CIO Overview
According to a recent report from Robert Half, 63% of CIOs find it difficult to find skilled professionals yet 17% plan to expand their IT departments. Alternatively, why not rid the IT department of the menial tasks that are easy to manage but painful to administer? Working with shopping centre property owners, Achieve IP utilizes […]
Dollars and Sense: Change is Good
At first glance, building future-ready networks in shopping centres can be a headache and with a build cost of about $50,000 per regional shopping centre, can be a costly decision without the right strategy. In most shopping centres, the network is out-dated, the retailers have to fend for themselves and there is no strategy to improve […]
Lure of the Sparkle: IP PBX in Retail
National retailers are looking to large enterprise IP PBX solutions to solve their basic needs. For most retailers this is overkill and there are alternatives that are more sensible. However, the limitations on the shopping center data network make it difficult to access the alternatives. IP PBX is promoted by the vendor as the only […]
4G: Not Without its Pitfalls
4G is the most current innovation used for the delivery of internet to shopping center retailers. Although this technology is viable for failover, it is more important to ask why this is even being considered. The obvious reason is the current internet doesn’t meet the need, as discussed in a previous post. After speaking to retailer IT […]
Managing Voice and Data Suppliers in Retail
National retailers deal with multiple suppliers for different products (internet, voice, hardware, etc.) and regions. A problem that will only get worse as Wi-Fi, video and failover internet requirements grow. Not easily measured is the cost to your company. For the larger retailers, this cost is in the six digits and for everyone, this cost is […]
Telephone Vendors: Selling Only What They Have
Telecom hardware or desktop solutions have gone through unprecedented change in the last few years. Once an industry with only a handful of legacy PBXs (Nortel, Avaya, NEC, Mitel, Toshiba), telecom has seen an introduction of suppliers from the data industry, soft-switch manufactures, and open source providers. The telephony delivery model compounds this change with hosted PBXs, […]
Outdated Shopping Centre Networks Cost Retail
Limitations of the shopping center network make it challenging and costly for the retailer to implement technology. This impacts the retailer’s internet, telephone, Wi-Fi, video, and more. In most case, the retailer is left with the cost of building their own network for the implementation of new technology. Without a future-ready network in the shopping […]
IP PBX: Great Hype or Good Value
Thinking of upgrading your phone system? Here is a simple quiz: name seven features that you use on your existing phone system then name seven more that you will use on your new fancy IP PBX. If you found these questions easy to answer, you are one of the very few and can consider yourself […]
What’s Killing the Internet
Slow and unreliable…two words that summarize today’s internet. For the retail community, they have to deal with the impacts on the cost of network builds, the introduction of innovation and the customer experience. With over 70% year over year growth in demand, this will only get worse. For the retailer, the problems are compounded with […]
Data and Telecom Equipment Definitions
The IT and telecom industry use standard terms to describe the condition or state of the equipment. I have added this to assist with discussions when procuring this equipment. Grey Market – new equipment usually from acquired outside of the regional suppliers territory. This equipment is brand new right from the manufacture and is sold […]