Your Desk Just Moved To The Cloud

By: John Shepler

When we think of the incredible progress made during the 20th century, it’s basically employment in three steps: Farm field to factory workbench to office desk. Well, now it’s the 21st century and we’re in the process of making the big workplace move again: From office desk to cloud.

Not Just the Great Beyond Anymore
Perhaps we always expected to move to the clouds someday… once those pearly gates swung open. Turns out that the cloud has come to us much sooner than expected and it's for the here and now. Whatever you’re doing at the moment, it has or soon will have a cloud connection.

Ironically, we’re not going to the cloud at all. We’re staying here and everything else is moving into clouds. The data center? Off to the cloud already. Retail stores? Mostly in the clouds right now. How about your desk? Oh, yes, it’s going to the cloud. Here’s how that will work:



But, Where Do I Sit?
You can sit anywhere you like, stand or even walk and still get your job done. The old desktop came with a tether. Before computers, that tether was the telephone. Then it was the PC. Until recently, there was no getting away from your desk for long because that’s where you had to do everything.

With Desktop as a Service, the PC tether is gone. Smartphones have already cut the phone tether. What’s going to keep you stuck at your desk from now on?

The Great Business Liberation
Employees and business owners are no longer captive Gulivers tied down at the office by an army of electronic Lilliputians. The business is now wherever you are. Actually, the enabling technology and the data that makes your business unique have moved to the cloud. An office building is just a convenience. It’s a place to meet and get in out of the rain. But it’s not a place you have to stay captive all day.

Business Is Wherever You Are
We no longer have to “go to the job.” The job accompanies us. Cloud based communications makes your smartphone part of the company telephone system. UC or Unified Communications combine video, text and voice into a single system that works on any device. Now, desktop as a service makes whatever you had on that big Mac or PC available on your phone, tablet, laptop or phablet. The big difference is screen size, although today’s mobile apps minimize the difficulty of switching from the big computer monitor to the little phone screen.

It’s a Mobile World, Even When It Isn’t
There’s a big push on right now to upgrade websites to mobile capability. Regardless of the implementation, every site has to look good and work on every device. Users are increasingly mobile or at least using mobile devices like tablets even when they are sitting at the restaurant or a client’s office. Even in the same old office you may switch to a wireless device just so you can get up and go down the hall to a meeting without skipping a beat.

Are You Ready to Shuck The Old Desktop?
The final stage in your liberation from the desk may well be DaaS. Are you ready to give your business the flexibility that Desktop as a Service offers? If so, it’s time to check out the benefits of higher performance, reduced maintenance and cost advantages that DaaS can provide your business.

Flat Rate Toll Free Numbers

How would you like to have a toll free number for your business without the worry that you’ll never know how big your bill will be each month? What you are looking for is flat rate toll free service. Your bill is the same every month and you’ll get dozens of features included at no extra cost. Best of all, there’s no risk to try it because you can get a 14 day free trial of flat rate toll free service.

The flat rate service from iTeleCenter is just $49 a month for unlimited calls. You pay no per minute charges, no extra fees for features, no activation fees, no surcharges or hidden fees, no confusing plans and no contracts.

What are some of those special calling features? You get professional grade business phone service such as an auto attendant with main greeting voicemail to email or text transmission, multiple extension mailboxes, online faxing, follow-me call forwarding and 30 additional features.

How about the numbers available? You have two choices in how you pick your toll free number. The first way is to simply select from a list of 10 assorted numbers that are available. These have the prefixes 800, 866, 877 and 888. If you see one you like, just click on the radio button and proceed to order it. If not, then click the “generate more numbers” button and you’ll get a new list.

The other method is to search for a custom vanity number. What is a vanity number? That’s a phone number that spells out a word or phrase using the letters that appear on the numbers of the telephone dial. You can specify any available toll free prefix, or limit your search to 855 or 866 or 877 or 888. You can also use * for wildcard digits. Those are digits where you really don’t care what number comes up. Let’s try a couple of examples and see what we get.

Say you’re in the water conditioning business and want a memorable toll free number to advertise. We’ll say any prefix is OK and that we want the term “water” to be in the toll free number. Enter “water” into the search box and press the search button. Voila! Here’s what we get. There are 10 different toll free numbers available and they all spell out water within the number. You can choose from (877) 95WATER, (855) 60WATER, (877) WATGER88 and another seven options. Don’t much care for these? Click on the Generate More Numbers button and you’ll get another 10 options. These include (855) WATER08, (855) WATER30 and seven more that are similar.

Got the idea? You may want to play around with this search engine a bit to get something that relates to your business and is easy to remember. Note that 855 is a newly added toll free prefix. You’ll likely have more options with the 855 prefix than the others because it has only been available for about a year.

What makes this system better than old-school toll free number ordering is both the interactive vanity search feature plus instant availability of your chosen toll free number. That’s right. You select the number you want and then place your order online right away before anybody else gets the same idea. That starts your 14 day free trial period. Play around with the features, decide how much of an asset this is for your business, and keep using that number as long as you keep your toll free service.

Backup and Recovery For All Businesses

Let’s face it, businesses are vulnerable. Not just to the vagaries of the economy or whims of the environment. Your greatest vulnerability may be sitting on your desk or mounted in the racks of your data center. Without backup and recovery, you are one violation of Murphy’s Law away from major headaches.

What is most at risk? Your data. At one time, all business records were on paper and the big risk was fire. Today, most business records are electronic and the big risk is corruption or erasure. One thing that can go wrong is that somebody accidentally changes or deletes something important and there is no copy. Another is that an entire day’s, week’s or longer data set is wiped out by a disk crash. Once again, no copies means you have to start all over to recreate what was lost.

Don’t depend on backup CD ROMs or DVDs written whenever somebody remembers to create them or has some free time. You expect the rest of your business processes to be more robust. Give serious consideration to doing the same for your valuable electronic data files.

Acronis specializes in backup and recovery for all size businesses from home offices right on up to major corporations. They offer backup and recovery across the network and for standalone Windows servers, Linux servers, workstations, and online backup. Other solutions include server disk management, server system deployment, recovery for Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Exchange SBS, recovery for MS SQL Server and workstation system deployment.

Acronis Backup & Recovery 11 is based on a unified platform consisting of a suite of modules that work together to support disaster recovery, data protection and migration. Together they perform single-pass backup and de-duplication for all your files, folders, applications and operating systems. This includes coverage of disks, files, virtual machines, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL Server. Backups can be targeted to tape, disk storage or the cloud.

The latest migration, of course, is to the cloud. Acronis Backup and Recovery Online gives you secure and cost effective offsite data protection. Why offsite? While local storage protects you against disk failure or accidental file deletion, it won’t help if a flood or tornado comes roaring through town. Your precious backup tapes and disks can easily be smashed all over the countryside along with your other computing assets. That’s why you should consider offsite storage.

In fact, the most efficient and robust solution can easily be a combination of onsite and offsite backup. Why? While offsite backup gives you protection against complete loss of your local facilities, you are dependent on a bandwidth link to get to your data. Most companies have far more LAN bandwidth than they do WAN bandwidth or Internet connection bandwidth. In-house bandwidth is relatively cheap and 100 Mbps to 1000 Mbps can be had for commodity prices. Once you leave the building and depend on a third party provider to connect you across town or across the country, the cost of bandwidth gets pricey fast.

What this means in practical terms is that you can get your files back a lot faster over your own network than you can bringing them back on the cloud. For a single small file, this is no big deal. But if you lose a Terabyte disk, it can be awhile before you have it restored through your telecom link.

Acronis addresses this security vs accessibility conundrum by offering an integrated solution that combines their Backup & Recovery 11 software with their online cloud product. Most backup solutions do one or the other, not both. This integration means that your administration efforts are made easy, while you enjoy the benefits of convenience and protection.

Are you a bit squeamish about what could happen to your business if technical or other disaster strikes unexpectedly? Sleep better knowing your data is protected. Check out Acronis Backup and Recovery Solutions now.

Customer Service Using Clouds and Social Networks

Customer service can make or break a company. You’ve heard how it is so much cheaper to keep an existing customer than get a new one. You’ve no doubt also heard how good customer experiences amount to free positive advertising for your company. On the other hand, one frustrated customer can do a lot of damage, especially these days when social networks make it easy to spread the venom.

Here’s the carrot and stick. Create an excellent customer service system for your company and you’ll be rewarded. Do a crummy job and you’ll be punished royally in the marketplace. Fortunately, it’s easier than ever to take the high road in customer service. What you are seeking is a ready-to-go, easy-to-use customer support system that integrates the new social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, along with traditional contact methods like email and toll free numbers. Here it is, take a look...



Does this sound like the type of system you’ve been wishing you had someone to develop? Forget paying the big bucks for a proprietary in-house system. Assistly has already done the heavy development lifting and is ready to go to work in your organization. Not so sure? No problem. Take the Assistly free trial offer and see if works for you. There’s no commitment. You don’t even need a credit card. Give it a go for 30 days and then see if you can bear the thought of giving up the best customer service tool you’ve ever used.

Assistly is fond of saying that they aren’t just about satisfying customers, but wowing them. That’s the new paradigm is an economy stuck in the doldrums. When business is booming, there’s more than enough for everyone and customers come to accept so-so service. These days customers know that their dollars are valuable and vendors are plentiful for just about anything they want to buy. If you want to stand out and be sought out by prospects and repeat customers, you need some special magic. Where better to sprinkle the magic dust than in the one part of your company that interacts the most with potential and current customers?

Assistly has a fair number of well known and respected businesses on-board with their cloud-based customer service system. Can you really afford to blow off the potential for something that can really goose your sales when they’ll let you try it a month for free? If you sell anything to the public and aren’t already thrilled with your customer service results, take a closer look at what Assistly has to offer your business.

Email Hosting Without A Website

One of the advantages of having your own website is that you can also have your own email at the domain name of your website. For businesses, organizations and many individuals that personalized email is so valuable that they may go ahead and have someone build and maintain a site just to get the email advantages. Did you know that there is such a thing as email hosting without a website? There is, and it’s a lot less expensive.

Personalized email has important advantages. It’s hard for businesses to get taken seriously with a Hotmail or other free webmail address. Gmail has a more professional cache than most, but it does nothing to identify your business or other organization. All of these are online services. If you want what’s called POP email that you open and save on your computer, you need a different type of email service. Your Internet Service Provider will generally give you POP email, but it’s at their domain name. Once again, no personal identification and not a business image.

For a personalized email address, the thing to do is buy yourself a domain name. This will cost you somewhere around a dollar a month. This is all you really have to spend as a minimum. What you do is use the email forwarding feature of your domain name to send incoming mail to the email account you have now. In other words, mail that comes in to YourName@YourDomain.com will be forwarded automatically to YourName@Gmail.com or YourName@YourISPsDomain.com, as examples.

The next step up is actual email hosting. What email hosting does is provide the email servers but not the web servers for your domain name. Why do that? Not everyone wants or needs a website. If everything you do is offline and nobody is going to look for you or your business through a search engine, then a website is just money down the drain. Perhaps you are well established with lots of visitors on a Blog, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter account. Website? Why get into building your own website? But you may well want a personalized email account.

There are two types of email servers you’ll be using. POP or POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) servers are the ones that deliver the email to your computer. These are for incoming messages. When people talk about a having a POP account, this is what they are referring to. You set the preference on your email program to the address of the POP3 server. You’ll also need to set up a username and password so that you and only you can get your mail. SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) mail servers are for outgoing mail. You tell your email program what SMTP server to use so you can send, reply or redirect email messages. Another type of server is called IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol). This is a competitor to POP3. If you need it, make sure your hosting provider offers this service. Most do.

The most basic email hosting will run you another dollar a month. That’s two bucks a month to have both a domain name and email hosting. For that, you get 1 GB of disk storage on the server, up to 10 separate email accounts, virus protection and Webmail access. Yes, you can have web mail at your domain name so you can access your mail online from a different computer than the one that has your email program.

Want more email accounts or more disk space? A deluxe email hosting service runs $1.99 a month for 5 GB of storage and 25 user-defined email accounts.

A business email hosting account is more sophisticated. The one offered by Domain.com offers cloud collaboration and secure sharing, similar to Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint. Employees can share inboxes, contacts, calendars, tasks, and files to improve teamwork and productivity. You get push email, push contacts and push calendar with immediate sync that is Exchange ActiveSync compatible. You can access your account anywhere, including web, desktop or smartphone. Anti-virus and anti-spam is built-in. Document storage is centralized and document sharing is encrypted for security. This service is both Microsoft Windows and Outlook friendly. All this runs you $4.99 per user per month.

If you don’t need the collaboration features, you may be interested in mobile email hosting for $1.99 per user / mo. That gives you the ability to keep your mobile phone in sync with your email, calendar and contacts. You email is secured with encryption, plus anti-virus and anti-spam to keep trouble out of your inbox.

Do you like the low cost and personalization benefits that you can get from email hosting? If so, check out domain names and email hosting plans from Domain.com. You get a lot of benefit for a small amount of money.

BlackBerry Picking On Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday is the new traditional time to find great online special offers, much the same as Black Friday has become that tradition for bricks and mortar stores. With that in mind, let’s have a look a one very special product line this year. It’s the BlackBerry device from Research in Motion.

BlackBerry has long been the choice of business users for mobile voice and data connectivity. RIM has made it their mission to support corporate IT services with the performance and security needed for serious business use in the field. But, how affordable are the popular BlackBerry models?

Make no mistake about it, BlackBerry devices are expensive technology. That doesn’t mean you have to pay a bundle for the model of your choice. In fact, shop now and you can get 19 different BlackBerry phones free when you order them with new wireless service. The others range in price from $9.99 to $149.99. Not bad for devices that retail for up to $600.

Just what is available at no charge for as long as these special offers last? How about the new BlackBerry Torch? Yes, it’s free when you order it with AT&T wireless service. The Torch offers the BlackBerry OS6 operating system on a combination touchscreen interface plus a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard. You also get an impressive 5 Megapixel digital camera with flash, continuous auto-focus, digital zoom, face detection integrated GPS location tagging and video capture. The full touch screen features a full HTML Web browser with pinch-to-soom and tabbed browsing. By the way, the BlackBerry Torch is available in black, red or white.

The BlackBerry Tour is a popular smartphone for Verizon Wireless users. it’s an international 3G phone with 3.2 Megapixel digital camera, GPS support for VZ Navigator Global navigation services. Yes, this phone runs on both the 800 & 1900 CDMA bands for Verizon and GSM 850, 900, 1800, and 1900 for overseas. Your worldwide tour will be more enjoyable with the BlackBerry Tour, especially since you got it free.

The BlackBerry Curve has been so popular that it is available on most cellular networks. That includes AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and NEXTEL. There are various models, so check out the details to make sure you get the features you want in a Curve phone. Some have WiFi and/or 3G for fast downloads. Color choices include the classic black, graphite gray, violet/purple, red, white, titanium and fuchsia.

The BlackBerry Storm2 is available free on the Verizon Wireless network. It has a brilliant 3.25 inch display, WiFi, 3G in 150 countries, a full HTML Web browser and a 3.2 Megapixel digital camera. Yes, that’s right. It’s free while you can get it.

Are you a bold person? By that I mean a fan of the BlackBerry Bold. It’s another free BlackBerry model for the AT&T wireless network. You’ll get free access to more than 20,000 AT&T WiFi hotspots nationwide with this very smartphone. It also features international connectivity for data in 185 countries and voice roaming in over 215 countries.

Which BlackBerry you pick is a personal matter. What’s important is that you get your choice at the best deal... preferably free of charge. That means you need to do your shopping now while the best deals are online. Check out the complete selection of BlackBerry phone models right now and get free shipping along with your free phone.

Advantage of Independent Toll Free Numbers

You may have a toll free number that you got from your telephone company, or you may be considering one. Toll free numbers have tremendous advantages for all size businesses when it comes to sales and customer service. If you shop carefully, they are so affordable right now that even the smallest start-up companies and independent professionals can have their own toll free number. You’ll have the most flexibility if you order an independent toll free number.

What’s an independent number and why is that important? Independent toll free service is not associated with your landline or cellular phone bill. You'll have the ability to have your toll free number ring to any telephone you wish. You can even change your mind and have it ring to another phone anytime you want.

So what difference does that make? It makes a huge difference if you move or want to switch to another phone company. You may or may not be able to take your telephone company supplied toll free number with you. If they allow it, there can be a high fee charged to transfer the number to another service. Otherwise you’ll have to start all over with a new toll free number and change all your advertising and business cards.

You also won’t likely have the ability to decide which phone your toll free number rings to. If it is attached to your landline phone service, that’s the number that will ring when toll free calls come in. That may be no big deal if you are always at your desk or have a full time receptionist to take the calls. Otherwise you can be out and about when you get that important call that means the difference between sale and no sale. If you can’t grab it, the prospect may go elsewhere.

The alternative is an independent toll free service such as Kall8. With Kall8 toll free service, you get to pick from their suite of available 866, 877, 888 or 800 toll free numbers. Find one you like and by the time you are done placing your order online, your number will be ready to accept calls. You get an online control panel that lets you decide if toll free calls will come to your cell phone, home phone, or business phone. Change that any time you like. Some sales people switch it between phones depending on where they happen to be at the time.

You also get Kall8 toll free number features that include voice mail that you listen to online, by calling in or by having a sound file sent to your via email. Any incoming FAX messages will be converted to graphic files and sent to you via email. You also have conference call ability, so that you can conduct a conference call with up to 25 participants at any time for as long as you like. Even use your toll free number in reverse as a long distance calling card at the same rates.

That’s a lot of capability for just $2 to order an 866, 877 or 888 toll free number and $2 per month to maintain the service. Incoming calls are 6.9 cents per minute from the 48 contiguous states and a bit higher for calls from Alaska or Hawaii. Traditional 800 numbers are $5 each and $5 per month for service, plus the 6.9 cents per minute rate for incoming calls.

Low Cost 800 Numbers For You

Have you been considering an 800 toll free number for your business, but are concerned about the cost? Good news! Low cost 800 numbers are available for instant activation and you can have one for just $5.

Does that sound like a price that will work for you? Perhaps it sounds too low, considering some of the other quotes you’ve received. But it’s true. You can order an 800 toll free telephone number for your exclusive use and it will cost you just $5 to reserve it. The cost to maintain service is $5 a month for as many months as you want to keep the number. If you decide you don’t need it anymore, just cancel your service and you’ll owe nothing more than your final bill.

But keep the 800 number and look at all the features you’ll enjoy. First of all, you’ll be able to change the ring-to number at will. The ring-to number is the number of the phone that rings when a toll free call comes in. That can be your office phone, your home phone, your cell phone, a phone at some place you are temporarily staying, or other phone. Some people change the ring-to number during the course of the day so that they can always be reached at the same toll free number. Others simply set it to one phone and let unanswered calls go to voice mail.

Yes you do get voice mail with this toll free service. You can call in to get your messages, listen to them online, or have them sent to your email as a sound attachment. You don’t need a phone to get your voice mail messages.

You also don’t need a phone to get your FAX messages. Any time that someone sends a FAX to your toll free number, that FAX message is received and converted to an image that can be viewed online or sent to you as an email attachment. No matter where you are, if you have access to a computer or smartphone with an HTML Web browser, you can get your FAX messages.

There are also some fancier features such as virtual calling card. You call one of three voice mail access numbers and enter your toll free number and password. After that you can make outbound calls at the same rate as incoming calls. In most cases, that will be a lot cheaper than using a hotel phone.

The per minute rate for outgoing or incoming calls on your 800 number is just 6.9 cents per minute for calls that originate in the 48 US states. Calls from Alaska, Hawaii, US Territories or pay phones have a surcharge. For Alaska and Hawaii it’s an extra 7 cents a minute.

You also have conference calling available on your toll free service. Conduct conferences with up to 25 participants any time for as long as you like. Host them from your cell phone if you want. You’ll be charged the regular per minute rate for each conference participant that dials in on your toll free number.

Caller ID? You bet. You have the choice of setting the Caller ID to display your toll free number or the caller’s number. If you have several toll free numbers for several business opportunities, using the toll free number for caller ID let’s you know how to respond to a particular call.

Let’s recap. You can order an 800 toll free number right now and be using it in a matter of minutes. You pay $5 to reserve the number for your use and $5 a month for the complete array of toll free service features. Any incoming calls from the 48 US states will cost 6.9 cents per minute.

It’s quite a deal, right? This is reliable, high quality toll free service available without any contracts. It bills to your charge card. Want an even better deal? Get the same service features for $2 per number and $2 per month when you choose an 866, 877 or 888 toll free number instead of the more traditional 800 number.

Your Smartphone Business Office

Thanks to the miracle of microelectronics, we have now reached the age of the business office in the palm of your hand. This is great news for the empowerment of employees on the go and independent professionals. No longer are you tethered to a desk in a building just to have your necessary tools available. No longer do you have to lug a ton of equipment to gain mobility. Well, most of us sure don’t.

The key to all this freedom of movement is the smartphone. The smartphone takes a cell phone and adds a computer. They each have their own wireless networks, but can work in concert to help you get your job done.

Your voice connection is through the cell phone. Many business people add a Bluetooth headset to eliminate the weight of holding the phone to their ear, but also so that they can see the screen and use the apps while they are talking.

Here’s a point to consider when you select your phone and carrier. Some 3G smartphones can operate as cell phones and computers simultaneously. The iPhone 3GS is advertised as having this capability. Some other phones on the AT&T network can do this too if they have UMTS/HSDPA capability. But there are other phones and networks can only work in one mode at a time. If you need to actively search the web or enter data as you are talking, make sure that your device can do voice and data at the same time.

What makes a cellphone a computer is specialized software and a broadband connection. Cellular broadband is also called 3G or third generation. Connection speeds similar to basic DSL services are typical. On the small screen, Web pages should load quickly and give you that interactivity you are used to on a larger computer. Some smartphones have virtual keyboards that appear on the touchscreen. Others have hidden QWERTY keyboards that slide out so you’ll have that familiar tactile feedback.

Another thing to note with cellular broadband is that 3G coverage areas are often smaller than voice service areas. If you range outside of the 3G footprint, you’ll still have a data connection but the speed will slow way down. Most carriers have decent 3G coverage in metropolitan areas. It’s when you get out of town that 3G is harder to find. Check coverage maps for the areas where you tend to spend the majority of your time to make sure you have solid network signals and broadband data speeds.

WiFi Internet is even faster than 3G. If you really want blazing fast Web access, get a phone that supports both the carrier’s 3G network and WiFi b/g networks. That way you can park at a coffee shop, enjoy a cup of java and a muffin, and get lots done. Just be sure to find a quiet corner and talk softly if you are going to be on the phone a lot.

There are a couple of accessory services that can enhance your smartphone office. A low cost toll free number gives you a professional image and encourages prospects and clients to call you from wherever they happen to be. The Kall8 toll free service also sends you voice mail and FAX messages as email attachments. You can change the ring-to number from your cell to your home or office phone if desired. That way people have only a single number to remember to get in touch with you.

If you make overseas calls, you know that calling from a cellphone is either very expensive or impossible. But add the Tel3 international dial-around service and you can call from the US to just about anywhere on Earth for just pennies a minute. Now your smartphone becomes an international business phone. If you are going overseas, be sure to get a smartphone that has quad band GSM capability so it will work on foreign networks. A OneSimCard international SIM card can make those calls from outside the country a lot less expensive that they would otherwise be.

If you can make all of this work, you can pack really light for those trips away from the home office. You entire tool set tucks into a shirt or jacket pocket. Checked luggage? What’s that?

Scale Into Toll Free Number Service

You’ve been thinking that toll free numbers would be a big boost for your business. But it’s also been hard to commit to plunking down a major chunk of change to order a suite of numbers and their monthly service fees. What if this isn’t such a great idea after all? What if the business doesn’t expand the way you think it will? What if most of those numbers just sit there unused but still require a substantial monthly expense to keep them active?

Whoa! There’s no need to dig yourself into that hole. Don’t go making a major commitment until you know your toll free service will generate a handsome profit. Instead, just dip a toe into the water and see what happens.

That toe is perhaps a single toll free number. What you want is a way to try the service with all the features, but limited to just a single trial number or a few at most. That way you can publish a toll free number and get a feel for how everything works but limit your cost exposure.

Is there a toll free service that offers this ability to started small and grow as large as you need? Indeed there is. It’s Kall8 toll free service.

Just what do you get with Kall8? It’s a service that’s designed for small businesses with the scalability to serve major corporations. The heart of the service is your online account manager. Use your Internet Web browser to set up your numbers and change those settings at will. When you want to expand your number portfolio, you can easily click the button for “Add New Number” any time you wish. There’s also 24 hour customer service, toll free of course, if you want assistance at any time.

Some of the features you can change on the fly include the ring-to number, Voice Mail, FAX reception, virtual calling card, Caller ID, maximum call length, call routing, and call blocking. While you are in your account, you can view call history, pick up FAXes that you didn’t happen to see in your email, and listen to voice mail messages that you also didn’t have a chance to retrieve by calling-in or via email attachment.

So how much of a commitment are we talking about to try this sophisticated toll free service? Would you be shocked to learn that it’s just $2 to acquire an 866, 877 or 888 toll free number and $2 a month to maintain it. That plus the 6.9 cents per minute for incoming calls from the US 48 states. Classic 800 numbers are also available at a slightly higher cost.

Oh, but what about the contractual commitment?

Contract? What contract? There is no contract. You can cancel your service anytime and all it costs is what you’ve paid to date. There’s no cancellation fee unless you decide to keep the number and take it elsewhere. But why would you? This is the best toll free deal going.

Are you teetering on the edge of trying this service? With so little to lose and potentially so much to gain, why not order a toll free number and service right now. It’s an automated online process, so your number is ready for use as soon as you’ve completed ordering. Try it for a few months and see how much you come to depend on your new toll free service. Then go into your account and add more numbers as your needs grow. It’s so fast, easy, cheap and low risk that you’ll wish all your business services worked like this.

Vanity, Thy Number is Toll Free

Is there a place for vanity in business? You bet there is. Any technology that gives you an edge over your competition is worth considering, including a vanity toll free number.

So, what's the difference between a vanity number and any other toll free number? The answer lies in the relationship between letters and numbers on the standard telephone keypad. It's been long standardized that the 1 button does not have any letters printed on it. But 2 has a, b, and c. The number 3 button has d, e, and f. And so on up through 9.

One benefit of associating letters with numbers is that you can now dial phone numbers by spelling out words. For instance, someone selling boats might want the number 1-877-48-BOATS which is the same as 1-877-482-6287. A bridal shop might find that customers could more easily remember 1-866-59-BRIDE than 1-866-592-7433. That's especially true if they saw the number on a billboard or heard it on the radio or TV and didn't have a way to write down the number at the time.

1-877-48-BOATS, 1-866-59-BRIDE, and others such as 1-877-51-BOOKS, 1-866-96-CONDO, 1-866-531-DEBT, 1-866-760-FOOD, 1-877-967-TECH, 1-877-80-TOOTH, 1-866-50-YOUTH and 1-866-546-YOGA are all examples of vanity toll free numbers. They are also all available as of this writing for the small sum of $15 to reserve any of them for your exclusive use.

Really? It costs only $15 to get a memorable toll free number for business, organizational, or personal use? It does if you order from the right place.

A leader in toll free services, including toll free numbers is Kall8. What makes them a leader, perhaps THE leader in this field, is that you get an impressive array of features, a huge collection of numbers already set up and ready to order, and dirt cheap pricing. For vanity numbers, the pricing is $15 to order the number, $15 a month to maintain exclusive use of that number, and 6.9 cents per minute for calls that come in on that vanity number.

Can you think of any other business service that can help you get and keep customers at such a small cost? If not, don't wait a second longer. Pick your toll free vanity number from a list of dozens and dozens currently available and order quickly and easily online. All it takes is a credit card a few minutes and you'll be ready to go.

Better hurry. Now that I've mentioned these particular numbers, other readers might decide to grab them for their own businesses. You likely won't be too disappointed, however. There are so many good numbers available that you're likely to find at least one that exactly fits your needs. You should also know that while most vanity numbers are priced at $15 each, there are some that are so valuable, so easy to remember and so in demand that they command higher prices, say $20, $25 or $30 each. Even so, that's pretty cheap for something that can help you increase business just by being easier to remember than your competition's numerical phone number.

If you want to get started with toll free numbers even cheaper, there are many that are not claimed to be vanity numbers available for $2 each and $2 per month plus the cost of calls. Now, a clever person could go through the available numbers substituting letters for numbers and see what can be spelled out. You never know. You could wind up with the cheapest vanity toll free numbe of all.

Will Cell Phones Replace Laptop Computers?

The laptop computer has grown to replace the yellow legal pad as the key mobile business tool. But laptop computers may be on the way out too. They are big, heavy and power hungry. By comparison, a 7 oz. legal pad that tucks under your arm and never needs charging starts to look pretty attractive again. The move is on to find mobile processing that has the right speed and connectivity without all the heft. Could the end result actually wind up being a cell phone?

The idea of the cell phone that does everything is compelling. Most everyone is carrying a cell phone these days. That gives you voice communications for sure. But data communications has been infiltrating the cellular world for years. It started simply enough as SMS text messaging. Then came built-in email and, finally, full HTML Web browsers.

The BlackBerry device is a perfect example of a cellular phone fine-tuned for business applications. It typically sports a good size display screen and a full QWERTY keyboard located just below the screen in a chunky candybar package. The key development that made BlackBerry the darling of corporate America is the secure "push" email service offered by RIM. Most BlackBerry devices also have the ability to read Microsoft Office documents and PDF attachments to email messages.

The BlackBerry Storm advances the technology by going with a touch screen and virtual keyboard that includes tactile feedback. The idea behind the virtual keyboard is to save real estate on the phone so that it can be redeployed as a larger screen size. A bigger screen makes Web browsing and document reading easier. In fact, at screen sizes of 3 inches diagonal or so, the phone display becomes something akin to a very small computer display.

The touch screen smartphone may well be the next generation of integrated telephone-computer mobile technology. Samsung is pressing this direction with models such as the Instinct, Delve, Behold, and Glyde. LG is competing with its Vu, Shine, and Voyager models.

What has really kick-started the smartphone revolution is the ready availability of cellular broadband service. The large carriers AT&T and Verizon have been in a frenzy to upgrade their tower sites to enable broadband data speeds of typically 700 Kbps download with bursts to twice that and, in some cases, several Mbps bandwidth. That's fast enough to easily access today's business websites and use Internet-based applications. Video downloads also become practical at broadband speeds.

But some users are frustrated by having to choose between a 7 lb laptop and a 3 oz cell phone. They would really like something in-between. That's the void being filled by notebook and netbook computers. Both are much smaller than the traditional 12 to 15 inch laptop screen size - perhaps half that. They also chuck such size and weight boosting accessories as floppy drives or even CD / DVD drives. Do you really need these while out on business calls?

Some netbooks are now coming with cellular broadband connectivity built-in rather than needing a separate aircard. You buy a data only plan from the appropriate carrier and you have connectivity in your car or at a client's office. No need to search out WiFi hotspots in restaurants or hotels, the mainstay of laptop Internet service. The other coming netbook development is the touchscreen tablet form factor. These will essentially look like large smartphones. They may even have voice capability via VoIP, but you'll wind up using a headset as you'll look a bit silly holding a netbook up to your ear.

This year is likely to see a technology battle between traditional portable computers and smartphones for mobile supremacy. Right now it looks like smartphones are going to proliferate but netbook computers may as well. After all, each has its usability advantages.

Laptop Too Big? Try a Tablet

You'd like to tote your laptop computer everywhere. That is, if it didn't make your arm fall off. Internet enabled cell phones certainly take care of that size and weight problem. But then you have the challenge of dealing with the itty bitty buttons and the teeny tiny screen. It sure would be nice if there was something in-between. What you want is a device that will fit in the palm of your hand, yet have a screen big enough to easily use the Internet and Web based tools. Have you considered an Internet media tablet?

The Archos 7 Internet media tablet is a high end model of the ultra mobile computer. Think of a device that looks like a much larger version of the iPhone. It's all touch screen on front. That way you get a 7 inch color touch display with a resolution of 800x480 pixels. That's big enough to render Web pages directly, so you don't have to slide around peeking at little slices of the page content. Your browser is the Opera Web browser with Adobe Flash 9 video support, just like on a larger machine. You also get a PDF viewer and Email client.

Hmmm. Where's the keyboard? It's on the screen, of course. To continue the iPhone analogy, you use a touch screen keyboard for your data entry. Of course, the Archos 7 has a much larger keyboard because it has a much larger screen.

Connectivity is via built-in Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g access. You also have the option to plug-in a 3.5G cellular broadband adapter with a USB connector to a mini-dock adaptor. That should be everything you need to get on the Internet.

Now, truth be told, the Archos 7 and other members of the Internet media table product line are really targeted for multi-media on the go. Hence, the "media" tablet designation. What types of media? Movies, music, photos. Even high definition video, Web radio and TV, video podcasts, and video recording using the optional "helmet cam."

A helmet cam? It's a tubular video camera that connects to the Archos tablet so you can use it as a camcorder. I suppose you could strap it to a cycle helmet and go zooming down the street. Too bad about anybody subject to motion sickness who happens to be watching the results.

Video support includes MPEG-4, WMV, and M-JPEG. Audio support is MP3, WMA, Protected WMA, WMA pro 5.1 and WAV. There are additional plug-ins to support other formats such as MPEG-4 (ASP 720p) & WMV HD (MP 720p), H.264 up to DVD resolution with AAC, MPEG-2 MP@ML up to 10 Mbps (up to DVD resolution) and AC3 stereo sound (5.1).

How about storage capacity? Forget those little memory cards you plug into cell phones. This Archos 7 comes with 320 GB capacity so you can enjoy up to 400 movies, 3.2 million photos, or 190,000 songs before you run out of room. Battery life is a generous 12 hours for listening to music or 4 hours for watching videos.

If you feel your needs are gravitating toward more multimedia applications on a mobile basis, you might want to think about one of these media tablets to bring along. You'll also have access to the Internet on at least a casual basis. For some users, this could be just the right combination for personal and business use.

Ignore That PBX Behind the Curtain

You work in a two person office but you know that you're better than that big firm down the street. You just don't sound like it. Especially since you haven't quite got the cash flow to hire a full time receptionist and your one partner answers the phone, "hello there." The other partner works from a home office 500 miles away and is on the road most of the time anyway. Isn't there some techno magic that can make bankers, suppliers and customers think they're talking to a Fortune 500 Corporation?

Of course. Don't you know that in the virtual world all things are possible? In this case the magic you need is a solution called "virtual PBX", but not just any virtual PBX system. You want iTeleCenter.

Here's why. If you really worked at that big firm down the street you'd be using a real PBX or Private Branch Exchange telephone system. That's the technology that puts a phone on every desktop, gives you an extension or directly dialable phone number, lets you transfer calls at will and get an outside line by pressing the number 9. PBX phone systems are de rigueur (French for you're behind the curve if you don't have one) for big business. The one thing they are not is cheap.

So you've got a couple multi-line phones you bought at the office supply store and hope you can grab the incoming calls before your genius but oh-too-casual partner can answer. What iTeleCenter can do is to transform your existing phone or phones into a professional grade PBX telephone system. Take note. This is really important for anyone who has nightmares about the bottom line turning red. iTeleCenter uses your existing phones regardless of whether they are gigantic executive desk phones, cordless handsets, cellphones, or candlestick phones like the ones Al Capone used in the Roaring 20's. OK, not the last type unless you buy a modern replica.

Most virtual PBX systems are based on VoIP. You have to buy all new phones of a particular type enabled for the service and connect them to your broadband Internet service. But if you can't afford a PBX system, chances are you've got the cheapest DSL or Cable Broadband you can get just for Internet access. Those connections are problematic for decent voice quality. Problematic in that just as you're closing a major new client, some kid gets home from school and starts downloading videos that hog all the bandwidth assigned to your area. Your voice gets distorted, you start to cut off each other's speech, and the call dumps mid-sentence. Bye, bye big contract.

iTeleCenter is so virtual that it stealthily enables all your regular phones to be big business phones. You keep the same phones and phone lines. They just have more functions. What functions? How about a customizable main greeting, also called an auto-attendant? This is the first thing that callers hear and will direct them to the proper extension. Don't let your partners record this. Have it professionally done by iTeleCenter.

Extensions? Sure. They're numbered from 1 to 999. You can have an extension ring to yourself, your partners and employees at their desks or wherever they may roam, even sub-contractors and third party support vendors. Each extension has its own login with call forwarding, mailbox and message notification settings. Go ahead and give yourself 3 or 4 extensions called "departments." Major sales prospects will think your company has gotten huge overnight. Those extensions, by the way, can also be configured for FAX on demand, message taking voicemail, question and answer, greeting only or automatic call distribution.

There's a lot more to iTeleCenter including toll free numbers, call screening, integration with Microsoft Outlook, dial-by-name directory and music on hold. But rather than spend hours reading about it, why not take a 7 day free trial? If you like the way it works, and how could you not, plans start at under ten bucks a month. Don't stay small-time a minute more, when you could be sounding big, big, BIG. Learn more and start your iTeleCenter 7 day free trial right now.

Take a Conference, Save the Carbon

Conference calls have always been a tool of the trade for business, but one that is used sporadically or for special projects. Web conferencing is the Internet equivalent. By adding display screens to the discussion you can include bullet charts and graphics in the conversation. Still, it's hit and miss usage. When would it make sense to integrate conferencing into daily activities as a way of doing business, instead of just another tool for doing business?

There are several forces at work that may indeed cause such a tipping point. One is the advance of technology. Everybody has a computer on their desk. Many conference rooms are set up with Internet access and large electronic display screens or projectors. Speaker phones are everywhere. Where speakers cause too much disruption to non-participants, telephone headsets are an inexpensive solution. The move to enterprise VoIP is merging computers and telephones into coordinated, if not combined, voice and data solutions.

Technology makes it possible to do things that people don't necessary embrace just because they can. We all have our set work patterns honed over the years. The larger the number of people who have to change to something new, the more compelling the reason has to be. That reason might soon be cost. It's hardly news that the economy is sputtering along, with many businesses from banking to manufacturing scrambling for revenue. The idea of "cost cutting" seems to automatically suggest "chopping heads." But at some point the lack of adequate human resources results in poor business performance, worsening the financial situation. That's when a completely different way of doing things needs to be embraced.

A third factor that may have seemed arcane only a few years ago is the environment. There's a lot more awareness now about recycling, energy efficiency and carbon footprints. Flying large numbers of employees all over the country has been standard practice in many companies. It's expensive, polluting, time consuming, and in some cases a nuisance for the traveler. But it's expected by customers, suppliers, and peer organizations. Then again, maybe not so much anymore.

These three converging forces, availability of new technology, the need to reduce costs, and a desire to do one's part to help the environment, may actually be vectors acting in the same direction. Weigh the savings of lower travel expenses, recovered productive time, and reduced carbon production against the incremental cost to make audio, video and Web conferencing the defacto means of team collaboration. Instead of having groups walk, drive or fly to a common location to exchange ideas, they met in person less frequently but communicate electronically more frequently. Electronic collaboration can include team members that were previously relegated to the fringes, such as home workers, road warriors, field reps, ad-hoc consultants, and those stationed at remote sites.

One of the advertised benefits of hosted VoIP solutions is the ability to create virtual organizations that include far-flung members. Group members and anyone calling-in can't really tell that everyone isn't in the same physical space. An IP based phone system doesn't really care where on the network the instruments are located. Across the country is just as close as across the room.

Audio conferencing extends the concept of virtual meetings to include large groups such as independent sales representatives, field offices, franchisees, and prospective customers. Reservation-less conferences let you initiate an audio conference by dialing a toll free number and having participants do likewise. PIN codes give you access to a private conference room on a per-minute or volume rate whenever you need to get together.

Web Conferencing has also gotten simpler and cheaper. You can pay per-minute or a low flat fee per month to have a Web conference room that doesn't require participants to download any software. They just use the Internet connected computers they already have. You can present Microsoft PowerPoint slides or JPEG images, share an application or document, conduct polls in real-time, text chat, and use drawing tools on a virtual white board. All of this using 128 bit SSL security to protect your intellectual property from snoops.

Combine audio conferencing via telephone with Web Conferencing via Internet tools and you've got an environment where teams can work together on a regular basis without the disruption of having to get up and go somewhere. Need more face to face? That's where video conferencing and the very high-end telepresence can create a more in-person feel to meetings. By integrating this collaboration technology into normal daily work practice, you may be surprised by how seldom you really need to "go to a real meeting."