Videoconferencing: security, usability the key for schools

Jun 10th, 2020

Despite schools across South Africa starting to open up with the gradual phasing in of grades, the interest in video and collaboration platforms still remains high as schools look to get their classrooms online and connect students and teachers remotely.

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Mining company uses rich seam of technology to gear up for COVID-19

Jun 1st, 2020

One of South Africa’s oldest mining companies has rolled out a high-tech thermal screening solution at one of its mines in Limpopo and at its Sandton head office as part of a wide-ranging initiative to protect its employees from the spread of COVID-19.

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DriveRisk stays safe with high-tech thermal camera solution

May 21st, 2020

Benoni-based driver behaviour management company DriveRisk has become one of the latest companies to install thermal cameras at its head office as it looks to protect its employees from the spread of the COVID-19 virus without affecting its operations.

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Coronavirus: Itec to offer SA businesses free videoconferencing

Mar 30th, 2020

Managed business solutions provider Itec in partnership with StarLeaf is making remote working free via the StarLeaf  application to help South African businesses work remotely in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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ITEC names Uglietti to head up flagship dealer

Mar 9th, 2020

Managed services provider Itec has named Andrew Uglietti as the new managing director at Itec North, one of the top three dealers in the company’s 47-strong nationwide network.

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Itec Communications acquires a new company as part of growth plans

Feb 7th, 2020

Itec Communications has announced the acquisition of an IT infrastructure integrator to meet what it calls a growing demand for integrated communications, in the South African enterprise market.

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Data privacy in 2020: Be careful and stay safe

Jan 28th, 2020

Right now millions of people have no idea about how their personal information is being used and abused in our digital society.

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Open-source phone systems: There’s nothing cheap about free

Dec 5th, 2019

Why pay top dollar for an established phone system brand, when you can get an open-source system much more cheaply? That’s the approach we see many companies taking in the current tough economy – but as they quickly realise, there’s nothing cheap about free.

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Digitising the automibile association of South Africa’s legacy systems – Saving time and cost

Oct 31st, 2019

The Automobile Association of South Africa (AA SA) faced mounting costs from a legacy communications system, in addition to requiring an omni-channel solution that enabled easy integration into existing communication channels.

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Is unified communications the prescription for South Africa’s healthcare pain?

Oct 16th, 2019

By Hannes van der Merwe, Senior Product Manager for managed business services provider Itec South Africa.

Right now, South Africa’s healthcare industry is in a world of pain. The state health system is under-resourced and over-crowded. The private health sector is battling rising medical costs, changing payment models and a more competitive environment.

As ordinary South Africans, we feel the effects of this in many ways. It is sometimes a challenge to engage with healthcare professionals quickly and effectively, and our experiences of local clinics or hospitals can try our patience.

One of the ways hospitals and the healthcare industry can reduce costs and inefficiencies, drive better clinical outcomes and increase patient satisfaction is to use modern communication technology and streamline their operations. But ripping and replacing entire communications systems is not the answer, due to limited budgets and resources.

A cloud-based unified communications solution allows diverse devices (including mobile and desktop) to communicate quickly and easily through voice, messaging and video, and instantly share complex data, like medical records and reports. It should also be compatible with third-party applications like billing and electronic record keeping, and be scalable and flexible, so hospitals don’t need to keep buying new software or hardware.

There are three major benefits to unified communications in the healthcare space.

Better patient engagement

In its 2017 Digital Health Vision report, Accenture said modern healthcare organisations had begun to realise they should be organised around the patient, not the enterprise.

With unified communications, patients can communicate with their healthcare providers via multiple channels. No more waiting for a doctor’s rooms to call you with test results: you simply log on to a secure portal. Doctors can send automated reminders for appointments and prescription refills and improve patient engagement across all points of care.

The result? Hospitals are able to proactively engage with patients, and lower re-admissions. Patients and healthcare providers are more engaged, and the relationships are better.

Improved staff collaboration

Multi-professional healthcare teams spend a huge amount of time trying to communicate on systems that are often outdated and cumbersome. When lives are on the line, it’s critical for doctors, nurses and other staff members to be connected in real-time. Collaboration tools make it easy to share information and make faster, better decisions for patients. Most of all, unified communication’s mobile collaboration tools can replace the much-loathed pagers that are still in use in hospitals today.

The result? Real-time team collaboration. Quicker information exchange. Greater staff efficiency and productivity.

Better clinical workflow

The delivery of effective patient care involves many processes, and the ability of hospitals and clinics to streamline their clinical workflow through each patient encounter is critical to their effectiveness and quality of care. Unified communications support the entire workflow — from patient evaluation, diagnosis and treatment decisions — by allowing care teams to see whether other team members are available and enabling team collaboration.

The result? Care teams are better empowered to provide patient-centred, accountable care by being able to communicate through a single system.

Unified communications have the ability to change the entire healthcare industry for the better. It helps provide an enhanced quality of care, with better collaboration between healthcare professionals. It delivers better, more convenient customer service. And by driving improved efficiencies and better workflows, doctors can make the most of their time and increase their productivity.

All that hospitals have to do is choose the right unified communications partner, that has a proven track record and reputation in the marketplace – and voila, headaches gone. No Panado necessary.