Author: Joe Salisbury

Low Cost Connectivity for MS Teams Isn’t Enough!

Posted by Joe Salisbury on Posted in Intelligent Call Routing, Unified Communications Tagged , , ,

Relying on MS Teams to drive your business requires a new approach to keep your business up and running.

There’s no denying it, during the COVID pandemic, Microsoft Teams provided a simple solution for enterprise customers who quickly needed to support a new at home mobile workforce. However, during the enablement phase, little time was spent assessing carrier connectivity, compliance requirements, enterprise integration, support and a host of other issues. The clock was ticking and the priority was to support the at home workforce as quick as possible with minimal business disruption.

An approach worth considering …

Looking back, there were many complexities to be considered when enabling Teams which made searching for the lowest cost carrier, while important, not the most important criteria. But now …

  • What happens when your carrier goes down?
  • Is it smart to be dependent on just a single carrier?
  • What could carrier diversity mean for your network dependability?
  • How are you meeting local regulatory and E911 compliance?
  • Do you have real-time visibility and control of your Teams environment?
  • Is your carrier delivering Direct Connect MS Certified Solutions?
  • And are you paying competitive rates?

If you can’t answer any of these questions with confidence, it’s time to consider an alternative.

Look no further than NEC NETWORK CONNECT Direct Routing for MS Teams.

Here’s how it works…

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Why you should make the change…

Stop relying on a single carrier or being constrained by the complexity of multiple service providers.

With NEC NETWORK CONNECT for Teams we provide access to over 375 global carrier networks with a single contract! NETWORK CONNECT leverages M2M and AI to place each Teams call over the network that is providing the greatest quality of service at the lowest cost each time a call is placed assuring unmatched reliability and quality of service.

Simplify by putting a halt to billing complexity where a lack of transparency can lead to unnecessary costs.

With NETWORK CONNECT you have one provider and one bill that includes all communications and carrier costs. If you are an organization with more than one location, all sites can be consolidated into one monthly bill, making it easy to understand costs, activities and use to make informed decisions on where cost-cutting opportunities make the most sense.

Explore the advantages of NETWORK CONNECT with the following short, informative video.

Secure Teams connectivity by leveraging a Direct Connect solution that eliminates carrier downtime and outages that can bring Teams to a standstill and disrupt group collaboration and customer appointments.

With a global presence and unmatched carrier diversity, our Microsoft Teams certified carrier platform delivers turnkey access to hundreds of carrier networks for greater flexibility, reliability and redundancy. Automatic failover eliminates downtime and outages. Should a network issues occur, Teams simply gets re-routed, bypassing the problem to the next available network for optimal business continuity.

Save and put an end to high usage rates that round up, surcharges and hidden costs that traditional carriers tack onto your bill.

Standard carriers use retail pricing and network usage charges with hidden costs and rates that are rounded up. Not NETWORK CONNECT For Teams Integration. We offer wholesale pricing, no hidden costs and usage charges accurate to the second for cost efficiencies that quickly add up. The service also is quick to start and with minimal upfront costs you can begin saving fast too.

If your Microsoft Teams costs need trimming, let us show you how our intelligent call routing solution can drive costs down and bring savings with greater control and transparency.

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Reduce Telecommunications Costs with NEC NETWORK CONNECT

Posted by Joe Salisbury on Posted in Contact Center, Customer Experience, Education, Enterprise, Finance, Government, Healthcare, Hospitality, Retail, Unified Communications Tagged , , , , , , , ,

The cost of enterprise telecommunications are staggering as many organizations are forced to rely on multiple vendors to achieve network redundancy, availability and cost effectiveness.

Today, NEC is introducing an artificial intelligence (AI) powered call-routing solution that automatically matches each call with the most efficient and cost-effective carrier solution available. NETWORK CONNECT Intelligent Call Routing is simple to deploy, provides unmatched reliability and reduces telecommunications spending up to 30%, or more.  What’s equally exciting is that NETWORK CONNECT provides users unprecedented visibility and control of their voice activity through a single dashboard across the entire enterprise. For the first time, enterprise customers are in complete control of their telecommunications voice networks.

Imagine if you assembled hundreds of telecom carriers in a single room and asked them to compete for your business on every call. With NETWORK CONNECT by NEC, if one carrier is having an issue, it’s removed automatically and another carrier bids to earn your business. If a carrier raises their price, another carrier may choose to lower theirs to earn your business. All of this happens transparently while each call is transmitted through the most effective and best quality path offering a ‘pay per what you use’ pricing model.

Why limit yourself to the vulnerabilities that come with depending on one single carrier when NEC’s NETWORK CONNECT gives you access to the entire wholesale telecom marketplace?

NETWORK CONNECT cuts enterprise telecommunications costs up to 30%, or more annually.

What does NETWORK CONNECT do?

Together NEC and 46 Labs developed a call routing solution that provides enterprise customer’s access to the wholesale telecommunications market and where calls are routed to the lowest cost carrier. In simple terms, each call goes to the lowest bidder, in real time, improving operational efficiency while reducing telephony costs. Annual cost savings are dramatic versus using a standard carrier that may charge retail fees or round up call times to unnecessarily high phone bills.

How does NETWORK CONNECT work?

The NETWORK CONNECT intelligent call routing solution uses AI and machine learning to establish the most optimal call path. Once you have access to NETWORK CONNECT, you will receive instant access to hundreds of global carriers.  Calls are routed between carriers the same way your current carrier manages your call traffic. Businesses establish a SIP Trunk connection to the platform, through the internet and a PBX, and Network Connect will automatically handle all carrier selection, taxation, security, cost and quality optimization.

What information does NETWORK CONNECT provide?

With NETWORK CONNECT, IT staff will finally have the visibility and control to monitor and remediate voice network traffic issues.  Additional benefits include:

  • Full access to an up-to-the-minute assessment of telephony usage
  • The option to set daily and monthly spending limits
  • Integration of multiple sites globally in a single dashboard
  • The ability to set alerts, identify issues and automatically remediate network issues
  • Next generation reliability and redundancy
  • A single US based 1.800 number for customer service and support

Hundreds of voice carriers compete on a call-by-call basis to earn your business, so you are not locked into any single carrier and are always getting the best possible price and quality.

How is NETWORK CONNECT different from using a single carrier?

NETWORK CONNECT is essentially offering wholesale network prices. Your calls will still be routed via many of the same carriers you may use already but these telecom voice carriers will be working collaboratively and competitively to send and receive your phone calls. Much like the Internet, a call may take multiple paths and touch multiple carriers to go between sender and receiver. With more carrier options, the paths get shorter and call delivery is less expensive.

NEC’s NETWORK CONNECT also offers a single point of management across a multi-site or multi-national voice network. Automatic intelligent failover is built-in, as well as diversity in voice networks to virtually eliminate outages. When your business seamlessly integrates this call routing solution, you will experience no business interruption, improved voice quality and flexible licensing options.

Why should you choose NEC as your communications provider?

NEC has been providing communications solutions since 1899 and satellite communications since the 1960’s. A proven leader in telecommunications and recognized as a Top 100 Global Innovator, we ship more unified communications around the world than any other provider. NEC holds over 64,000 worldwide technology patents and our submarine cabling provides global telecommunication connectivity. NEC has been an innovator and communications provider for over 120 years. Network Connect continues the tradition of delivering excellence in communications through innovation, with a single point of contact.

How can I become a customer for NETWORK CONNECT?

The next step would be an assessment of your current carrier plan and existing costs. An NEC NETWORK CONNECT Solution expert, will work with your implementation team to define a path forward. You do not have to invest in additional infrastructure or change anything about your business operations. Simply make the switch to NETWORK CONNECT from your current provider and start saving. If you are locked into a current contract with your network provider, you have the option to cap your existing spend with your carrier and grow it with NEC’s NETWORK CONNECT. Many non-bundled items, like international calling or toll-free service can be moved into the Network Connect system while still maintaining your existing obligations.

Learn more about NEC’s NETWORK CONNECT, the first call-routing solution that gives enterprises access to the wholesale telecom market.

Contact us and find out how NEC’s NETWORK CONNECT can work for you!

NEC Welcomes Greater Industry Collaboration on Facial Recognition Technology

Posted by Joe Salisbury on Posted in Biometrics, Government, Straight Talk

Today, NEC Corporation President and CEO Takashi Niino published the following essay regarding recent calls for government regulation and greater industry collaboration on facial recognition technology.

As a world-leading provider of facial recognition and other biometric, as well as information and communications technologies, NEC Corporation welcomes greater industry collaboration and effective discussion for the future of facial recognition technology and business. As a point of background, NEC produces face, iris, fingerprint, palm print, finger vein, voice and ear acoustic recognition technologies, and has over 700 biometric recognition installations in over 70 countries around the world. 

In recent weeks, we’ve seen renewed calls for government regulation and discussions about how we as an industry can build a foundation of responsibility to protect people against discrimination, invasions of privacy and violations of human rights. 

NEC Corporation welcomes this debate as we believe it will lead to solutions that can make our world a better place. Furthermore, we are eager to move the discussions forward.

As more companies come forward to add their voices to this dialogue, I believe we will start to see new and different roles that these technologies can play in protecting and improving our global communities.

In the United States, for example, the Department of Homeland Security is today using facial recognition technology at more than a dozen airports to positively identify travelers entering and exiting the country. Three days after the technology was introduced at Dulles International Airport, an imposter was stopped using a fake document. As recently as late November, the lead architect of this system from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that it had identified at least 36 imposters so far. Additionally, the first curb-to-gate biometric experience in the U.S. just launched at a major international airport terminal to a positive customer response, potentially changing the future of travel.

NEC, therefore, supports various governments’ considerations for reasonable policy, setting privacy standards for personal information and preventing unlawful discrimination related to this technology.  Businesses, consumers, and the government should work together to help balance the need for privacy with the benefits of protecting our society, securing our borders and providing consumer convenience without the fear of negative consequences.

Accuracy is vitally important to the effectiveness of biometric technologies.  At NEC, we are committed to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and their evaluations.  NEC has a nearly decade-long leadership position and pedigree where NIST evaluations of our facial recognition technologies are concerned, and you can read more about it on our global Web site here.

In addition, NEC has established a “Digital Trust Business Strategy Division” to create and promote a strategy based on “Human Rights by Design,” considering the impact of the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) on society and the utilization of biometric information on human rights and privacy.

NEC seeks an adoption path for these technologies that is in line with the worldwide principals of freedom, justice, rights to privacy, transparency and continuous improvement. At NEC, we strongly believe that facial recognition can add significant value to our lives.

 

About NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. The NEC Group globally provides “Solutions for Society” that promote the safety, security efficiency and fairness of society. Under the company’s corporate message of “Orchestrating a brighter world,” NEC aims to help solve a wide range of challenging issues and to create new social value for the changing world of tomorrow. For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.

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