No one will have missed O2’s data outage last week; even if you were lucky enough not to be affected, you’ll most likely have caught the day’s dramas on the news. Last Thursday’s events were a wakeup call for everyone in the telecommunications industry.   Whist it is rare to see an outage as widespread…

  A recent estimate by McAfee valued the damages associated with cybercrime at an incredible $400 billion, up from $250 billion just two years ago, with the costs incurred by UK businesses also stretching into the billions.   In a bid to protect themselves from this new wave of cybercrime, organisations are investing increasing amounts…

Today’s burgeoning technology industry has led the British public to expect an incredibly high level of technological advancement in every aspect of day-to-day life. In the past, the NHS has struggled to keep up with ever-changing user demands. One area in particular in which NHS technology has struggled to evolve at a sufficient pace is…

In today’s “customer is king” market place, customer experience has become the most important differentiator for many an organisation. This, in turn, has presented a number of challenges to these organisations’ contact centres. Call centre agents are now expected to deal with more diverse communication channels than ever before, whilst simultaneously expected to continue offering…

Is the NHS Overly Reliant on Outdated Technology for Communications?   A recent study has shown that hospitals across the country continue to be reliant on outdated technology, with thousands of fax machines still in use.   Senior doctors described the continued use of these outdated technologies as “ludicrous” and said that more up-to-date forms…

Any telecoms consultant will tell you that SIP trunking in the cloud has two key benefits: simplicity and saving.   The positioning of VoIP as the modern primary telecommunications technology has granted many organisations both financial savings and the utilisation of a range of capabilities. SIP trunking provides cost-effective communication between any location (and its…

  4C Strategies is delighted to welcome Adrian Fulford to its team of expert ICT consultants. Adrian joined the 4C Strategies team in August.     Adrian has over 30 years’ experience in the telecommunications industry, including ten years working as a Senior Network Technical Design Consultant at one of Europe’s largest IT services and…

July saw the release of this year’s Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications. Gartner’s Magic Quadrant is one of the most commendable lists in the unified communications space. The Quadrant consists of four categories: Leaders, Challengers, Visionaries and Niche Players, based on each company’s combined “ability to execute” and “completeness of vision”.   Last year’s leaders…

We ask our consultants, with software on the rise, does hardware still have its place in the future of the unified communications industry?   Is software taking over?   Although we aren’t quite at a point where we can dispose of our desk phones and video endpoints, there is a clear trend emerging as companies…

Microsoft has officially announced its partnership with Teesside University following the organisation’s recent introduction of a new Future Facing Learning strategy, implemented with the help of 4C Strategies. Microsoft is describing the launch as “one of the biggest digital shake-ups the higher education industry has ever seen”.   Over the next 12 months, Microsoft will be…