the ties to your landline!
• Call from Anywhere
  Make business calls no matter where you are. Whether working in the office, working from home, on the road, in transit at the airport or staying in a hotel, Microsoft Teams Calling will route the calls for you. No more manually forwarding your work phone!
• Use Any Device
  It couldn’t be simpler – all you need is an internet connection and a device that can run the Teams app. For most of you this will mean your work PC with a headset, but your laptop, tablet and mobile phone will work just as well. Simply choose whichever option suits you.
• Unified contacts
  With the power of Teams your phone system can access all your Teams contact lists, including your Outlook contacts and even your business CRM system – wherever you’re working.
• Secure & Reliable
  Just like the Teams you are used to, Teams Calling is backed and protected by Microsoft and uses MS 365 based security including Multi-Factor Authentication. It is easy to secure and manage.
• Save money
  One of the most compelling reasons for moving to Microsoft Teams Calling is cost. Most PBX phone systems are expensive to use and difficult to maintain, often with costly maintenance contracts attached.  Teams is VoIP based telephony meaning it leverages your current Internet services for all connections.  Secondly, staff can now take advantage of being wireless and take business calls on the go with their computers and mobile phones.
• Easy to use
  For any company already using Teams, there is very little to no training for staff to be able to use Teams Calling.

One of the most compelling reasons for moving to Microsoft Teams Calling is cost.

Most legacy phone systems are expensive to use and difficult to maintain, often with expensive maintenance contracts attached.  Teams is VoIP based telephony meaning it leverages your current Internet services for all connections.  Secondly, staff can now take advantage of being wireless on the go by using their computers and mobile phones.

Lastly, for any company already using Teams, there is very little to no training for staff to be able to use Teams Calling.

To sum up, let’s look at the Pros and Cons of working with Microsoft Teams.

The world has changed due to the pandemic. Many businesses like yours are already successfully using Microsoft Teams to overcome the technical and logistical challenges we now face. Microsoft Teams Calling now allows businesses to address the issues of their office-bound phone systems and implement a unified communications platform for the future.

Contact the team at Insight Integration to find out how we can simply and easily get your team to maximum productivity.

Give us a call on 1300 210 212 today!

In case you missed it in the budget, the government has extended the $20,000 asset write-off for SME’s for another 12 months.

What does this mean?

Until June 30 2018, SME’s with a turnover under $10 million are eligible for an immediate asset deduction up to $20,000.  Speak to your accountant first but in general. Any hardware used in the day to day running of the business is eligible for this write-off.  This includes phone systems, servers, PCs & Notebooks.

So, now is a great time to invest in your businesses growth. First improve productivity or just address those old and outdated systems. They may be vulnerable to security flaws such as the recent “WannaCry” saga.

Call for more information about any hardware, software and security requirements.

I’m moving to the cloud!  I hear SME’s say this more than anything else about IT.  When I ask what that means, there’s often an uncertain and delayed response. It reminds me of the early SharePoint portal development days.  I recall a developer telling me businesses would approach him for a portal but many didn’t know what they wanted it to do.  All they knew was they wanted a competitive edge and they didn’t want to get left behind.

Moving to the cloud is rather like that today. I hear people getting bogged down in the semantics of Public Vs Private Vs Hybrid clouds while there is often a lack of discussion about the business strategy such as what they are hoping to achieve. So, if you’re not sure either, consider getting advice and guidance before jumping in.

KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)

• What functionality do you need?
• Do you need scalability for growth or wholesale business changes
• Do you have compliance requirements?
• What is your budget?
• What’s out there already:
  • Are there applications or suites you can subscribe to that already deliver this such as Salesforce, Xero, 365 or Autotask Workplace?
  • Do you need to build systems in AWS or Azure to run your applications?
  • Do you need both?

Choosing a service provider:

• Are they business focused.  Too tech focused is a red flag but also beware of the complete absence of tech too as that may be a sign of marketing fluff over substance.
• Security.  This is a tough one as most providers are light on for information.  If they show insufficient transparency, look for other options because ultimately, you’re still responsible for any breaches!
• Data center locations.
  • Do you need local data center for performance?
  • Additonal Interstate data centers for redundancy?
  • Are you allowed to store data overseas?
• Solid T&C’s and contracts. Just because it’s in the cloud doesn’t mean you’ve outsourced responsibility.
  • Many cloud services do not provide sufficient backup by default.
  • Make sure you own your data.
  • Can you change providers easily?  Often its difficult.
• Does service & support meet your requirements?  Some smaller vendors still don’t offer phone support.
• Clear definition of costs.  This can be very difficult as many offerings are based on usage while many businesses don’t yet understand what they need or even what they are currently using.  Even comparing costs between vendors can be difficult with complicated and nonlinear pricing models.  ROI calculations can be very difficult.

Don’t forget about the real world practicalities.

• Is your Internet service good enough.  There’s no point putting anything in the cloud if it ends up unusably slow or unreliable
• Desktop & User Management used to be performed by your servers.  You seriously need to consider building this into your cloud solution too
• Data retention. You outsourced responsibility to maintain systems but if your data keeps growing, so do your monthly cloud costs.
• Is your data backed up and kept for long enough?
• Who’s managing all this for you?
• Is it financially viable?  Cloud doesn’t mean cheaper.

If any of the above has created more questions than answers…welcome to the club.  I truly believe our expectations of technology have changed more than the actual technology in the past 10-15 years.

Another day and another rollout of AAPT Bizphone handsets…

Just finishing up the configuration of these VoIP handsets before we install them onsite.  A perfect solution for a small and medium offices.

Dropbox will sync any files that are added to it.
So, if a virus or malware encrypts your files they will upload to dropbox and then sync to all your other devices.

Luckily for us there is a solution!
Dropbox keeps a copy of all changes made to your files for 30 days. (or even longer if you use Dropbox Business)

With this it is possible to restore individual or a large number of files to the way they were prior to infection.

Here is a great link to explain how to go about recovering your files: https://www.dropbox.com/en/help/8408

One last point – make sure you get your PC cleaned of the malware before doing any of this! Otherwise it will continue to re-infect everything!