Michael Johnson

Upgrade your outdated PBX phone system with 3CX from InfiNet Solutions.

The biggest hurdle to adopting a new business phone system is the setup. Installing and maintaining any new technology infrastructure is tricky without the right support – so why not leave all of that hassle to the experts?

With both on-premise and cloud deployment options to choose from, your business can take full advantage of a PBX system that suits your specific needs. Whichever option you choose, your business will benefit from:

Straightforward Installation and Configuration:

• Use pre-configured templates to connect with prominent SIP trunks within minutes
• Plug-in an IP Phone or Gateway to your network for automatic configuration
• Avoid interop Issues with 3CX tested IP Phones

Use Of An Easy Management Console To:

• Create, edit and delete extensions and DIDs
• Upgrade IP Phone Firmware.
• Reprovision & reboot IP phones remotely
• Import or delete all your important contacts at once

Anywhere Access From Any Device:

• Take your extension wherever you go and work remotely from anywhere
• Make free VoIP calls with your smartphone
• Save battery life with “PUSH” notifications
• Connect all clients simultaneously via SIP Forking
• Most Progressive Android & iOS VoIP clients in the UC market
• Initiate IP Phone calls from your desktop with CTI mode
• Use the Receptionist view to make calls, then drag and drop calls for a swift call transfer
• Launch calls directly from your CRM; integrate seamlessly with Office 365, Google contacts or Internal Phonebook
• Automatically obtain reports on customer and agent activities and view the presence of your colleagues
• Includes Wallboard and Q-Manager view
• Integrated WebRTC technology resulting in reduced bandwidth usage
• Click to Call Chrome Extension

Integrated Video Conferencing:

• Free for up to 5 participants
• Unlimited users regardless of edition
• Initiate a conference with one single click
• Correlated operability between VoIP and video
• Bandwidth Management and Control
• Remote control assistance for quick and easy troubleshooting
• Pre-upload PowerPoint & PDFs before meetings
• Easy to use polling tool for feedback

Top-Notch Security and Backup:

• Secure web server configuration
• Automatic detection and blacklisting of known SIP Attack tools
• All traffic to 3CX clients is encrypted via SBC
• All voice traffic is encrypted via SRTP
• Automatic generation and management of SSL certificates
• Revolutionary VoIP Security with an A+ rating from SSL lab
• Automatic Failover for instant backup
• Encryption between the browser and the website via HTTPS

Budget-Friendly Solutions:

• Cut down on your phone bill by up to 80%
• Pay for licensing based on number of simultaneous calls instead of extensions
• Avoid per extension licensing and pay per PBX instead
• Make free Inter-office calls and branch calls
• Use prominent SIP trunks to reduce outbound call charges
• Reduce travel expenses with integrated web conferencing
• Eliminate 800 number phone bills with WebRTC integration
• Use International DIDs and IP Telephony so your customers can call in at competitive rates

Retire your old, outdated PBX solution and upgrade to the efficient, affordable, and feature-laden IP phone solution provided by our partners at 3CX. This is the business communication system your team has been waiting for.

Ready to learn more about what 3CX provided by InfiNet Solutions has to offer? Contact us at [email protected] or (402) 895--5777 today. We’re the business technology experts businesses in Omaha trust.

Proper planning allows companies to protect data, systems, and people while keeping the business operational during a disaster.

The recent devastating hurricanes to hit the mainland United States and Caribbean countries and territories destroyed entire communities. Families, businesses, and governments were left reeling, forced to pick up the pieces, where possible.

The catastrophic impact of the recent storms reinforces the importance of having a sound business continuity and disaster recovery plan. Creating such a plan allows companies facing a natural disaster to follow a deliberate set of actions. In a time of chaos, having clearly defined contingencies can help leaders and employees weather a storm.

Business Continuity Defined

Business continuity plans allow a company to continue providing essential products, services, and customer support. In some industries, these tasks are critical for the company’s short-term viability, customer safety or meeting legal requirements. Disaster recovery plans, a subset of business continuity, often focus on recovering IT assets.

Business continuity includes the plans and arrangements that ensure that the essential products, services, and support can be provided, which allows the company to recover its property, data, and assets. It’s also a means to identify the employees, equipment, data, infrastructure, counsel, and accommodations that support business continuity.

While the recent hurricanes are the most recent, visible example of why business continuity is important, they are not the only incident where such plans are needed. Other actions that can prompt the launch of a business continuity plan include:

• Other natural disasters such as blizzards, fires, earthquakes or tornadoes
• Sabotage
• Accidents
• Power or energy disruptions
• Environmental disasters such as spills, contamination or pollution
• Communications, transportation or safety infrastructure failures
• Cyber attacks and hacks

Threats and Trends in Disaster Recovery Preparedness

There are many threats, perceived or actual, that can shape a company’s disaster recovery planning. Here are some of the leading issues companies are considering:

• The increasing number of natural disasters worldwide. A New England Journal of Medicine study indicated that the number of climate-related natural disasters increased by 300 percent from 2000-2009 compared to 1980-1989.  The scale of these disasters has also grown and now affect more than 200 million people each year.
• Disruptions may be more predictable. With massive amounts of data, often generated by connected devices in the growing Internet of Things, there’s an opportunity to predict some threats.  With more advanced information, companies have more time to prepare for the disruptions, test plans and deploy resources accordingly.
• Malicious cyber attacks continue to persist. The massive Equifax hack is just the latest in a litany of attacks where data is being stolen or held hostage.
• Cloud computing offers an excellent defense. The growing use of cloud-based tools, data storage, and applications, gives companies more options when it comes to data recovery.  Cloud providers usually have built-in safeguards for their services, including multiple data backups, universal access via devices and locations, and physical and digital protection systems.
• Disruptions are the norm. The preponderance of natural disasters and rogue agents means businesses have no excuse for not having disaster recovery plans in place.  Organizations need to embrace business continuity and disaster recovery as a cost of doing business.
• Communications are expansive and expected. In the digital age, customers, employees, and the general public expect to have access to updated information about companies and services, even in the direst situations.  Fast communications and frequent updates are the norms today and companies need to incorporate communications into their planning.  Fortunately, the ubiquity of mobile devices and social media platforms means it’s relatively easy to disseminate key messages.

A Closer Look at Disaster Recovery

Disaster recovery may vary depending on the industry and company but generally, focuses on a few core areas. Broadly, it’s the work a company does to maintain or recover access to data, software, and hardware needed to resume or continue critical business areas.

In addition, a disaster recovery plan needs to consider the human assets necessary to ensure continuity and ensure that the right people have the tools to ensure disaster recovery plans are acted upon. In some cases, those people may be dealing with their own personal issues in the throes of a disaster, so redundancies in personnel are important.

One key element of a successful disaster recovery or business continuity plan is the need to practice. Drills and scenarios should be developed to test systems, responsiveness, and efficacy.

How to Plan the Plan

How should a company begin the process of business continuity and disaster recovery? Here are a few key tasks:

• Develop a risk assessment. Having a clear idea of the likely and unlikely risks and having specific plans for each possibility is an important first step.  What natural disasters are likely in your area? What cyber attacks or events would have a significant effect on your business?
• Detail the impacts. Once a threat is identified, play out the potential impacts of that scenario.  Which customers would be affected?  Which employees?  Would inventories, documents, systems, services be impacted?  What are the long-term risks to your customer base and your business?
• Create the continuity plan. For each identified threat, a plan needs to be established, including the systems, data, people, and communications necessary.  While some of these contingencies may be the same for multiple threats, each one should have a clearly defined plan.
• Prep the people and technology. If key personnel is expected even in disasters, they need to be notified and trained about how they will be notified, where they need to report and what tools they will have.  Employees should also be aware of how to exit buildings safely in an emergency and have access to emergency stores of water, food, radios, chargers, and flashlights.  Services and data should be migrated to cloud solutions, backup facilities and alternate media well in advance of a disaster.
• Protect the business. You should check with your insurance provider to make sure you have the right coverage and protection to keep your company whole when disaster strikes.

Time dedicated to planning can ensure that your business not only survives but thrives when facing daunting challenges.

How to Use the Office 365 App Launcher to Work Smarter and More Productively 

Few people will argue that Office 365 offers many features that can help them work more productively. For instance, the cloud-based software and storage will let you work from just about anywhere, use multiple devices, and also collaborate with ease. Typically, Microsoft productivity products have a good reputation for functioning well and offering the features that most people need to do their jobs.

In fact, the main complaint about Office subscriptions is that they come with so many different features that it’s often difficult to find the right tool or document to start working. For example, in the past, lots of us have run into a few snags with these apps:

• Opening up the apps: When you want to open up Word, Excel, or other apps do you find yourself searching for existing documents that you can open just to get the app to open? Yes, we certainly used to do the same! Sometimes, it seemed quicker to just find a Word document than to hunt around for the Word App icon on the computer or other devices.
• Knowing which apps are included: The other issue with bundles of apps like the ones that we buy with Office 365 is that they’re first purchased for a few driver apps, like Word and Excel. Like us, you might not even be aware of every piece of software that you have purchased access to. Plenty of users waste time and money to find free or paid applications for certain tasks, and only later, they realize they already had paid for access to a Microsoft product that would have worked very well.

How the Office 365 App Launcher Will Help You Work Smarter

If you’ve ever found that the setup for Office products has hampered your productivity, you should take a few moments to learn more about how the Office 365 App Launcher can help you work smarter and get even more value out of your software products.

Since Office relies so much upon providing online and cloud-based services, you might consider the recent suggestions from the official Office 365 blog to use your products directly from the new app launcher within your browser.

Find Your Customized App Launcher at Office.com

To get started, simply log into Office.com directly. After you have logged in, you will find that the Office 365 App Launcher has already been personalized for you. For example:

• You will see icons for your own set of most-used apps at the top. You can get started without having to look around for them.
• On the lower area of the screen, you will see a list of recent documents. You can simply click these to continue working with them right away.

You won’t have to hunt around in different directories or app menus for the apps that you regularly use. Instead, you can just get started by clicking the app icons or one of the recent documents on the list. This feature should help you save time and frustration when you just want to resume work fast.

Explore Your Apps

The features described above will help you get started with common or recent tasks very quickly. However, because those features have been tailored to your typical usage patterns, they won’t help you explore features of Office 365 that you have never or infrequently used. In order to make sure you make the most of your products, the app launcher also includes a feature that helps you learn more about all of the products that you already have access too.

To start learning about different apps, find the link below the list of app icons that invites you to: Explore all of your apps. This exploration function can help you get the most out of your software:

• You don’t need to know the name of a particular app that you may want to use for collaboration, image editing, and so on. Instead, you should just have a task that you would like to perform in mind.
• This feature will base its first app suggestions upon your subscription and typical usage patterns. For example, you may see some suggestions that are based upon other apps that you use.
• Of course, you may want to perform some task that isn’t closely related to your typical work. In that case, you can improve the suggestions by using search terms in the search bar towards the top of the screen.

You can also use this exploration feature to do more than simply comb through all of your apps. For instance, you may have collaborated with a particular person on a document that you need to find so you can search for that person’s name to find the documents you worked together on.

Let the Smart Features of the App Launcher Help You Work Smarter

The new Office 365 Office App Launcher offers a great solution for people who want to make the most of their subscription. Its smart search and listing features can almost serve you as an office assistant that will rapidly help you find the documents and software that you need.

If you have any questions, you can rely on us here at InfiNet Solutions in Omaha. Simply contact us by calling (402) 895--5777 or sending an email to [email protected] for more information.

If you aren’t storing your business data in the cloud, you’re risking physical damage that may not be recoverable. Learn how to quickly overcome these vulnerabilities in the Cloud.  

There was a time when backing up business data included checking the date stamp on a physical tape drive, making a copy, laboriously labeling it, and storing it in a drawer. Well, things have definitely changed for business data storage solutions – And for the better!

Today’s backup options still include on-premise storage but have expanded to provide cloud-based options as well as hybrid alternatives.  They support the need for immediate and full backups with lighter connectivity requirements.

Here are some answers to questions we often receive. They should help you decide which storage option is right for your business.  

Why Are There Risks with Traditional Backups?

There’s a strong likelihood that your current backup solution has been working well for years—So, you may ask, “Why switch?” Until now, you’ve probably been fortunate enough to avoid a physical or cyberattack—But continuing to use less-secure options like jump drives or tape backups simply isn’t sustainable for the long term.

Perfect examples are the recent hurricanes and wildfires ravaging through the country. If your office was in one of those areas, and you relied purely on physical media storage, you would have lost all your data.

The same goes for theft—Hacking of your systems, or someone breaking into your office and physically stealing your backups means your data is gone forever. While this is less likely, a disgruntled employee could do a great deal of damage by doing this.

While automated backup options such as Apple’s Time Machine or other scheduled backups are better, these alternatives are quickly showing their age. They are still vulnerable to physical attacks, and susceptible to cyber attacks as well. The configuration could be either external hard drives attached to each computer and server or an advanced local network setup that stores all backups in a central location.

How About DIY Data Storage?

Proponents can counter the argument that hard drive backups aren’t susceptible to fire, flood, and theft if you take them offsite to a secure location (such as a storage facility, your home or other business location). While this may mitigate some risk, it certainly doesn’t provide the same level of security as a managed security and backup solution. The sheer amount of physical data storage required could get expensive—And restore from a backup can be incredibly challenging, especially if you need data quickly.

What is Cloud-Based Document Storage?

There are different types of cloud-based storage: general document storage and dedicated cloud storage. General document storage includes options such as Dropbox, Box, Microsoft’s OneDrive, Google Drive and more. These services are excellent for providing collaboration capabilities and the ability to retrieve documents regardless of your physical location. However, when you’re dealing with vast quantities of data far beyond standard document and individual file storage, a more robust option is required.  For instance, these general cloud storage alternatives work well even for large files such as photos and videos, but they’re not ideal for highly secure data such as personal information or anything covered by HIPAA regulations.

Are Managed Cloud Services Appropriate for My Business?

This is one of the most professional and reliable options available to businesses of any size. Managed cloud services provide you with peace of mind — Why? Because security professionals will continuously monitor your data for incursions and inconsistencies.  This, plus the convenience of quick file restoration and secure physical storage, makes it a good choice. Dedicated cloud storage often includes a facility that’s staffed 24/7/365, and boasts the latest in state-of-the-art security systems—much more security than any business could afford.

My Business is Seasonal.  What’s the Best Choice for Me?

When you outsource your data storage, you can quickly and easily scale up or down based on your needs. Instead of having to purchase, install and harden a new server to grow your storage capacity, cloud systems scale automatically, or with only a phone call from you. The same is true when usage drops as well and is easily handled by your storage provider. Since you only pay for the storage that you need, many businesses find that this is a cost-effective option that has all the benefits and few, if any, negatives.

What’s Active Monitoring?

If someone hacked into your network or released malware into your systems, how long would it take you to notice? Chances are you wouldn’t see it right away, which is another reason to work with a trusted managed cloud services provider who will actively monitor your network. Active monitoring of your account means proactive patching of any security vulnerabilities, plus quick action once the danger is identified.

Want to learn more about which backup and data-storage solutions are right for your business in Omaha? Contact InfiNet Solutions at (402) 895--5777 or [email protected] to speak with one of our IT security professionals.  We’ll listen to, and understand your needs before suggesting any solutions.