Author: Anthony Lobosco

Navigating the Digital Seas: The Journey Begins at Lobo It

Welcome aboard ‘Lobo It,’ your compass in the vast and ever-changing ocean of digital transformation. This inaugural post marks the beginning of an exciting voyage where technology meets business, innovation intersects with practicality, and every challenge is an opportunity for growth.
The Essence of Digital Transformation
In today’s fast-paced world, digital transformation is not just a buzzword; it’s a necessity. It’s the process of leveraging digital technologies to create new — or modify existing — business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements. Here at ‘Lobo It,’ we aim to simplify this concept, breaking down intricate tech jargon into digestible, actionable insights.
Why ‘Lobo It’ Matters
Whether you’re an entrepreneur gearing up for your next venture, a corporate leader steering your organization through digital waters, or someone fascinated by the intersection of technology and business, ‘Lobo It’ is your go-to guide. We’ll explore everything from the fundamentals of AI and Blockchain to the practical applications of IoT, demystifying how these technologies can drive business success.
In the posts to come, we’ll dive deep into various aspects of digital transformation. Expect to see in-depth analyses, expert interviews, case studies, and real-world success stories. We’ll explore the latest trends, tackle common challenges, and share success strategies that you can apply in your own digital transformation journey.
‘Lobo It’ is more than a blog — it’s a community. A space where ideas grow, questions are encouraged, and learning is shared. We’re on this journey together, and every step, every discovery, every insight is a part of a larger narrative — your narrative in the digital age.
Your voice is essential in this community. Share your thoughts, experiences, or questions in the comments, or reach out via email. Let’s foster a dynamic dialogue that propels us all forward in the world of digital transformation.
Here’s to the start of an enlightening journey,
Anthony

Everyone needs a solid WFH platform

Fall is here.  Our children are back to school in some form and things just got busier.  For many of us, it has become more complicated to balance work and family life.  Most importantly, our video conferencing “freemiums” are expiring, which is leading many businesses to rethink their communications strategy.  The million dollar question is what everything is going to look like later in the fall or in the dreaded winter.

Flexible working, remote working or work from home (WFH) helps to alleviate the complications of work/life balance.  Many companies like Google are allowing their employees to WFH until next summer to help them manage the challenges of work and life.  More are following suit.

Many of us thought that remote working was temporary, but the impact COVID has had on culture has changed that mindset forever. Companies are now embracing remote workers, which opens boundaries set by geographic limitations of going to an office.  Glassdoor, the job posting site, says its remote job openings are up 28.3% from a year ago, even while overall listings are down 23%.

Since Feb, we’ve seen 3.4% (Flexjobs) knowledge workers working remotely, rise to a whopping 58% (Forbes).

Companies need a solid Unified Communication (UCaaS) platform in place.  Phone, chat, and video all In one platform that’s easy to use, implement and most importantly, supports remote working!!

Remember when cloud communications wasn’t a priority?  It was something that was nice to have.  These trends are telling us something different now.  Companies that didn’t embrace this, have to sooner than later, which is a daunting task for many of them.

Technology partners are helping companies of all sizes navigate swiftly and efficiently through this journey.

5 Things to consider when moving to VOIP

UCaaS is disrupting and transforming UC. According to Gartner, by 2021, 90% of IT leaders will not purchase new premises-based UC infrastructure — up from 50% today — because future cloud UC offerings will be far ahead in terms of features, functions, portals, analytics and dashboards.

Staggering numbers. We’re helping companies transform and having conversations about UCaaS almost everyday. CIO’s tell us all the time that they don’t want to be in the phone business anymore. They want to spend time innovating so their company can stay a step ahead of their competition.

It’s very exciting, but are you ready to transform to UCaaS? Here are 5 things to consider before making the move:

  1. Will your company culture embrace the change to UCaaS?
  2. Does your ROI support the project – do you need help developing your ROI?
  3. Is your voice inventory current or do you need help auditing the inventory?
  4. Have you thought about a deployment strategy?
  5. Have you considered the network infrastructure to support the project, such as leveraging technologies like SD-WAN?

UCaaS is not only transformational for technology but it’s also transformational for a company’s culture. If you can answer these questions easily, then you’re ready for UCaaS.

If not, let’s talk through your strategy. It will be worth it – the efficiencies and cost savings can be extraordinary.

COVID-19 PUTS UCAAS & CCAAS FRONT & CENTER

Remote working for US employees has increased from 4.8% in 2019 to over 80% today.  The world has been forever changed by the COVID-19 crisis, and this has become very clear: remote working has quickly gone from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘need to have.’

Companies that once didn’t fully embrace remote working are now reconsidering if they need corporate offices anymore.

Its various benefits are felt in different areas: workforce productivity, cost savings, employee motivation, mobility and business agility. Multiple factors have been driving adoption on an international scale for sometime, and as businesses recognize the benefits to their peers or competitors, instances of remote working are on the rise across the US and beyond.

Traditionally, the demand for remote working comes from employees seeking a better work/life balance and greater control of their lives – not as a radical overhaul of workplace philosophy, but simply as a continuation of their experience outside of work.

Enabled by technology, the evolution of workplace roles leads to the untethering of workers from their desks, as increasing numbers of tasks can be completed remotely.

The results of businesses switching to remote working are primarily people-focused, centered around empowering employees to operate at their most productive levels. It’s about creating a win-win situation for the business and the customer – whether that customer is internal or external.

We are finding many companies that were “considering” UCaaS & CCaaS are now having to get something in place by the end of the year.

Stop thinking “new normal” By Edward Finn

This blog was written by Ed Finn, Regional Sales Manager, Silver Peak.   Enjoy this article because it captures what we are facing in the “new normal” and how we have to embrace these changes into transforming our companies digitally.

 

There is a lot of talk about the “New Normal,” but I bristle at that because the very word, the tag that has been put on the way we must work and live now is a vestige of our old ways. Why do we need normal at all? This is an opportunity to redo, reset, renew. There is going to be hard ships in the next few months, there are going to be layoffs and closures, downturns, and instability, but rather than looking at that as normal can we look at it as change, betterment, refocusing.

 

The task of grocery shopping falls to me since my wife is working out of the house and often not home before 9 or after 5, so I happily do this part albeit as infrequently as possible. If you are also making weekly or bi-weekly trips to the supermarket, you can follow the slow evolution that happened there. First there was sanitizer wipes at the door and gentle reminders to “social distance.” Then there was plexiglass at the registers and employees wore gloves and the little groups that mulled around the store would occasional still stop and chat with each other. As days and weeks progressed there was masks added, no more wipes or sanitizer at the door, garbage cans in the parking lot for masks and gloves, and arrows down the aisle direction the shopping flow. There was no more chatting, in fact no two people were ever any closer than a checkout clerk and customer.

 

It is in this scene that I noticed something that struck me as curious. Certain aisle always seemed to be empty, like toilet paper and paper towels. You looked down barren shelves that had months before been a wall of different colored packaging choices. I will leave alone the question of why in a Pandemic we feel that toilet paper is the item we must hoard. What I find very curious is not what is missing from the shelves, but what is still there. As I move down aisles that are filled with blank spots that once held essentials like pasta, soup, and bread, I am amazed at what is still there. Passing many processed products that definitely have questionable organic origins and repackaged products that divide and make smaller and more portable what we used to get in family size boxes.  The disposal trays, portions bags, powder drinks sit on the shelves as we opt for products that offer a better value that give us more of what we truly need.

 

This translates to the workplace as well. My home office desk had, no lie, 5 boxes of staples and 3 staplers wedged into its drawers. There are 5 table lamps and a center piece lamp. The room is  8 X 10, so lighting is not an issue. There are folders and papers that no longer have any meaning, one folder contained numbers with no frame of reference or identifying marks, they look good but were meaningless. So, I guess if we were to consider what the “new normal” should be, the fact it is it should be regularly and consistent change. Offices when they re-open will do so with a question as to what is needed, what parts of the office are soup and what are powdered drink mixes. Need to haves verse nice to haves, and how do we adopt the home user to the office and more importantly adapt the office to the home user. What change can offices make to adapt themselves to the essentials and bring those essentials to the home users. The change will focus on how to help an office worker work the same exact way at home as they do and did in the office.

 

The answer should not surprise you – it is technology. Carefully looking over the technologies being used how they can be made better, how they can become seamless to the worker. Embracing change and relooking at edge technologies like Silver Peak SD-WAN can  offer a glimpse of how an appliance can challenge the router and allow cloud migration and home office experience that can shape the tomorrow we are facing and provide the flexibility to allow success.

Digital Transformation is the new Telecom

In some circles, Telecom is a dirty word.  But not Digital Transformation.  Digital Transformation has a broader view on technology and impacts business goals. Welcome to the new era of Telecom.
 
John Chambers from Cisco said that if companies don’t go Digital, they won't exist in a meaningful way in the next decade.  That’s why many companies view digital transformation as a necessity for survival.

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5 Reasons why companies need to go digital

Deliveries by drones. Self-driving cars. Technology is advancing faster than we ever could have imagined. We have entered a truly “smart” age that’s filled with smarter communications, smarter homes, and ever smarter lives. In order to keep up with the fast pace of technology, companies have to evolve.  And evolution is at the root of going digital.

Here are five key reasons why companies of all sizes need to go digital:

1) Companies that don’t go digital by 2020 will not exist in a meaningful way in 10 years

It’s simple – if you don’t transform, you will lose your competitive advantage. Your competitors are new digital natives, 100-year-old companies, and anyone in between. In Leading Digital: Turning Technology Into Business Transformation, the authors write: “The elements of the digital world—software, hardware, networks, and data—are pervading the business world, and they’re doing so quickly, broadly, and deeply.” Companies that are winning are the ones using technology to their competitive advantage like “breaking some of the traditional paradoxes of operational excellence, helping you to build capabilities that improve efficiency and agility, power new customer engagements, and enable new business models—all while remaining largely hidden from your competitors.”

2) Companies that go digital make more $$$

3x more. – Look at Uber and Airbnb. They’re fully digital and fully automated. In fact, they don’t hold any inventory.

Companies like these have reconfigured delivery models to create new products and services that have reinvented entire industries. They use technology to change the way they do business—their customer engagements, internal operations, and even business models. Westerman, Bonnet, and McAfee, the authors of Leading Digital, put it this way: “To these companies, new technologies such as social media, mobility, and analytics are not goals to attain or signals to send their customers and investors. Companies with stronger digital capabilities are better at driving revenue with their physical assets.” If companies want to improve top line margin, they have to go digital, provide value and deliver positive business outcomes.

3) Transforming the customer experience is at the heart of digital transformation

Digital technologies are changing the game of customer interactions, with new rules and possibilities that were unimaginable only a few years back.

4) Automation is here to stay and organizations should welcome it

According to a 2016 World Economic Forum survey, an estimated 1.6 million manufacturing and production jobs will be replaced globally due to automation between 2015 and 2020. AI, if deployed correctly, has already been proven to boost productivity, create new employment opportunities for digital skills, and enable human talent to flourish. Food for thought – a digital workplace can improve employee focus and boost productivity by establishing new leadership targets and methods of measuring employee performance. It is guaranteed that your competition is either considering, executing or reaping the rewards of it already.

5) Digital is about moving fast and companies have to be agile to compete at a high level

By 2019, 74% of IT Operations will have embraced SDN (software defined networking). By 2020, people will be creating and storing data at a rate of 1.7mb’s per second. And the speed of everything is going to increase dramatically. Studies say companies that have embraced DevOps, release applications 200% more frequently than companies that haven’t. Think what this means in terms of competitive advantage.

 

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