Converged Technology Group Helps Take Enterprise Clients to New Heights with Unified Communications

ISLANDIA, N.Y., March 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The way businesses communicate today is changing rapidly; advanced mobile devices, video solutions and cloud computing have opened the door to new and inventive communications capabilities. But these same unified communication technologies have also driven additional complexity into the IT department.  Converged Technology Group (www.convergedtechgroup.com), an award-winning Managed Services Partner (MSP) serving clients throughout the Northeast, has put together an eight-step plan for CIOs and IT professionals who want a truly scalable, secure, and converged unified communications solution that can deliver business-critical voice, video and data to the next cube, office, building, branch, state or country.

In all, the company says there are eight steps to a complete unified communications solution, and while one step can be implemented independently from another over time, a well-planned collaboration strategy will take into account an organization's current and future unified communications needs as well as the internal IT support required to capture the best ROI at the least cost.

"A typical investment for a client to recruit, develop and maintain the in-house skillset and support infrastructure to properly manage a unified communications system can run between $100,000 and several hundred thousand dollars annually.  Converged Technology Group's Assist360 managed services offering can provide a better level of support for a fraction of that cost," says Steve Drgon, Chief Technology Officer, Converged Technology Group.  "By combining a solution like the Cisco Business Edition 6000, which offers a smooth implementation path, with Assist360, clients get a very cost-effective way to reap the benefits that a unified communications solution has to offer without burdening their IT departments with the ongoing support of that solution."

Eight-Steps to Unified Communications

To further help CIOs and IT professionals take their communications to new heights, Converged Technology Group has created an eight-step plan outlining the key elements in a complete unified communications strategy.

1.     Take Traditional Voice to a New Level: Consider an IP telephony solution for voice communications which can offer significant advantages over traditional PBX systems.  IP telephony can give the enterprise improved scalability and flexibility for both internal and external collaboration while also reducing provisioning and maintenance costs.

2.     Integrate Messaging Technologies: Technologies like instant messaging (IM), texting, and video chatting have become both staples of the work environment and some CIOs' worst nightmares.  Look for an IP communications partner that can architect, implement and manage a single collaboration solution to unify a wide array of messaging capabilities.

3.     Get Face-to-Face with Videoconferencing: When face-to-face communication is an absolute must, but the rising cost of travel makes a company's army of road warriors a drain on profits, there is another solution: videoconferencing.  The right video system improves employees' ability to communicate with each other, with customers and with business partners in a seamless way that makes video calls as easy as phone calls.

4.     Consider Collaboration: From endpoints to networks to servers, it's critical to deploy, implement and operate collaboration solutions that have a demonstrable ROI that includes the increased productivity and strategic advantages that are created.

5.     Keep in Contact through Presence: The power of instant communications has transformed the way forward-thinking enterprises collaborate internally. However, instant isn't instant if the person on the other end of the IM, email or voice message isn't available; that's where comprehensive presence solutions can amplify the effectiveness of a business' communication tools.

6.     Extend Your Workforce with Mobility: The explosive organizational growth of smartphone and tablet use on the job has made it critical for businesses to take the same email, document viewers and other applications that help employees be successful at their desks and push them out to mobile devices.  For the CIO, this means building a secure mobility platform that IT can manage while generating a rapid ROI for the increased mobile capabilities that go along with improved employee productivity outside the four walls of the office.

7.     Streamline Your Contact Center: By giving customer service representatives full access to an efficient unified communications toolset, companies can streamline the communications process in their contact center and provide improved customer service at lower operating costs.

8.     Employ Managed Services for End-to-End Support: Supporting the wide array of enterprise communication tools available today is placing an unnecessary burden on the shoulders of many internal IT departments.  Managed services not only relieves the support burden from internal IT teams, but can, in many cases, improve solution ROI and reduce costs in the process.

More Information:

• Find out how managed services like Assist360 can reduce or eliminate $100,000 or more in collaboration support costs: http://ow.ly/urpZz.
• CIOs: Learn more about a Cisco BE6000+Assist360 solution from Converged Technology Group here: http://ow.ly/uBKll.
• Read about Converged Technology Group's relationship with Cisco and other top IT manufacturers here: http://ow.ly/uqxxK.

About Converged Technology Group

Converged Technology Group is an award-winning Managed Services Partner (MSP) focused on improving IT performance and lowering the cost of technology support for growing businesses in healthcare, financial services, education, retail, legal and other cutting-edge industries. Located in Islandia, NY, and New York City, Converged Technology Group provides network infrastructure, unified communications, virtualized data center, cloud solutions and managed services to multinational enterprises headquartered in the Northeast. The company provides business-critical uptime all the time, and helps clients design, implement and operate their IT infrastructure, communication and computing systems for the greatest return on their IT investments. For more information on Converged Technology Group, please contact us at 631-468-5728 or [email protected], and visit our website at www.convergedtechgroup.com.

Media Contacts:

Anthony Malley
Director Business Development & Marketing
Converged Technology Group
631-468-5728
[email protected]

Lisa Hazen
Account Manager
Communication Strategy Group
631-239-6335
[email protected]

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SOURCE Converged Technology Group