News & Blog

Jan

14

2021

The Potential Costs of Missed Business Calls (and 5 Ways to Avoid Them)

When a customer, or even a prospective customer, calls a company during regular business hours, he or she generally has an expectation (and let’s face it, an understandable one) that the call will be answered. If the call cannot be answered right away, most consumers expect to at the very least be directed to a way to get the help they are seeking. And while this is especially true for businesses that consumers depend on for essential services, it applies across the board to a large extent, no matter what category of products or services the business might offer. What...

Dec

28

2020

What Is Hosted PBX, and What Are the Business Benefits?

More often than not, the needs of the business world demand much more powerful and professional-grade tools than their counterparts in the home. This can ring especially true in the area of communications, where reliable connections and a broad range of features can mean the difference between winning new business and missing out on valuable opportunities. And when it comes to office phone systems, having all the tools workers need to keep communications clear, open and freely flowing, both inside and outside the office walls, can be critical to a business’s success. The Power of PBX The Private Branch Exchange...

Dec

16

2020

5 Ways to Improve the Wi-Fi Experience in Your Waiting Room

For today’s connected consumers, getting through a stay in a businesses’ waiting room no longer has to equate to idle time spent with little to do besides make a cup of coffee, flip through outdated magazines or watch whatever happens to be on the waiting-room TV. With a speedy Wi-Fi connection and a laptop computer, or even just a Wi-Fi enabled smartphone, waiting-room guests can get their work done, catch up on online chores or the news, or take their pick from a broad array of online entertainment options. But as most consumers are painfully aware, not all waiting rooms...

Dec

04

2020

FTC to Utilize New Vendor for Directory

FTC is transitioning the development of its directory, including its yellow pages, to the nation’s largest and oldest directory publisher of rural telephone cooperatives. Vivial, formerly known as the Berry Company and based out of Dayton, OH, will be taking over for Data Publishing, which produced the FTC “phone book” for the past decade. Dent Adams, FTC’s chief operating officer-subsidiaries, leads the division that oversees the directory. “Change is never easy, but we just found it was the perfect time for us, and we are excited about this partnership,” Adams said. “We conducted an exhaustive search and chose Vivial because...

Nov

25

2020

4 tech tools that support touchless and low-touch payments

In a business environment that has been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the array of efforts being taken to prevent the spread of the virus, few areas in the retail and hospitality arenas have seen as much change as the payment process. In addition to mask-wearing protocols and the installation of plexiglass dividers at checkout in an effort to keep both consumers and workers safe, the ways people actually pay for their products is also seeing fundamental changes the world over. Among the most popular ways businesses are keeping customer-worker contact to a minimum and safety precautions at...

Nov

18

2020

What is the CPRA, and what does it mean for businesses?

Upon going into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) sent shock waves across the online business and marketing worlds by ushering in the nation’s toughest consumer-geared digital privacy protections. For many enterprises doing in-person or online business in California (and even for some whose websites were simply visited by California consumers), it created a host of new requirements regarding the collection and use of consumers’ personal data. For businesses meeting certain thresholds defined in the law, it required making revisions to their websites and other digital assets, including updating their privacy policies, preparing to respond...

Oct

30

2020

What is a static IP address, and why would a business need one?

Simply put, a static IP address can be thought of as a non-changing internet address for a business. Much like a physical street address, a static IP address can tell other computers or servers on the internet exactly where a specific computer is located or connected to the internet. This is useful for many small businesses that have internet-related needs, such as hosting a web, email or an FTP server, remote access to a corporate network, or hosting a webcam for video streaming and videoconferencing applications. Dynamic vs. static IP addresses Most devices’ IP addresses are dynamic, meaning they change over...

Oct

27

2020

6 business benefits of using virtual servers

When a business needs a way to keep its computer files, business critical applications, mail servers, website files and a range of other digital assets secure and easily accessible to approved users, a virtual server can provide a simple and effective solution with a long list of benefits. Powered by a network connected, offsite virtual machine that is also known as a “cloud-based server,” a virtual server can house and manage a business’s network resources remotely, making them accessible at any time from anywhere via the internet (or through “the cloud”). A virtual server can also replace most physical onsite...

Oct

07

2020

FTC’s Manning Store Gets a Range of Exciting Upgrades—With a Focus on Improving the Customer Experience

When customers visit the Manning FTC store at 2389 Paxville Highway, they are going to notice some new and exciting differences. In an effort to give the customer retail experience a more modern, techy look and feel — and to improve customers’ ability to see and demo a range of FTC’s core products and services — the location recently underwent a long list of renovations and upgrades, with most of the work completed in mid-September. (more…)

Sep

30

2020

6 Tech Considerations for a Business Looking to Enable Telecommuting

The business world’s move toward more broadly enabling the workforce to telecommute has been a relatively long and gradual march, one that has picked up considerable pace due to the coronavirus pandemic. And in many ways, the transition to telecommuting makes a lot of sense in offices that can support it: Studies have shown that telecommuting workers can be more productive. By reducing the need for daily driving, telecommuting is a positive for the environment and for cities’ traffic conditions; and in the long run, the trend can save companies money on expenses such as real estate and office supplies....