The Thurston, Pierce, Lewis, and Mason Counties IT Experts

1. Establish Good Communication Habits

If there’s anything that the success of your project will directly rely upon, it is how well you communicate with everyone involved. This will require you to not only have reliable communication solutions, but to actively put them to use.

From the very beginning of your project, make sure that everyone involved is sharing all of the information that is appropriate to be shared, with whom needs to see it. As the person in charge, you should set this communication in motion, leading by example. As we will cover in more depth below, this means utilizing the tools at your disposal appropriately - keeping conversations pertinent to the group as a whole visible to the group as a whole.

2. Define Milestones, Objectives, and a Timeframe

Any project should have four distinct stages to it: initiation, planning it, executing it, and a wrap-up at the end. Each of these stages should be punctuated by different milestones and objectives to be reached, as well as a set schedule as to how quickly each needs to be achieved.

This can benefit you in a few ways. First off, it is always better to be more organized during these kinds of things, as it helps eliminate the chance of wasting time and money. Look at it this way: if you have Tasks A, B, and C to do in a project, and three employees to see to them, it isn’t going to help much if all three of them go out and spend their time on three separate versions of Task B. 

Furthermore, timeliness is usually a factor in these kinds of things, so it is important to establish a set schedule based around any limitations. Let’s say that you were planning a Halloween party for your office... it wouldn’t do much good (or make much sense, for that matter) to have that event two-thirds of the way through November, would it? Your projects are likely influenced to some degree by outside stimulus, and so should be treated the same way - set deadlines and timeframes ensuring your preparations don’t run long.

3. Use the Tools and Resources Available

There are many business solutions out there today that make the many processes involved in managing a project from start to finish much easier. Take, for example, the practices we’ve already reviewed in this blog - there are many communication solutions that are ideal for group project work within an organization that you may not be using to their full advantage. Likewise, there are project management solutions that allow you to better track and manage how your team is using its time and energy.

Finally, you also have the option to utilize automated solutions to simplify and expedite many of the moving parts that a project has. Rather than risking a crucial step be missed in the flurry of responsibilities your employees have, allow the facets that can be automated to be, and let your business solutions serve their full purpose.

Interested in learning more about how your internal projects and other processes can be benefited by technology solutions? Reach out to us at 360-491-2227 to learn more!

First, it may be helpful to briefly review what VoIP is, exactly.

Understanding Voice over Internet Protocol

Originally, the telephone worked by taking the sound of a voice and converting it into electronic waves, which were then sent to the recipient and converted back into sound. Nowadays, digital phone systems translate sound information into packets of binary data that are transmitted to the person on the other end of the line across the Internet.

How Does VoIP Ultimately Save My Business Money?

There are quite a few ways that the cost savings that are so often touted with VoIP can be accomplished.

You’re Paying for One Less Thing

On a very basic level, VoIP can save your business money by eliminating one of the utilities that you’d otherwise pay for: your telephone service bill. Since VoIP uses the Internet to transmit data, all you need to pay for is your business’ Internet connection. While this does present the possibility of communication issues should you lose Internet service, the cost savings over time can make this issue less worrisome nevertheless.

VoIP is Easier

Because VoIP is delivered via the Internet, your employees no longer need any additional infrastructure to enable them to make calls - which makes the process of adding (or, if the need should arise, removing) phones much less intensive. After all, you will no longer potentially need to redesign the office to accommodate your infrastructure, eliminating the costly construction that this could bring about. This all contributes to a decreased investment necessary to leverage VoIP to your advantage.

VoIP is More Efficient

Depending on your industry, you may field repeated calls from clients and customers coming in for assistance and other assorted requests, often addressing similar topics. Some VoIP solutions enable you to provide them with an auto attendant recording that walks them through the process that is troubling them. As a result, they are satisfied, while your employees won’t need to deal with interruptions throughout the day that could be avoided, allowing them to be more productive during the time you pay them to be there.

Are there other benefits to VoIP solutions? Of course... there’s the enhanced mobility it offers, the customization we only briefly touched on, and many other considerations that make it a great option for businesses. However, the cost savings can’t be denied.

To learn more about implementing VoIP into your business’ technology, reach out to PC Technologies at 360-491-2227!

Valuable or not, you don’t want to lose any of your business’ data. That’s why PC Technologies is here to help, with solutions that provide comprehensive backup and disaster recovery.

Keeping a backup in this way can help keep you from becoming a victim of data loss, regardless of the severity of the data loss event. For instance:

Accidental Deletion

You shouldn’t underestimate the potential impact that mistakenly deleting some critical data can have on your business. Fortunately, this impact can be deftly sidestepped so long as a backup solution is put in place. If your company is following good backup practices, you should have at least one copy of the deleted file in a backup, allowing you to restore it with little issue.

Data Corruption and Theft

Along a similar vein, a backup can be your saving grace if your data is stolen or targeted by a cyberthreat. This is especially the case when ransomware is involved, and your data has been encrypted. Rather than paying the ransom in the hopes of receiving the decryption key, or starting from scratch, a quick restoration from a backup can put you back in business (once the system has been wiped of the ransomware, of course).

This process is much easier when you have a business continuity plan to fall back on. This strategy recommends that you keep multiple copies of your backup, one isolated offsite for major repairs and more efficient migrations, and one on-premise for less severe loss incidents and quick fixes.

A Bonafide Disaster Event

Unfortunately, it can be hard to predict exactly what kind of disasters you need to protect your data from. While some are certainly more likely than others, even the least likely disasters need to be anticipated and prepared for. Fortunately, one of the most critical parts of preparing your business for any of these disasters is to have a backup ready and waiting. Ideally, you’ll never need to use it - especially for this reason - but you’ll be glad to have it if you do.

Many business owners don’t consider the possibility of any of these disasters before they happen, which leaves their company vulnerable. Don’t be one of these business owners.

Working with PC Technologies will help you better prepare for disasters big and small, so you’ll be more able to weather through them and resume your operations. To learn more about business continuity planning and a BDR solution, give us a call at 360-491-2227.