Retailers require advanced digital solutions to stay competitive in today’s fast-paced environment. These businesses face challenges including inadequate infrastructure and ever-evolving security concerns. Only those that diligently test and implement the most innovative retail technology solutions will succeed.

Retail technology must maximize data to be successful

Retailers collect a wide range of information from both internal and external sources. To remain relevant in today’s omnichannel retail marketplace, these merchants must adopt reliable, secure, and efficient data management solutions, such as backup storage, network monitoring, and infrastructure security. This will ensure retailers can collect, analyze, and optimize their data for retail technology initiatives both now and in the future.

Data protection is critical for retailers

In today’s ever-changing technology environment, retailers must leverage retail technology more than ever to protecting customer data. Across the country, retailers spend millions of dollars each year on data security, whether they are installing extensive firewalls or hiring cybersecurity experts.

The good news is that most retailers want to be proactive. The National Retail Federation recently reported that by the end of 2019, 80 percent of retailers expect to adopt point-to-point encryption, which protects credit card data during transmission. Additionally, 89 percent of retailers say they will adopt tokenization, which protects information stored in databases.

CBTS offers proven data protection services that ensure retailer data is neither lost nor compromised:

• CBTS partners with leading security and technology manufacturers to identify vulnerabilities in retail systems. We perform penetration, social engineering, and phishing tests, as well as environment, application, architectural infrastructure, wireless, and technology-specific assessments. These evaluations locate problem areas and recommend ways to rectify them.
• We also design, build, implement, document, and test disaster recovery preparedness programs to ensure retailers are covered 24x7x365. Our highly trained experts manage and monitor the system and react quickly and efficiently in the event of a threat.

Cloud computing for efficient Retail as a Service

More and more retail technologies are adopting cloud-based technology for inventory tracking and management, orders, shipping information, and more. By implementing cloud computing, retailers can reduce the costs of software development, maintenance, and staffing while delivering products and services at a much faster rate while monitoring data in real time. CBTS can assist businesses in migrating their infrastructure and applications to the cloud.

The benefits of moving retail technology to the cloud include:

• Elimination or upgrade of older technology and equipment, which is costly to maintain as it ages. Outdated equipment poses a serious risk to retailers, which may be devastated in the event of a total system failure.
• Immediate access to all resources with the click of a link.
• Predictable, usage-based monthly fees rather than the high costs of constructing and maintaining a data center.

Consumers demand reliable, fast, and secure connectivity

With the advent of mobile shopping and widespread wireless connectivity, consumers expect friction-free retail technology. For example, shopping trends indicate that consumers desire a faster checkout experience and more digital payment options.

Therefore, to remain competitive, merchants need to both respond to customer demands and predict their future needs by having the most advanced systems and solutions. The success of retail businesses is directly related to their ability to successfully leverage emerging client-first technology.

Therefore, best-in-class retailers must ensure they have the proper architecture for their network infrastructure.

UCaaS, NaaS, and SD-WAN are the future of retail

UCaaS (Unified Communication as a Service), Network as a Service (NaaS), and Software Defined-Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) enhance the connectivity and collaboration capabilities of retail technology:

• UCaaS allows retailers to operate on-demand communications and applications as a utility service, providing business agility, scalability, informative analytics, and cost-effectiveness to encourage innovation and growth. Through a partnership with CBTS, retailers save both time and money by eliminating upfront costs. UCaaS solutions include VoIP, collaboration, mobile solutions, chat/presence, messaging, web, audio, and video conferencing, contact center solutions, third party integrations, and more.
• NaaS is a managed cloud service that includes Auto VPN, security, switching, Optical Sensor Cameras, and Wi-Fi. Integrated throughout a merchant’s various retail locations, NaaS allows retailers to easily and cost-effectively share wireless connectivity, analytics, and other resources. It also eliminates the time-consuming management of complex and expensive network resources, such as wireless LANs, security appliances, switches, and application delivery controllers in a data center or network while providing the advanced analytics to set retailers apart.
• SD-WAN minimizes delays over long distances and improves overall service quality. It reduces the costs of private Internet connections such as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), and coordinates UCaaS, LANs, SaaS applications, security systems, and private and public clouds. The benefits are cost savings, voice and video communication improvements, always on access to business-critical applications, and more efficient use of private and public networks.

Advanced applications for retail

Advanced call reporting and analytics are examples of retail technology that give retailers the ability to make business decisions based on call volumes. Imagine how much potential business could be lost due to inadequate staffing. Missed calls mean missed chances at making sales; however, knowing about that problem gives you the opportunity to reverse those losses. If your phone system goes down or if hold times are high because of unknown issues, your business will be dependent on how quickly your IT staff can troubleshoot the problems. With CBTS, your mission-critical phone systems are always on and our IT staff is there for you 24x7x365.

Informative reporting and analytics

Retailers can access real-time call reporting and analytics data to make instantaneous business decisions based on call volumes. These decisions include increased or decreased staffing, transferring business from phone to in-person or online channels, and investigating IT issues that might cause higher wait times.

Call reporting and analytical tools take the guesswork out of call center management and alleviate worries of missed calls and lost customers. Retailers can use this retail technology to monitor calls across multiple locations and run customized reports on a wide variety of key metrics.

Unified engagement and consumer experience

Customer satisfaction requires a connected, digital experience that incorporates voice, video, and written communications. To succeed, retailers must deliver a contact center that delivers a reliable and continuous customer experience.

CBTS provides contact center as-a-service solutions that scale, reduce complexity, and free IT departments from daily maintenance. The benefits of this retail technology include:

• A consistent customer experience across the entire business.
• Cost savings due to smaller monthly operating costs vs. large capital investments.
• The ability to quickly deploy new users, launch new features, and make changes.
• Integration with existing mobile, social, visual, and virtual technologies.

For any size business, contact center as a service provides a seamless omnichannel customer experience whether it’s through web, email, chat, or social customer interactions.

Why CBTS?

A partnership with CBTS ensures merchants can deploy world-class retail technology that will enable them to thrive in the years to come. These offerings include:

• Data storage and management
• Data protection solutions
• Security services
• Infrastructure innovation
• Unified communications services
• Contact center as-a-service

Future-facing companies understand communication and collaboration solutions are imperative in today’s work environment, even as they face challenges such as an increasingly mobile customer base and aging infrastructure. When it comes to effective communications solutions for retailers, the key is to connect all customer entry points and create a seamless experience across your entire company.

This benefits customers, who desire a consistent experience across different platforms, and businesses looking to collect and utilize customer data for merchandising. Retailers learn more about their targeted customers, and their demographic and purchasing data, through information from a variety of communications platforms. They also learn how customers behave online and the best ways to engage with targeted groups or individuals.

What retailers can do with a unified communications solution

With a unified communications solution, retailers can:

1. Continue to grow and evolve. Communications solutions can scale and change.
   • Integrate contact centers. Deliver a seamless multi-channel customer experience no matter how your customers want to reach you.
   • Advanced routing features. Route calls to other sites during times of peak volume. This is also a necessary feature for retail chains that have locations operating in different time zones.
   • Informative store analytics. Analyze the data collected to recognize call volumes as well as the amount of missed calls your business is experiencing. By analyzing the call data, your business is able to better understand staffing needs and customer experience issues that may be occurring.
2. Reduce costs. Retailers spend less money on buying and maintaining aging infrastructure and pay only for the technology they use.
3. Implement new products and features faster and more efficiently. Integrated communications solutions allow businesses to roll out new updates and applications almost instantaneously.
4. Enhance visibility. Retailers are able to view their personalized suite of solutions 24x7x365.
5. Maintain agility. Modern businesses must be able to adapt to changes instantaneously.

UCaaS, NaaS, and SD-WAN enhance communication capabilities

UCaaS (Unified Communication as a Service), Network as a Service (NaaS), and Software Defined-Wide Area Network (SD-WAN) are important pieces in creating communications solutions for retailers, and enhance the connectivity and collaboration capabilities of communication technology:

• UCaaS allows retailers to operate on-demand communications and applications as a utility service, providing business agility, scalability, informative analytics, and cost-effectiveness to encourage innovation and growth. Through a partnership with CBTS, retailers save both time and money by eliminating upfront costs. UCaaS solutions include VoIP, collaboration, mobile solutions, chat/presence, messaging, web conferencing, audio conferencing, contact center solutions, third party integrations, and more.
• NaaS is a managed cloud service that includes Auto VPN, security, switching, and Wi-Fi. It can be integrated throughout various locations, allowing retailers to share a variety of resources, such as wireless connectivity. It also eliminates the need for expensive network resources, such as appliances, switches, and application delivery controllers. NaaS enables easy and cost-effective sharing of wireless connectivity, powerful analytics, and countless other network resources among all branches.
• SD-WAN is a purpose-built enterprise solution that implements and maintains a high-performance WAN. With SD-WAN, merchandisers can maximize the use of costly MPLS connections or even replace MPLS entirely in favor of broadband. This minimizes delays over long distances and improves overall service quality, which is essential for businesses that need to constantly maintain their connection to customers via multiple platforms. It reduces the costs of private Internet connections such as multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) and coordinates UCaaS, LANs, SaaS applications, security systems, and private and public clouds, saving costs, improving voice and video communication, and regulating private and public networks.

Communications solutions for retailers require strong network backbone

For unified communication solutions to work, and benefit both companies and customers, retailers need a strong and reliable network. Oftentimes, when companies add functions such as cloud computing, social media, and mobile technology, they strain their network capacity, slowing performance.

CBTS offers Ethernet services, dedicated network access, managed Wi-Fi, and SIP/IP Trunking Services to ensure companies stay connected to customers at all times, maintaining customer loyalty and enhancing merchandising capabilities. With 24x7x365 monitoring and management, users can feel confident knowing their network remains operational and their data stays protected. Retailers also minimize downtime, increase productivity, and enhance mobility. The network is available anywhere and everywhere with instant upload potential.

Constant customer contact key to customer-centric merchandising

Retailers require a digital contact experience that includes voice, video, and written communications. To manage these contact points, retailers must provide a contact center that delivers an easy and reliable customer experience. These solutions include omnichannel web, email, chat, and social customer interactions and integrate with existing communications technologies.

Because CBTS understands that contact solutions often change, it offers contact center as-a-service solutions that scale but still meet the necessary demands without any hiccups.

Communications solutions critical in modern business environment

If retailers want to remain competitive in today’s marketplace, they must provide customer-centric merchandising. To do this, they require strong and reliable communication and collaboration solutions that are scalable, yet easy to implement and use.

CBTS communication solutions provide management and monitoring services as well as the communication services themselves, ensuring businesses receive excellent service without oversight or interruption.

Manufacturing facilities are active, busy settings. In addition to challenges such as streamlining operations and updating equipment and technology, these businesses also require reliable and effective mass-notification solutions. These technologies keep employees both safe and knowledgeable while maintaining operations and minimizing downtime.

CBTS provides a reliable, cloud-based solution

CBTS offers manufacturing facilities an innovative collaboration solution called Hosted Enterprise UC. CBTS Hosted Enterprise UC is a cloud-based, fully hosted unified communications (UC) solution.

The InformaCast Fusion mass-alert technology is a new component of our Hosted Enterprise UC solution. The cloud-based mass-alert system from Singlewire Software is fully integrated into Hosted Enterprise UC. It can also be integrated into existing systems, eliminating the need for costly upgrades. This solution is ideal for manufacturing facilities, where challenges such as connecting multiple buildings and communicating in noisy environments are common.

Mass notification technology reaches all employees across all locations, delivering both audio and visual messages clearly and immediately. These messages can be used for:

• Severe weather and natural disasters. In the event of hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, and other weather-related natural disasters, the solution allows manufacturing facilities to inform employees on-site and at home about evacuation procedures and shift protocols.
• Accidents. Despite numerous safety precautions, manufacturing facilities are dangerous places. Many locations handle hazardous materials, as well as complex machinery. Should an accident occur, mass notifications inform all employees and communicate the actions that personnel must take immediately.
• Safety alerts. Manufacturing facilities may need to mass message employees in the event of other safety emergencies, such as hacking attacks, active shootings, or fires.

Long-lasting benefits

Mass-notification technologies are vital for manufacturing facilities. They provide innumerable benefits, including:

• Easier access for first responders. A mass-notification solution allows manufacturers to communicate with employees immediately, redirecting people away from the scene and mobilizing the necessary emergency personnel. Geolocation services can focus on a specific area, limiting unnecessary access. This makes it easier for first responders arriving on the scene to deal with the emergency.
• Multiple delivery points. Hosted Enterprise UC sends notifications to a variety of on- and off-premises devices, including office phones, computer desktops, digital signage, public announcement systems, panic buttons, texts, emails, mobile calls, push notifications, and more. These notifications can be sent to a variety of recipients, including employees, vendors, and suppliers.
• Real-time updates. System administrators can send notifications through a mobile app or web console and view who has received the message. The solution also includes a “please respond” feature so management can learn who is safe and who needs assistance. Additionally, administrators can configure the system so that it immediately alerts leadership to a conference call.

A reliable, full-service solution

Hosted Enterprise UC provides CBTS clients with premier mass-messaging capabilities. CBTS supplies this technology to hospitals and school systems, where mass notifications can help save lives and alert entire campuses in the event of an emergency. This technology is also critical for manufacturing facilities, which need to quickly, efficiently, and successfully reach a large number of employees in the event of a crisis.

If your manufacturing facility needs advanced mass-messaging capability, talk to the experts at CBTS.

Learn about best practices for effectively communicating emergencies.

Learn More

Check out our three-part series on creating a roadmap for Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS):

Part I: Start with a deep assessment

Part II: Creating a process analysis

Part III: Rallying support from stakeholders

It was great connecting with all of the IT leaders in Houston at our SD-WAN CIO Summit. Everyone was thinking big about the future of networking. As with any large gathering of technology professionals, many lively discussions took place about the impact of disruptive technologies like SD-WAN, NaaS, and UCaaS.

Some thoughtful questions came up including:

• What are the pros and cons of SD-WAN?
• Will SD-WAN replace MPLS as the WAN technology of choice?
• How has cloud computing enabled Network as a Service?
• What is the value of SD-WAN and NaaS beyond cost savings?
• Is UCaaS a better model than on-premise communications?

These are all vital questions for IT departments, but let’s delve deeper into the discussions we had in Houston about the impact of SD-WAN on today’s mobile and distributed workforce, and the benefits at the branch office and remote site levels.

SD-WAN differentiators that empower employees

As we began talking with clients about the ways to improve on conventional WAN and MPLS technologies, we had several discussions about how today’s cloud-based applications impact network performance. With a significant portion of clients’ compute and storage functions already hosted in the cloud, the additional bandwidth required for apps like Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, and Webex has taken its toll.

Employees often experience lag while running multiple cloud-based apps at once, and more frequent interruptions degrade the quality of VoIP and video conference calls. We’ve heard many of these same challenges from our CIO Summit attendees.

So, if you’re considering making a move to SD-WAN, let’s examine the key differentiators we discussed in Houston when evaluating SD-WAN implementation:

• Bring your own bandwidth: Clients should be able to choose the best performing private or public transport for their locations and budget, and not get locked into specific, often expensive carriers and circuits.
• Global management: Ability to access, monitor, and manage the network or any edge device from anywhere in the world with internet connectivity.
• Intelligent load balancing: Monitor flow across multiple circuits and steer data on a per-packet basis to maximize throughput across all circuits.
• Error detection: Detect errors and brownouts and direct traffic to best circuits during outages or latency over both public and private connections.
• Application awareness: Prioritize quality service for business-critical applications and tools as defined by the organization’s objectives.
• Site-to-site security: Create VPN tunnels between each site and encrypt all packets traversing across sites to ensure security.

All of these critical SD-WAN components empower branch office and remote site employees with steady and secure access to the data, applications, and tools they need to reach their organizational and professional goals.

In a future  post, let’s follow the conversation and thinking of the IT leaders in Houston with respect to improving their networks at headquarters along with their primary connections to the internet. We’ll discuss the benefits of NaaS and UCaaS, and why CBTS is excited to engage further in meaningful conversations about the Cloud Networking technologies making a difference for our clients.

Learn more about SD-WAN, NaaS, and UCaaS.

With so many employees in today’s workplace relying on cloud-based apps to perform their jobs, network administrators are looking for better ways to ensure access and provide the required bandwidth. Increasingly, IT professionals are discovering the improved network performance they need in the cloud. Finding the right cloud solution for your specific environment, however, can be challenging, and IT staff often seek guidance from a trusted partner while investigating the technologies available to get the job done.

An experienced partner can be a game-changer and architect a solution based on your organization’s precise needs, and then help you navigate the migration path to the cloud.

Current cloud network technologies – whether software-defined networks (SDNs), software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs), network function virtualization (NFV), or virtual network functions (VNF) – have one thing in common: They shift networks away from dedicated, single-function hardware at each location toward a software and virtualization model.

With cloud-based networks in place, organizations are much more efficient, flexible, scalable, and easy to administer.

To start building a foundation for making the transition to cloud networking, let’s talk about six common objectives IT personnel can achieve with these related technologies:

1. Ensure availability

The cloud removes the decision-making center (control plane) from the forwarding hardware (data plane), which helps data make it to the correct destination without interruption. These cloud-based solutions allow you to maintain network flows despite link failures, node failures, or other network issues that may occur. If an outage affects the data plane, the control plane can redirect the data flow elsewhere. If an outage affects the control plane, the data plane continues forwarding information without skipping a beat.

2. Reduce costs

By controlling network services and functions available at each data site remotely, IT departments save the costs involved with traveling to each location to install, maintain, and update their network equipment. Also, network administrators can implement VNFs to perform functions specific to the organization’s needs, saving the time typically spent to install or scale complex software manually. Finally, by using cloud-based technologies, companies eliminate significant capital expenditures when they need to expand or revamp their network. Instead, they enjoy a predictable monthly operating expense based on usage.

3. Centralize management

IT staff can implement, maintain, and upgrade software functions and services from anywhere around the world via a centralized dashboard. Your software instances do not just run on the cloud; they are the cloud.

4. Increase agility

All of the cloud-based technologies grant IT departments the ability to ensure their organization stays relevant as networks evolve and competitors adopt new ways to improve network performance. With these technologies, network administrators can download, move, upgrade, remove, activate, deactivate, and scale up or down any VNF at any time, with ease.

5. Eliminate vendor lock-in

Each of these network technologies is software-based and virtualized, performing functions that were formerly executed on proprietary, dedicated hardware. The transition to cloud-based technologies means companies can run their networks on open source, commodity hardware, which allows IT professionals to choose the right hardware for their business needs.

6. Future-proof the network

The risks of running an organization’s network on outdated technology keeps IT professionals and corporate management teams up at night. Outdated systems and software lead to network instability, increased downtime, and loss of productivity. They also open up vulnerabilities in security or falling behind the competition. With cloud-based solutions, network systems and software are continually refreshed and updated, and can flex with business activity. Centralized control means administrators can instantly adjust scale by assigning appropriate, policy-based server resources and priorities to the VNF.

Understanding the common goals of today’s network technologies is a starting point for IT professionals looking to transform their networks to meet business objectives. Each technology has its strengths, but at the core, they all use the cloud to allow organizations to stay agile, control data from anywhere on the globe, and ultimately reduce a company’s capital expenditures while improving performance.

Download our free guide to SDN, SD-WAN, NFV, and VNF, or learn more about how to choose the right SD-WAN partner.

As technology develops and your company expands, you may find siloed systems across your corporation. While this poses a problem for your business, there are emerging solutions on the IT horizon. More and more companies are embracing software-defined networking in a wide area network (SD-WAN) to connect their enterprise networks and data centers.

Typically, SD-WAN platforms are not exclusive to the provider but rather delivered by a third-party SD-WAN vendor. This is why having an understanding about the prospective SD-WAN partner’s technology, capabilities, and functionality are critical to your success with SD-WAN.

SD-WAN partners should be able to provide multiple proof points regarding the legitimacy of their solution. At CBTS, we believe you should ask these questions to a prospective IT solutions provider to ensure they have the experience necessary for success.

How many clients have been successfully deployed on SD-WAN?

As IT service partners add SD-WAN to their solution offerings, it can be difficult to discern which provider has a history of success. Many vendors will market themselves as a proven provider, but are only doing so to take advantage of the growing popularity of SD-WAN solutions.  If you’re hinging essential business operations on the success of an SD-WAN solution, you may not want to connect with a provider that is still working out their system kinks. You’ll want a provider that has a proven record of experience. Make sure you ask how many successful clients they have deployed before staking your business on a new partnership.

How many sites have been deployed?

The primary goal of CBTS SD-WAN is to streamline all company location networks into an easily accessible enterprise for everyone, regardless of proximity, connectivity, or devices in use. SD-WAN is ideal for organizations with multiple site locations. If you want to ensure that your SD-WAN accurately converges all of your various data hubs, your partner will need to have proven experience implementing solutions that successfully integrate a large number of locations and operating systems. The more sites in which a provider has successfully deployed an SD-WAN solution, the better assurance you have for your business.

Are there any use cases that are representative of my business model?

This is an important question when you’re trying to find the right partner for your business. Find a provider that has catered to similar organizations. Look for experience with the same industry, similar goals, challenges, and business models to get a feel for the experience level and success rate of serving your sector. You can ensure that your new provider has a thorough understanding of your sector’s specific infrastructure needs by asking for examples of successful SD-WAN deployment cases that are similar to your business.

What is a typical deployment period?

It is essential that you consider the timeline on which your SD-WAN will be deployed to ensure your service provider is a good fit. Your company’s goals, current initiatives, and budget constraints all factor into creating a roadmap for system implementation and an experienced provider will understand that. Be wary of providers that claim to deploy systems in too rapid a time frame as they may either lack the industry skills to do a thorough job, or are making false promises to gain your partnership.

Do you have an established network that can be leveraged immediately?

SD-WAN allows you to take advantage of a variety of networks to expand your business activity. By partnering with a provider that has well-established systems, you can begin your business expansion once your solution is deployed. Your organization will benefit from increased visibility among departments, control of activities, and insights that were previously unavailable. By asking this question, you are essentially asking your provider how they can help your business. An SD-WAN provider with an established network has proven experience, and industry knowledge to drive successful business outcomes.

When partnering with CBTS for your SD-WAN solution, you are partnering with a proven provider of IT services, backed by years of industry experience and know-how. CBTS provides an agile platform with flexibility, scalability, and reliability, enabling your business not only to reach, but to exceed its goals. We have successfully deployed SD-WAN for numerous companies, giving them the power to control operations from a single, unified location. Our industry-leading IT professionals have expertise in every sector and work with you to understand your business and tailor each system to fit your business needs.

Check out more of our tips on vetting prospective SD-WAN partners by downloading our free guide, “Choosing an SD-WAN Provider.”

Cisco recently honored CBTS, a leading technology provider that delivers communications, cloud, infrastructure, and consulting solutions to clients across North America, with two awards at the Cisco Partner Summit annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.

• CBTS received the Execution Excellence Regional Partner of the Year award for its innovation, leadership and best practice as a Cisco business partner across the Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio region.
• CBTS received the SLED Breakaway Partner of the Year award in the U.S. Public Sector.

Joe Putnick, Vice President and Principal for the CBTS Communications Practice, accepted the awards on behalf of the company.

“These awards reflect our commitment to strategic partnerships with Cisco. We pride ourselves in delivering best-in-class solutions, built on Cisco technologies, that deliver positive business outcomes to our clients,” said Putnick.

“We have seen tremendous success with our Hosted Unified Communications as a Service solutions, especially in the SLED space, as more and more clients wish to consume technologies in a hosted model.”

Cisco Partner Summit Theatre awards reflect the top-performing partners within specific technology markets across the country. All award recipients are selected by a group of Cisco Global Partner Organization and regional and theatre executives.

Cisco Partner Summit is attended by more than 2,100 global attendees from Cisco’s ecosystem of partners representing more than 1,000 companies worldwide from more than 75 countries.

Related News:

CBTS awarded Cisco Master of Security Certification

Cisco Certifies CBTS as Unified Contact Center Enterprise Partner

CIO Review names CBTS to Top 20 UC List

What an exciting time to connect at our upcoming SD-WAN CIO Summit with the IT leaders driving Houston’s Smart City transformation. Just this past May, City of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner announced an alliance with Microsoft to bring the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to the city.

Think of all of the possibilities for using IoT to make Houston a more connected, data-driven city – to create efficiencies, expand economic opportunities, enhance quality of life for citizens, and even build a smarter energy infrastructure.

Data collected from sensors on buses, for instance, might be used to determine optimal routes to relieve traffic congestion or alert managers when aggressive driving patterns consume more fuel than necessary. And that’s only the beginning!

For the enterprise, IoT offers the potential to create a more intelligent work environment and a happier workforce. By connecting devices and objects from all locations to the internet, they can be centrally managed, or set up to collect and share data and communicate without human involvement. With the right IoT hardware and technologies in place, such as smart devices, robots, and artificial intelligence, workers can be more effective in their roles, and their productivity can be measured using real-time data.

Today, digital assistants like Alexa for Business can be used to find the location of the nearest meeting room, allow for ordering of supplies, or for personal tasks such as making calls and texting, checking calendars, and accessing information from business apps like Salesforce and Concur. Smart building management systems automate control of heating, air conditioning, lighting, and security systems. Smart watches open office doors, smart desks warn employees if they’ve been sitting or standing too long, and voice commands start and control video conferences. Connected coffee makers never run dry and vending machines communicate when products need to be refilled.

IoT creating increasing demand for bandwidth

Our increasingly integrated and connected environments offer unprecedented advantages, but also present a myriad of challenges. For one, all of these devices and objects take bandwidth, and their numbers will only grow. The global research and advisory firm Gartner predicts that by 2020, organizations will need to support over 26 billion connected devices. Secondly, IoT delivers constant data that needs to be managed along with inputs from many different data sources, often dispersed on multiple systems with no singular view for analysis or real-time decision-making.

Moreover, in highly regulated industries like oil and gas, financial services, and healthcare, data silos not only create operational inefficiencies but put the organization at risk with their ability to meet regulatory compliance requirements. And network administrators are responsible for security across their entire networks, as more and more devices and objects connect and generate tremendous amounts of data.

So how do IT leaders keep IoT, and their entire network, under control? In traditional network models, companies invest for scalability, buying more ports than needed and managing hundreds or thousands of annual software licenses. With all of the stress put on today’s networks by devices and IoT objects running cloud-based applications, many organizations have turned to Network as a Service (NaaS), shifting investment from ongoing capital expenditures to a consumption-based model.

Network as a Service the right solution

NaaS enables organizations to pay only for what they use, whether on a per-port basis or by network utilization, and scales securely at any time. And with its real-time dashboard, NaaS helps network admins not only account for all devices on the network, but can automate segmentation of groups of users and devices based on policies, improve security, and deliver IoT analytics needed to make smart business decisions.

Our CBTS account managers and network engineers are excited to talk with Houston’s technology leaders about how NaaS can:

• Reduce network infrastructure and support costs with a predictable monthly service vs. significant capital investments
• Support your IT staff with always-on engineers to monitor and manage your network proactively, 24x7x365
• Scale branch locations easily up or down to meet business needs
• Protect your organization with enterprise-wide firewall and security components including anti-malware and perimeter defense technology
• Provide technology and management teams with real-time analytics and powerful business intelligence data from disparate devices to gain insights into complex operational processes, manage supply chain assets, track data to improve services, provide better customer experiences, and bring focus to business objectives specific to the organization

If you’re not headed to our SD-WAN CIO Summit, we’d still be pleased to answer any of your Cloud Networking questions.

Learn more about UCaaS, NaaS, and SD-WAN.

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As we continue to expand nationally and prepare to host our first SD-WAN CIO Summit in Houston, our account and technical teams are gearing up for an exchange of ideas with leaders from the most prominent industries in Texas. We know Houston is a powerhouse in energy and manufacturing, with a rapidly diversifying economy experiencing growth in medical research and healthcare, banking and finance, high technology, and professional services. With nearly two dozen Fortune 500 corporate headquarters, Houston has some serious bragging rights!

If you’re like many leaders we support in these types of industries, you understand the stress being put on your network by today’s cloud-based applications. With employees scattered across states, regions, and continents, each running cloud-based apps like Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, and Webex on both their corporate and personal devices, conventional WAN often struggles to keep up. Moreover, employees increasingly use a vast array of SaaS products for scheduling, collaboration, navigation, communications, and many more functions, and they need access on any device in any location with Internet connectivity. We’ll discuss these issues at our CIO Summit and why IT teams are turning to cloud networking technologies for answers.

Among the benefits of cloud networking adoption that will be covered include:

• Better performance: Abstracting the enterprise network on the public Internet gives users instant access to cloud-hosted apps while eliminating lag or cut-outs of real-time apps like VoIP and video conferencing.
• Potential cost savings: Moving network control to the cloud gives IT staff the ability to configure, upgrade, and manage the network centrally from a single dashboard, cutting travel costs to branch locations for network support and providing a predictable OpEx model versus variable, upfront capital expenditures.
• Increased security: With implementation of security functions via the cloud, IT personnel have the flexibility and control needed to secure even the most sensitive business environments.
• Staying ahead of the competition: Giving users the speed, flexibility, and agility to capitalize quickly on market opportunities.
• Innovation: Investing in cloud networking technologies to improve every facet of daily operations and provide instant access to data and analytics needed to make real-time decisions.

Once the cloud networking benefits are laid out, we’ll dig deeper into the technologies as they apply to specific industries, organizations, environments, and business goals. Let’s take a brief look at the technologies we believe can make a significant difference for IT leaders:

SD-WAN (Software-defined wide area network)

With the tremendous rise in cloud-based app usage, performance of traditional networks like MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) has been negatively impacted. MPLS networks can’t offer the high-speed, low-latency access to cloud apps users expect, and many companies experience more frequent interruptions with MPLS, causing poor VoIP call quality or lag in their video conferencing.

SD-WAN delivers the high-speed performance branch employees need while running multiple apps simultaneously over the network. With SD-WAN, network traffic is analyzed and rebalanced in real time, ensuring throughput remains constant or increasing. Also, unlike traditional WAN technology requiring hardware setup and maintenance at each location, SD-WAN moves network control to the cloud, allowing IT staff to configure, upgrade, and manage the network from a single dashboard. Flexible security is also built into SD-WAN architecture to protect both traffic and data, giving IT staff the control they need for even the most sensitive business environments. With SD-WAN, users aren’t forced to sacrifice speed of their cloud-based apps for security.

NaaS (Network as a Service)

IT organizations must reduce the amount of time it takes to connect branch locations to corporate apps and exchange large amounts of information. In some environments like manufacturing, wireless tablets and barcode readers collect massive amounts of data online. Existing networks are being stretched beyond their intended capabilities and lifespans, especially with the growth of bandwidth-hungry cloud apps, leading to more downtime and higher support costs.

As more and more data traverses a network, security becomes an increasing concern – particularly in security sensitive industries like banking and healthcare. The full Unified Threat Management suite of the NaaS firewall protects critical data from getting out and security threats from getting in.

NaaS gives network admins a smarter way to keep everything up, running, and protected. Delivering network connectivity via the cloud and virtualization, NaaS enables data to be sent and received across shared or public networks as if on a private network. NaaS technology allows IT organizations to offload the labor-intensive burden of managing complex network resources in multiple locations, including wireless LANs, security appliances, switches, and application delivery controllers. When these resources reside in a provider’s network, they are centrally controlled and easily shared by enterprise branches. Handheld radios and push-to-talk systems can be integrated with IP-based communications like telephones, telepresence, and video conferencing systems.

Read our case study for more details about one practical implementation of NaaS, adding functionality and efficiency for a manufacturer across multiple locations.

UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service)

When challenged with bringing together staff members across time zones and continents, IT leaders look to combine the best enterprise-class voice services with the latest in collaboration like instant messaging and presence, audio, video, and web conferencing solutions.

UCaaS allows organizations to deploy on-demand communications and applications as a utility service, providing businesses with agility, increased productivity, scalability, and cost-effectiveness they need to grow. As a fully hosted, cloud-based solution, UCaaS frees IT teams from managing the complexity of an onsite communications stack. Moreover, with UCaaS, organizations customize the stack from a portfolio to fit their precise needs including VoIP, room-based video, mobile solutions, chat/presence, messaging, web conferencing, audio conferencing, and contact center solutions, all with 24/7/365 support.

The CBTS team is excited to engage in meaningful conversations with technology leaders driving business and innovation in Houston. If you’re not headed to our SD-WAN CIO Summit, we’d still love to answer any of your Cloud Networking questions.

The countdown to the SD-WAN CIO Summit has begun.

Houston, get ready for launch.

Learn more about UCaaS, NaaS, and SD-WAN.

Government organizations are facing a variety of IT challenges. Rather than being a source of worry, however, think of these challenges as opportunities to transform your strategic initiatives, reduce expenses, and better serve your communities.

Here are the top IT challenges facing the government sector, and how the public cloud can help.

Meet taxpayer needs on a strict budget

Governments have the difficult challenge of navigating tight budgets while meeting the high expectations of constituents. As the political landscape evolves, the expectations of your residents will increase, whether you’re a state government serving millions, or an agency serving a specific need for a small community. Your citizens expect your organization to be readily accessible. They want to use their benefits, speak with representatives, and receive answers to their inquiries no matter what time it is, where they are, or what device they’re using. With the added element of financial responsibility to the taxpayer, can your organization stay on budget while meeting those requirements?

There are viable ways to meet taxpayer needs and remain financially prudent. Migrating to the public cloud offers your organization:

• 24x7x365 reliability, giving your constituents constant access to information.
• Use of new, innovative technologies like AI, Big Data, and IoT.
• Robust data backup and disaster recovery solutions, keeping data safe from cyber attacks or natural disasters.

By streamlining these processes into a single location, you save your organization time and resources, and allow yourself to focus efforts on important government initiatives. You can successfully meet the needs of the public, and reduce overall costs for your organization, with the public cloud.

Make security a priority

Upholding strict security and privacy standards is crucial for the success of any governmental organization that wants to foster trust among its citizens. Your organization is responsible for valuable personal data, leaving little room for error. Cyber attacks are evolving with increased sophistication; therefore, it is essential that your organization remains agile in its effort to protect sensitive information. Staying several steps ahead of hackers can be an extreme drain on resources, but the public cloud offers industry-leading security measures to ensure that your constituents’ information is kept safe without having to hire additional IT resources or invest in on-premise infrastructure.

Government organizations should partner with a company that understands security and privacy regulations. By working with a provider that has extensive knowledge of, and experience with, the government sector, you can ensure that your organization is compliant with current policies and standards.

Streamline and consolidate technology

Allowing different government organizations to operate on disparate systems is expensive, time-consuming, and  creates roadblocks for communication and collaboration on important initiatives.

Moving your organization’s infrastructure to the public cloud will yield many positive results. For example:

• Your organization’s technology is kept current via regular updates of your cloud-based applications, eliminating the need for hardware or software maintenance, monitoring, and management.
• Cloud-based Unified Communications streamlines collaboration and communication between teams and office locations.
• You pay only for what you use, decreasing the strain on program budgets.
• Moving from capital expenses to operational expenses with a predictable monthly premium reduces budget constraints and eliminates the need for additional resources such as new equipment and staff for maintenance.

CBTS understands the IT challenges facing government organizations. We understand the responsibility you have to maintain your citizens’ security and peace of mind while meeting their high expectations for service. CBTS has served the government sector for decades, and we provide sophisticated public cloud solutions to ensure that your organization delivers successful results.

To learn how your organization can address IT challenges with a CBTS public cloud solution, download our free guide.

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