Blog

What is the benefit of having video storage for your surveillance? You may think that any business with a surveillance system also has video storage, but there are two kinds of surveillance (aka CCTV) systems: those with and those without storage. Some systems are set up to be monitored in...

If there's an unsung hero of RCI's business technology service offerings, it would have to be pulling cable. We've been pulling cable in Roanoke for about four decades, almost since the founding of RCI in the late 1970s. Though we've introduced ourselves as an IT company, a business technology company,...

You don’t have to look far to see that phones have come a long way! And you may be thinking that we’re referring to smartphones, but it applies for business phone systems as well! Many of the modern business phone features were considered cutting edge not long ago. Often times...

Small businesses are the backbone of the economy and the community, and many small business owners feel like they have to do it all. It's easy to understand this with employees' livelihoods on your shoulders and balancing a budget, but never forget how valuable your time is, too, both intrinsically...

Nearly half of all employed Americans work for small businesses. But small businesses can meet a lot of things – everything from a one-person show to a 1500-person business! But as much as those businesses differ, they also have a few things in common, like the necessity of local IT...

It’s a New Year with New Tech but the same old story. Businesses continue to be on the front end of developing technology while we question the ethics of some changes and get frustrated with the speed (or lack thereof) of others. So, let’s talk business tech trends from 2023...

Every business is different, so therefore, so is every business telephone system. But, even though we combine them differently, there are some general phone system features that are either/or. In almost 50 years of business, RCI has identified some common business telephone questions that we are asked on a fairly...

As we return to work after sleeping off our turkey hangovers, we should take the time to reflect on what we're thankful for in our workplaces, too. Perhaps it's simply having a job, the people you work with, or even the equipment you use daily. Some of that equipment may...

There are a lot of camera systems and a lot of people who install them. Prices range from a few bucks for out-of-the-box plug-and-play models to tens of thousands for state-of-the-art custom systems. So how do you decide what’s for you? To start, you need professional surveillance installation. While it...

At RCI, during our busiest weeks, our office is mostly empty. The techs are in the field installing cameras and telephone systems, reprogramming phones for new users, running cable, or giving IT support to the people who need it where they need it. So, we deeply understand the need for...

In a world where you can make calls, process information, listen to music, and watch television, all without plugging into a phone or data cable, it would be easy to believe that cabling infrastructure no longer matters. And while you'd be forgiven for that misconception, it's a mistake nonetheless. You...

RCI has hundreds of clients in nearly as many industries across Virginia and the surrounding states. And while every workplace is unique, there are certain features that particular sectors strongly tend to use more often. Here’s how we provide IT support for the medical industry. It Support For The Medical...

VOIP telephone service and cell phones have edged out landlines in how businesses and everyday people make phone calls. Landlines were a quintessential part of communication and home life for decades. It was the 80s when cell phones came along and the 90s when they became more common. But it...

The business world has been moving more and more toward a distributed workforce. And it makes sense. When a job can be done anywhere, business owners benefit from a much larger candidate pool and lower overhead costs. And employees can skip their morning commute and improve their work-life balance. But...

If you have a surveillance system in your workplace, you're automatically a step ahead of similar businesses regarding safety. But what type of camera system do you have? And how old is it? After all, technology constantly evolves, and upgrading your surveillance system might be necessary to maintain the effectiveness...

After telephones, sound and overhead paging were the second product installation line, RCI entered. In the 80s and 90s, it was a natural outgrowth of telephone systems because so many customers wanted to be able to use their telephone paging feature through overhead speakers. Today, in the era of cell...

Is it time to replace your phone system? We're four weeks into the new year. In previous January, we discussed the top tech trends of the previous year or decade or technology resolutions for the year to come. But with cyber security still in the news and the rise of...

In the last several years, the way people work has undergone the most significant shift we've seen in decades – maybe since the industrial revolution. And with any change comes pain points. Unfortunately, many of those pain points result from the friction of the tools we used to do things...