When you sit down to write a technology request for proposal (RFP) you need to make sure that what you get back in terms of bids meets your expectations for the technology. In order to do so, you want to make sure you’re speaking in a language that integrators and installers will understand.

That’s why we headed out to SIGNET’s office in Massachusetts to interview David Vickers, Senior Project Manager.

When writing a technology RFP, there is a ton of information you need to include to get the technology that you want. Everything from the number of employees you have to the physical space of your organization to the people that will be responsible for different pieces of the project – and more. A good technology RFP will give the installer all of the information they need to design a unique system specifically for your office. It stands to reason that your technology RFP must be intensive, highly informational, and explain everything that you want out of the system.

At the same time, you want to make sure that you’re not overwhelming your potential installer partners. After writing the RFP, you’re going to send it out to bid. This involves sending the RFP to a number of installers, who will then return to you with information about the system they can build and the cost for doing so. You’ll go back and forth discussing things with these installers and eventually pick one to implement the project.

Those discussions back and forth will decide many of the specifics of the project. The RFP is there to set the expectations of the project. So while you want to include plenty of information, you don’t want a 100-page document that gives no wiggle room to your installer partner.

Check out the video above to learn more about what you should include in your technology RFP. Then, click the button below the video for access to an RFP template that will allow you to format your RFP in a way that installers will understand and appreciate.

The post Best Practices for Writing a Technology RFP Straight from the Integrator appeared first on My TechDecisions.

The Technology RFP will be sent to a number of installers, depending on what type of technology you want to install.

• If you need technology that includes audio, video, or collaboration – videoconferencing systems, digital signage, presentation technology, etc. – you’ll need an AV integrator.
• If you’re looking for surveillance, access control, and other campus safety technology, you’ll be reaching out to security installers.
• If your technology had to do with cybersecurity, the network, or communications, you’ll need a Managed Services Provider (MSP) or a VAR (value-added reseller) – two different types of IT providers.

Keep in mind as well that any AV or Security project that will be connected to the network will need to be managed by your IT department – if you’re already using an IT provider you’ll need to clue them in as well.

When writing a technology RFP, there is a ton of information you need to include to get the technology that you want. Everything from the number of employees you have to the physical space of your organization to the people that will be responsible for different pieces of the project – and more. A good technology RFP will give the installer all of the information they need to design a unique system specifically for your office. It stands to reason that your technology RFP must be intensive, highly informational, and explain everything that you want out of the system.

You don’t need to be a technology expert to write a technology RFP, but you do need to be an expert on what you’re looking for out of the technology. Crafting a suitable technology RFP can be the difference between getting the project done on time, or finding out at the end that your needs weren’t met as they weren’t clearly communicated. Then you’re going back and fixing things – which costs you more of your time and more of your company’s money, not to mention the embarrassment of falling behind your deadline for implementation.

So before you start writing your technology RFP, make sure you have an understanding of what you need to put into it. Take our quiz below and find out if you’re ready to start writing your technology RFP, or if you need to do a bit more research before getting started.

P.S. Whether you think you’re ready or not, check out our Technology Manager’s Guide to Creating a Technology RFP. This 30+ page document was crafted from interviews with working integrators, installers, MSPs, and VARs. It gives you the information you need to write a technology RFP for 19 different technology topics across AV, IT, and Security. Whatever your technology need, this guide will help you craft the perfect RFP so your needs are met by your installer partner. Click here to get the document!

Quiz Maker – powered by Riddle

The post Quiz: Are You Ready to Write a Technology RFP (Request for Proposal)? appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Essentially, collaboration technology comes down to gathering the technology that can make you more effective working with people, capturing that day end-to-end, and having it all integrated into an easily accessible location. The point of collaboration technology is to make the technology melt away – it’s meant to be integrated and naturally fit into your daily activities.

Collaboration Technology through the Spectrum of Your Day

In order to get a good idea of what technology is associated with collaboration, it’s helpful to look at it through the spectrum of your day.

You start the day with your messaging platform. Email is most obvious – you answer the emails you’ve missed and send out email messages to those you need to start or continue a dialogue with. Then there are the instant messaging platforms that allow you to contact a colleague directly for more urgent or easily digestible information. You find a colleague’s name in your messaging application and send them a message, and in turn your name pops up in a chat screen on their unified messaging application. Either way, you’re collaborating through text.

Next you make a few phone calls. This falls under the UCC (unified communications and collaboration) idea of collaboration technology. Often you’ll use Voice over IP (VoIP) technology that allows you to make phone calls through the internet instead of traditional phone lines. VoIP also allows you to direct incoming or outgoing calls to your cell phone. You can have the same number reach you at your desk or on the go by downloading an app to your smartphone that allows the company to forward phone calls from your office line directly to your mobile app. Here you are collaborating through speech.

Then you have a meeting with remote employees in another office. In order to get a more engaging interaction, you employ your videoconferencing solution. You dial in to a separate videoconferencing platform and are able to have a “face-to-face” discussion with team members in other locations. Now you are collaborating through video. You may also be able to share and annotate documents during this session.

Getting More Advanced

Those are the basic layers, but it gets much more sophisticated as it gets simpler. In order to allow technology to melt away, you need to make it work together seamlessly. The convergence of AV and IT has allowed collaboration platforms to become more advanced. Encryption and the ability to search, control and automation of collaboration suites, documentation and more.

Let’s go back to messaging. Collaboration technology, at its finest, should unify all of the pieces of the solution. So my messaging app can allow me to search through messages to easily find information. I can type a person’s name or a certain phrase and get back all of the relevant documentation through my messaging platform. If I emailed with that person or used that phrase, those will show. If I recorded a videoconference with the person I searched, that will show. If documents were saved during that session and distributed to the group, that will show as well.

How about for phone calls? Perhaps instead of calling multiple people to inform them of new initiatives, you want to do a webcast to clue them in. You invite them to sign in through their VoIP platform in order to listen to what you have to say. You can also screen share in order to show them specific documents and highlight points as you speak. This information is secured through the encryption of your technology so there’s nothing to worry about in terms of leaked information.

Related: Interview: Kelly Bousman of AVI-SPL Talks Collaboration Technology

For videoconferencing things can get really advanced. You can employ control and automation technology to make the room one-touch for employees. The room can identify the employee that walks in, identify the device they’re using, and stream the device’s screen up to the display for in-room collaboration or a conferencing session. The room can integrate with scheduling technology so that when the person walks into the room, the system already knows who to invite to the conference. During the conference itself, you can upload documents to the screen and the system can send that document to everyone involved through the messaging app. You can annotate the content, and at the end of the session the system will send the altered content to everyone involved. Or you can forego videoconferencing and do all of this in an in-room presentation. The possibilities here are really endless.

As collaboration systems get more advanced, they get more integrated. Your videoconferencing platform will send information through your messaging platform and invite people through your unified communications platform. The trick comes with working with the right partner to meet your needs and ensure your systems are working together.

Justifying Collaboration Technology to Higher Ups

Once you’ve come up with your needs and decided it’s time to upgrade your collaboration suite, the first obstacle is getting buy-in from the higher ups. You might fully understand how new technology will help your organization thrive, but that doesn’t mean anything if you can’t communicate it. Selling it to the directors and/or C-Suite is part of your job.

There’s the age-old travel savings. That will always be there. If you’re a large enough organization, collaboration technology will cut down on the need for travel. That saves money short-term and long-term, but doesn’t guarantee you’ll get the best solution for your company. A basic, free videoconferencing service could potentially cut down travel, but it won’t help your organization collaborate. Nowadays it’s more about building a collaborative culture to drive the engine of the business to be faster, more agile, and more competitive.

A good technology manager will identify the economic denominator – what drives your business and how will this collaboration technology make it better? Tie the technology investment right back to the economic denominator. This way you’re translating the technological benefits into executive speak, and you’re explaining the benefits in a way the people that determine the budget will understand.

Organizations want collaboration to be a utility. Your company doesn’t want to be in the collaboration business. They want it to be easy, like turning a faucet and having water come out. They don’t want to build full stack experts, they want to work with reliable providers to do that.

As a technology manager I’m looking to build my own reliable stack, or understand what augmentation I need within my platform in order to make it work reliably. Then I have to take those needs and map them to the economic denominator in order to gain approval. It’s up to the technology manager to determine the economic denominator of their specific company, but once you do you’ll have the ability to sell collaboration technology internally.

The Installation Process

Any installation process for collaboration technology is going to vary from company to company, from system to system. It’s such an intricate and malleable integration product that no two solutions will look exactly the same. The install process is a broad one.

If you take an off-the-shelf technology it can take a day or two. Dramatic boardroom installations can take two or three weeks, and the same with meeting spaces. You need to plan for some level or outage, but you want to go big. You’re not going to take three weeks for every room. The technology available today can install quicker. So look at timeframe and how much outage you’ll experience.

In order to have a successful installation, you need to have solid coordination. Network infrastructure, firewalls, room space, lighting, power – these can all cause problems during the installation phase. Once you put technology in a room, if you didn’t plan the lighting right it might not look good. Same goes for connecting devices to the network. It especially goes for fitting the technology into the room. Architectural standards will have a huge impact on the experience of the room. You want the physical and networking aspects to be the best fit for the experience of the room.

You’ll also want to educate your end users on the new system. If you don’t explain what wires do and why, the users could end up pulling cables out without knowing the problems they’re causing. This is why you want intuitive, one-touch solutions – it allows users to get into the system quickly for their time, and keeps them from messing with the system for your time.

Your collaboration suite may be the most important technology in your business. It allows employees to communicate dynamically – to have the same ability for collaboration from thousands of miles away as they do in the same room. Focus on the experience, explain your needs, and choose a partner that can meet your SLE.

Information provided by Lou Chiorazzi of AVI-SPL.

The post What is Collaboration Technology and How Should My Organization Use It? appeared first on My TechDecisions.

This differs from traditional email services in a few ways. In fact, many don’t even realize that their email service isn’t the same thing. The reality is that traditional email is living in someone’s cloud, somewhere, and being pulled down to your local computer and being presented to you from a program. The contacts, calendar, etc. likely lives locally to your computer. It’s not centrally managed or fully accessible from other devices, such as a separate web browser or your smartphone or tablet.

The Benefits of Cloud Email Services

The big difference between email and cloud email is that, with cloud email services, if you make a change in one place it is reflected everywhere else. If I send out an email on my smartphone, my computer will automatically recognize and reflect the fact that I sent that email. This isn’t the case with traditional email services. Cloud email stays in the cloud, lives in the cloud, and is a definitive sync point across devices. The master copy is always accessible.

That’s convenient for both the user and the technology manager. The user can work within any device and be assured that their content will be reflected in the next device. The technology manager can access and edit the full suite of emails from a single location – with total management capabilities because it’s all centrally managed. That means you can set up new accounts, alter existing accounts, and put accounts on hold for employees that may be involved in litigation or recently let go.

Business cloud email has become relatively commoditized and standardized. Your basic level of service should afford you the ability to share, access email of users, 50 GB storage or more, and so on. As you pay more you’ll get more features such as:

• eDiscovery to search through emails and easily find what you’re looking for
• Mail vault to store emails for years for compliance needs
• Advanced mail filtering, inbound or externally, to make sure you’re only getting messages from the right people
• Archiving and Encryption (at rest or in transit) to make sure messages are only being read by the right people

As you can see, cloud email provides much more than management opportunities for the technology manager.

In a traditional email service you’re going to have a certain amount of storage space, say 5 GB, for past emails. That means that once you hit 5 GB, you need to start deleting emails. That’s not a great solution for businesses. There could be a number of reasons why you need older emails – clarifying past correspondence, use in legal situations, fact checking, and more.

Cloud Email services don’t delete those emails forever. Even when clients hit the storage capacity, a mail vault allows emails to be archived forever, potentially, so that you don’t ever lose important information even years down the road. eDiscovery lets you quickly and easily search for phrases or contacts and pull up all of the correspondence surrounding that person. It’s a big thing for compliance, to prove that something did or did not happen down the road.

Mail filtering, archiving, and encryption ensure the security of your messaging. Cloud email can filter out spam and other unwanted messages so that you’re less likely to be hit by a malware attack through email. It can also ensure that your messages are locked to any but those that you’re sending them to. This provides huge benefits in terms of security, and in some industries such as healthcare and banking it’s a necessity to encrypt messages with sensitive information.

Writing a Cloud Email RFP

Most of the major IT providers only use one of a few platforms. You’ll likely be looking at G-Suite, Microsoft Exchange, or a handful of other cloud email platforms for your business.

When you’re writing a cloud email request for proposal (RFP), you’re going to want to let the IT provider know what platform you want to go with, and then include the criteria you want from the implementer. Do you want eDiscovery capabilities? Mail vault? Encryption? Archiving? Say so in the RFP so the IT provider can price out the correct model.

If you’re opening an office or business from scratch, with no legacy archives or technologies, your RFP can be more out-of-the-box, short and sweet. If you don’t know what platform you want, list what capabilities you want, how many users you have, and how many users you plan to get to. Explain how you plan to interface with your mail. How do you want to handle your mail as it grows – creating an archiving strategy is necessary for planning for the future. You may wish to have a consultation with an IT professional before sending this out to get your feet under you.

Typically the IT provider should understand compliance needs for your specific industry. But if you work in a regulated industry like healthcare, it is always helpful to include the compliances you need to follow.

The Implementation Process

The final step is the cutover – moving your organization from a legacy email system to a cloud email system. The question becomes how you want your cutover to look. Can you impact business or is that something you can’t do? Do you want a one-time cutover migration, a staged migration, a hybrid, or something in between?

This will depend on how big the company is. How many locations, how needy are the users, etc. Some organizations can’t go down at all, and that’s fine. Some organization will have the mail cutover at one time – 8:00 on a Thursday for instance – but in doing so the users will be connected to both the old and new webmail. Sometimes automated cutover tools will update and switch profiles so that the cutover time will switch everyone over at once. In this case the IT provider will make sure messages are synchronizing so that the feel is that there is no downtime and no messages are lost.

In complex environments you’ll want staged cutovers. Basically taking one of the previous strategies and doing it department by department until the company is switched over. Otherwise, a hybrid cutover will prompt users at a certain time to close the email service. When they reopen, the service will be switched over. In this case the IT provider is keeping copies of the old and new service until migration is complete.

Information provided by Steve Hall of District Computers. To learn more about cloud email technology, listen to Steve Hall’s interview on My TechDecisions Podcast.

The post How to Get the Best Cloud Email Service for Your Organization appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Businesses that are automated are more scalable and poised for growth, and therefore have greater value than those that are not. Non-automated businesses typically lack the efficient and well-documented systems that lead to a consistent outcome. Without automation, more manual involvement is required whether it is to manufacture a product, service a customer, or manage internal needs.

Applying the idea of control and automation to AV systems presents two distinct interpretations. One is to automate the process of specifying, designing, building, programming, installing, and commissioning AV systems. Automating these processes creates efficiency and profitability, saves time, and lowers costs.

One example of automating systems is the use of the configured approach to control systems, as opposed to programming control systems. The configured approach can be advantageous as it allows for control system functionality that is streamlined and simplified. Systems are not being looked at as customized, one-off products, but rather as an easily reproducible model that provides a consistent outcome. Ironically, the greater the requirements for automated functionality, the more likely programming, rather than configuration, will be required.

Control and Automation and the User Experience

This takes us to the concept of automation with regard to the functionality of the system and the user experience. If the functionality of an AV system includes a lot of automation, it means that it is less dependent on user interaction and works on its own without the need for thinking or other human variables.

A typical example of a fully automated system is one in which the lights turn on when someone enters a conference room. When a laptop is connected, the display powers on and shows the screen image, the audio is set to a preset level, and a meeting can begin without any user action. When the meeting is concluded, the laptop is disconnected and the room is vacated, the display powers off and the lights dim after a defined elapsed time of inactivity.

In this basic case, there is no user interface for interacting with the system. Everything is automated, making operation consistent and easy without the need for variation or manual operation. This may or may not be desirable for the user or the technology manager supporting the system.  Although automation satisfies the need for ease of use and does not require technical understanding, it limits flexibility.

Automation vs. Control

Automation, by definition, is the way in which devices, systems, sensors, and users interact to perform scripted operation resulting in the ease of operation and smarter performance for users. It is notably different from the term “control” in that it provides a series of conditional steps to achieve an outcome rather than single direction operation of functions.

Control describes the manual operation of device functions on a one-to-one basis, which is the opposite of automated. Automation scrips are based on rules that are established by the specifier or programmer of the system presumably based on the needs and desires of the user.

Automation provides a sense of intelligence to the system, but it should not be confused with AI (artificial intelligence). Automation is a predefined operation that may or may not be suited for all situations or users’ needs. There may be cases when automation needs to be overridden based on special scenarios or particular needs. For example, in the previous scenario, what if the user connected their laptop, but they were not ready to share their screen with everyone in the room? They would not have a choice; automated functionality cannot be overridden.

A word of caution is that over-automation can be detrimental to the usability of the system and frustrating to the user. For that reason, it is recommended that the ability to enable, disable, or adjust certain forms of operation be built into the system. These settings help to personalize the system operation, so that it can further enhance the user experience. It is also advisable to provide the option for manual control for instances where specific functions outside the realm of the day-to-day operation are required, or an adjustment is necessary to use the system in a different manner due to a service issue.

Specifying Automation

When specifying automation, like any type of AV control project, it is important to accurately identify and document the specific needs and expectations of the users, how they plan to operate the system, and how automation can enhance their experience. Automation can be subjective and requires a good fit with the users’ comfort level, organization’s culture, and needs of the support staff. It can vary based on situation or organization.

For example, in an educational setting, the requirements for automating the powering off and on of the system may be different than in a corporate environment. If a room is not scheduled in an educational setting, it is likely not to be used and can be powered down. In a corporate setting, there are more ad-hoc meetings that may go unscheduled. So, consideration must be given to not permit a system to power down automatically if a room is occupied or in use.

The post How to Implement Control and Automation Technology in Your Organization appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Many interactive whiteboards offer on-board programs that help to facilitate sharing and collaboration. They do things that an analog whiteboard simply isn’t capable of. In the past, employees would write notes on analog whiteboards and would have to resort to taking photos of the board or slapping “Do Not Touch” signs on it to save their work. Interactive whiteboards remove that hassle – they take the analog notes we’re used to and automatically bring them into the digital world. They allow for things to be written down on the surface, shared, archived, and saved as digital content.

Some interactive whiteboard solutions even allow for the integration of mobile devices like laptops, tablets, and smartphones. These devices can be connected directly or wirelessly, and you can easily annotate content that will be mirrored on connected devices. It works the other way around as well – draw on the device and see it mirrored on the display in real time. This allows for another layer of collaboration. Sharing content directly from devices easily allows meetings to progress more fluidly and reduces down time. Then you just send the annotated content back to the devices for later use.

Most interactive whiteboards feature internal processing and programs that allow you to draw over documents, images, and other content live during meetings. Most allow you to easily archive and share documents that have been uploaded or annotated throughout the meeting. These additional layers of interactivity can greatly enhance meetings.

When making up documents, being able to view and annotate on a large screen that everyone in the room can see is a useful ability. The return on investment for an interactive whiteboard comes from bolstering meeting spaces and facilitating collaboration. An interactive whiteboard allows for effective, collaborative efforts between the entire team.

When the meeting comes to an end, the surface of the interactive whiteboard can be saved as a jpg, pdf, or other document or content form to be emailed and shared with the entire staff. Archiving and sharing what was put up on the display – whether it be a marked up document or simply someone writing out ideas – takes only a few seconds. The electronic file is created and easily shared and duplicated. You can send this content to remote employees, or those that weren’t in the office for the meeting for whatever reason.

Sharing ideas through an interactive whiteboard is a way that companies can take an idea to the next level. Companies find a real benefit in the ability to easily share ideas using interactive whiteboards. Not to mention, being able to share and convey ideas in such a short amount of time increases the speed that new initiatives can begin with everyone on board. Saving time saves companies money. Interactive whiteboards are also heavily utilized in the education space to enhance the learning process.

Writing an Interactive Whiteboard RFP

Since there are several types of interactive display board offerings on the market, it’s important that your needs and wants be shared in the RFP.

There are two major types of interactive display whiteboards. First is a stand-alone display. This is a display screen that can be interacted with directly. The images show on the screen the same as they would on a computer display or digital signage screen. The difference being that touch is enabled. The other major type of interactive whiteboard uses an interactive projector – most commonly a short-throw projector that will be installed just above the display surface.

In some environments an extremely large display surface is required. In this case an interactive display using a projector-based system would be the best choice.  In some cases real estate constraints will mean that a smaller area is allowed for the interactive display. In either case, share it in the RFP. Give measurements for the physical space in which you’ll be installing the interactive whiteboard so that the integrator respondents can determine the best fit for your needs. In addition, mounting can become difficult in certain areas with physical limitations.

Share the ambient light situation of the space as well. In areas with high ambient lighting, a projector-based system may appear washed out and hard to see. In this case an interactive display is likely the only option you’ll want to utilize.

Budget can also play a major role in choosing your interactive whiteboard. Most interactive displays are more expensive than their projector-based counterparts. If budget is a concern then make that clear – give the maximum you are willing to spend in order to determine what type of system you’ll be able to afford.

Include any specific features that are important to you. If a solution without certain features is a non-starter then the RFP should say so. That way you’re not being pitched solutions that don’t fit your need.

Implementing Interactive Whiteboards

Most interactive whiteboard technology can be installed and implemented into a room in a reasonably short period of time. A full integrated interactive display that is not projector based can be installed in a matter of hours. Since configuration is quite simple these days, the organization or customer can have their new display up and running and ready for use the same day. Many solutions are stand-alone systems that won’t require major programming or wiring. This means faster deployment of the technology.

Projector-based interactive whiteboards may require more time. The calibration process can be more intensive than mounting a display. The integrator will need to ensure that the image fits and that the touch capabilities are working as they should. Even so, in many cases these solutions can be installed in a day or so.

One of the most prevalent issues with these systems comes with ambient light in the room. It’s not a problem that is easily solved – it’s not a box to check or a programming error that can be fixed. This is why it’s so crucial to investigate these issues prior to deploying the solution.

It is important that the wall where the solution will be mounted has sufficient room. Proper mounting and structural support in the wall for heavier displays is important. You want it at an optimal location from a viewing standpoint – if everyone in the room can’t easily see the display then the solution loses its impact. Pick a location that is ideal for participants.

From a post-work perspective, most solutions are user-friendly and require little support. Factor in several hours for the installer to provide training once the interactive whiteboard is installed. Follow up training may be required, especially as new employees come into the organization. In this case, a yearly training contract may be a good way to ensure that new employees receive training. These solutions are designed to be easy to use, however, and training will likely be minimal.

Every solution will require a different level of maintenance. Projector-based solutions will require bulbs to be changed out and filters to be replaced or cleaned. They also may need recalibration from time to time. Display solutions won’t have this requirement. All of this maintenance can be handled on an as-needed basis.

The post Everything You Need to Know About Interactive Whiteboard Technology appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Types of Products Associated with this Technology

Vendors offer communications solutions that are a) installed on-premise on your network; or b) hosted by your telco/internet carrier; or c) provided as-a-service by your communications vendor.

New IP (Internet Protocol) phone systems consist of a communications server running the telephony control functions and an application server that runs the unified communications functions. A media gateway houses the interfaces between the LAN and the WAN/carrier networks as well as between the traditional PBX interfaces (analog or digital). For the on-premise systems, vendors typically have traditional payment models such as cash and the monthly lease of equipment, whereas the hosted and as-a-service systems are typically purchased by a monthly per-user or per-line rate based on a certain feature set (e.g., voicemail, caller ID, conferencing, etc.). Most vendors will package minutes of long distance and offer premium services such as unified communications, call queuing, and web collaboration.

How Can a Communications System Solution Help Your Organization?

Capabilities of this Type of Technology

There are many benefits to using a communications system. It will allow your organization to accomplish the following:

• Save on expenses by replacing costly T1 interoffice circuits and using an IP wide area network (WAN) to carry voice traffic.
• Replace traditional telephone circuits with Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) trunking to provide cost savings and add a level of resiliency to the network.
• Add new features and applications such as presence, texting/instant messaging, voicemail to email delivery, and corporate contacts directory dialing.
• Integrate smartphone mobility into your organization.
• Integrate with existing business back-office IT applications such as Outlook and Skype for Business.

How these Capabilities Help Your Organization Work Better

These capabilities will help lessen the burden for your organization by achieving the following:

• Reduce the manpower required to manage multiple applications and separate voice and data networks as well as reduce the resulting maintenance, helpdesk and support costs.
• Provide an improved user experience by offering integrated business-office and mobility applications such as chat, instant messaging, and voicemail to email delivery on smart phones.
• Establish better connectivity by having a corporate directory that is constantly updated.
• Improve staff-to-staff communications by offering presence indicators on phones or PC/smartphone applications.
• Allow users to go from the office to the road while enjoying a consistent communications user experience.

How Can You Justify Purchasing a Communications System Solution?

Ways to Pitch this Technology to Your Superiors

Knowing the full scope of your organization’s requirements for a communications system solution and understanding how that new solution will be of benefit will not only help you write an effective RFP; it will also give you the ammunition you need to pitch the solution to purchasing managers and superiors who may have to sign off on the investment. An up-to-date solution will help accomplish the following:

• Provide a platform that can keep up with changing technology.
• Position your organization as an industry leader, indicating to staff and potential new hires that you are implementing emerging technology.
• Increase flexibility and productivity for your mobile workforce by allowing integration with smartphones, and by providing an improved user experience through voicemail to email delivery on smartphones, texting, directory dialing, and presence.
• Simplify moves, adds, and changes (MAC) by using new web-based tools that allow your internal telecom/IT team to easily manage and support MAC work that has previously been done by the vendor.
• Increase quick feature activation through software downloads, thereby eliminating outdated systems.
• Provide the flexible procurement of servers and components that fit within your organization’s data center environment (as opposed to one-off, unmanageable system components) via open standards technology and open systems architecture.
• Allow the use of SIP trunks and the replacement of costly interoffice T1 circuits to provide significant, recurring monthly cost savings.

Save Money with a High ROI

This type of technology can provide a substantial return on investment, having a direct impact on your organization’s bottom line. Here are a few of the ways a communications system solution can save money:

• Use new web-based sysadmin tools that allow an internal telecom/IT team to easily manage and support moves, adds, and changes (MAC) that have previously been done by the vendor.
• Change out T1/PRIs (Primary Rate Interfaces) for SIP trunks using existing high-speed internet connections, providing up to a 30-40 percent savings in recurring monthly costs.
• Replace interoffice T1 circuits, and provision voice traffic over the existing enterprise WAN.
• Review how calls are being distributed to removed, unused, or unnecessary CO (central office) lines over the WAN. Consolidate lines at remote sites—reducing lines from five or six, to one or two—still providing the same level of operational efficiency.

The post Understanding Communications Systems from RFP to Installation appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Historically, storage and backup has meant servers and folders on servers. Today, storage and backup includes cloud storage – Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc. Then you’ve got all of your devices and the different storage mechanisms on each of them. The idea of centralized storage is much more prevalent and important today.

Replicated storage ensures the data is the same everywhere that it is stored, but it is a double-edged sword. The potential threat becomes ending up with storage on devices that you’re not aware of. This makes backup more challenging as well. We used to look at backup as a copy or copies of the critical data on drives on your servers. Now backup is more strategic and further-reaching than it has ever been in the past.

Storage and backup is a necessity whether it’s a key part of your business or not. If you want an IT strategy with any type of consistency or uniformity you need to understand it. Over 90 percent of organizations have key data in places that they don’t have ownership of. Employees and even executives put data in personal storage drives because it’s easier to get to, instead of putting it where the company mandates the data should go.

Storage and backup is very much a factor of convenience – making sure people have access to what they need when and where they need it. However, it’s also very much a matter of security. If you don’t know where you data is, and you don’t have a backup strategy, you lose control of your data quickly. So the question becomes how to create a data storage strategy that is robust, protected, has a good backup and disaster recovery plan, but is also convenient enough for users that they don’t use their own methods and put data where it shouldn’t be.

Storage and Backup – On Premise or in the Cloud

The different types of data storage come down to on premise and in the cloud.

On premise storage involves storing data on local devices. Workstations, laptops, or a centralized servers or storage devices connected to the network fall under this category.

One of the benefits of on premise storage comes with moving large data files easily. Keeping information stored on your local network means it only needs to be in your network for you to access or transfer it. For example, a video file that needs a quick, local network environment to transfer from one device to another in the local area benefits from on premise storage. In addition, organizations with poor internet connectivity will use on premise storage to maintain a more traditional environment where data can be easily transferred across the local network. Organizations will also use on premise storage if they have certain systems, such as an ERP system, that need to stay within their network.

Most companies will use some combination of on premise storage and cloud storage.

The major benefit of cloud storage comes with the reliability of the data if something is to happen on premise. It could be a cyberattack, some sort of malfunction, or physical damage from a fire or flooding, but if on premise servers are destroyed the data is lost. Storing that data in the cloud ensures the data still exists. There is also the convenience factor. Cloud storage means you can access the same data set from anywhere on any device.

Platform vendors are investing significant effort into changing the way data is organized, consumed, and understood. The mentality on how to access data in these cloud platforms is different than what we see in file and folder systems. Companies with few or no key anchor points with on premise solutions find a lot of value and are starting to reshape how they view data with these cloud platforms.

What Should We Backup?

The mentality around data is evolving so quickly that the safest thing to do is make sure you have all data at all times. Although it is a case by case decision – there are compliance reasons why you don’t want to store data sometimes. In that case you need to decide whether you’re backing up everything or just a specific subset of data.

Cloud storage makes it easy to have a backup of personal data. In most cases, the personal data stored in someone’s drive, while still a function of the business ecosystem, can be trusted to be backed up by the cloud storage vendor. Do your due diligence and understand what the backup protocol of that cloud platform is. Especially in the case of critical data, where you may want to expand that backup.

You and your team should understand what is critical data that needs to be stored centrally versus expendable data that does not. Critical system and organizational data should go into a place that is relatively uncluttered. That gives you the separation to say that it is the most important data in your organization, and you may create a separate backup plan for this mission critical information. It can make sense to have this critical data stored and backed up by your cloud storage vendor. It also makes sense to keep a copy synchronized to a device or another data center so you can control your own retention and your own schedule for how those backups happen and where the data goes.

Creating a Backup and Disaster Recovery Plan

Most people, when they think about a backup and disaster recovery plan, think of a big, thick document. It’s good to have a specific, well thought out, documented plan that covers any kind of emergency. However, a lot of organizations look at that and say they don’t have the time or understanding to invest in that, so instead they do nothing.

If that’s the case, start with a three-pronged approach. Ask yourself these three questions:

• What do you do if you lose a file that you need?
• What do you do if you lose a piece of equipment that’s critical to your operation?
• What do you do if you have a location-type disaster (fire, flood, theft, etc.)?

If you can answer these questions succinctly then you’ve got the base for a solid disaster recovery plan. Start with one sheet and write down the answers.

If you don’t know how to get a file back that you’ve lost, you’ve got questions to answer. Not just the IT department, but executives, team leads, every employee involved should understand the protocols for what they need to do in case of these disasters. It’s not just backup, it’s how to replace equipment, procurement processes, warrantee processes, and so on.

A disaster recovery and response plan will go much deeper than these three questions, but starting here will get the basics covered so that you have a plan or force yourself to develop one for when something goes wrong.

The post Ensuring Your Storage and Backup Plan and Technology is Secure appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Some forms of credentials are commonly part of an access control system. These can be cards, fobs, or even biometrics – handprint or fingerprint readers. These days a credential can even be your mobile device, where you present your phone and use a barcode to gain entry. Then there are the readers that receive the credentials and pass that information on.

There is technology around what you’re trying to gain access to. Locks, gates, turnstiles and so on. But also, in the case of a more advanced system, we could be trying to gain access to a piece of machinery or a logical system.

Then there are things that we don’t typically think of when discussing access control. Other kinds of inputs to tell the system how to behave. Request to exit buttons or bars to get out of a door. The connection between a fire alarm system and the access system to enable special door release during a fire event. These behind-the-scenes triggers are very much a part of access control.

Finally, all of this technology needs to be tied back to controllers, and those controllers need to be managed either through a piece of software or a cloud application or hosted cloud service. This ties the system together to control the system so it works the way you want.

The Many Layers of Access Control Systems

If we start at the basics, the way most people get introduced to access control systems is to be issued a card (or some other credential). Being able to present the card and go through a door at any time provides value and convenience. It also reduces the need for a locksmith to come and rekey a door when someone leaves.

As you move deeper into the building, access control can be used to restrict the movement of authorized users as well. It’s not just about keeping unknown people out. You might want the engineering department to only be accessible to engineers. You may wish for an IT closet to be off-limits to all but members of the IT team.

Then you can start to look at ways to further regulate access. Schedules for example – with an access system you can define which employees work which days, what time they’re allowed in, and you can restrict their movement. You can restrict the access of lower-level employees during emergencies. Say there is a snow emergency – an access control system can restrict employees from entering the building whether they’ve been informed it’s unsafe or not.

Related: MyTechDecisions Podcast with Steve White of Vector Security

Since you don’t need to worry about keys being shared and you have individual credentials for each employee, you can use the access control system for audit trails. You can run reports and see who accessed your facility over the weekend, or who was there at an unusual time of day. This can be extremely helpful after an incident when doing an investigation. It can also be helpful just to make sure people are coming and going as you expect, they aren’t sharing cards, etc. That’s impossible to do with a traditional keying system.

What if you have multiple facilities? Access control systems allow you to grant someone credentials that give them access to facilities across the country or across the world. This reduces the headache of individually granting access on a facility-by-facility basis. Similarly, if you have a temporary employee such as a contractor, consultant, auditor, or delivery driver, you can make them a temporary user. You can allow them access facilities at certain times on certain days and then schedule the credential to expire at a given time.

You can also integrate with other building systems. Tying access control to an HR system makes new employee acquisitions seamless. It also makes deactivation of terminated employees automatic as well. Instead of the manual data entry process you’re automating it and streamlining the process. You can also tie the same access control card into computer systems so that an employee gains access to his or her desktop using the same credential that gave them access to the building. The limit is really your imagination with how integrated access control systems can become.

Convincing Your Organization to Invest in Access Control

The key to justifying the purchase of access control technology is determining your scope. It sounds much simpler than it actually is. Every business is different. The systems that are available are very different. They range from one-time cost and maintenance systems to systems with annual licensing fees, maintenance agreements, and cloud components.

Most access control systems are designed with specific business needs in mind. They need to be able to be justified so key stakeholders can write a check. When each feature is tied to a specific need you can map readily to the department getting the benefit and build your business case around that.

The danger for many organizations comes with under-specification. Often organizations will decide they only need simple standalone system. Then, down the line as the organization grows, they decide they want more features. Card access that can tie into other systems, or more advanced entry control. However, the simplistic system they first installed doesn’t integrate, and so the company is left starting over from scratch. You need to keep your future growth potential in mind.

The perception of the security needs for a facility can vary. Just because you haven’t had an incident doesn’t mean you won’t. Access control is a way to improve overall security. While it’s difficult to build ROI around physical security, as it’s a subjective subject, you need to use your own risk assessments to convince stakeholders to invest. If your company manufactures narcotics you’ll need more security and the risk of an incident is far greater.

There is still hard-dollar ROI value in access control, however. Eliminating the need to change locks or create new keys ever again. Automation coming from the integration with building systems. Reduction in the time to check people in and out of a building. If you can eliminate or reduce the need for paid employees to carry out these processes then access control has a clear ROI.

You can also integrate access control systems with things like utilities. Take HVAC for example. An advanced system can understand to shut down systems in parts of the building that aren’t occupied. Meeting rooms can have the lights shut off until someone accesses the space. In these ways you’re cutting out costs as a direct result of your access control system.

Writing an Access Control RFP

Before you write an access control RFP, you need to figure out the complexity of your needs. Are your needs general enough that you need to lean on potential partners to choose the technology and build the system that will meet them? Are your needs so complex that you need to make those decisions beforehand and spell them out in the RFP?

You can build a functional specification and take it to RFP for what you want to accomplish, but you don’t want to have four or five option on the table that fit your needs if you’re trying to make sure your system is compatible with existing facilities or you’ve got a specific sense of what you want to accomplish. If you’ve built the specification you should have an idea of one or two platforms that you will accept. Restrict your RFP to those platforms. When you get to the more advanced systems you want to be sure who you’re dealing with.

However, if you just need to limit access on a set of gates to a single facility, you can be more general. It won’t be tying into other systems, it will be used on a single site, and by the time it breaks down you’ll want to start over anyway. This is when you can lean on the installer for advice and recommendations.

In any case, you want expert help from the beginning. Unless the person writing the RFP is an expert, you want to make sure you’ve engaged an expert to talk through your risk profile, understand best practices, and learn how you can apply technology in your space. There can be nuance and creativity in your access control system.

In any case, especially for new construction, you want to engage way in advance of an RFP. You’ll want consult your architects to ensure that you’re choosing the correct lock mechanism for the type of glass, wood, or metal doorways you’ll have. Keep in mind as well that you need to include needs for emergency situations. You can never impede a person’s ability to get out of the building. There are disabilities and regulations to consider. While anyone providing these services will be cognizant of that, it’s always a plus to include it in the RFP.

What you should expect is for potential partners to come back with their own needs. They may need to consult with the electrical contractor and fire systems contractor to ensure proper release. If everyone gets the project started without submitting to the fire department to show what they’re doing there will be problems. Make sure you dictate in the RFP exactly who will have master responsibility for tasks such as this.

Make sure to include the blueprints and schematics for your building. They’ll expect a complete set. They’ll need to know exactly what type of doors have been specified. Include which products you’ve decided you want, and where the provider has flexibility to recommend products. Include the types of products you want, and how much flexibility the provider has to recommend. If you want magnetic locks, say so. If you want a specific control software, say so. Let them know how many users you have, how many entrances you have, etc.

The conversations should occur with a consultant early in the planning process for large projects. In this case, include all of the information that you can about the doors, the way wires will be laid out, the way you want the system integrated into existing systems, etc. If the installer doesn’t have all the details they may bid based on worst case scenario and you’ll be paying too much. If they understand the scope, then they can ask for minor adjustments that will make their jobs easier and your budget smaller. For smaller projects, include as much information as you can.

Information provided by Steve White of Vector Security. Learn more about access control technology from Steve White’s interview on My TechDecisions Podcast.

The post The Ins and Outs of Purchasing and Installing Access Control Technology appeared first on My TechDecisions.

Things have come a long way since then.  WUXGA, 1080p, 4K and laser technology, all have a hand in making projection a great choice. First, though, you need to understand the basics.

The Basics of Projection

It is important to first determine which type of content is going to be presented. Excel spreadsheets may require different resolution than videos or even Powerpoints. Audience size and room size are also very important. Bigger is not always better. Projection screens can actually get too big for a room pretty quickly.

Projectors range in price from a couple hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. Major factors associated with projector cost are lumens (brightness) and resolution. Standard conference rooms or classrooms will be fine with a projector in the 3k to 5k lumen range. In larger venues, such as lecture halls, high lumen projectors will be required. If the room has a high level of ambient light, a brighter projector will perform better.

The type of screen used will also affect the budget. There are countless screen options, including fixed-frame, roll-down manual or roll-down electric, recessed in the ceiling, or mounted on the wall. Screen material is not standard either. Available options are high gain and high contrast. Projectors can be shot on whiteboards, though care must be taken. Regular dry erase whiteboards can create hotspots, and make the image difficult to view.  Projection screens can also be painted directly on the wall, using special screen paint, if so desired.

Basic projectors typically do not live on the network, though they can be on the network in a few situations. Remote monitoring is available on most projectors that have a LAN port. This feature gives the user the ability to monitor diagnostic information, with the most important being the lamp timer. If a projector is being controlled via LAN, it may also reside on the network. In either case, the projector can be assigned a static IP address or it can obtain an IP address dynamically.

Projectors are also prone to vibration. Even a tiny bit of movement of the projector will translate into significant movement of the image. Vibration can be cured using specific mounts, although in some cases the building just shakes and maintenance will be required at times.

Typical lamp life for a projector is right around 2,000 hours. Manufacturers will claim longer lamp life, using power save or eco modes on the projector, but this comes at the cost of brightness. Laser projectors have become more prevalent lately, as the price has become more affordable. These laser projectors will yield around 20,000 hours of life, nearly ten times that of standard lamp projectors. With all good things comes cost, and of course laser projectors do cost a little more than their standard lamp counterparts.

Most projectors behave like the televisions, operating with basic remote control functions. Projectors can also be part of a more complex control system – AMX, Crestron, Extron, etc. If this is the case, it may require some end user training.

Where to Put the Projector?

Projectors can be installed in two ways: front projection and rear projection.

In a rear projection setup, the projector shoots on the back of the screen. This type of projection will produce a higher quality image. It will be less susceptible to ambient light, have no shadows, and emit no projector fan noise. However, rear projection does require a control room, which takes up valuable space. They also require more expensive, often more permanent, screens.

Front projection installations have the projector in the room. This is the most common and cheapest installation. It is possible to delve in further into the front projection option. Front projectors can be installed very close to the screen. These projectors are known as short throw projectors.

The most advantageous feature of short throw projectors is the ability to interact with the screen. Touch, swiping, and annotation are very beneficial additions that can be had with short throw projectors. SMART has been leading the way for interactive projectors for several years, but other manufacturers like Epson and Hitachi offer similar interactive solutions.

Projectors can be an eyesore, especially in high end corporate boardrooms. In most cases, rear projection is not an option, due to room layout or space limitations.  Believe it or not, projectors can be hidden in the room. Scissor lifts lower the projector out of the ceiling for presentations, and retract back into the ceiling while not in use.  Projectors can also remain completely concealed in the ceiling. Mounts like the Draper Revelation use a combination of angled mirrors to project the image on the screen, all while remaining out of sight.

Does the conference room have a whiteboard that must remain? Let’s install a roll-down projection screen in the room. The whiteboard remains fully functional in the space. Is the 90-inch LCD display too expensive? Let’s install a 110-inch fixed frame screen and projector at half the cost. Are you looking for a high-end, minimalist, clean room? How about a revelation projector mount and a recessed ceiling screen. Is the architect going for an open ceiling industrial look? Custom mounting, with unistrut and some well-placed beam clamps will have to projector looking right at home.

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