For many, the current and upcoming 911-related legislation is a bit confusing. Some compliance deadlines have already passed, others are upcoming, and there's general confusion around which of these deadlines affect you.

Even though many organizations aren't explicitly required to (yet), I strongly encourage everyone to minimally start with implementing on-site alerting. This is both the least expensive component and where the greatest enhancement to on-site safety and response is realized. Additionally, it's either mandatory now or will be for your organization in the not-so-distant future.

Getting the location information to the answering PSAP is important, no question. This information helps PSAPs and their responding agencies in determining where to respond to (especially important for large campuses, multiple location organizations, or multi-floor buildings). Especially when help is several minutes away already, routing responders to the correct area is absolutely critical in ensuring help is not delayed in any way.

But what about those who are in the best position to provide immediate assistance? The often under-appreciated reality is that help is already on-site and available. Whether it be your security, first-aid, or in reality, any staff, you already have resources on-site and ready to assist prior to first responders arriving. This help comes in the moments when it is most critical.

On-site staff are able to respond immediately, and are in a position where they can start providing care immediately. Additionally, staff can prepare access for first responders, and be ready to direct them efficiently to where the emergency is once on-site. These realities all dramatically improve response time both prior to, and once first-responder help has arrived on-site.

Contact Genesis Systems for more information on E911, immediate emergency on-site alerting, and the features available to help improve your on-site emergency responses. These solutions provide improvements in response time of several minutes, at a time when every second counts.

Genesis Systems will be closed on Monday, October 11th for Remembrance Day.

Customers subscribed to our 24-7 support package are unaffected by holiday closures. 

Our office will re-open on Tuesday, October 12th with regular business hours.

Genesis Systems will be closed on Monday, October 14th for Thanksgiving.

Customers subscribed to our 24-7 support package are unaffected by holiday closures. 

Our office will re-open on Tuesday, October 15th with regular business hours.

On behalf of all us at Genesis we'd like to wish all a happy and safe Canada Day weekend! 

Our offices will be closed on Monday July 1 and we will be resuming normal business hours on Tuesday July 2. Customers subscribed to our 24/7 support package are unaffected by holiday closures. 

Happy Birthday Canada!

Are you or your customer moving to a hosted environment and needing the correct hardware to connect? Genesis provides you with the Serial to IP devices needed to ensure your transition to the cloud is seamless. With Genesis Hosted Solutions you can expect all the same powerful call analysis, management & alerting available in our premises-based solutions, but with greater accessibility and virtually no configuration & ongoing maintenance required on your part. Genesis Hosted Solutions allow you to focus your attention on your core business. 

If you'd like more information on our Hosted Solutions please contact Genesis Sales at 1-888-993-2288 or sales@buygenesis.com

Did you know Genesis solutions are compatible with many different operating systems - not just Microsoft Windows?

Although many users prefer to install their software in a Windows-based environment, it is not a Genesis requirement, and indeed our applications work equally well in Linux environments.

Users who prefer Linux will be pleased to know that they can expect the same reports, ease-of-access, and simple 1-click installation and trouble-free operation regardless of the operating system they choose. Especially for larger organizations with multiple installations, the ability to manage and roll out software updates centrally makes Linux an simple, attractive option.

Hosted users can of course access their software easily from any browser equipped computer, tablet, or smart device, so if you are looking for the ultimate flexibility give us a call to get moved over to our hosted versions!

Call Accounting solutions have been available for a long time - well over 30 years now. Over the years these solutions have been marketed under a variety of other names, like call tracking, expense / productivity management, call analytics, etc..., but mostly have provided some level of "Call Accounting" functionality, regardless of the name.

Taking a look around the marketplace today, I see a lot of old, outdated technology still being marketed as leading-edge stuff. Some of it just doesn't make sense: how can a product be current when it's "new" features that have been industry-standard for 10+ years? Why do the reports look like they were designed in the 80's?

I see companies advertising some product / feature releases that just make me scratch my head, like:

- Now web-based (it hasn't been for the last 10 years!?)

- Multi-PBX / location reporting (the largest group of users are multi-PBX!)

- 911 Alerting

- Now available as: hosted / cloud / virtual (take your pick)

If these are the new features in a solution you are looking at, it is simply "old technology".

You won't find the most important differences on the company's website either - like third party software and licensing dependencies which add significant cost to the solution, missing support for current data collection methods, excessive PC/server hardware requirements, etc. Unfortunately, many times you aren't aware of these limitations until you're already committed, and then locked into using outdated methods or purchasing additional licenses.

It's not all bad though! Feel free to reach out to us if you have questions about or are just looking for some more clarity on Call Accounting and which solutions best fit your needs. We love Call Accounting! The uses for are seemingly endless; over 30 years in, and we're still discovering new problems we can help customers solve with Call Accounting. It's truly a universal solution, with a compelling use case for nearly any business with telephones.

Most software includes some form of an annual support option to provide you with periodic updates and access to technical support when the need arises. Subscribe to annual support is not much of a decision for many of us - the software was purchased to fill a void (e.g. business analytics, emergency notification, etc.), and it just needs to work.

We subscribe to annual support so help is there when we need it.

Have you looked closely at your support coverage and terms though? There are always limitations, and the biggest ones may not be obvious until you encounter them. Many will leave you wondering what your support actually covers. We've all been there. A few examples of services and items I've seen other manufacturers charge additional fees for:

• Software installation & re-installation (or moving the software to a new PC)
• Phone equipment changes (e.g. changing or upgrading your phone equipment)
• Software training
• Physical copies of software & updates

Do these not seem like opportunities to up-sell you on services you believed were included with your support in the first place? Since you're under annual support, shouldn't you at least have access to the necessary support so you can continue to use your existing software?

We think so. It's a simple, yet illusive concept, and is one we strongly believe in.

Lower total cost of ownership, simplified deployment, reduced in-house staff administration, always up-to-date...

These are the themes echoed in most cloud-solutions marketing collateral - and for good reason - they are consistently the top 4 reasons why businesses of all sizes choose a hosted solution over an on-premises one. It's a compelling pitch, what business wouldn't want to improve their efficiency and reduce their costs?

But... It's not always that simple. Take for example:

A law firm customer I worked with had been using monthly telephone reports to substantiate their activities related to each client. Receiving these details broken down by each client vastly simplified their billing process, reduced errors, and improved billing transparency for clients. They had been using these reports for years and had become reliant on them for simplifying their billing process.

Their phone system was becoming obsolete and the firm made the choice to replace their old phone system with a new cloud-based solution due to some of the above reasons. Their set up was quick, and after a couple months the entire office was quickly trained on and moved over to using the new system. 

All was good until the first time client bills were generated after their migration. Their reports now had no unique client numbers on them, essentially giving them no way to associate the time spent on calls with the appropriate client! This was a huge issue for them. Their billing process changed entirely overnight, with staff now were having to keep track of billable time manually.

Needless to say, the customer was surprised to lose this long-time functionality, especially given that their new system had promised more features than their previous premises-installed one. The simple functionality they'd been using for 10+ years was now gone, the new system had no way to allocate calls to clients, and the customer was inevitably left scrambling to find a solution to this issue.

-----

Genesis Systems makes every effort to ensure our solutions, whether premises-based, virtual-installed or cloud based, feature all of the same functionality to eliminate these types of issues. We consult with your organization prior to implementation to ensure there will be no unpleasant surprises or limitations so you know exactly that you're getting.

For more information on the benefits of Genesis hosted, visit our website at: http://www.buygenesis.com/features/cloud-hosted.htm

The latest software release includes a major appearance update. Users of our web versions will notice this upgrade immediately, which provides easier navigation, reporting updates, and significantly enhanced usability on a variety of devices including tablets, smartphones, and other browser-enabled devices.

Feel free to contact our support office with any questions or concerns you have and we’ll be more than happy to show you around your new software. If you haven't received your upgrade yet feel contact our sales office to find out when you will be receiving it.

Users of Genesis Hosted Solutions are already upgraded this latest version, and have the benefit of always having access to the most current features. With Genesis Hosted Solutions you can expect all the same powerful call analytics, management & exception alerting available in our premises-based solutions, but with greater accessibility and virtually no configuration & ongoing maintenance required on your part. Interested in going hosted? Give sales a call to discuss!