Company news

Flying High

Last Friday Trevor Stephens, Total Communications Corporate Manager was presented with the first "Soaring Eagle Award" ever delivered by the company.
Even after an outstanding eight years with the company Trevor still continues to combine exceptional customer service with record sales figures.
Trevor's contribution to whole of business solutions for his clients saw him recognized at a Business Function held by the company at Sommercotes in Ross last week.

Business Accreditation

All Total Communication stores statewide are now Telstra Business Accredited. This means that staff have successfully completed professional Telstra training to allow them to cater for business mobile needs.
This qualification sits very well with the company's Enterprise Partner acknowledgement and recognizes our ability to deliver effective solutions for business clients.

Making the most of Mobility

The combination of powerful smartphones and cheap mobile data is creating new opportunities for channel players

Apple's much-landed iphone 3G has finally landed in Australia, but it's just one of a number of sophisticated mobile phones that led users conduct business from the palm of their hand. Along with the old chestnuts of push email and calendar access, such phones often let you surf the web, edit Office documents and even run presentations directly from the handset. The inclusion of GPS for satellite tracking also opens up a range of new features, from in-car navigation to the automatic collection of spatial data by a mobile workforce. When properly integrated into an organisation's backend systems, a smartphone can allow managers to monitor key business processes remotely. The phones can also tie into systems such as Microsoft's Sharepoint to speed up the approval process, creating a more nimble organisation equipped to make decisions quickly. Security policies often let administrators remotely lock or wipe lost phones to protect sensitive corporate date.
In Australia, the biggest hindrance to smartphone adoption has been slow data speeds and high data costs. The rollout of HSDPA mobile networks such as Telstra's national NextG newtork have offered a significant speed boost, whilst over the next few yaers Vodafone and Optus aim to expand their metro HDSPA coverage to span the country.
Customers need to actually see the devices and what they're capable of
The BlackBerry smartphone is also making inroads into the SME space, said Robert Saviane, marketing director for Research In Motion - the company behind BlackBerry.
"What we've seen more recently is that need to access information anywhere, anytime really moving down into the small to medium business market, and even further down into what we call the prosumer level," Saviane said.
"What we know about small businesses is that they are often a lot more mobile. Therefore that need to have access to pertinent information anywhere anytime is actually more intense. We see that segment as being a real growth area right now and going forward over the next 12 to 18 months. The advantage for a small business is that, with BlackBerry, essentially the customer is buying an entire platform, not just the devices but the service and software that go with it."
Telstra offers a range of mobile Fleet Management or People Management tools such as the Xora TimeTrack employee time tracking system, Fielding explained. "The sweet spot that we see for businesses is thinking about how you can make them more productive, making use of the location information that we have in our mobile network, " he said.

^{7th July 2008 CRN}

Preferred Partner Standing:

Total Communications has been chosen as a Preferred Telstra Partner. You will notice the logo depicting a blue tick is now displayed on all company promotional material.
Total Communications is the only Tasmanian Telstra dealer to be awarded this status and as such the company is very proud of this achievement.
The Preferred Partner identification is recognition that the company has the necessary trained personnel, business acumen and industry knowledge to represent Telstra professionally within the business sector.
This qualification will allow Total Communications to work even more closely with Telstra in providing more effective solutions for the needs of all our business clients.

Devonport Telstra Shop delivers big time!

The Devonport Telstra Shop has been judged the top performing Telstra Shop in Victoria / Tasmania for Customer Service & Sales for 2006/07. Devonport beat all other Tasmanian & Victorian Telstra Shops, which was a huge result for the store.

Additionally the store picked up the prize of the top Licensed Store in Victoria / Tasmania in Customer Service & Sales.

"Being awarded these prizes ahead of massive competition makes me feel incredibly proud of my team", said Julie Goss the Manager of the Devonport Telstra Shop. " We work in such a challenging & exciting industry it gives us a real buzz to be recognised for being able to offer our clients solutions to their needs".

"We are always busy, yet we really try to explain to our customers how the big changes in technology can work for them. It is very satisfying to be able to help people with lifestyle & business options, which today's world of communications delivers".

"All staff undergoes a two week Telstra training program and then are gradually introduced to sales / service frontline in an assistant capacity. We call this the "buddy system" and it works really well, as there is nothing like firsthand experience. Currently we have some of our experienced staff on maternity leave, but it is a testament to the quality of our team that we have maintained our high service levels".

"This is yet another example of Devonport really showing what our people can do when we put our minds to something". Julie says.

Julie states, "The team are passionate about what they do and have fun doing it".

"We Rock" quips Julie.

Company changes and expansion

After successfully managing the mobile phones of hundreds of Tasmanian businesses, Total Communications has responded to marketplace feedback and expanded our communications product suite.

Our clients' advice was that they would prefer one person to handle all their telecommunications requirements. Today's business needs best practice / cost effective solutions and their time is most important, so the transition to have one person handling all their needs has been most welcome.

Total Communications staff have now been thoroughly trained in all facets of the industry to allow them to provide the best solutions for business.

So we are now are literally your One Stop Communications Shop.

Additionally, your Total Communications Account Manager can now provide you with the latest business solutions for the following:

• NextG Mobile Phones
• GSM Mobile Phones
• Satellite Phones
• Mobile Data
• Telstra Landlines
• Business Broadband