Hello and welcome to Your Operations Solved, for Thursday, April 29th, 2021

I'm your host, Channing Norton, of PC Solutions, and this is the 17th episode of our show,
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With that out of the way, let's get started on today's headlines

First, we have an update to the ongoing global semiconductor shortage that we have discussed on several occasions on this show. Major chip manufacturer UMC has annouced that, rather than focusing their capacity and resources to increasing production of newer chips, they will begin producing older chips at a higher volume, citing the higher yield rate of these easier to manufacture chips. These computationally weaker designs require higher power, and are below modern standards for use in computers and the like, they are sufficient for replacement of chips in embedded systems applications like the automotive industry. This promises to ease the supply shortage slightly that is affecting these embedded systems industries, but may worsen the shortage for higher power uses like game consoles, and desktop and laptop computers as the capacity is diverted. This is a rare and unusual move, as most fabrication companies like UMC race towards producing the most advanced chips they can, as they can be sold at much higher margins and stay relevant for longer.

The end result of this is that equipment purchases that fall outside the range of traditional electronics such as vehicles and industrial machinary are likely to have their prices be less affected by the chip shortage, making them cheaper to buy several months from now than they otherwise were likely to be until late 2022 or so.

The shortage for computers and computer components, on the other hand, is likely to be worsened, with major online retailer Newegg having expanded its already unprecedented raffle system for the chance to buy some hard to find components, leading to even further inflated prices.

next, our main story. Following the ongoing trend of regulators around the world taking a recent interest in big tech, lawmakers from the US senate judiciary comittee spoke with the leaders of Twitter, Facebook, and Youtube on Tuesday. Rather than the confrontational tone that such discussions usually take, however, today the tone was one of collaboration and cooporation, as the leaders of both public policy and social media discussed how the technologies we have today can be used to achieve important goals such as reducing the spread of misinformation and extermist content, as well as what regulatory measures can be imposed to ensure these goals are achieved. As part of these discussions, the committee also met with experts in the field of digital ethics, who were subject to similar questioning and discussion.

Making the interaction even  more unusual by the standards of discussing regulation in business is that these discussions seem to have broad bipartisan support, bringing together members as diverse as Senators Ben Sasse and Dick Durban, as well as other notable voices such as President Biden's acting chair of the FTC, Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. This high degree of cooperation in regards to working to reduce the spread of extremism and misinformation online is certainly a signal that the political winds are changing. 

The result of this for your business is that there are likely to be changes in the algorithms that drive what posts appear in social media news feeds, which are an essential means of advertising for many businesses of all sizes. It's likely that local, accurate, and time relevant content will be pushed to the forefront, as that seemed to be the desire of many of those speaking on capitol hill on Tuesday. The precise details of these algorithmic changes and what content will get prioritized at the expense of what existing content that is presently successful on these platforms, is yet to be seen. Should any company announce algorithmic redesigns in the future relevant to advertising, or major regulation that could force such changes be put under consideration, we will certainly make an update.

With that done, let us discuss our business improvement for today.  The benefits of a properly deployed, cloud managed phone system.

While increasing amounts of our business are conducted over email or other electronic communication means, there's still nothing quite as convenient for some conversations as a phone call. As such, we all have phones. The most common setup I see in offices with 5 or fewer people is a single line, with a phone at everyone's desk, and all phones ring at once. With offices with 5 to 25 people, I tend to see a dedicated receptionist, who picks up all calls, and routes them to the correct extension manually. 

Basically every office past around 25 people, has a cloud phone system. And, as an office much smaller than 25 people, I will tell you that PC Solutions has one as well. Let's explore why, and what value I think it can bring to small businesses.

So, at least for me, by far the greatest benefit is one of flexibility. Despite having a business line, I don't have a desk phone. Calls destined for me go directly to my computer, or, should I be away from it for more than a few minutes, my cell phone, without revealing my personal cell to clients. If I'm at a client site, or driving, I can take the call just as easily as if I'm at my desk, and our customers see no difference, other than perhaps a slight drop in connection quality. Also beneficial for the small business is the ability to have a call schedule. Calls during PC Solutions' regular business hours get directed to our technicians' phone group, but after hours, customers are greeted by a voicemail box where they are given the option to submit a ticket as regular, for response the following business day, or emergency, which alerts our on call system to notify whoever is on call until they respond.

This intelligent routing, which can be extended to include automated menus, forwarding calls to different numbers, sending voicemails to different voicemail boxes, ringing phones in sequence as each phone is left unanswered until someone answers theirs, or just about anything else you can imagine, is all made possible with a cloud phone system. It allows us to spend less human time routing calls, and more time on our core responsibilities. It also makes it easier for clients, prospects, and vendors to reach the correct person, improving our quality of service, and reducing frustration. Finally, this system allows me to draw a much more firm line for work life balance, which I suspect is a concern for just about every small business owner out there, not just me. There's a number of little minor benefits as well, too, that won't save you money, but do just make things... easier, like how most of these systems come with a virtual fax machine that simply works without any setup or hassle whatsoever, for the half dozen times a year I need one, that also sends and receives faxes in, at least a little bit higher quality than I've come to expect from fax.

This all sounds too good to be true, so what's the cost look like? Well... surprisingly affordable. The system I have is actually cheaper per line than my cell phone plan, and was only 5 dollars more expensive per month, per line, than a traditional phone system through our internet service provider that would have required I purchase a handset and been tethered to my desk. I cannot recommend this more enough. They are dirt cheap, easy to set up, and just... easy. Even for one to five person operations, you will love the flexibility. This is probably the most no brainer piece of advice I've ever given on this show. Just do it, and watch communication get easier overnight.

That's our show for today, thank you so much for listening. Next week, join us for a conversation on how I like to organize small business email to tame the spam beast, and make employee turnover less jarring for customers, while also setting your business up for individuals changing responsibilities. In the meantime, check us out on the web at www.YourOperationsSolved.com, where you can join our newsletter, and opt to be notified of all our uploads. I will see you next time.