The Fiber Primer: Basics for Your Review on Voice and data services available on fiber optic from S-NET

Fiber Internet is better for a few reasons: [1] it's "dedicated" just for your use (not split off and shared with others nearby) [2] it's symmetrical (which usually also means FULL duplex, instead of half duplex, in other words: download and upload can occur simultaneously) [3] bandwidth is truly UNLIMITED, no hidden caps [4] includes a Service Level Agreement (SLA) which guarantees time/performance/throughput.

Generally speaking, symmetrical type bandwidth is considered "commercial grade" and tends to be used by the SMB/Enterprise market VS. consumer/residential end users. All because of the reasons I listed above, plus it lends itself to work better in a LAN environment- as the circuit is robust, efficient, and quite reliable, etc. You really get what you pay for. Finally, if you have applications that require real time traffic, such as: VoIP, SIP, and video conferencing + Citrix, VPN, heavy file transfer- commercial bandwidth (T1, DS3, Metro Fiber Ethernet) is essential.
Optical carrier services such as SONET and Gigabit Ethernet are becoming more available and less expensive as the need for bandwidth increases to support such applications as enterprise VoIP, tele-radiology, off site data backup for disaster recovery and video transport.

SONET, the Classic Optical Carrier
SONET is an acronym for Synchronous Optical Network. SONET was developed as a set of standards for telephone carriers in the mid-1980's. SONET picks up where lower speed trunk lines leave off but still maintains compatibility at the digital signal level.
For instance, the basic signal level for SONET circuits is STS-1 for synchronous transport signal. It's speed is 51.84 Mbps which is capable of carrying 1 DS3. A DS3 is the same digital signal level used by a 45 Mbps T3 line in the copper type carrier world. It is also the capacity of 28 DS-1 signals, the same as 28 T1 lines. When carried on fiber optic cable, a STS-1 signal is called an OC-1. An OC3 line would be the equivalent of 3 T3 lines and an OC48 would have the same capacity of 48 T3 lines.

SONET was designed to carry telephone conversations, so it handles the TDM (time division multiplexing) digital voice channels from PBX and telephone carrier switches easily. Because it is synchronized like the T-carriers, you can add or remove channels at will with an add-drop multiplexer. This makes it easy to interconnect a group of locations in a regional or even nationwide network.
SONET can be provisioned as a point to point circuit or hub and spoke star network, but the protocol really shines when it is set up as a ring of two independent loops. The system is designed to automatically switch from the main to the backup loop in 50 milliseconds or less if a fault occurs. This is called automatic protection switching.

Data over SONET
Like T1, SONET was originally designed to handle high capacity telephone traffic in digital format. It has since been used to carry high speed digital traffic, including backbone service for Internet Service Providers. ATM, Frame Relay, and Ethernet protocol signals can all be encapsulated and sent over SONET ring networks. If you are using a T1 or T3 data line now, it may well be carried by an optical network and dropped off and converted to the copper signal format at your location.

IP Services
Internet Protocol has become the defacto standard for data communications. Switched Ethernet networks running at 10 Mbps, Fast Ethernet at 100 Mbps, Gigabit Ethernet at 1 Gbps and 10 Gig Ethernet at 10 Gbps are the basic network speeds for large and small enterprises alike. The beauty of IP based services is that a corporate network in one city can connect via an Ethernet service provisioned on fiber optic cable to a similar network in another city and they'll work like one big network. The fiber optic circuit is simply a long, very long, network cable.

The current trend is to convert everything into IP format so that telephone calls, file transfers, Internet service and video conferencing can share the same network. That process is called convergence. Converging all those proprietary networks into one big one often has cost savings benefits especially at the enterprise level. You'll just have to be sure to have enough network bandwidth to handle all the extra data packets and quality of service management tools to ensure that voice and video signals get the priority they need to run as well as they did on their own networks.

STRATEGIES FOR FINDING CUSTOMERS—AND KEEPING THEM LOYAL

There are essentially two ways to increases sales: find more customers or find new ways to sell more things to the customers you already have. Both strategies are important, but often one or the other gets short shrift.

In a start-up, when the focus is on new customer acquisition, it’s easy to overlook upselling opportunities.
Over time, as a company gets more established, the focus shifts to upgrades and add ons for existing customers. Finding new customers may get the backseat.
Getting both acquisition and retention/upsell strategies working together is the key to smart marketing. You need new customers to replace inevitable attrition and stay innovative. At the same time, keeping current customers loyal pays huge rewards: a 5% reduction in your customer defection rate can increase profits by 25% to 80%.Here are five ways to keep your acquisition and retention strategies in balance:

Know your value: Regularly ask yourself, “Who is my customer and what value am I delivering?” Focus on problems you are solving for your existing customers that helps make them more competitive in today’s economy? Apply what you have learned to markets/customers you haven’t tapped yet.

Know the competition: Instead of simply trying to beat the competition, analyze what they are doing and how it impacts your acquisition and retention strategies. What problems do your competitors solve that makes them attractive to new customers and gives them the potential to make inroads on your current customer base?

Know the decision makers: Remember that the people making a buying decision do not always have the same set of criteria as the person actually using your product. That’s why simply repeating your core marketing message to decision makers won’t work. You have to target their hot buttons—how are you making their life easier? Helping them achieve their goals? What could make the decision maker at a prospect choose someone else, or at an existing customer decide not to remain loyal?

Make it easy for new and existing customers to reach: Give new customers, existing customers and decision makers the option to “self-select” on your website. Use the capabilities in your communications system—such as customized routing, hunt groups, multiple incoming lines, and connections to salesforce.com etc.— to get a streamlined presence on the phone that’s critical for both acquisition and retention strategies.

This Winter is going to be Rough - Do you have your Communications Continuity Plan in Place?

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According to their website, The AccuWeather.com Long-Range Forecasting Team is predicting another brutally cold and snowy winter for a large part of the country, thanks in large part to La Niña... yet again.

La Niña, a phenomenon that occurs when sea surface temperatures across the equatorial central and eastern Pacific are below normal, is what made last year's winter so awful for the Midwest and Northeast. Monster blizzards virtually shut down the cities of New York and Chicago. Last winter was one of New York City's snowiest on record.

La Niñas often produce a volatile weather pattern for the Midwest and Northeast during winter due to the influence they have on the jet stream. The graphic above shows the position the jet stream typically takes over the U.S. during La Niña.


So, besides dealing with a lot of snow and ice, what does this mean for your business and how are you preparing for it?
Here are some valuable thoughts on what you should be doing for communications continuity planning.
1.Employees: Do you have a method to notify employees about snow days – when not to come to the office? It may sound mundane, but if you don’t, then the costs can be significant as soon as hourly employees start clocking in on days that the business is closed.
Suggestion: A written policy that is communicated to all employees about snow days that includes:
Will they be announced by an email or by a phone tree?
Who will be sending the email or making the calls?
When will this be determined?
How will at home employees be compensated?
What work activities are they expected to do from home?

2. Customers: How will you notify your customers that your business is closed?
Suggestion: A written policy communicated to your key sales staff
Will you announce via an email or phone tree?
Who will be sending the email or making the calls?
How will your automated attendant greeting be changed? By whom? Saying what? When?

3. Practice Beforehand! Don’t wait until your first snow day to practice implementing your plan. You should have a dry run
If you are using emails to communicate to your clients, make sure that the database is accurate. Make sure that the phone numbers for employees are accurate.
Make sure that you can change greetings.

4. Recommendations: Did you know that IP based systems and can enhance your ability to function on days when you can’t get to the office? S-NET Hosted Solutions can enable your work at home employees to log in remotely and work as if they were in the office. When combined with remote login capabilities on your network, your employees can work – answering calls, dealing with clients as if they were at their desks.

It looks like it is going to be another long, hard winter. We know what to expect – but the key is getting ready in advance. I remember the story about an out of work actor who finally got a one line part in a play. He had to say “Hark, I hear the cannons roar”. This actor practiced his line- on the subway, walking to the theater, in make up. Finally, he gets on stage, hears a loud BOOM- and yells “What the hell was that!?”. Moral of the story: Don’t wait until Mother Nature drops a foot of snow overnight. Make sure you have a plan that has been practiced and works!

5 Questions To Ask Yourself About Your Current Phone System

In today's competitive business environment, every sale is critical, every resource precious. And, every dollar spent has to drive bottom line results. That's why it's important for you to assess your current communication system. Here's five questions you should ask yourself:

1. How much do you know about callers before you pick up the phone?

We are all familiar with traditional caller ID, but now you can take it to another level.

S-NET Hosted PBX gives you instant access to your database before you answer the phone. If the caller is a prospect or customer, your sales team will have a full profile and contact history before they say, "Hello." Your team is better informed, and their calls are more effective.

2. How many phone numbers do customers need to reach you?

Making your customers hunt for the right number — and potentially be unable to reach you — slows transactions and reduces customer satisfaction.

With S-NET, one number — the office number — is all an employee needs to give out because your system knows where to forward each call. We call it "one number reachability" and your customers will love it.

3. Is setting up a conference call complicated and costly?

Conference calls have become a way of life for businesses. With IP Office, you no longer have to connect to a third party to hold your conference calls. You can start a conference call from your own phone at a moment’s notice. It’s fast, easy and free.

And for last-minute invitations, you can use SNET’s co-worker presence panel to check other colleagues’ availability to join the meeting.

4. Can your employees still conduct business while traveling?

When your staff is on the road, you can’t afford to let problems or order requests wait until the right person returns to the office.

With S-NET, your employees who work outside the office — whether full time or out due to an unforeseen situation — can access all of the same communications tools available in the office. From the home, a hotel room, an airplane terminal or almost anywhere, they can stay on top of their work so nothing slips through the cracks.

IP Office can also convert your voicemails into e-mails and send them so your team members get instant notification, retrieve all their messages and have the ability to reply ASAP.

5. Are you able to adjust to periodic fluctuations in call volume?

Whether you use a traditional call center or simply have people answer phones, managing call volume is important to customer satisfaction. Even if you’re busy, customers don’t want to hear busy signals.

S-NET Call Center Suite gives you the technology and tools you need to quickly adjust your call handling capability with fluctuations in call volume. By identifying peaks and valleys of your business calls, you can adjust your staffing and make better use of call recordings to minimize wait time and reduce caller frustration.

With S-NET Call Center Suite’s customer service applications for agents and supervisors, you’ll communicate more effectively with agents through wallboard displays — and you’ll get detailed data on calling patterns to help drive more effective sales campaigns and day-to-day selling performance.

Visit http://www.snetconnect.com to learn more today!

Collaboration & Teamwork: A Real Problem or Marketing Hype?

Collaboration is a hot, business buzzword today—very hot. It seems everyone is talking about better ways to speed team work and decision making.

But is this hype from consultants and companies selling solutions? Or is there real fire behind the smoke of all the collaboration talk.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest the latter. Yes, people have always “collaborated.” We have always had “teams.” These are not new ideas. What has changed is the environment in which collaboration and teamwork take place. And that makes all the difference. Here’s why:

Mobility: The workforce today is incredibly mobile. As much as 40 percent of U.S. workers now have jobs that could be done from outside the office at least part of the time. Not being face to face on a regular basis changes the nature of collaboration: visual cues, informal interactions—things which have always speeded collaboration and have always been take for granted—are now problematic.

Multitasking: Multitasking has always been a challenge as in the oft-quoted aspersion of someone not being able to walk and chew gum at the same time. But again, the reality today is different: many people work on a task while monitoring a feed of information, participating in a conference call, responding to IM and e-mails, etc. Yes—at a certain point all of this multitasking becomes a joke and unproductive, but the reality is that some variation on the above is today’s reality. In fact some people might not even consider what was just described as “multitasking.” All of this has huge implications for how information gets presented, how we get someone’s attention, how decisions are arrived at, etc.—all key elements of collaboration.

Context: How we view and respond to something depends in large part on the context in which it is presented. A physical office is a context. A face-to-face collaboration over a conference table is a context. A detailed report—with an introduction, background, supporting points, a conclusion—is a context. But in a mobile, multitasking world dependent on e-mails, IMs, tweets and more, we find ourselves constantly moving quickly in and out of different situations in which we often have very little context. As the title of a humorous book once put it, “We are in the context of no context.”

Racing from place to place, juggling multiple tasks and starved for context—that’s a big part of today’s work environment. That’s why collaboration is not just a buzzword and why supporting effective workforce collaboration is a critical part of any business strategy today.

Upgrading your office communications: Is it worth it now?

Deciding whether and when to upgrade your communications is a challenge for every small and growing business. Today’s new communications solutions offer many advantages, but are they worth it? What’s the best way to make an intelligent judgment? Here are three options to help answer that question:

Survey employees: One strategy that many businesses use is to survey their employees. Employees are a great source of insight. Complaints that ring true in terms of impact on the business—lost productivity, poor customer service, and unnecessary costs—may give you all the information you need to build a case for an upgrade.

What If?: Another option is to play a bit of “What If?”: what would be the impact on your business if your communications gave you:

The ability to recognize your top customers and route their calls for priority attention
Enable your employees to give out one number—their work number—and get their mobile phone, office phone, home phone, etc. all working together
Get built-in call recording for analyzing customer service or simply catching everything said on a critical call
Eliminated the need for outside conferencing services
Many companies that upgrade their communications report that the impact is huge, but they really couldn’t “see it” when they were just getting by with an older system. Playing a bit of “what if” can help identify real benefits.

Calculate the Value: Perhaps the best way to determine if an upgrade is worth it is to take a cold, hard look at the finances. A new communications system can lower the costs of long distance, mobile phone plans, conferencing services and more. It can eliminate the need for technicians to visit your company for routine system administration and reduce the time that employees (such as front desk personnel) devote to answering the phones. It can help make your business greener, giving options for employees to work from home: cutting energy costs and possibly the cost of office space. These savings can add up to tens of thousands of dollars a year.

Hiring and Keeping Great Employees: The Mobility Factor

In recent years, the global economy has seen sustained levels of high unemployment. So that means it’s easier than ever to find and hold on to great employees, right? Wrong!

Finding and retaining the really effective employee remains a major challenge, particularly because today’s work force is so diverse. That’s why “one-size-fits-all” strategies for keeping good people simply don’t work any longer. And because turnover among valued employees is costly, disruptive, and negatively impacts customer satisfaction, it remains a major challenge. That’s why more and more companies are taking advantage of their communications systems to support teleworking options.

An insurance company of approximately 40 people headquartered in the Washington, DC metropolitan area did a comprehensive study on their telework program and found that 64% of employees said they would turn down a 20% salary increase to continue teleworking. In addition, 57% of teleworking employees reported improved job satisfaction/morale. For more information, see Unleashing the Hidden Productivity of Your Small Business by Chuck Wilsker, President & CEO, The Telework Coalition at: http://bit.ly/qiom1T.

Teleworking is not for every employee. But by implementing a teleworking plan, employers get more options for addressing the needs of employees they simply don’t want to give up:

The valued employee who wants to stay, but whose spouse or significant other needs to relocate.
The employee who needs a better work life balance—to be more available to children, an aging parent, etc.
Members of Generations X (born after 1961) and Y (born after 1981) who have grown up on technology and expect to make it part of their everyday lives.
With gasoline and public transportation costs rising, the five-day-a-week commute is becoming an expensive approach to workplace management. The Telework Coalition (TelCoa) estimates that a full-time teleworker receives an $8,400 indirect pay raise, regardless of his or her salary rate, due to the reduced expenses in gas consumption, wear and tear on the vehicle, insurance, parking, etc.

With two-earner households commonplace, there is a greater push to find ways to put personal and family obligations ahead of corporate needs—without making it an either or tradeoff. Teleworking provides that option and its one that more and more businesses are going to have to look at. http://bit.ly/k2scnJ