2020 was a bit of a blur wouldn’t you say? I mean, even my Christmas Card photo was a bit blurry, but it somehow seemed fitting this year.
While InteleCONNECT was fortunate as a business to be able to work remotely, keep everyone employed and stay relatively safe, many of our customers and the businesses in our community were affected, especially the small ones. We all did our best to wear masks, stay in, wash and sanitize multiple times a day, and shop local at every opportunity, 2020 was still a blur of days/weeks/months wondering “what’s next?”
So, I’ve chosen my word for 2021 – FOCUS. Focus on my business, community and family.
This word has so much meaning in multiple ways:
- FOCUS on the positive things that we encounter daily.
While social media tends to show all the doom and gloom that is going on around us, it also shares glimmers of hope and inspiration. Spend time looking for those and sharing with others. Early on last March, John Krasinski started “Some Good News” out of his home. He shared stories of people doing good to others around them. He even held a prom in honor of all those Seniors who would miss out. We don’t need a pandemic for us to focus on the positive. Why not focus on the positive things in our lives every day? If we choose to have our glass half full, then we choose an attitude of optimism to get us through any event, day or catastrophe that might be in our midst. If you follow us on Facebook you’ll see us sharing all the good we find in our community, and there is a lot to share!
- FOCUS on our customers and how we can stay connected to them.
At InteleCONNECT, we added a signature “how can we help you stay connected?” to our emails. WE MEANT IT. We focused on asking customers we visited with how we could help them. Not only with technology needs, but we also focused on what they need to get them through this. Word of mouth advertising, buying a few more lunches or gift cards from their business, or just lending a hand or an ear. Technology has given people the means to stay connected to customers in the multitude of technologies they use, and we can help. With contact center solutions, you are now able to chat, SMS, or email all through a single source and make it easier for you to build and enhance that customer experience.
- FOCUS on how we can use technology to collaborate on projects with team members.
While working from home has its’ perks, it also comes with challenges, like not being able to sit down with someone to work on a project or resolve an issue together. Having a good tool to allow teams to collaborate is so important. Emails can sometimes get lost or go unnoticed, but with a simple chat or video call, we can still work together face to face as a team.
- FOCUS on Cloud Based Solutions and the ability to work from anywhere on any device at any time. Long gone are the days of the “big black monster”! That is what we called our file cabinet in the office that housed paper files for each of our clients. Thank goodness for our cloud-based CRM that houses all our client information and allows us access to it remotely. We can keep track of service tickets, sales funnels, and log calls for any of our customers all in a secure online environment.
- FOCUS on giving back to our community in need. As mentioned earlier, this pandemic has put a strain on many in our community. It is the communities that are the critical backbone to our well-being. This past year we bought gift cards, ordered take-out, donated our time, talents, stuff and money to make a chaotic year calmer. In 2021, let’s choose to FOCUS on giving back in any way we can to help keep their doors open and the lights on!
“Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Theresa
Our lunch GIG for January will be hosted by Consolidated Communications. They are a carrier with multiple offerings to keep businesses connected, all from a single company. They will be highlighting their Cloud Voice, connectivity services including SDWAN, and their cloud solutions like O365 and Firewall. We invite you to join us and we’ll treat you to lunch on us from one of our many local restaurant customers, as we focus on helping them keep the lights on!
