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8x8 Is Embracing AI – Here’s How You Benefit

George.minucos@reliancecommunications.com.au ( George Minucos) — Tue, 11 Jul 2023 09:49:53 GMT

8x8 Is Embracing AI – Here’s How You Benefit

A few months ago, 8x8 announced that it was integrating AI across its cloud contact centre products. This includes bringing OpenAI’s Whisper model to its XCaaS platform. This is an enormously exciting development and Reliance Communications is here to help you take full advantage of the power that AI will bring to your communications.

By taking advantage of the AI-powered features in the 8x8 product suite, you’ll be able to build better customer journeys, further enhance your team’s productivity, and get the insights into your communications environment and real analytics data that will allow you to make better and more strategic decisions.

8x8’s AI pillars explained

The new AI-powered capabilities that you’ll be able to access are as follows:

Voice recording like never before – automated analysis & reports, accurate & cost effective.

Voice recording is a powerful management tool utilised for quality assurance, training and customer service. The problem has always been the manpower required to analyse the recordings. It is impractical and expensive to manually review every recording and so the usual practice is to just take core samples.

Let’s consider ChatGPT for a moment. ChatGPT has been rapidly adopted to automate many arduous tasks, thereby accelerating productivity and res ults. A s such, ChatGPT has been readily adopted.

Reliance 8x8 similarly utilises artificial intelligence for business communications management.

Reliance 8x8 does all of the arduous work and makes the impossible possible. Reliance 8x8 listens to every minute of every call, analyses and rates the call content and provides accurate reports. The ratings are by sentiment, keyword search and more. , Problems can be flagged in real-time and supervisors alerted immediately and automatically. It is like never before.

Reliance 8x8 AI benefits include improved customer service, staff efficiency and profitability.

Reliance 8x8 AI is a generation ahead in maximising your call recordings.

Some people are hesitant to look at AI, assuming that the technology is complex or getting started would be a major IT project. In actual fact, the Reliance Communications team make it simple and can get you started with it right away.

Don’t wait – get started on the benefits of AI in your contact centre today

8x8 Intelligent Customer Assistant: A powerful but also user-friendly conversational AI solution that you can implement into your 8x8 Contact Centre, this tool empowers businesses to build self-service experiences across all channels.

Features of 8x8 Intelligent Customer Assistant include:

Deliver smart self-service to automatically handle customer requests through natural, conversational experiences.

Utilise graphical scripting tools, enabling a single chatbot to be built quickly and deployed instantly across any channel (i.e., SMS, WhatsApp, web chat, etc.).

Build conversation flows once that can be applied to any channel, in 100+ languages.

Capture reliable, actionable insights for true performance optimisation via the built-in, comprehensive analytics solution.

Eliminate blind transfers with customer context and bot interaction details delivered to a live agent, empowering them to deliver more personalised, frictionless experiences.

Leverage turnkey integrations with CRM systems and other enterprise applications or connect with leading generative AI engines such as OpenAI, all accessible from a simple app ecosystem.

8x8 Supervisor Workspace: This platform brings together analytics, performance management and team admin capabilities to a single interface. It will help your contact centre leads run a tighter, more accountable, and more effective ship, with features including:

AI-driven decision intelligence, assistance, and guidance presenting supervisors with coaching and performance recommendations to improve speed to correction and drive superior performance in the contact centre.

Personalised environments, all with simple clicks, based upon individual needs and priorities, transforming how contact centre leaders can manage teams and make decisions.

Ability to create multiple workspaces, making it easier to switch roles and responsibilities quickly to increase efficiency and become more agile in meeting business demands.

User-friendly design and out of the box role-based templates that accelerate on-boarding and allow supervisors to quickly ramp up.

Single pane of glass for all contact centre insights and operations, including seamless integration with third-party applications and data from WFM, CRM, and BI tools.

What does all this mean for my business?

AI offers a major boost to the performance of any cloud contact centre. Conversational AI improves revenue by 20.7 percent, customer satisfaction by 26.7 per cent, and productivity by 22.7 per cent.

AI won’t – and can’t – replace your people. However, what it does do is enhance performance and help your team deliver superior customer experiences. Just some of the benefits that you’ll derive almost instantly from adopting AI include:

Better personalisation: AI in contact centres can provide personalised and efficient customer experiences. Chatbots and virtual assistants can handle routine inquiries and provide instant responses, reducing waiting times and improving customer satisfaction. And then, when a customer has a more complex need, your team will be able to dedicate greater resources to support them.

Faster response times: AI systems can analyse and understand customer inquiries quickly, providing immediate and accurate responses. This reduces the time customers spend waiting for a human agent and improves overall response times.

Increased efficiency: AI tools can automate repetitive and manual tasks, such as call routing, data entry, and customer information retrieval. This allows human agents to focus on more complex and value-added activities, improving their productivity and efficiency.

Enhanced self-service options: AI-driven self-service options empower customers to find solutions to their problems independently. Interactive voice response (IVR) systems and AI-powered knowledge bases enable customers to access information and resolve basic issues without the need for human assistance, improving efficiency for both customers and contact centre operations.

Data-driven insights: AI can analyse large volumes of customer data, including call recordings, chat transcripts, and customer feedback, to extract valuable insights. These insights can be used to identify trends, customer preferences, and areas for improvement, enabling contact centres to make data-driven decisions to enhance their operations and services.

Scalability and flexibility: AI systems can easily scale up or down based on customer demand. Whether there is a sudden surge in inquiries or a need to handle peak periods, AI-powered solutions can adapt quickly, ensuring a seamless customer experience without the constraints of physical resources.

Continuous learning and improvement: AI algorithms can learn from each customer interaction, improving their accuracy and effectiveness over time. As more data is processed, AI systems can refine their understanding of customer needs, enabling them to provide increasingly accurate and tailored responses.

We’re proud of this prestigious award and we’re just getting started

Thu, 08 Jun 2023 07:24:00 GMT

Big News

Reliance Is 8x8 ANZ Partner Of The Year 2022/2023!

We’re proud of this prestigious award and we’re just getting started

Reliance Communications and 8x8 share an uncompromising vision for delivering incredible customer experiences, and we’re thrilled to be such a key 8x8 partner.

We’ve been working with 8x8 since 2017, and in that six years we have gained valuable experience with the 8x8 technology stack that provides the expertise to assist our customers to transform and improve their communications and business management.

Through hard work and dedication, Reliance Communications has grown to be 8x8’s leading voice in the market, awarded the honour of 8x8 ANZ Partner Of The Year 2022/2023.

This award is founded on our commitment to our customers and 8x8. Reliance is dedicated to ensuring every customer has an incredible 8x8 experience.

Not only have we just been honoured with the award win, Reliance has been globally certified with complete 8x8 XCaaS accreditation, elevating us into an elite club of expertise. There is only a handful of 8x8 partners in the world with this level of accreditation, and we are extremely proud to know we are in the best position to assist our customers.

What is XCaaS?

XCaaS stands for “Experience Communications-as-a-Service”, and it’s the epitome of the 8x8 philosophy. Essentially, it brings customer and employee experience together with contact centre, voice, video, chat, and APIs on one cloud-native platform.

8x8 is a pioneer in this area, with XCaaS being the first and only platform of its kind in the market. The way it optimises an omnichannel customer experience with data-driven insights, while enabling employee engagement in a work-from-anywhere world.

It’s also totally secure and delivers 99.999 per cent uptime. We know from our conversations with clients that these are two major concerns. Cyber security is a bigger headache than ever, and every minute the communications system is down, is money lost. XCaaS solves these problems and is wrapped up in a solution that is ideal for everything from small businesses all the way to large enterprises.

Learn more about 8x8 XCaaS here.

Reliance is your partner for XCaaS

As your fully certified XCaaS partner, Reliance Communications can help you get up and running quickly. We’re here to take the pain out of installing and managing the system, so you can benefit from the innovative features without worry.

XCaaS solves what businesses need today and offers a clear and easy pathway to what comes next. Reliance helps you capitalise on the opportunity without undertaking an expensive transformation project, and without investing in internal resources. We’re a true partner to your company and we’ll make sure we get it done for you.

We’d like to thank 8x8 for their support. As a managed services provider, the market can be incredibly difficult if vendors don’t support their channel. We appreciate how easy it is for 8x8 to invest into them, as they reciprocate by investing into companies like ours.

We’re certainly determined to do everything we can to keep winning this award every year! In the meantime, contact us and we will get you running on XCaaS. It’s all benefits, no fuss.

Make The Most Of Your Cloud PBX System With Reliance Communications

Tue, 23 May 2023 10:39:47 GMT

Cloud PBX is not just about cost reduction. The technology is also more reliable, and some of the features that are available through it will help you run your business better.

With the right partner, you can have all of these features without needing to hire an IT team and deploy a complex solution. Some of the things that you can do with the cloud PBX system supplied by Reliance Communications and with support by 8x8 include:

CRM & ERP Integration – for enhanced management and control

Our cloud PBX system features CRM integration that will automatically logs voice calls and recordings and provide a 100 per cent transaction history. This is a powerful management tool that can improve interactions with your customers.

Best of all, there are no additional costs associated with this. It’s a benefit you’ll gain immediately after deploying the cloud PBX solution. Additionally, click and play integrations for Salesforce, MS Dynamics, Netsuite, HubSpot, Twilio, ZOHO, Bullhorn, Jobadder, FreshDesk and many more meaning that your cloud PBX service becomes the “hub” for understanding your customers and driving better interactions across the organisation.

1) MS Teams & Google G Suite Integration

MS Teams and Google G Suite are now familiar tools. As easy-to-use and effective tools, the integration of these into the cloud PBX allows for single application to seamlessly control cloud communications.

These features make video and voice across your business and with your customers more convenient than ever. And you can rely on Reliance Communications to get it installed, with no additional work on your part.

2) Automation & Management Of Calls

The holy grail of any contact centre is the idea that every call should be answered by the most appropriate person in the fastest manner. With the way Reliance Communications approaches the cloud PBX, you get this.

Cloud communication helps to achieve this in two ways in particular:

It provides the flexibility to answer calls anywhere at any time, via desk phone, desktop, or smartphone.

Smarts built into the system deliver call flow design, meaning that calls strategically flow to groups or staff based on the needs of the caller.

3) Mobile Integration

Once your communications platform is in the cloud, you’ll be able to take advantage of its features from anywhere. As long as you’re able to connect to the Internet, you and your employees can take calls while working remotely, access all the features of the PBX (including call flow design), your customer will enjoy the same experience regardless of where your people are located.

Enabling remote work has been a challenge for organisations in recent years. Reliance Communications can do it for you immediately through the cloud PBX.

4) Call Analytics

Call analytics is a feature that provides detailed information about call volume, call duration, call routing, and more. This information can help you optimise your phone system and improve your overall communication strategy. With call analytics, you can identify areas of improvement, such as reducing call wait times, improving call routing rules, or enhancing the customer service experience. Additionally, call analytics can help you identify peak call times, enabling you to adjust staffing levels to ensure you are meeting demand.

The more data and feedback that you have, the better your communications systems will work. With the Reliance Communications cloud PBX solution, this is all part and parcel with the deployment. And then we’ll help you make the most of the information coming in.

These are just some of the enterprise class features that are unlocked simply by adopting a Reliance Communications solution. Are you looking to work more productively and effectively, while also significantly improving the customer experience? Contact the team at Reliance today.

How cloud communications elevate the contract centre

Tue, 23 May 2023 09:53:38 GMT

The contact centre is a critical resource. For most of your customers, it is their first point of interaction with your brand, and it represents an excellent opportunity to build a great relationship from the start.

At Reliance Communications , we’ll help you deliver that experience by embracing the opportunities presented by cloud communications. We have partnered with 8x8 and other leading brands, and we can deliver a seamless and cost-effective solution that is heavy on the features.

What’s more, we deliver it quickly. You’ll see an ROI almost immediately, and with minimal involvement on your part. You sign up, we get you going fast. It’s that simple.

Here are some examples of how our clients have been able to capitalise on the opportunities provided by cloud:

Sophisticated & Affordable Technology At Your Fingertips

You’ve probably heard of AI, speech analytics, screen recordings, social media and more. There’s the perception that these features are for enterprise users only, but that’s not the case at all.

Our communications solutions, which is affordable and accessible to businesses of all sizes, implements all of these advanced features so you will benefit from them immediately.

Improved Flexibility

Study after study shows that employees are happier and more productive when they can work from anywhere (both in the office and their home). Actually enabling that is a challenge… however, that’s where Reliance Communications comes in. Our cloud-based contact centres deliver that flexibility, instantly, to your organisation.

Cloud-based contact centres also connect all your communications platforms together, including voice, email, chat, and social media. This allows your customers the flexibility to contact you on their terms while still enjoying a superior experience.

Scalability

Scaling a business can be expensive and complex. Traditionally, you’d need to invest in new equipment and upgrade the PBX. And then you’d need a team of people to manage it.

Cloud communications solves this. As you need more capacity, you simply add it to a simple, monthly bill with Reliance Communications. And you can also scale down as seasonal demand requires, so you’re only ever using the capacity that you need. We handle all of the implementation and management, you save money and have a single bill to manage.

Enhanced Customer Experience

Data is the lifeblood of any modern organisation. You need to know what your customers are thinking and how they are interacting with your company.

Did you know that the Reliance Communications cloud communications system can connect to your CMS and collect and consolidate data for each customer?

The Reliance Communications cloud communications system can connect your callers via WhatsApp, Facebook and more. Your agent can see if a customer has called before, access their interaction history, and tailor their responses accordingly.

This is a snap for us to set up for you and can be one of the first benefits from shifting to the cloud when you engage with us for our solutions.

Improved Agent Productivity

All of the above means one simple outcome for your organisation: Your people will be working with greater productivity. They’ll be happier, and able to provide better support to your customers, however they’ve decided to contact you.

Your contact centre can also become an invaluable training tool. Calls can be recorded, transcribed, and then analysed in real time. This coaching – which can occur with the support of supervisors - can help agents to improve their skills and become more productive over time. Again, it might sound like a complex technology to implement, but we’re able to deliver that critical functionality quickly, and we’ll help you make the most of it.

At Reliance Communications, we can help you make the best of your cloud communications platform. Not only will we roll out leading solutions by 8x8, but we’ll work with you closely to make sure you’re getting the most value from your dynamic new communications environment. Contact us today!

Can your business afford to miss the data automation revolution?

Wed, 17 Nov 2021 06:30:51 GMT

You’ve probably heard of data automation by now, but do you know how effortlessly you can achieve it by engaging a partner like Reliance Communications?

Data automation is a simple concept; it’s when you have some kind of process (such as a piece of software) that will update a spreadsheet, database, or similar, with data as it is collected, but without a human (manual) involvement. It’s a form of simple AI that takes the manual data entry away from your people, in other words.

As simple as it is data automation is a powerful tool that will:

1) Improve the speed of work.

2) Reduce the risk of human error.

3) Reduce costs.

4) Make your workforce happier.

At Reliance Communications, we can deliver these data automation benefits to you immediately, and at no extra workload for your team.

If you haven’t brought data automation into your phone systems yet, then there’s a risk that you’re missing out on critical data that is costing your business. Research shows that 78 per cent of businesses plan on increasing spending on automation. If you’re in the other 22 per cent, you’re at risk of being left behind your competitors.

Data automation means less work for your people and a large ROI

One of the most compelling applications of data automation is in linking the communications system to the CRM. When customers, suppliers, or partners call, regardless of who answers the call, the data from that call – including fully automated transcripts and feedback – is replicated into the CRM. Then, when another person in the organisation needs to speak to the customer, this information is immediately available to them, for the entire history of the relationship.

This is not something that you want to leave to manual processes. It’s too easy to lose information. Perhaps someone takes a call from their mobile device, and forgets to record the content of that call into the CRM. Or, perhaps someone leaves the organisation and the nuances of the relationship with their customers go with them. Not only does data automation save people time by doing the data entry for them, but it prevents mistakes or oversights that can cost the business relationships in the long term.

What do I need for data automation?

Data automation is readily available for the popular communications tools that you’re already using. Microsoft Teams, for example, has complex integrations with automation platforms that don’t require any additional training on the part of the users. Once it’s set in place, the automation hums in the background effortlessly, as it should.

Key to the success of data automation is making sure that it has been properly configured, has the right policies in place, and is properly integrated with the CRM and other data pools that you’re looking to leverage. Reliance Communications has experience with all the major platforms on building effective data automation platforms with strong ROI.

We have a long history of delivering data automation solutions at Reliance Communications. By engaging with us, you will benefit by:

· Minimal workload: we take it off your plate

· Expert selection of the right tools

· Simple transition, with no big change management programme

· A simple outcome: we make it easier to collect better data with no input from your people

Five Tips For Setting Up A Virtual Office Environment

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 07:24:27 GMT

The virtual office – where clients, customers, suppliers and partners interact with your business as though it has an office location, but in practice your employees are working remotely - is an increasingly appealing idea. Not only has it been essential through lockdowns, but many businesses will want to continue operating this way into the future, as it can be a significant cost saving on office spaces.

Having a sustainable and effective virtual office environment requires the strategic use of communications and IT. Importantly, it also means minimising the risk of downtime. The more your business operation relies on technology to communicate and collaborate, the greater the cost of downtime. At Reliance Communications, we have a long history in assisting companies with making that shift, and here are a couple of key learnings that we’ve taken away from those projects.

1) Make sure the phone system is of a high quality

The quality of the phone system is critical to the success of a virtual office; you need to make sure that customers, clients, suppliers and co-workers are able to get in touch with the right person when they need it, while still creating the perception that everyone’s working in the same office.

To this end, you should look into a hosted PBX solution that has automated call routing and forwarding, as well as cloud-based management and analytics so that the performance of the phone system can be monitored.

Another feature that defines a high-quality hosted PBX solution is if it can be integrated with Microsoft Teams and your CRM. Bringing all of your organisation’s data together is a powerful tool that will help you optimise your processes and better engage with your customers.

Speak to Reliance Communications for setting up managed phone systems to meet your business’ growth objectives.

2) Move as much as possible to the cloud

Just as you moved your productivity solutions to Microsoft 365/Teams or GSuite , to allow your people to work on documents in the cloud, you can move many more of your business processes, too. For your virtual office to be as efficient as possible, you need to minimise the number of manual processes within your workplace. This means adopting cloud solutions for billing and invoicing, using cloud-based storage solutions for sharing documents, and adopting productivity tools that can assist with workflow management. Many of these tools, from Dropbox and Google Drive through to Slack, have free options. Others will generally incur a monthly cost, though at the benefit of not having up-front pricing for licenses and new editions.

3) Get your collaboration in order

With the right phone system, you can allow your staff and customer to communicate freely. With video conferencing you can hold remote meetings. But this isn’t quite the same as having a fully collaborative virtual environment. You want to be looking at tools like Microsoft Teams, not only for the video conferencing ability, but for the way that teams can enable document sharing, minutes record keeping, scheduling, and other collaborative exercises.

Reliance Communications can assist you with making the most of your Microsoft Teams experience. Talk to us today.

4) Build the new way of working into your culture

With virtual organisations there is always the risk that employees will start to feel isolated, or potentially burn themselves out by working well beyond the hours a structured office environment generally allows.

As such it’s important to consider the company culture when setting up a virtual office. Make sure you set specific office hours (so employees don’t need to answer calls from customers deep into the night), and make sure there are opportunities for the social interactions that happen around the water cooler too.

5) Make sure your security is up to date

It goes without saying that the virtual office involves a lot of work online, and that means that security should be paramount. Be sure to use VPNs and other high-grade security tools to protect your communications, and make sure you keep the anti-viruses and firewalls up-to-date on all computers. Contact Reliance Communications for any questions that you may have regarding security – there’s no reason that your communications can’t be secure, but you do need to adopt some best practice.

Remember: Reliance Communications has a long history in helping with virtual offices and the communications that underpin them. Contact us today to set your business up for a dynamic, virtual future.

Taking Remote Working To The Next Level

Tue, 06 Jul 2021 09:48:47 GMT

Taking Remote Working To The Next Level

Remote working is a good deal for both the employee and employer, and over the last 18 months we’ve all learned just how effective it can be. It should come as no surprise that a recent survey of more than 2,000 workers found that a majority want to continue working remotely at least two days per week .

Employees love the idea of getting rid of the daily commute, spending more time with their family, and being more flexible in how and when they work. It’s all benefits for their bosses, too. Just about every study on the subject has highlighted that productivity goes up, not down, when working remotely. Because employees are happier there’s also a lower rate of turnover, meaning that businesses need to deal with the disruption of replacing and training new employees less frequently. And when employees are working remotely, businesses can source talent from all over the world, giving them access to skills and capabilities that weren’t available in the local area.

Making Working From Home A Competitive Advantage

In the mad scramble to get everyone w orking from home, close enough was good enough, and over the last 18 months we’ve all made do with haphazard and slapstick technology. As working from home becomes a permanent practice, however, it becomes important to be more strategic with it, and design your communications and collaboration around remote work.

Reliance Communications has been working with many customers in helping to t ransition to more dynamic forms of remote communication . From telephony to unified communications, we can help assist our customers in maintaining contact and workflows with their teams, and providing customers with an experience in interacting with your business that is no different than calling into an office.

For just one example, a product that we’ve seen gain significant traction with our customers is called DialPad. DialPad is a cloud-based communications and phone system used by many of the top brands around the world (including Uber, HubSpot, Xero and Motorola) that allows for unlimited, effortless scaling as the business needs grow, and provides deep enterprise features, including:

- Live voice recording for the call.

- Assessment of emotion and sentiment

- Tools that will help manage staff and customer service.

- Alarms any calls that need attention.

All of this is a “value-add” above and beyond the ability to make calls and communicate. Through Reliance Communications, you can take your phone systems, and turn them into a cornerstone of the business that enhances and deepens customer relationships, improves satisfaction, and make remote work effortless.

Talk to the Reliance Communications team today!

The world is facing years more disruption as the current pandemic plays out. Beyond that, the successful businesses will be the ones that have taken the disruption and turned it into an opportunity for innovation.

No business can survive without its communications system, so why not supercharge it? Speak to a Reliance Communications team member today!

Finding the right communications solution: It’s time to look beyond TIPT

Tue, 20 Apr 2021 07:13:56 GMT

Communications platforms have been cloud-based for many years now. By leveraging the cloud, enterprises can bring together voice, video, and messaging onto the one platform, and with presence and call forwarding features, staff don’t need to be physically located within the office. What a lot of IT leaders don’t realise is that the cloud communications platform that they’re on can be so much more versatile and productive.

Many enterprises are still using Telstra’s TIPT service, and while that was once a world-leading example of innovative thinking, communications have moved well beyond that in the years since.

When Telstra introduced TIPT, over 15 years ago, it offered a cloud-based unified communications (UC) platform that was cutting-edge. It combined voice and video with location and platform, so that if an employee wasn’t currently in the office, they would be able to take calls and attend virtual meetings wherever they happen to be. Furthermore, all of this would be managed from a highly scalable cloud interface, so, as the organisation brought on new people, adding them to the telephony environment is as simple as making a few clicks.

However, there is so much more that can be achieved with modern UC platforms, well beyond what TIPT offers. Live call recording and data analytics allow organisations to introduce a real-time feedback loop and deep insights into the performance of their communications, while iPhone and Android apps make those remote interactions even more seamless and robust. Telstra’s TIPT has been slow to introduce these more modern features, and while it still does the job, and many businesses have an “if it isn’t broke” approach to their communications, the reality is that other communications platforms can do more.

Contact Reliance Communications For Leading UC Solutions

Unified Communications is not locked to a single vendor or provider. Because it turns communication into data transfer over the network, there are any number of options that are available to businesses, regardless of who their ISP is.

Reliance Communications is proudly vendor agnostic. Our goal is to work with each of our customers to develop a unified communications platform that works to achieve their IT goals, rather than attempt to push them onto a pre-defined platform. Because each business is different, the communications needs will vary, and what might work for one business might not work so well for another.

The understanding once was that you got your communications platform from whoever was providing the phone lines – this is how many businesses ended up on Telstra’s TIPT service in the first place. The environment has changed now, however, and now your UC solution can sit on top of the services of whatever ISP is providing your Internet connection. In other words – now you can look for something that truly suits your business, rather than try to work with whatever communications platform your services provider wants to sell you.

Contact us to discuss how we can deliver for you a better communications environment that works for your business and the way that you operate. We have the alternatives that will drive better business.

Office Relocation: It’s an Opportunity to Modernise the Business

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 04:45:35 GMT

Office relocation is on the cards for many of Australian businesses. The reality is that the way that we’re working has changed in the past 18 months – people started working from home and now we’re all realising that that’s a good idea, so remote working is here to stay.

In fact, leading analyst firm, Gartner, found that 82 per cent of company leaders will allow employees to work remotely at least some of the time.

The office is still important; “some of the time” isn’t “all of the time,” and there are times where the office is the best place to meet or get work done. However, with more staff working from home, offices don’t need to be as big, and relocating and downsizing the office space will be a good way for a lot of businesses to save money.

However, office relocation can be a pain, particularly from an IT perspective – it’s not just about plugging computers into power sockets. The modern office needs a full communications environment, a remote conference-ready meeting room, and the cabling and infrastructure needs to be carefully designed, both from an OH&S and aesthetic perspective.

I t’s also possible that an office relocation means that you need to reconsider what carrier services you’re using – can you get the same nbn™ or fibre services from your provider at your new location?

H ave you considered?

Reliance Communications has a long history of helping our clients with their office relocation needs, from start to finish. The range of services that we offer include:

- Project Management – from architecting the new environment to taking the opportunity to invest in new technologies.

- Consulting – what would be the right solution for the new office environment? How can you get more from your IT?

- Cabling and Infrastructure – so that your people will be able to take full advantage of the new office from day one.

- Carrier Services – what do you need to do to roll your IT services to your new office environment? How can this be managed without downtime?

The office relocation is an opportunity to modernise the IT environment and prepare the space for the changing way in which people use office spaces. There will be more video conferences, both at desks and in meeting rooms, and this changes how the space should be designed. Reliance Communications can help you design a space that will serve your business well for this “new normal,” and the innovative ways in which we’re going to be working in the years ahead.

For more information on office relocation and how IT fits into that, contact us at 1300 656 911 .

CRM Modernisation: What does it mean?

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 07:49:57 GMT

The CRM is the heart to any modern business, and the data that flows into that CRM is the lifeblood. Without the entire organisation having a clear, centralised pool of data on customers and interactions, the interactions with customers will not be as effective, and information may be lost, leading to frustration on the part of the customer (and, ultimately, lost customers).

The challenge that many organisations face is ensuring that their CRM is capturing all the data that it needs to. That’s where Reliance Communications comes in. Much of the customer data is collected through the communications platform, and our goal is to ensure that all of that is captured and available, regardless of who the customer is speaking to within the organisation.

CRM modernisation goals

There are a couple of goals that you should be aiming for with any effort to modernise your CRM system:

App consolidation. You do not want your agents needing to open multiple applications just to get a full picture of the customer that they’re interacting with. As much as possible you want to capture the data into a single platform so that, with a single click, the agent can pull up all the details they need regarding a customer. One example of this in action is Reliance Communication’s ability to integrate 8x8 Work with Salesforce, allowing your business to log each call, with notes, alongside the other Salesforce data, and then make a call from within Salesforce itself.
Automation. Another goal should be to have the data capture happen automatically, so that there is no risk of human error meaning data is lost or overlooked. For example, Reliance Communications has helped many organisations deploy a RingCentral solution that has integrated seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics 365, and in doing so automatically captures call status, the actual start of a call, the end of it and the duration as data points for future reference. In combination with click-to-dial inbound screen pops, and automatic SMS logging, this solution streamlines the CRM process to ensure maximum efficiency and productivity.

Build for the future now

As the ways in which customers interact with organisations grows, so too will the need for the CRM platform to be robust in capturing data and scaling as necessary. For example, organisations with chatbots now need to track those interactions for the times where the issue is escalated or moved on to a human contact. Capturing social media interactions and adding those to the customer profile are equally important, as it helps to form a complete picture of what the customer thinks of the company.

Increasingly, the CRM is a carefully architected solution, designed to become a “hub” of integrations across the busines. Having a partner like Reliance Communications, that will take an agnostic approach to ensure that you get the solution that you need regardless of the vendor that it comes from, is essential in delivering the competitive advantages that a modernised CRM can provide to the business.

For more information on CRM modernisation, or to talk about how to effectively integrate your communications platform with the CRM, contact Reliance Communications today.

Why Business Nbn™ Matters

Fri, 26 Mar 2021 07:27:10 GMT

For most Australian businesses, the nbn™ is the source of their all-important Internet connectivity. As national infrastructure, it’s the broadband service that every business has access to by default, and it’s available simply by contacting one of the many ISPs around Australia that offer services.

It’s also mandatory. The design of the nbn™ has meant that it has replaced previous communications infrastructure and now, for businesses to run a phone line, it needs to be done over the nbn™. Far from a negative, however, the new nbn™ infrastructure allows organisations to do more with their phone lines than ever, and deploy robust unified communications systems that allow them to interact internally and with customers in a more robust and deeper way.

Reliance Communications has been assisting customers with using the nbn™ to super-charge their communications environment since its inception. From hosted, cloud-based PBXes, to tight unified communications integration for messaging, video conferencing, and more, our customers find that once they move to the nbn™ there’s so much more potential in their communications systems to lead to better productivity and customer outcomes.

Understanding the nbn™

There are two forms of nbn™ available; the standard nbn™ that is available to all Australians, and business nbn™. What confuses a lot of businesses – especially smaller businesses – is why they should pay for business nbn™ when standard nbn™ services tend to be cheaper. However, business nbn™ has a lot of valuable features that help to ensure that your business will have a leading online experience, including:

Synchronous speeds; If you’re running your business communications platform on VoIP and video conferencing, then the upload speed is as important to performance as the download speed. Synchronous speeds ensure that your business has an even experience when both uploading and downloading data.
Static IP; Residential nbn™ plans have dynamic IP addresses, which means you can’t create a permanent link to that location. A static IP allows for the business to have cloud-based networks and communications platforms essential to the running of a modern business.
Uptime guarantee; Residential nbn™ services operate to a “best effort” service level, meaning that if the Internet goes down the fault will be resolved within standard business hours based on availability. Business nbn™ customers gain access to priority, 24/7 hour support and can have a SLA guarantee that they won’t experience more than a few minutes of downtime in a month.

The other benefit of business nbn™ is that it can grow as the business does – it’s a highly scalable solution that complements Reliance Communication’s equally highly-scalable unified communications services.

For more information on the benefits and opportunities available on the nbn™ with Reliance Communications solutions, contact us today on 1300 656 911.

We’re here to help you prepare for 5G. Now.

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 04:35:22 GMT

5G is game-changing technology that is going to have far-reaching impacts on how we work, live and play. This technology rolling out worldwide 2019 and it is now expected that by 20205 there will be 1.7 billion people connected via 5G. As it becomes more prevalent it will become the foundation – the last piece – in an “Industrial Revolution 4” that is going to change the very way we work.

In short, your business should be planning for this technology in order not to be left behind. Reliance Communications are the experts in helping customers take advantage of the unique opportunities that 5G provides.

What makes 5G so great?

5G is a much more robust technology than previous cellular networks. Not only does it deliver much faster download and upload speeds, but it offers a lower latency as well. Video and VoIP communication, as well as hosted managed services, like virtual PBXs, will benefit from these features. Additionally, 5G is also more flexible and efficient, and the mobility of 5G will allow businesses to truly enable work-from-anywhere environments.

5G helps create a robust communications environment

We’re still early on in the 5G cycle, but the technology is already proving to be incredible for businesses. As remote work becomes more common, 5G is helping those that work from home stay connected and productive. As noted, there is much lower latency when using 5G, so that makes conference calls work seamlessly even with members all across the globe. Due to the impact of COVID-19, 5G is already showing how handy it can be and is helping people in even rural environments work from home seamlessly.

5G is also uniquely suited to IoT and edge applications – where massive amounts of compute need to be done at the location of the work in real time, while also supported by cloud storage, processing and analytics. What this means is that 5G can enable AI and automation, and IT specialists will be able to streamline operations with these faster speeds and companies will be able to get more useful data that can be analyzed as well. Companies will be able to better tailor their work to customer needs and minimise any downtime as a result.

As 5G is expected to become the new standard, it will also be a huge boost to many industries. This includes manufacturing companies that will be able to improve their automation methods and revolutionise transportation as trains and self-driving cars are expected to take full advantage of it. It can also be used for augmented reality experiences inside businesses – really, the sky is the limit with this technology, and many of the ways that we’ll be using it haven’t even been invented yet.

Work with Reliance to upgrade to 5G and future-proof your business

At Reliance we’ve sat on the bleeding edge of technology for years, and have unique insights into the role of new technology and how to successfully implement it within your organisation. The adoption of 5G and services that use the mobile networks will only increase over time, and now is the time to plan ahead and ask what 5G will be able to do for you.

For more information on 5G technology and how Reliance Communications can assist you in planning for innovation once it is in widespread use in Australia, click her

Is your phone system more than three years old? You want to talk to Reliance!

Tue, 02 Feb 2021 07:10:26 GMT

With the rate of technology innovation going on, managing an older phone system inside a workplace can result in lower productivity as employees struggle with a lack of the features and enhancements that their competitors take for granted. If your phone system at your business is older than three years, then you should look into what an upgrade could do for your business.

Reliance Communications works with the best in the industry. We’re vendor-agnostic, focusing on results rather than pushing a particular vendor’s agenda, and that has given us some unique insights into the state of phone systems as we move into 2021.

Here are five reasons to upgrade your phone systems.

Upgrading can actually save you money

One reason why many businesses put off phone system upgrades is due to the price involved with getting a new system installed. However, an upgrade will likely save you money in the long run. By using Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, you can reduce telecom costs and choose the features you want if using a cloud-based system . This lowers the upfront cost to get it installed and will allow your company to save money long-term as well.

Plus, when an older system breaks down it can become quite costly to replace parts or find the expertise needed to fix your phone issues. A new system will always be easier to repair and minimise the amount of downtime your business faces in such a scenario.

A new system can scale with your business

By using a VoIP phone system, you are able to add additional users and devices with ease. Adding new phone lines with more traditional systems is expensive and time consuming, while adding new users with a VoIP system just takes a few minutes. This will allow your phone system to grow alongside your company. For example, the Avaya IP Office phone system allows up to 1,000 users in a single office.

Make sure you are getting the most out of your phone

Just like your cell phone, your office phone system should be able to do a lot more than simply make phone calls. From routing calls based on the type of caller to minimising queue times, there are plenty of great things phones with cloud technology can use. On top of these great features, it can assist with automatic transcriptions of voicemails and monitor call quality as well.

Make sure your system is secure

If you’re using an old telephone, then that means you could be vulnerable to a security attack. Many old phones transmit calls via audio signals that can be intercepted by those outside your company. Newer VoIP phone systems have an extra layer of security using firewalls and encryption. If you are dealing with sensitive information, then there is no better reason to upgrade.

Get better sound quality

When using an older phone system your audio quality won’t be great. Having to repeat yourself doesn’t just waste time that could be used helping another customer, but it makes your business look unprofessional. VoIP has higher quality calls and will ensure that you are able to have great conversations with no technical hurdles.

As you can see, a seemingly simple phone system upgrade can result in a more productive, secure, efficient and scalable organisation. If you’re a forward-thinking business, all of these will be appealing to you, so contact Reliance Communications today to start the conversation.

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Looking to do more with your communications?

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 08:39:34 GMT

Microsoft Teams has helped revolutionise the workplace and how many businesses operate in 2020, but a lot of organisations aren’t getting as much out of this invaluable communications tool as they could be. At Reliance Communications, we’ve seen a steady lift in number of enquiries on how to make the most of Teams (and other UC solutions) in 2020.

To make the most of Microsoft Teams, you should take a new look at your communications environment and infrastructure. Give us a call we’ll be more than happy to run an audit of your communications environment and offer a pathway to next-generation features on Microsoft Teams such as these:

Built-in translation tools

It’s not uncommon for a company to employ workers from around the globe that speak different languages. While that is a barrier to communication, Microsoft Teams is able to automatically translate text from another language into your native tongue. This is as simple as hitting the ellipsis on a message and then hitting the Translate button. This is much quicker than copying the text and going to another translation tool and makes conversing with those around the globe a breeze.

Rich text

You have a lot more options when sending a message through Microsoft Teams than you might initially realise. By hitting the format button on the far-left of the message box, you will bring up rich text options, such as adding colour, bolding and underlining words and other options. You can also add a subject line to a message, which will help organise your conversation. It's also easy to add in lists, both bulleted and numbered.

Notifications customisation

If you are a member of several Microsoft Team channels, then it’s easy to get distracted with all of the messages being sent. By clicking on your profile picture and going to “notifications”, you can select what type of alerts you get and can set the frequency. This is very helpful if you belong to channels you don't often need to use but still want to keep an eye on.

Make the most of video with Reliance Communications

Whether you use Microsoft Teams, or any other communications solution, chances are that you’ll be using video. There is so much that you can do with most of these video conferencing solutions, such as record meetings so that anyone that missed the call can view it later, or even generate a written transcript of the meeting automatically.

Another helpful tip is to blur your background while in a video meeting. Since many are working from home due to the pandemic, it’s not uncommon for your children or significant other to be running around while you’re trying to work. Blurred backgrounds allow privacy at home while still allowing people to participate in the meetings.

As you can see, there is a lot that can be done with modern communications tools. At Reliance Communications, we are completely vendor agnostic – it doesn’t need to be Microsoft Teams. Our goal is simply to get your communications environment delivering real productivity gains quickly. Contact us on 1300 656 911 to start the conversation.

Still struggling to understand remote working? We’re here to help

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 08:23:32 GMT

Remote working became the catch phrase of 2020, but for many organisations it was a big shift, and it happened quickly. Now research suggests that the number of people working remotely permanently, even after the pandemic has been dealt with, will more than double .

If you want to make the most of remote working, you’ll need to do more than provide your staff with a laptop and webcam. Reliance Communications has a long heritage in turning a remote workforce into a point of competitive differentiation. We’re here to help you, so drop us a line and start discussing what is next for your teams.

Why allow people to work remotely?

Without the need to travel to an office, workers have more time available to them. This can better their work-life balance, and that actually boosts productivity – studies show that people that work remotely end up spending a couple more hours per week working. When there isn’t that commute to worry about people tend to log on earlier and log off later, and while they might travel to a family event during the week, they’ll also work into their evenings and weekends.

Happier remote employees also take fewer sick days and companies deal with less turnover as well. Businesses also benefit because they can reduce office sizes and access regional and overseas talent more easily when people don’t need to be in the office to work.

However, it’s important to note that social isolation can become an issue for those used to working in an office, so be sure to offer emotional support and to check in with employees during these difficult times. This challenge can also be managed through the use of robust unified communications tools that help people stay in touch all-day long. Get in touch with us to learn more.

How to achieve remote working

Making the most of remote working means investing in technology. You need the right infrastructure, and a clear workflow pipeline. Many organisations use unified communication tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams for this, combined with productivity and workflow management sites like Trello and Asana.

Once the technology is in place, managers need to find a new balance in checking in with employees, be it one-on-one messages or daily calls to see how work is going. Constant, open communication is the key, so making regular use of video is also a good idea as it feels more personal than written or audio conversations. Most importantly, finding what works is key. There are many different solutions, so finding what will cut through the noise to deliver what your own organisation needs can be a challenge. That’s where a vendor agnostic partner like Reliance Communications comes in. We deliver solutions that enable the most productive, efficient remote working environment that benefits your business.

For more information on our solutions, contact us on 1300 656 911 .