Syncronet Blog

I fired a customer this week.  Not the first time and probably not the last either so why blog about it? Because this time it was different; a lot different.  This time it was a customer we had for more than 15 years.  So what happened?  Well, a number of different forces were at work.

I know this is a tired old subject but as an IT support company, our Help Desk people continue to field calls from folks who have managed to find themselves smacked down by the latest Trojan, malware, virus or <insert favourite web threat here>.  And it isn’t always novice computer users who click on the wrong link or download the wrong “killer app” – sometimes its users who really ought to know better.

The other day we busted one of our employees gaming on the internet during work hours.  Because we have the same concerns as you – getting the most out of our employees while still some fun from time to time – I was understandably irritated.  I mean, after all if you run your outfit like we run ours, you give people the benefit of the doubt, right?  You don’t want to have to micro-manage people to the extent that you are defining what they can’t do on the web; you would hope that they can police themselves, right?  They know the difference between right and wrong, yes? Guess again.

First off, let me preface by saying I think there are a lot of great uses for Social Media and I wrote a blog about the business case for Social Media so I do believe in the power of this latest of internet phenomena.  But it does have a dark side not unlike the rest of the web: narcissism, exploitation, and criminal activity to name but a few.  Still, I think the upside far outweighs the down and I do believe that good eventually triumphs over evil.

Not since the advent of the PC has there been a technology more tailor-made for the small business than VoIP – especially since you’d be awfully hard pressed to find a network out there that isn’t IP based anymore. And as I discussed in my last blog, the benefits are many and diverse; from reducing long distance costs to improved customer service, from better internal communications to enhanced employee productivity… the benefits are everywhere and not to be ignored.

Don’t get me wrong – cheap long-distance is a very good reason to upgrade from a standard PBX to aVoIP system.  But if you don’t have any branch offices outside of your head office locale, there isn’t much there. So what else is in it for you?

It’s a revolution, it’s a tsunami, and it’s a big ol’ train rolling down the B-line all in one and you better get on board or it will steam right on over you.  Yup – I’m talking Social Media and it is changing the very way we conduct – or more importantly – how we grow our businesses.  It was only a matter of time really.  We saw it coming and admit it, you did too.  All the signs have been there and we have really just been ignoring them, largely because we don’t understand them.  And now it can’t be denied that Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are poised to revolutionize the way we market our products and services, how we approach our branding strategies, and how we track customer satisfaction.  So here’s 5 great reasons to get started – now!