Sales professionals are usually gifted with people.  They know how to make someone comfortable, build rapport and explain complex things in an understandable way.  But they don’t necessarily know how to use the latest technology to their benefit. Technology after all requires investment, learning and integrating into existing methods. Why bother? 

One benefit to email is that there is a ‘paper’ trail when you need to demonstrate that you did indeed communicate something. But emails are boring, and quickly becoming antiquated with the rise of chat and collaboration platforms. They also take a good few minutes to write, much longer than if you picked up the phone and called the person.  The good news is, there is a record even when you do pick up the phone – IF you have call recording.

In last weekend’s Sunday Times, style guru Toby Wiseman was asked by a male reader if it was ever acceptable to wear a smartwatch with a suit.  The answer was: not three years ago, but these days, yes. What surprised me wasn’t the answer, but range of available smartwatches that would actually look good with a suit. Around our offices, techy-looking smartwatches are cool, but clearly that is not the case everywhere. 

It isn't about trying to jam more into our days that has us so keen on productivity apps, as it is about expending less effort to get the same amount done. These apps will help you do, write, make and collaborate in an easier way. So don't be a creature of habit and work harder and longer to get less done - get a productivity app! Here are our unified communications experts' top 5.

As a technology business, we have to think about what is next.  We have to stay on top of developments that change the way we provide business-critical telephony, connectivity and unified communications services. Technology is connected by technology, and being able to provide leading-edge services means knowing what is coming.  As such we spend a significant amount of time planning for what’s next.

What is a Quantum Network you may ask?  Quantum networks allow for the transportation of quantum information between physically separate quantum systems. And secure communication can be implemented using quantum networks through quantum key distribution algorithms. In plain English, Quantum Networks allow for hack-proof communications, something very covetable in the current age of cyber warfare.

You probably already know what the iPhone X can do.  It can unlock with facial recognition and charge wirelessly.  It has a super retina screen that spans from edge to edge and no home button. It has animated emojis called Animogis, that mimic your current facial expression. But what you probably don’t know is that the best feature of the new iPhone X is its A11 AI neural network brain.

It is happening in industries across the globe. We used to revel in the money saved by large corporation’s economies of scale, but now everyone from the SME business owner to the average retail shopper wants the specialist version—the exact right product, for them.  One may think that the larger utilities may be an exception to this—things like telecoms for example, things that historically there was only one major player, or very little difference between the few that did exist.  But the telecommunications industry is going niche too, and businesses are benefiting.  Instead of telephone systems, and on-site PBX’s, businesses are opting for modern Unified Communications as a Service Providers—providers that can offer more than a telephony service, and instead introduce communications solutions that transform an organisation’s sales, service and operational functioning.  The communications solutions include telephony, but they also include integrating it into the core applications of the business—from CRM to Order Management, as well as other mediums of communication such as chat, browsers, mobiles, and more.

In Spring 2018 the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will replace the Data Protection Directive 95/46/ec as the primary law regulating how companies protect EU citizens' personal data. Companies that fail to achieve GDPR compliance before the deadline will be subject to strong penalties.  Even with the UK’s decision to leave the EU, UK companies are still required to protect EU consumers data per the new directive.

Google’s Chrome browser is our favourite, and not only because we have a plug-in for it that allows you to click-to-call straight from your browser screen. It is reliable, efficient and works beautifully on PCs as well as Macs.  Plus it has a huge ecosystem of extensions that make it even more powerful. The following are 10 of our favourite Chrome extensions—all of which are free.