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Integrate CRM with PBX and Conferencing

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Integrate Microsoft Dynamics with Teams and your PBX

If you’re looking to integrate a CRM with your PBX and conferencing solution then you’ve likely discovered there’s a lot of nuance. Every phone system and CRM, whether on premise or in the cloud, has to be tweaked to exchange the correct data. After all, garbage in garbage out, right?

When considering a CRM integration with a PBX and conferencing solution there are a few things to keep in mind. Caller ID format, capabilities of the PBX, end user experience, & client expectations, first impressions, and automations.

Definitions of terms – When referring to a PBX I mean your phone system. For example, this can be a Mitel, Star2Star, RingCentral, GoToConnect, 3CX, Asterisk, etc. Many of these have built-in conferencing or collaboration solutions yet some companies my need more horsepower from their solution and may integrate a Microsoft Teams or Zoom solution. CRMs include Microsoft Dynamics, Zoho, Salesforce, Insightly and many others, again, both on premise and in the cloud.

CRM Solutions have a positive impact on profitability.

Caller ID is the first step in the process of communication in your CRM integration between your phone system and your CRM. Caller ID comes in a particular format from your carrier or telephone company. A call triggers an event in a CRM either creating a new entry for an existing contact or a new contact based on that Caller ID data so getting it right is critical in keeping clean data. Handling characters like the plus sign, ampersand, pound or hashtag can have impacts on both data and functionality.

PBXs all operate differently. Softphones are gaining in importance and dial tone is accessed more often via the internet instead of a copper line. Call recording and conferencing functionality will certainly have an impact on your integration. What information your PBX receives from your CRM and what it does with that information is a more integral factor to consider.

Some PBXs will only create a lead from every caller whereas others will allow creation of leads, contacts, and/or accounts. Other PBXs have advanced contact center features that provide functionality like chats within a website. You may be researching a topic on a website when a “Can I help you?” message pops-up with a chat bot or a live person. Both are functionalities of a well programmed PBX. The strength of your PBX and CRM integration lies in the prebuilt API that governs the interaction.

Integrate Webinars and Meetings into Marketing CRM

Let’s take that end-user satisfaction to a higher level. Sending an automated response for a survey, a simple follow up, or even a document for signature is possible using Microsoft Power Automate, Zapier plug ins, and other Low Code No Code solutions. These aren’t only helpful in sales environments either. CRM integrations are also used to manage ticketing systems in IT management environments ensuring end user satisfaction.

So, using a CRM can improve your bottom line and increase productivity. Integrating your CRM properly with your PBX can dramatically improve efficiency, make your employee’s jobs easier, and your customer communications better. In doing so, keep in mind the nuance of your dial tone provider, PBX, and CRM to kinda make sure they’re talking about what you need them to be talking about. Make sense? Give me a shout if you need assistance.

COVID-19 & Coronavirus impact on BCDR Planning

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CloudOgre Data Center in the Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains creating high tech jobs in opportunity zones to support growth in cloud and colocation.

Coronavirus and COVID-19 is forcing BCDR strategy to include epidemiological planning but the tech sector is ready for it thanks to our experience in other events like hurricanes or terrorist events.

For years I’ve stood in front of board rooms full of decision makers selling the benefits of working from home. Flexibility is just as important as scalability. My blog posts frequently discuss the need to focus on flexibility in business continuity and disaster recovery design. A distributed workforce has many benefits to an organization facing rapid change.

Flexibility in VoIP Profiles and SIP trunks makes it easy for a workforce to pivot. Mobile Device Management platforms make it easy to control & secure data flows of sensitive information. Hot Desk sites and colocation facilities provide emergency brick and mortar while remote hands can provide hardware support from a distance and helping to prevent the spread of Coronavirus and COVID-19.

The Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRII) identifies pre-planning, planning, and pre-planning, planning, and post-planning. Readiness and preparedness, activation, continuity operations, and reconstitution would be considered the phases of continuity implementation as stated by the Department of Homeland Security.

You’ll need to:
Determine alternative business operating strategies and set recovery time objectives
Select vendors carefully and off-site storage/recovery sites or War Rooms for operational continuity
Develop response procedures to limit exposure to risk and/or liability
Publish, Implement, and Refresh the plan

Your IT team’s response to COVID-19 should resemble your Hurricane Preparedness plan and follow CDC guidelines for direction on hygiene, quarantine and the like. Data Centers can be self contained facilities able to operate independently much like a bunker for servers or key operations.

Security
Quarantining and sterilizing locations can be a necessity with Coronavirus and COVID-19 and locking down access controls quickly using Active Directory groups can help expedite the process. Sending out messages to users can be done via Mobile Device Management platforms while also managing for Data Loss Prevention which is always a concern for remote work or users with changed habits and stress associated with change.

Communications
Setting up Mobile Device Management platforms properly can ease the stress of BCDR implementation. VoIP profiles and SIP trunks can be configured for BCDR scenarios whether via features like direct inward dialing or more complex arrangements like destination not found automatic call redirect. In addition to MDM and VoIP, virtualized workstations or full blown O365 set ups allow for a homogenous experience across user environments (For example, their laptop or iPhone, loved one’s desktop, a Kinkos… yes I said Kinkos).

Operations
Continuing operations may require a hot site with varied functionality like the ability to print payroll. Sounds like a one off but from my experience its best to plan for the most unlikely scenario. Most large financial organizations have a war room where the top minds gather to keep the business moving. When that’s not possible collaboration tools like Teams or GoToMeeting bridge the gap providing users a common workspace.

Need a free trial? Hit up the Ogre

Normalization
Tracking performance is still a priority and production should not decrease if a BCDR plan implementation goes smoothly. A post-mortem is a best practice to identify problem areas and address them appropriately. Tracking KPIs are easier than ever with CRMs and when integrated with workflow automation solutions, maintaining normalcy can be as easy as managing a threat with a well designed incident response solution. Okay maybe that was a bit geeky… A better example might be having a good playlist set up for your work out 😉

Your biggest threat has always been an insider, now that’s more true than ever. The threat of pandemic is not transmitted digitally but we can take technological steps to help be better prepared and maintain normalcy in the face of any threat. Your firewall won’t help protect you from Coronavirus and COVID-19 but the proper engineering and administration of your critical systems will keep the business running without an impact on productivity.

Digital Infrastructure How Data Centers are Powering our Future

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Drake and Future in the Data Center network mapping the cloud & unplugged the LED lights from the Gigabit PoE switch.

The data center is more important than ever. Whether you’re talking about climate change, rise of diseases like Coronavirus, terrorist acts, etc. your data center is what ensures the long term viability of your business’s critical systems. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery is not the only driving force behind the growth of data center building and the value within data center REITs.

The rise in cloud services like AWS and Azure requires more data centers as does the rise in Machine Learning, IoT devices, Virtual and Augmented Reality, as well as Artificial Intelligence. The rise in machine generated data from blockchain, social media, AI assistants, and other connected devices like smart appliances will continue to drive data center building.

CloudOgre.com is converting a 40,000 sq ft school in the Foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains into a data center. The building sits on a 6 acre complex at over 1,ooo ft above sea level in an Opportunity Zone and Tier 2 OneNC County.

Google has 19 data centers worldwide and is looking to build more in their attempt to get closer to the end user to provide a better experience. Facebook has 15 global data centers and many companies like AWS use a combination of their own data centers and space within larger colocation providers like Equinix and Digital Realty. Hybrid data center strategy is also considered a best practice in small business and location, both geographic diversity and proximity, are important to consider.

The three pieces of colocation are power, ping (bandwidth or network), and space (rack, half rack, cabinet, cage) and are broken down into Tiers 1-4 and are defined by Wikipedia as the following:

  • Tier I:[48] lacks redundant IT equipment, with 99.671% availability, maximum of 1729 minutes annual downtime
  • Tier II: adds redundant infrastructure – 99.741% availability (1361 minutes)
  • Tier III: adds more data paths, duplicate equipment, and that all IT equipment must be dual-powered (99.982%, 95 minutes)
  • Tier IV: all cooling equipment is independently dual-powered; adds Fault-tolerance (99.995%, 26 minutes)

In addition to bandwidth, electricity and cabinet space cross connects are important to connect to various carriers or service providers’ clouds like a direct connect to AWS, Azure, or a VoIP switch. Due to the nature of a data center’s location, its gonna be a considerable drive to get there so taking advantage of remote hands offerings are important to restart servers, replace drives, and the like.

The issue goes much deeper than browsing, email, and social media. According to a new report released by Netflix, the platform’s “global energy consumption increased by 84% in 2019 to a total of 451,000 megawatt hours; enough to power 40,000 average US homes for a year.”

Jane Kearns – Venture Beat

Today, companies are looking for green and LEED certified buildings with alternative energy sources and I see this trend increasing. Both Google and Apple are 100% on renewable energy. I can tell you from purchasing this 40,000 sq ft beast in Mill Spring near the Facebook Data Center in Forrest City, converting to renewables and energy efficient technology like LED lights and automation can make a dent in a monthly spend.

Whether your brain or a server, you’ll need electricity to send signal to its proper destination enabling the actions you intend. As we move into Zettabytes of data we’ll use more electricity. Smart Cities and countries like Estonia use tons of bandwidth and electric but their efficiency justified the improvements.

The ability to replicate the success of Estonia as the world’s most digital city in American opportunity zones is a reality. Attracting investment from firms or individuals with capital gains to avoid or defer enhances long term ROI and creates jobs bringing outsourcing back onshore. After all, a centralized computing environment is easier to support for a geographically diverse organization. In fact, that is the reason for the success of cloud service providers, VoIP companies, and even O365. If you would have told someone in 2007 that Microsoft was going to manage your exchange server they’d look at you like you had three heads. Today, the trend is moving away from managing your own servers and outsourcing the need and liability. The debate on which is best is for another post.

With dedicated internet from non-profit ISPs and the LEC, we’ll be introducing renewable energy sources to increase redundancy and keep a low carbon footprint while we create jobs and deploy wireless internet to a community under-served by broadband providers.

Whether storing machine generated data, blockchain, controlling factories, or switching voice traffic centralized systems are easier to manage and secure. Smart Cities, Homes, and Offices are on the rise creating the need for a greater amount of data processing and storage. The only way to compensate is to build more data centers and that seems to be the trend going forward.

More data centers mean cloud services and the like are closer to their end-user providing a better user experience. I find similarity in today’s rise in data center building for content delivery and edge computing with the rise use of low latency routes for financial institutions that Michael Lewis’ Flash Boys spoke on so brilliantly. Providing a lower latency experience when delivering content like video is essential to successful transmission and providing users with a more enjoyable experience, just as it is for a server to process data through an algorithm to execute a trade.

Data Centers are the brains of tomorrow’s world. Cloud providers like AWS and Azure make it easy to employ a hybrid strategy or launch a new product. Data Centers, along with big bandwidth, will power tomorrow’s technological efficiency and competitive advantage. Your business needs a DR site, whether you go with an active-passive or active-active set up is up to you and your CISO but you need to find room in your budget for doing it right.

What is GPS Spoofing – Security Vulnerability Threatens Personal Safety

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GPS Spoofing

 

GPS spoofing can probably make your self driving car go right off the cliff! What is GPS Spoofing? Its when the GPS information going to you device does not reflect your current location because its been hacked and given the wrong info. 

Picture you’re this, you’re at work in the middle of an important meeting and get a call from the landline at your house. You’re thinking, “how can this be?”. After all, you live alone and haven’t given anyone your landline number because you only got it because it came with your cable bundle. You answer the call and its a robocall from whatever the latest scam is. For a brief second that telephone number spoof caused chaos. 

 

Imagine if the spoof wasn’t focused on your phone and was instead focused on your GPS. The potential chaos is enormous. Whether redirecting customers to competitors, causing maritime traffic on shipping routes, accidents in self driving vehicles, or any of a wide variety of technology issues for systems reliant upon GPS. Today, more and more systems are reliant upon GPS and these are physical systems that dictate basic logistical functions so this is likely the to be the security vulnerability with the greatest danger to your physical well being. 

Back in July the Department of Homeland Security reported that our power grid had been infiltrated by state sponsored actors showing their advanced capabilities to gain access to  mission critical infrastructure systems. GPS Spoofing adds a new layer of danger. GPS receivers are able to access the Global Positioning System which uses DOD satellites to provide information. Those receivers are vulnerable to attack.

GPS Spoofing

The Wall Street Journal’s Adam Janofsky published an article yesterday claiming that with a $223 device, a team from Microsoft Research and the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China were able to redirect 40 drivers, sending them to destinations of the hacker’s choice. 95% of people followed the route to a place they did not want to go.

This ability, as you can imagine, that GPS Spoofing provides hackers doesn’t have an easy solution and hackers are continuing to develop their attacks as we patch vulnerabilities. The Department of Homeland Security has produced an unclassified document that shows organizations and individuals and organizations 22 specific recommendations to protect themselves from GPS Spoofing. 

Some of their recommendations are to obscure antennas, provide decoy antennas, introduce redundancy, practice good cyber hygiene, use whitelists, and enhance anti jam capabilities. The report is pretty in-depth and is recommended if you want to learn more information on GPS Spoofing.  

GPS Spoofing

GPS Spoofing

If you’re worried about employees and/or contractors engaging in GPS Spoofing to fool your timecard and telemetry systems adding billing dollars onto your bottom line, its a real concern. This shows that cyber security is a concern that has wide stretching implications that all of the departments across your organization should weigh in on to develop the right strategy to protect your organization. 

So, the next time you hop into an Uber or Lyft, make sure your driver is taking you directly to your destination and not GPS Spoofing you to add a few dollars onto your fare. 

Hurricane Preparedness Plan for Business 2018

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Hurricane Preparedness

Hurricane Preparedness – Hurricane Season lasts from June 1 till November 30.

Hurricane Season 2018 starts today, June 1st, as per the National Hurricane Centerand we’ve already had a named storm. Hurricane preparedness plans for businesses in 2018 should be executed immediately! We’ve put together a list of contact information you’ll need for a hurricane preparedness plan. This list can serve as a checklist for your business’s hurricane preparedness plan.

If you’re not sure if your business is prepared we have some things you need to consider today. For example, where is your office located and what type of events will make it inaccessible? Is it on high ground or near a body of water? Does the area have good cell phone service and access to medical facilities? Basic, common sense situational awareness will allow you to look at what you have going on and know how to improve it or plan for a breach.

  1. Communicating with customers and employees – You’ll want to have the contact info for your phone system vendor if you have an on premise PBX. If you’re using a Hosted Unified Communicationssolution you’ll want your carrier’s contact info with you. In addition, you’ll want to keep your billing telephone and account numbers handy. One thing to keep in mind is your particular system’s forwarding works and how to route calls in an emergency.
  2. Connectivity– Keeping your office connected to your other offices, systems, customers, and employees will depend upon the quality of your connectivity. We always recommend diverse carriers, paths, routes, and core switching. Don’t rely on diverse carriers alone, it doesn’t guarantee diversity. You’ll need to make sure your website and other customer facing items stay functional. Phones, again, are a big part of letting the world know you’re still there and taking care of business.
  3. Power – Nothing else happens without electricity. If you can have a generator, it’s a great help but remember to keep it on high ground. Generators should be tested regularly and kept above a flood line. We just had two “100 year” storm events in 10 days in western NC so as we officially enter hurricane season 2018, the hurricane preparedness plan for your business should include fuel delivery and on site reserves to keep your generator running. Employing alternative energy and large UPS systems will prove less cost effective while standard UPS and surge protection is recommended on all outlets.
  4. Systems– Taking advantage of the cloud and data centers to make your mission essential systems available is easier than. Applications like RingCentral, Zoho, Microsoft’s Office365, and AWS are globally redundant platforms, available on the cheap, that will keep your company open for business. As long as you can get an internet connection, you can log in. Backing up systems and data is essential as is testing those backups. Our partners’ DRaaS Solutions provide high availability appliances twinned to the cloud with prebuilt sandbox environments to test, as well as, globally redundant Virtual Desktop environments to ensure access to your company’s systems, without fail, throughout the whole 2018 hurricane season.

  5. Super Storm Sandy

    Unprepared for the hurricane’s wrath.

    Physicals – Water is always an issue during hurricane season. Worry for wind is warranted as well. Flooding can make your office inaccessible. If you’re in an office building you’ll want your facilities folks to make sure the landlord has pumps to remove any water flow. All electronic equipment, or the iron as we IT folks call it, should be away from areas where water can gather like a basement. Access controls and cameras should remain functional but you’ll want to have a discussion around whether you want your doors to automatically lock or unlock in the event of failure.

All in all, hurricane season 2018 is here and though that’s good for our business, we can’t help everyone. Hopefully, our experiences and this series of posts will help you company to remain operational through hurricanes or any other related weather event and natural disaster.

If you do want some help and you’re in IT, facilities, finance, or operations please feel free to reach out but don’t wait too long. We can’t take on every client but the ones we do get to work with have the benefit of some great stories from our experiences getting businesses ready and recovered from natural disasters.

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