Networking

Communication: Is Your Business Staying in Touch?

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Ryan has been a magazine and newspaper editor for 21 years, with the last 15 covering a variety of bases for CDW’s family of tech magazines. As Editor in Chief, he works on developing editorial strategy and is always on the lookout for new writing talent and sharing great stories with the IT world. In his spare time, Ryan enjoys spending time with his family, biking and obsessively following Iowa Hawkeye sports and Cubs baseball.

Few things in business — or life, for that matter — are more important than good communication. Not having it opens the door for mistakes, confusion and, potentially, lost business.

That’s why organizations such as Dr. Tattoff, a tattoo and hair removal company based in Los Angeles, are moving to Voice over IP solutions to improve communication between employees and ultimately serve their customers better.

Mark Edwards, the company’s chief financial officer, had installed a VoIP network at a company for which he worked previously, and he knew that VoIP would be a good fit for Dr. Tattoff. “It was very successful in terms of flexibility and doing the types of things that growing companies need to do.”

The ability to share call management across clinic staff was a major attraction, because “we don’t staff a lot of people in each clinic, and they operate different hours. We need automation to take the load off,” Edwards says.

For more on how Dr. Tattoff is using VoIP to centralize its phone systems management and serve its customers, turn to “No Regrets” or check out the video case study at www.biztechmagazine.com/tattoffvideo.

The Power of a Good Network

Competition is as fierce as ever for businesses trying to establish themselves in today’s unpredictable economy. That’s why companies need to utilize every advantage to get a leg up on the competition. A high-performing, optimized network is a good place to start.

Mascoma Savings Bank, which has locations in Vermont and New Hampshire, took a serious look at its internal network and wanted to make sure that its security was as airtight as possible against external threats. The bank implemented a Cisco Unified Wireless Network throughout its 18 locations to protect its network.

Chris Irish, the bank’s vice president of information technology, says that the organization’s wireless network will pay for itself in about four years, but certain benefits can’t be quantified.

“The real ROI is the risk mitigation, because for us to have any kind of a security breach would be a financial and PR disaster. But at the same time, we’ve also opened up access and services for our customers, partners, guests and employees,” Irish states.

To read more on how Mascoma Savings Bank and other businesses are optimizing their networks to gain efficiencies and enhance performance, turn to “Maximum Performance.”