Telecom Reseller / Technology Reseller News

Dumbphones - stripped down phones without apps, like the phones we all used 15 years ago - are coming back into style. But there’s a big problem: dumbphones are unlikely to be recycled or refurbished, according to James Murdock, co-founder of Alchemy, the world’s largest circular tech company. His company has refreshed and resold more than six million devices across the world. In this podcast, Murdock talks about the environmental impact of e-waste, and how we can create a circular economy for devices, which is better for the planet and our pockets. “People and businesses who buy these refurbished devices are making a sustainability impact, saving carbon and also saving money – significant amounts of money,” says Murdock. “You can save money while doing the right thing for the environment.”

James Murdock

Alchemy is the fastest-growing circular tech company in the world. They are global experts in recovering, refreshing, and remarketing electronic devices such as phones, tablets, laptops, and wearables. “We recover, refresh and remarket,” says Murdock. “We handle a lot of mobility products like cell phones, and a lot of laptops and tablets from premium brands like Samsung, Apple and Google. We have 400 employees at Alchemy, each with a Mac and a phone, and none of us have ever had a new device. They are all refurbished.”

Visit www.alchemyglobalsolutions.com

“Cisco is our partner, customer investor, says Muddu Sudhakar, Co-Founder and CEO of Aisera. “Aisera is a great partner with Cisco on the AI front.” Aisera is one of the over 20 AI-focused acquisitions and investments Cisco has made over the past several years. In this podcast we get a closer glance at what those investments look like.

Aisera has been doing conversation AI, GenAI, over the last six years. “We offer a GenAI platform on which we work with customers and partners like Cisco to offer IT services, business services, to automate mundane tasks and provide AI workflows for IT, service security, customer service, and support.”

Aisera is regarded as a leading provider of enterprise Generative AI apps and a platform that helps enterprises accelerate revenue growth, improve user productivity, lower costs, and create magical user experiences. Product portfolio includes: AiseraGPT, AI Copilot, AI Search, and Agent Assist - are built on our Generative AI Platform that serves as the fundamental building block for enterprise GenAI applications. Aisera leverages a TRAPS framework (Transparent, Responsible, Auditable, Privacy, and Secure) to meet stringent data governance requirements while adhering to the highest standards of Responsible AI.)

Aisera is one of the over 20 AI-focused acquisitions and investments Cisco has made over the past several years.

The $1B fund announced, however, focuses on recent committed investments, such as Cohere, Mistral AI and Scale AI.

Douglas Wadkins, VP of Product Management & Strategy at Opengear, talks with us at Cisco Live 2024 about their smart out-of-band network management solutions being showcased at the event. Key among them are Opengear’s Lighthouse Smart Management Fabric (SMF), Connected Resource Gateway (CRG) and Lighthouse Service Portal (LSP).

Opengear keeps your network running smoothly with our Network Resilience Platform, enabling connectivity wherever you are. Leveraging our Smart Out of Band solution and automation capabilities, you gain unparalleled presence and proximity to your devices. This allows you to effortlessly deploy, manage, and remediate your networks—on the First Day, Worst Day, and Every Day. It's why 75%+ of Fortune 500 companies trust Opengear for their networks, whether on- or off-premises or in the cloud.

“Customers is expectations continue to change,” says Cisco’s Brian Heikes. “Where previously, just having a phone number available was sufficient or an email address you could reach out to, Now customers are expecting more and more for us to meet them in the channel of their choice in the manner that they want, which means asynchronous delivery of service so that they don't have to interrupt their day to wait on the phone for an agent to be available or for an answer to come to them. And with WebEx Connect, we're powering that and delivering that for customers.”

In this short podcast Heikes outlines how CPaaS is being used to deliver customer experiences that match and exceed customer experiences, and how those solutions are spreading across the enterprise. “We see more and more enterprises leveraging CPaaS, what you see is multiple departments trying to leverage the same resources at the same time.”

About Webex by Cisco and CPaaS

Webex by Cisco focuses on enabling richer, smarter customer interactions, incorporating proactive two-way communications and reactive communications. Webex puts customers' demands first to deliver end-to-end customer journeys across multiple communication channels, that integrate with existing back-end systems. Its enterprise-grade cloud communications platform (CPaaS) automates, orchestrates, and monitors interactions at scale for a range of enterprises globally, enabling businesses to easily deliver seamless experiences, while saving time and reducing costs.

Podcast previously LIVE at CiscoLive 2024

Philip Meyers of mpro5 at Cisco's CiscoLive is the new CEO of mpro5. In this short livestream from CiscoLive, Phil discusses his maraki related products and use cases, focusing on sensor driven actions and ROImpro5. mpro5 is the Process Management App trusted by facilities management, retail and food service organizations to quantifiably improve operational efficiencies, cost savings, visibility and compliance.

Phil joined mpro5 in August 2023 as COO, bringing a wealth of experience in IoT and process management. His previous experience includes Vice President of Capabilities and innovation at Inmarsat Global, the world leader in global mobile satellite communications, senior positions in smaller satellite businesses and Channel Sales Manager for BlackBerry.

To learn more, visit: www.mpro5.com

Stu Holloway of SmarTrak.ai tells us about SmarTrak.ai's road map for Cisco hashtag#Partners to grow revenue with the customers they already have and from the data Cisco already generates. SmarTrak.ai uses hashtag#AI to identify in that data the best hashtag#techrefresh recommendations, a deeper understanding of how power is being used, a strategy towards renewing programs, migration and much more. This means more revenue from the customer relationships a partner already has.

SmarTrak.io’s platform can transform Cisco revenue management: AI-Driven Insights: Leverage advanced AI to turn complex Cisco data into actionable intelligence, Operational Efficiency: Save thousands of hours annually with automated workflows and processes, Revenue Optimization.

“I would definitely say keep it simple to start, says Jason Smith, Sales Engineer Supervisor at CallTrackingMetrics. With a staggering 80% of customer service and support organizations projected to utilize generative AI in some form by next year, it's clear that this technology is poised to transform the way we approach call tracking and customer experience. In this episode, we delve into the world of AI-powered call tracking, exploring its immense potential to boost agent productivity and elevate customer experiences. Jason Smith, Sales Engineer Supervisor at CallTrackingMetrics will shed light on how organizations can harness the power of generative AI to gain deep insights from call data, streamline processes and make data-driven decisions that drive customer satisfaction. Jason discusses how, generative AI can, if companies take it step by step, streamline how data is consumed and create actionable information that leads in improved EX and CX.

Jason Smith

About CallTrackingMetrics

CallTrackingMetrics is an award-winning, global conversation analytics company founded and led by a husband-wife team that enables marketers to make effective data-driven decisions and increase ROI. Over 100,000 users, including Morgan and Morgan, SearchKings and ServiceMaster, rely on CTM to track and attribute all online and offline leads across multiple platforms through native integrations with core tools like Google Ads and Analytics, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoom, and Facebook. CallTrackingMetrics is named an industry leader, year after year, by top software publications like G2 and Capterra and regularly recognized for its growth and innovative culture. CallTrackingMetrics.com

Integrated Financial Technologies Introduces Organizational Assessment Program to Help Channel Partners Generate New Service Revenues, Podcast

Listen as IFT (Integrated Financial Solutions) President Tod Chisholm introduces a new program for MSPs and VARs, who can resell high-margin Operational Assessments to their end-users. Through these assessments, IFT’s team of efficiency experts will review the end-user’s processes, workflows, and infrastructure, providing recommendations that will maximize productivity. MSPs can gain margins of up to 18 percent on this service, which can be white labeled by the partner, with the potential to generate ongoing engagements and recurring revenues for the MSP.

“Approximately 75% percent of the operational assessments we’ve done on a consulting level have led to broader ongoing service engagements and longer-term smartsourcing projects. With smartsourcing, we bring subject matter expertise and cutting-edge technology to the outsourcing equation. It’s a much more modern solution that many businesses are not even aware of. We’re trying to bring expertise to the MSP’s customer in areas where that company is not necessarily able to develop expertise on their own, because they are focusing on building their businesses. This presents an ongoing revenue opportunity for the channel partner in this increasingly commoditized market.”

Visit www.iftsolutions.com

Read the news story: Integrated Financial Technologies Introduces Organizational Assessment Program to Help Channel Partners Generate New Service Revenues

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Healthcare sector endures surge in cybersecurity attacks, faces headwinds in effort to respond, Podcast with David Lee - Vulnerabilities in outdated medical devices further exacerbate risks, enabling remote manipulation by hackers

The Sunday TR Podcast

David Lee transitioned from a software engineering background to become a harbinger of change and inclusivity in the tech world.

“If you're a company today, as soon as you have a website, you're a tech company,” says David Lee, a noted industry expert in cybersecurity for twenty years, often focusing on call identity and access management. “It doesn't really matter if you're baking bread. In this case, if you are in the medical profession, you're selling plastic bottles, you are now in the tech company. And if you're a tech company, that means you're vulnerable to cybersecurity attacks and threats.” Healthcare, which includes a sprawling number of companies, organizations, suppliers, vendors, contractors and more, not only have the vulnerability of all tech companies, but have the added responsibility to safeguard patient records.

In this podcast we look at the surge in cybersecurity attacks targeting the U.S. healthcare sector, evidenced by a significant increase in data breaches compromising millions of patient records in recent years. Specific incidents like the cyberattack on Change Healthcare underscore the severity of these breaches. Healthcare data breaches continue to be the most financially damaging across industries, costing millions per incident. Vulnerabilities in outdated medical devices further exacerbate risks, enabling remote manipulation by hackers. The healthcare sector's unique challenges, including reliance on closed-off technology and limited integration with external partners, amplify vulnerability to cyber threats.

To address these issues, healthcare entities must adopt comprehensive cybersecurity strategies involving critical functions and stakeholders. However, the industry faces a significant shortage of skilled cybersecurity professionals, emphasizing the need for upskilling and training efforts. Effective cybersecurity practices rely not only on technologies but also on skilled individuals for successful implementation and management, underscoring the urgent need for improved cybersecurity measures in healthcare.

David takes us for the big picture to how he helps organizations break the challenge down into bite size bits. “We're going to take a step at a time. Like, here's the 15 steps we're going to have to take. I don't want you to focus that on right now. Right now, step one to two, and then two to three, and then so forth and so on.”

About David Lee

David Lee transitioned from a software engineering background to become a harbinger of change and inclusivity in the tech world. With over two decades of experience, he has left his mark on government agencies, Fortune 500 companies, and numerous fields, specializing in identity and access management. Recognizing that for technology to truly transform the world, it must embrace diversity, David serves as an agent of transformation, inspiring individuals to unlock their full potential. His influential voice and actionable insights have solidified his reputation as a respected figure in the ever-evolving tech landscape. When he speaks people listen.

He is The Identity Jedi. http://www.theidentityjedi.com.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/identityjedi/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/iamhdavidlee

Healthcare sector endures surge in cybersecurity attacks

SEO and Content Crafted for Telecoms, ClimbCode Podcast, SEO-optimized content ready for use within the TEM industry, aiding businesses in improving their online visibility and lead generation

@Doug Green

Everyone reading these words has likely experienced the session at the conference, labeled Marcom Track, SEO. The advice offered is vital and helpful. But implementation is often a struggle. Many people in our market might have also invested in resources to improve SEO, only to discover that many offerings lack the specialization for carriers. Content creation is especially challenging for many organizations. In this podcast, we learn about ClimbCode, that aims to close that gap. Earlier this month, ClimbCode launched a new e-commerce platform, tailored for the Telecom content creation sector. “This platform provides SEO-optimized content ready for use within the TEM industry, aiding businesses in improving their online visibility and lead generation.”

“We help create that content at scale. The content we produce is unique to the customer, so we never create, sell the same content again. And we make sure that the content that is created to help you brand, is based on something which is very thoughtful and meaningful for the end customer, so they learn something from the content. It’s unique to you and it's got a unique placement for you. When people search for keywords on search engines, they find your site where this content is going to be placed eventually. So, we help you bring up your website via the search engines,” says Raj Goodman Anand, CEO of ClimbCode.

Visit climbcode.com