Lease Archives - Connecticut Communications

Update your unified communications system with zero percent lease

Many organizations find that they need to update their existing communications systems, but lack the Capital budget to do so, or they’re simply apprehensive to make an investment in technology which seems to be ever-changing. However, in our current business climate, the status quo when it comes to technology upgrades quickly leads to reduced productivity, poor customer service and increased cost. For this reason, many leading organizations have moved their technology upgrades from their Capital budget to their Operating budget by leveraging financing.

To replace or not to replace?

Let’s face it, advances in technology are designed to make us more productive and give us the ability to perform more efficiently while enhancing responses to our customer’s needs. That being said, if you’re not leveraging technology to provide better service, you may be at a disadvantage when compared to your competitors.

Technology is changing so rapidly that whatever you acquire today may be obsolete within five years. If you’re wrestling with the dilemma of whether or not upgrading seems worth it, you’re not alone. More and more businesses are reaping all the benefits of new technology while simultaneously hedging against technology obsolescence through a Fair Market Value lease. A Fair Market Value lease option allows your organization to obtain all of the productivity benefits and enhanced customer service capability delivered by today’s Unified Communications, Mobility & Collaboration tools while giving you the ability to retain your hard-earned cash and providing you with the least-cost option to deliver a solid ROI.

A good example of this is NEC Financial Services’ current offering of Fair Market Value leases with rates at or even below zero percent. For many organizations, these rates produce a monthly cost figure on a new solution which often falls well below what the organization is currently spending for maintenance alone. With these figures, finding the elusive ROI becomes easily achievable. Additionally, this financing structure provides all the benefits derived from the use of the new technology without having to worry about ownership and the risks associated with long-term investment in ever-changing technology.

You don’t have to spend money to make money!

If you think you have to expend large amounts of capital just to grow your business, think again. Financing opportunities like the one mentioned above lends other options. Are you wondering how this is possible? Take a look at the following example:

ABC Company has identified that upgrading their outdated PBX provides an opportunity for significant cost savings. But there’s a problem. With no funds left in this year’s Capital budget, their IT Department will pay more for their existing, inefficient infrastructure until funds are available. Not to mention the risks associated with operating an outdated system that exposes the business to equipment failure.

What now?

With the help of NEC Corporation of America, ABC Company performs a cost analysis and determines that by leveraging NEC Financial Services’ 0% Fair Market Value promotional lease, they’re able to obtain the technology they need now at a rate that falls below what they’re currently spending for maintenance alone! Moreover, the improved productivity and enhanced customer service experience they’re able to produce by implementing Unified Communications and Collaboration is helping them to retain and acquire more customers. This makes the new solution a revenue producer rather than a cost burden.

Don’t get stuck in a rut like ABC Company – leverage a technology financing partner who offers the most accommodating (and cost reducing) structure for you. With NEC Financial Services, it’s a win-win with 0% FMV offered for 48 or 60 months on select communications systems. You’ll want to take advantage of this offer quickly. The savings are great but they won’t last. The offer ends August 30, 2013.

For more information and to learn how you can take advantage of a 0% Fair Market Value Lease, call Connecticut Communications at 203.985.1000

What’s Different about Star2Star?

They’ve been winning awards for innovation, products, and service since their founding in 2005. Most recently, they were named to the prestigious Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. They’ve won these accolades for three major reasons:

Superior Technology

They discovered one key thing very early on: Business VoIP users won’t put up with dropped calls or bad voice quality, no matter how much money it saves them. They developed their own unique technology to overcome the limitations of other VoIP products. They call it Blended Architecture™, and it is the cornerstone of everything they do. Blended Architecture allows them to provide a superior, business-class VoIP product at a highly competitive price.

Relentless Reliability & Customer Service

When you switch your phone service to Star2Star, they become your phone company. If something goes wrong – no matter where the problem is – they’ll take care of it, at no charge to you. They also monitor every telephone on their network around the clock. If they spot a problem, they’ll fix it immediately. If the problem is at your office, they’ll send a Connecticut Communications technician out with a replacement part, usually the next day.

Unfortunately, accidents and disasters happen all the time. And when they do, we’re able to keep your phone system working, even if your business suffers a power or Internet outage — or even a complete loss of your business premises.

Substantial Savings

We can save your business a substantial amount of money on your monthly phone bill. And if your business has multiple locations, we can save you even more money using our line pooling feature. Most of our customers see a positive cash flow the very first month they switch to Star2Star. See our Savings page for more details.

Newsletter September 2013 NEC InACD

In this month’s newsletter we learn about NEC’s Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) software package called InACD. This feature is available on NEC SV8100 VoIP telephone system.

InACD puts callers into a queue, first in first out.

InACD yields live call reporting on calls in queue for a particular department. Managers, from their PC, can instantly see how many calls are in queue, see the longest wait time, and view what agents are logged in to handle calls.

InACD also produces statistical call reports at the end of day/week/month. Managers can view reports to see how many phone calls each agent takes, what is the average per call length, and much more.

InACD is part of unified communications from NEC and is available on the NEC SV8100 business telephone system. Special NEC lease rates are available.

NEC InACD

ACD – Automatic Call Distribution

If your business receives a lot of calls place them in an ACD queue, NEC will put them in order first in, first out. Callers have the option to leave the queue to dial another extension or leave a voice message for a call back. Boost customer service by reducing the hold time.

The NEC SV8100 ACD MIS real-time display provides a simulated wallboard. It instantly provides both queue threshold and agent information to supervisors via their PCs. Supervisors and authorized agents can use the agent desktop GUI to text message important information to agents or groups. This instant access to information improves agent performance and reduces training time without increasing business costs.

Agents and supervisors can retrieve statistical information from the SV8000 Series ACD by simply pressing a telephone button. When queued callers or caller hold times exceed a pre-determined threshold, the system automatically sends alerts to agents’ and supervisors’ telephone displays.

Supervisors may run reports on agents to see who is performing well and who needs improvement.

To SIP or not to SIP?

Have you ever wondered what all the fuss is about with SIP trunking? Well, for starters, not only can SIP trunking improve communication and collaboration, it can also significantly lower your IT costs – so much so, that some organizations have taken advantage of the savings to justify additional investments in Unified Communications.

Traditionally, an enterprise’s private branch exchange (PBX) is connected to the public-switched telephone network (PSTN) over a “trunk”, which is a hard-wired connection of the enterprise to the rest of the world. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking is an alternative to that model, in which third-party Internet telephony service providers (ITSPs) connect the PBX to the Internet and then to the PSTN, allowing communication with fixed and mobile devices worldwide without the hassle of a physical wire trunk.

Why Switch to SIP…THE BOTTOM LINE

Switching to a SIP trunking solution can yield significant communications savings and offer a quick return on investment, especially if your company has multiple locations and often uses international calling.

So what are the benefits of SIP trunking, and how can SIP help your organization? SIP trunking will better utilize your bandwidth because telephony and Internet lines are combined, allowing for optimization based on average consumption rather than peak usage.

nec-unified_communications_-_sip_-_protocol-image

Additionally, call speed is increased because all data, voice, and media is passing through carrier systems as IP traffic rather than analog signals. The risk of implementing new technology is mitigated by using an ITSP, as the ITSP keeps you current with technology updates without recurring costs. By using multiple ITSPs and least cost routing (LCR) to always make the most cost-efficient call, a company can realize substantial savings – especially with regard to international calls. What’s more, SIP reuses HTTP ports so it can be easier for end users to work with. Plus, billing is bundled, making things easier on you, the end-user. These aren’t the only benefits; check out the list below for more.

Benefits of SIP trunking

Reliable delivery of communication applications such as instant messaging (IM), presence tracking, video conferencing and application sharing.
You will no longer need a costly PSTN gateway.
Long-distance charges will be reduced.
Voice, video, and data are combined in a single line.
SIP trunking can be a cost-effective delivery option for external communication.

Connecticut Communications can help you decide if SIP trunking is for you. We can analyze your phone bill and go over the advantages and disadvantages.There’s an ongoing debate questioning the value of SIP trunk costs savings as justification for migrating your PBX. Some believe the value is an overstated reason to migrate, while others point to real cost savings. Which side are you leaning toward?

Newsletter October 2013 – Conference Bridge

This month’s newsletter talks about the NEC Conference Bridge. Do you use a 3rd party conference service? If so, save money with the added convenience of hosting your own conference calls.

The NEC SV8100 VoIP unified communications server has a conference bridge card that connects to your LAN and phone lines. Easily setup conference calls with email notification. Callers can call in when they are ready to join the conference.

The newsletter also talks about changing your company’s main greeting on your automated attendant.

View the Connecticut Communications newsletter to learn about the NEC conference bridge. Host your own conference calls with this easy to use feature.

– Save money, purchase the card and host unlimted conference calls at no extra charge!

– Comes in 8 or 16 user conference capability

– Host mulitiple conferences simultaneously

NEC Conference Bridge

Host your own conference calls

NEC offers a built in conference bridge where you can setup and run your own conference calls. I’m not talking about 2-3 party conferences, I’m referring to a conference bridge where callers call in, enter a PIN number, and are joined together with superb voice quality.

The conference bridge connects to your LAN so administers can easily setup a conference. Invitees are sent an email with the call in information where the user can click to add it to their Outlook calendar.

NEC offers the conference bridge as an 8 or 16 party conference.

Get rid of your monthly 3rd party conference bill. Purchase the NEC conference bridge one time and get unlimited conference calls forever at no additional cost.

Click below for a brochure on the NEC Conference Bridge!

NEC Conference Bridge

Connecticut Communications Newsletter January 2015

This month’s newsletter talks about a bluetooth adapter for the NEC office phone. Everyone has a large contact list in their smartphone, why not be able to call from this list using your office telephone?

If you receive a call on your smartphone, answer it on your NEC office phone.

Connecticut Communications can offer a 0% Fair Market Value lease on a new NEC VoIP phone system for up to 60 months. Contact us for a demo of unified communications using VoIP phones from NEC.

Bluetooth Adapter

This NEC Bluetooth Adapter allows you to connect your smartphone with your NEC phone.

Receiving calls from Smartphone connection: User is able to able to establish a talk path from a call connected on the smartphone device and talk through the handset on the NEC terminal via the handset of the NEC terminal.

When a call is received by the smart device, the NEC Terminal will provide an audio notification of incoming call (ringing).

– Calls can be answered and terminated by placing the NEC terminal in a on/off hook mode (via handset) or pressing the speaker button on the NEC terminal.

– Speaker and handset volume output can be controlled by the NEC terminal.

– Music can be streamed from the smartphone to the speaker of the NEC terminal.

Placing Calls via NEC terminal: User can place a call from the Smart Device through the NEC terminal.

– User can enter a calling number from the smart device in order to establish the voice connection through the NEC Terminal.

– User can link the internal phone book of the smart device in order to establish a voice connection through the NEC terminal

This solution requires a 3rd party application to be active on the smart device.

Maintenance

Our Maintenance customers enjoy free NEC software upgrades, unlimited training and free phone labels.

Wireless Headset

This headset is compatible with your NEC system, only $295.

Video Surveillance

Keep track of your office surroundings with high resolution video cameras. Watch live from your smartphone.

Acquire New Technology on Your Terms

Frequently organizations adopt a “make-do” attitude when it comes to technology, primarily because the acquisition of new technology is often expensive and time-consuming to implement. Add to that the potential complexity of integration to legacy systems, hardware and software upgrades, and an increase to capital expenditures, and many organizations feel it is necessary to maintain rather than upgrade. Until…

A multitude of events can create demand for new and upgraded IT resources, including:

You’ve landed that big fish – acquiring a new major client that requires certain amounts of integration to your systems or you simply need to improve performance.
An acquisition may be in the works – whether you are looking to expand via acquisition; be acquired or merge with another company, having up-to-date IT assets will help ease the transition.
The company is ready to grow – perhaps the organization has reached a milestone and is ready to expand, either to new markets or geographic areas. The need for a solid IT infrastructure to accommodate expansion is incredibly important.
An existing IT vendor folds – it’s sad, but can happen. Now, you have technology without support and are in need of a rapid change in order to ensure your organization is not adversely affected.

You may find that you need to act quickly, and need to do something that does not negatively impact your budget. Where do you turn?

Your Technology Funding Source

Traditional sources are not always the most effective means to fund your IT needs. You need a source that is responsive and understands the nuances of acquiring new technology.

“At NEC Financial Services, we start with a transaction team and use underwriting and financing contracts that are customizable to the client needs,” said Herschel Salan, vice president, NEC Financial Services. “Our unique system enables us to use experienced people, coupled with 30 years of knowledge, to create a better solution that ensures our clients have what they require to grow their businesses.”

The NEC Financial Services team offers several options for the financing and leasing of technology acquisitions, and yet the approach can be very different than you will find at a more traditional lender or bank. For example:

Programs based on customer requirements – most organizations face the same business challenges that are not easily resolved with standard finance transactions. NEC Financial Services provides different types of programs based on customer requirements. From a purchase to own arrangement to an OPEX finance option, the program is designed to fit the business need.
Off Balance Sheet – many organizations find it more attractive to acquire technology as an operational expense, giving them additional financial benefits.
Driven by cash flow – if an organization has a specific budget amount they need to meet, NEC Financial Services will work to structure financing to accommodate that number.
Our job would be to align the budget expense to the cost of that technology over time. For example, with a $10K budget a month – the goal would be to get that number to $10K or less.
Beyond the traditional – NEC Financial Services designs financing options to ensure that clients can receive funding for their technology upgrades and investments, even during the installation or implementation phases. . Many times this can be accomplished through various offerings that include direct and working capital loans or structured financing.

“Our team becomes very involved with our clients to understand the technology, how it will have a positive impact on their business and how to best fund it for success,” said Salan. “Whether it’s progress loan financing in the early stages of a longer term transaction, or even multiple vendors and multiple technology types, we structure our financing to meet the business needs.”

More Than a Banker

“Our goal is to have long-term relationships with our clients where we support their ongoing business growth,” continued Salan. “We ensure that we understand their business requirements and growth strategies so we can structure finance options to meet their needs and successfully implement their plans.”

In addition to the financing options, NEC Financial Services also provides asset tracking.

“We find that many of our clients require a more robust asset tracking system than they have in-house, so we provide that service,” said Salan. “We can track assets by jurisdiction, county, state, and zip code, taking the burden from our clients while providing added value.”

Salan also said that many clients have a need for protection against technology obsolescence. This is one of the drivers for determining the right finance solution and term.

“While the length of a typical technology lease is between three and five years, we create terms based on the customer’s decision,” said Salan. “For those that obsolescence is a real issue, we can structure shorter terms so they can keep up with important technology updates to grow their businesses.”

Salan and his team work through the whole corporate lifecycle, ensuring that the technology will grow to meet current and future needs.

“It’s an advantage to our clients that we are agile and have business growth at the core of our decisions,” said Salan. “We understand how technology can help a business grow and reach the next level, so we are eager to explore those options with our clients.”

To learn how NEC Financial Services can provide technology financing on your terms, contact Connecticut Communications today!

203.985.1000 or Concom@ctcom.com