SD-WAN Comparison Guide
The following TBI chart is an aid to quickly understand our best-of-breed SD-WAN vendors, differences, and positioning. Click to view PDF.
CCaaS Comparison Guide
The following TBI chart is an aid to quickly understand our best of breed CCaaS Providers, differences, and positioning. Click to view full PDF.
Many companies want to lower the cost of their utility bills, especially on energy. That’s because there is plenty of other overhead costs to worry about, which are a much higher priority such as salaries and the lease. So it’s best to learn the different ways that a company can lower energy bills and improve the building’s efficiency.
Here are three helpful tips to lower your company’s energy bill:
Landscaping provides surprising benefits when it comes to lowering the cost of energy. Landscaping not only looks great and gives a company a sense of pride, but it also keeps the building cool at the hottest times of the year and will help keep it warmer in the coldest days of the year. When properly planned and implemented, landscaping close to the building will add an extra layer of insulation and provide shade.
Using energy-efficient appliances and using alternative fuel sources will help lower a person’s energy bill while also making a green decision. Throw out any appliances that are over ten years old and buy new, efficient appliances. Quick upgrades include a new coffee machine, TV, or even lightbulbs, among many others.
A common cause of wasteful energy is to forget to turn off the lights and hardware. All night long, your company’s energy bill will go up unnecessarily. So, use an automated system to turn off the lights when everybody is gone and ensure all devices and hardware go into hibernation mode.
Sometimes, the source of a high energy bill can’t be determined. That’s when you need to call an expert to find the root cause of the problem and provide realistic long-term solutions.
Applied Consulting Group is the name New Jersey businesses trust for electric energy audits. Schedule your audit today! Call Applied Consulting at (888) 208-0020
We provide VoIP phone systems from various carriers including Ring Central, Evolveip, Star2Star, Microsoft TEAMS, Cisco Webex TEAMS, and others
These prices are fairly common and the phones can be upgraded every three years at no additional charge
Standard – $21.95
Plus – $29.95
Basic – $14.95
Get Enterprise VoIP phones with PBX Features along with Microsoft Teams including:
• Receptionist applications
• Multi-level auto attendants, advanced hunt groups, analog ports
• Call recording per user with portal for QA
• IVR, Callbacks, Surveys
• Wallboards and Dashboards
• CRM Integrations
• Service Management & Business Continuity via OSSmosis
• Supports SIP handsets: Existing CAPEX investment + Availability +
Traditional deskphone features
• Teams-enabled desk phones by Yealink
• Number porting & Global presence
• Voice conferencing room systems by Yealink and Logitech
Should you look to a direct sales representative, a person emplpoyed by the vendor, or work with an agent/channel partner of the same vendor.?
this answer from a CIO at a large CPA firm
Generally from a support level the customer is going to get more consistent support from the channel vs. direct since the direct side typically has higher rep churn and they constantly shuffle the reps account modules. We can work directly with the AT&T account teams if there happens to be one in place without any split or reduction in compensation for either side (that goes for mobility and land line services). There are times when it’s an advantage to us and the customer to get a direct team involved – at times that big blue globe of AT&T is a benefit in opening a door.
One of the biggest differentiators with the channel is that we can support the customer needs from many angles and specialty services, such as Managed Services, flexible VoIP offerings, Professional Services, etc. We become a one stop shop for all things IT and in some cases areas that fall outside of the world of IT through other partner relationships.
We’re going to be having some security and service experts from AT&T coming into our office for AT&T specific product and service training in the coming weeks. I’ll keep you posted – perhaps you can join us via conference or video call.
I’ve attached the security documents that I had sent to you a week or so ago along with a couple of links that we just picked up on earlier this week.
The CEO’s guide to securing the Internet of Things:
https://www.corp.att.com/cybersecurity/
We can repair most premise-based systems such as: Avaya Office, NEC, Toshiba, Shoretel, Allworx, Mitel., and more.
Nortel Systems – BCM, Norstar, Meridian, Succession
Avaya Systems – IP Office, Partner, Magix, Definity, Cisco
Cisco 15454 ONS – Panasonic KXT – Allworx
We are also:
Old Office Phone System Recycling. We are a green company. If your used phone systems or equipment are no longer of value, we will properly recycle your old office phones and equipment for you.
Utility audits that secure refunds from utilities
We work on contingency (and have for over 15 years). → We find savings of over 75% of our clients. → We don’t sell anything, we simply find savings and refunds. 888 208 0020
Applied Consulting Group compares the features of Cisco webex and Microsoft Teams. Please let us know what you think or how we can help you.
[embeddoc url=”https://appliedtelecomsolutions.biz/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/ACG-Compare-MS-Teams-vs.-Cisco-Webex-Teams.xlsx” viewer=”microsoft”]
Industry: Consumer Services/Non-Profit
What Occurred:
What are believed to be elite hackers leaked login credentials of staff at the World Health Organization (WHO) around March and April of this year. The data leak was believed to be part of a larger attempt to target groups trying to combat the coronavirus – nearly 25,000 private email addresses and passwords were unlawfully released from organizations including the WHO, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Gates Foundation and more. The WHO confirmed a phishing campaign had been deployed directed at its staff. WHO’s Chief Information Officer, Bernardo Mariano stated, “Ensuring the security of health information for Member States and the privacy of users interacting with us a priority for WHO at all times, but also particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are grateful for the alerts we receive from Member States and the private sector. We are all in this fight together.” It is still unclear if the attack had any major effect. According to WHO, the leaked information did impacted an older extranet system, causing them to move to a more secure infrastructure.
Industry: Technology
What Occurred:
Twitter saw one of the most brazen online attacks to date when on July 15, 2020, hackers verified Twitter accounts of many high-profile figures and celebrities, everyone from Kim Kardashian and Kanye West to Barack Obama, Elon Musk, and Bill Gates. The successful attack targeted a small number of employees though a phone spear phishing campaign, granting hackers access to Twitter’s internal support system which then enabled them to target additional employees. According Twitter, using the acquired credentials, 130 Twitter accounts were targeted, with the hackers Tweeting from 45, accessing the direct messaging inbox of 36 and downloading the Twitter Data of 7. Twitter Support released a statement saying, “This attack relied on a significant and concerted attempt to mislead certain employees and exploit human vulnerabilities to gain access to our internal systems.” The true outcome of this enormous hack has yet to be seen, but the incident has led to major distrust with Twitter and its security measures, and will most likely live on as one of the worst cybersecurity disaster to a social media platform.
Industry: Telecommunications
What Occurred:
The pandemic caused organizations across the global to enact work from home policies and the popularity of video conferencing solutions skyrocketed. Zoom quickly became the big name, the go-to for virtual meeting – and the most popular for cybercriminals. The application has been relentlessly targeted by various cyberattacks and in April 2020 did in fact experience a data breach. More than 500,000 Zoom passwords were stolen and available for sale or even being given away for free across dark web forums. This impacted everything from personal accounts to financial and educational organizations. Victims’ login credentials, personal meeting URLs and HostKeys were released. Because many people tend to reuse passwords, it is believed that attackers were able to used old stolen credentials, some from 2013, and employed a credential stuffing attack that used multiple bots to avoid the same IP address being used for multiple Zoom accounts and to prevent being detected as a denial of service (DoS) attack. Following the half a million user credentials being compromised, Zoom responded, saying, “We have already hired multiple intelligence firms to find these password dumps and the tools used to create them, as well as a firm that has shut down thousands of websites attempting to trick users into downloading malware or giving up their credentials. We continue to investigate, are locking accounts we have found to be compromised, asking users to change their passwords to something more secure, and are looking at implementing additional technology solutions to bolster our efforts.”
Industry: Healthcare
What Occurred:
Healthcare giant Magellan Health suffered a ransomware attack and data breach in April 2020 that left 365,000 patients impacted across eight Magellan Health affiliates and healthcare providers. The sophisticated attack began with hackers first exfiltrated data by installing malware before launching a ransomware attack five days later. Using a social engineering phishing scheme impersonating a client, hackers were able to get into Magellan’s system, installing malware to steal employee login credentials. The attack, contained to a single corporate server, granted the cyber criminals access to personal employee information and ID numbers as well as sensitive patient details such as W-2 information, Social Security numbers, or Taxpayer ID numbers. The data breach is one of the biggest we’ve seen this year within healthcare, and the second notable phishing scheme to hit Magellan, following an incident in 2019. There is currently a class-action lawsuit pending against Magellan, filed by three former employees over the most recent attack.
Industry: Hospitality
What Occurred:
A major security breach earlier this year with leading hotel chain, Marriott, led to the data of more than 5.2 million guests being compromised. According to the Marriott, hackers might have obtained login credentials of two employees either by credential stuffing or phishing, and then were able to acquire access to information for customers in the company’s loyalty application. Although Marriott disclosed the security breach on March 31, 2020, it was believed that the data had been obtained approximately a month before and involved personal information including names, birthdates, and telephone numbers, travel information, and loyalty program information. This was not the first time that the hotel giant announced a major data breach – in late 2018, they suffered an enormous attack leaving 500 million guests impacted.
Industry: Hospitality
What Occurred:
Although it began in 2019, the data breach suffered by major hospitality group, MGM Resorts, continues in 2020. And it may be much bigger than initially reported – now believed to have impacted more than 142 million hotel guests (14 times the 10.6 million reported in February). This has come to light through an ad published on the dark web marketplace offering to sell the data of 142,479,937 MGM guests for just over $2,900. According to the seller, MGM Grand Hotels data was also compromised. Hijacked information is believed to include name, home address, phone numbers, email addresses, and birth date of guests, including those of Justin Bieber, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and major government officials. A MGM Resort spokesperson confirmed that impacted guests were notified about the data breach and added “We are confident that no financial, payment card or password data was involved in this matter.” Although this is considered “phone book” information, a fear is that the personal data being sold opens up opportunities for spear phishing campaigns.
What Can We Learn from These Cyber Attacks?
Businesses need to be diligent. Cyber security always needs to be front of mind and system and setups need to be routinely assessed. Any organization can become the victim of phishing schemes, ransomware, DDoS, malware, and other attacks leading to data breaches. Stress to your customers that taking all necessary precautions is the best chance they have at staying secure. Along with detection and response tools, authentication protocols and ongoing employee security awareness training can make the biggest difference.
Here is an article I found that may interest you re. remote workers. It is a generic article… I hope it helps you better understand the Cloud.
https://hbr.org/2020/03/a-guide-to-managing-your-newly-remote-workers
Welcome to the next generation of data sharing and storage. We have all heard of ‘The Cloud’, but do you know what the cloud can do for your business? Popular studies such as Deloitte and Booz Allen Hamilton have shown that, when done right, cloud computing can be expected to greatly reduce communication and networking costs. We help you reduce your IT budget by moving to the Cloud with the help of our 75 partners such as Microsoft, Cisco, Verizon, AT&T.
Cloud applications for remote workers are revolutionizing the way companies do business, reducing the costs of maintenance and administrative overhead. Hosted Applications are also known as Internet-Based Applications, Web-Based Applications, Online Applications, or Application Service Providers. Hosted Applications, rather than being stored and installed on a traditional PC hard drive, are accessed via servers stored in other locations
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