Here’s Why Companies Actually Want BYOD

By: John Shepler

Do you wince when someone brings up the topic of BYOD or Bring Your Own Device? It can be more than an ulcer producer for IT managers. The whole company’s intellectual property can be put at risk by employees blissfully aware of the threats. They bring in what they want and connect it to the company network. Your carefully planned security protocols go out the window. What to do?

Most companies have drawn a clear line between what belongs to the company and what belongs to the individual. Unable to manage the wild and wooly world of consumer electronics configurations, they simply lay down the law and say you can’t use your personal phone, laptop or tablet for company business. But since you clearly need technology to do your job, something has to give. In frustration, the company issues you a corporate smartphone, laptop or tablet that are only used for business. Does that put the issue to rest?

Oh, not really. Smaller companies can’t afford to pony up the capital to hand out gadgets to everyone who needs or wants them. They may simply wince and take their chances that nothing will go horribly wrong. Larger operations install firewalls and other means to protect key information and hope they will be a bulwark against data going out and intruders coming in. Meanwhile, employees continue to casually use their own equipment, both inside and outside the company, for business activities.

Why? Partly because it’s more convenient. Also because everybody likes what they’ve customized for their own use. They don’t want to be carrying two copies of everything and switching back and forth. They don’t want to have to mentally jog between different hardware and different operating systems. It’s just not human nature.

Is there anyway to bridge this gulf and make everybody happy? One answer may be found in the new XO WorkTime service. It’s a cloud based UC (Unified Communications) application that integrates your company’s communications systems with employee smartphones and laptops. In effect, the personal devices become access devices to the same resources provided within the corporate walls.

So, here’s why you actually want BYOD… as long as you keep it under your control with an app like XO WorkTime. The first big advantage is capital investment. Why should you as a company manager spend thousands or millions of dollars to build and manage a pool of equipment when your employees will do that for you at their expense. You don’t have to buy them a smartphone because they’ve already bought their own iPhone or Android smartphone.

The next big advantage is happier employees. You’re no longer on their case about turning off their personal gadgets inside the company. Less nagging, less spying, less scolding and everybody’s in a better mood. It gets even better when employees realize that they have their desk phones on their personal phones. They can roam at will and be connected with other employees and customers effortlessly.

Here’s how this works. Your company needs to be using XO’s VoIP service internally. These include IP Flex, IP Flex with VPN, SIP, Enterprise SIP and Hosted PBX services. You simply install the XO WorkTime application on every device that needs it. At that point employee devices have a dual personality. They are work phones and they are personal phones.

The personal side remains unchanged. Personal apps and information are the same as they were. They also remain outside of the company side of the WorkTime app. What happens on the personal side stays on the personal side.

What happens on the business side also stays on the business side. You can safely transport business communications using encryption and VPN tunneling. Your company applications stay in a secure, password protected environment.

Employees have their business calling plan and office number while they are in WorkTime mode. They’ll use the same calling features they use in the office from the WorkTime applications while on the go. That includes features such as simultaneous ring on desk, smartphone or home computer plus presence, IM and video. On-net, local and inbound calls are free. Long distance calls are included in the company plan and don’t count against your personal minutes.

Are you frustrated with the cost and security problems related to enabling mobile business communications? Get expert consulting to learn more about how XO WorkTime and other sophisticated hosted VoIP services can work to your advantage.

Send Fax From Email On Your Computer or Smartphone

Remember the fax machines of yore? Yes, the ones with the rolls of thermal paper. Those fax messages always had kind of a funny feel to them and the nasty habit of fading over time. So, the thing to do was take your incoming fax messages and copy them onto plain paper with a laser printer. Then go wash your hands to get rid of that icky feeling.

Fax has come a long way since its early roots. Thermal paper has gone the way of photostatic copies. Even the ubiquitous business fax machine is now an endangered species. What’s replacing it? Electronic transmission and storage in the cloud, of course.

The thing to do now is send and receive fax messages via email. At first glance, this seems like one step too many. Since email can send and receive messages just fine on its own, what do you need fax for?

Fax messaging is still a staple of many business processes. The term “fax” is short for “facsimile.” A facsimile means an exact copy of something. Think of fax machines as copiers that are hooked together over a telecommunications link. Whatever you load into one machine comes out as a copy on the other.

This is the value of fax messages. It’s a way of sending copies of business documents with original signatures and hand written notations across long distances. Fax was originally implemented as a replacement for messenger services and overnight mail. An exact copy of the original document has more business value than a message about what is in the document.

Many businesses still have and will keep their stand-alone fax machines. Home office users and smaller operations may use an “all-in-one” printer that doubles as a copier and fax machine. What about when you are away from the office? You can’t haul that beast in the back seat of the car, can you? The traditional workaround has been to visit an office supply store or other business that offers fax service to send or receive a message. Now you can skip all that and use your smartphone or laptop computer.

Yes, it is possible to cram a fax machine into your iPhone or Android smartphone. Well, in the form of an app, anyway. How does it do the scanning? With your phone’s camera. You simply take pictures of your document pages and then send them to the fax number of your choice. You can create a cover sheet right on the phone if you need one. At the other end, the document copy comes rolling out of the office fax machine with no one the wiser that you’ve done it all on your smartphone.

You can also receive fax messages on your smartphone. In fact, with any computer and a broadband connection you can both send and receive faxes from the office, the coffee shop or wherever you happen to be. You send faxes as email attachments. You also receive faxes as email attachments. The person or company sending you the fax dials a local or toll free phone number that is just for your faxes. Their machine sends out the fax message and you receive it as an email attachment.

Would you like the freedom and versatility of doing your business faxing via the Internet? If so, then you’ll be interested in a free 30 day trial of paperless faxing by email. The software you’ll need for your computers is free to download. Be sure to also get the smartphone app for the ultimate in mobile faxing.

What To Do With Old Cell Phones and Electronics

You’ve just upgraded to the new Android smartphone or iPhone of your dreams. Yet, that trusty smartphone that just came off contract is still hanging around. It would work fine if it had a service plan, which it does not. You don’t need it. You don’t want it any more. You wish it would just leave. But it won’t. It has nowhere else to go.

So, you keep it around and the years go by. Eventually, you open a drawer and there it is. In your surprise you just want to exclaim, “Are you still here?”

Oh, you hurt its feelings. Well, you would have if it had feelings. It’s just a chunk of inert technology now. The battery is long dead and gone. No point in trying to recharge it. This model is too old to do much of anything even if it had power. What a shame. When you think that this marvel of electronics was once worth hundreds of dollars, you start to wonder, “Could I have sold it and at least gotten some cash?”

Oh, you could have done better than that. You might have pocketed a nice crisp Benjamin if you’d spent 10 or 15 minutes online right after you made the upgrade between phones. Yep, $100 or maybe even more for a few minutes work. But noooooo. You couldn’t be bothered even trying to sell your late model working cell phone. It just seemed like too much trouble to figure out how to do it and probably a lot of grief trying to make the sale.

Well, here’s some good news for next time. There are companies that recycle old cell phones and electronics that are chafing at the bit to make you a competitive offer for your smartphone. No nonsense with trying to run an auction. No waiting for people to show up at your door and wasting your time just looking. This is all done online with no muss, no fuss, no grief.

Here’s how it works. You simply find the make and model of your device using the search box and the aptly named “Get Paid!” button. You’ll then have to check a few buttons for questions like working or not working, screen damage, water damage, broken parts, condition from like new to heavy wear, and which accessories you still have. Even if you are a little groggy this should take no more than 5 or 10 minutes. Then click the “Find Top Cash Offers” button.

You are likely to get multiple offers, because this particular operation is an aggregator for recyclers who actually make the offers and buy your phone. The advantage of using this service is that you don’t have to hunt down multiple buyers and get offers from each individually. That can take hours or more. You know those travel sites that give you multiple airline flights or hotel deals? It works something like that. It’s one stop shopping to get cash offers for your cell phone and other electronics.

Did you notice the question about screen damage? It’s not a disqualifier. Companies really will buy a cell phone with a cracked screen. So, if you have water damage, cracked screen, broken parts, or lots of apparent wear and tear on your phone, give it a try anyway. You might be surprised by how much money you can get for that piece of.... well... that unfortunate mobile device.

Say you get 5 offers for your phone from five different buyers. You can just pick the highest price immediately and click the “Get Paid” button. Or, you can choose to read the reviews about the companies you have in mind before you commit. Either way, once you’ve accepted the offer you are done for the night.

What happens next is that you’ll get a pre-paid shipping label or even a pre-paid shipping box delivered to your door. Either way, you will not have to pay to send in your device. The buyer takes care of that. Now take a few minutes and pack it up. Then drop it at the shipper next time you go out. Your work, my friend, is done.

When your equipment arrives at the buyer’s site, it will be unpacked, inspected and tested. As long as it agrees with what you described, the offer holds and you’ll get paid what you agreed to. You can have them mail a check or save the paper and get a deposit into your PayPal account. Your choice. Either way, you’ll be richer in a couple of weeks or so.

Here’s some even better news. This service also works for tablets, e-readers, game consoles, MP3 players and digital cameras as well as a wide variety of feature phones and smartphones. As you might suspect, the more valuable your device was originally and the sooner you get an offer, the more you’ll be paid. Obviously, if it’s too old there isn’t any value left. But don’t jump to the conclusion that you have nothing worth money. Gather up your items and spend some fun time online getting offers for your old cell phones and electronics right now.

NobelDialer Makes International Phone Cards Painless

International phone rates have come down over the years, but not that much. Many people have adopted the prepaid phone card as a way to get bargain basement prices for their international phone calls. But phone cards can be a pain to use compared to just direct dialing the number you want. What would be ideal is the rates of a prepaid card with the dialing convenience of a standard long distance plan.

NobelCom has come up with an app for your favorite smartphone that makes the dialing easy again. It’s called the NobelDialer and it’s free. You have your choice of downloads for iPhone, Android or BlackBerry.

What does the NobelDialer app do? It automatically dials the access number, PINs and destination numbers for the calls you want to make. You can call your address book contacts or do a fast dial through a favorites screen. It maintains a built-in list of access numbers and call history. The NobelDialer even works with PIN-less calling cards to use ANI or automatic number identification by the service provider. If you need help, there’s a toll free number to call for assistance.

Here’s how to use the NobelDIaler. You download and install the application software for the particular brand of smartphone you own. It comes customized for iPhones, Android phones and BlackBerry devices. Then launch NobelDialer and follow a one time 3 step setup wizard to get started. What then? Start calling. Enter the country code and destination number. You don’t need to include the “011” or “+” portion of the international number.

You don’t change your long distance service or make any changes to your cell phone plan with NobelCom. This is an add-on service that you use only when you want to save money on long distance phone calls. In most cases, this means calls to another country that either cost a fortune with your current phone service or are blocked completely.

NobelCom specializes prepaid calling cards like the ones you find at convenience stores, but with more options and better rates. Prepaid calling cards can give you excellent calling rates, such as 1.2 cents per minute to France or China, 13.4 cents per minute to Afghanistan and 3.9 cents per minute to Iraq. Calls to Mexico start at 2 cents per minute, with Italy and South Korea at a mere 1.4 cents per minute. Is it possible to call overseas for less than a penny a minute? Yes. Call the United Kingdom for 0.9 cents per minute. All of these are advertised rates on the NobelCom site as of this writing.

There’s a real art to maximizing the potential of prepaid calling cards and NobelCom helps guide you through it. Every card has a certain rates and conditions. Some have rock bottom per minute rates, but charge you a weekly maintenance fee. Some have a connection fee. Rounding can be to the nearest second, minute, or multiple minutes. That’s important if you make a lot of short calls. You don’t want to make a dozen 1 minute calls but have them rounded to 4 minutes minimum. If you are going to make just one or two calls for an hour, then the rounding isn’t so important.

You can call to just about any country or from any country on Earth with prepaid calling cards. It’s just a matter of picking the right card to meet your needs. If you have a smartphone, don’t forget to get the NobelDialer and really make dialing a fast and easy process.

Smartphone Charger and Backup Battery

Batteries are the bane of our existence. Can’t live with their pitiful charge. Can’t toss ‘em because then you’re completely dead in the water. Have you been a victim of short battery life? Have you been stranded powerless in the middle of nowhere, especially at restaurants? What you need is the ZAGGsparq 2.0.

ZAGGsparq 2.0 is two devices in one. First it’s a charger for all your USB charged devices. That’s pretty much everything these days. Second, it’s a backup battery with up to four time the charge contained in your device’s battery. Charge it when you have a outlet handy. Use it to power or recharge your gadgets where there are no outlets to be found. Check out this short video to get the overview.



Note that the ZAGGsparq 2.0 has two types of USB ports. One offers an optimized charge for devices that are capable of taking advantage of this feature. The Apple iPhone, iPad and iPod can make good use of this. The other port is a plain vanilla USB charger that works with other devices that don’t use the optimized USB charging specification.

The ZAGGsparq 2.0 is specifically engineered to charge the Apple iPad. Amazingly, it adds an additional 5 to 6 hours of video playback to the iPad. It will also extend the operation of your iPhone or iPod when you are running low but not in situation where you can pull out a conventional charger and plug it in.

You’re looking at a 6,000 mAh Lithium Polymer battery with the power to charge most smartphones 4 times, the yellow LED’s onboard indicate the amount of charge available in steps of 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. You can plug it into any outlet with 100 to 240 VAC @ 50/60 Hz. Maximum output power is 2000 mA (2 Amps) at 5V.

All this fits into a package 3.5 x 3.5 x 1 inch. That’s easily small enough to fit into pocket, purse or other bag. How much does it weigh? Just 8.6 ounces - about half a pound.

Does this sound like just the accessory you’ve been desperately needing? If so, learn more and order your ZAGGsparq 2.0 charger and backup battery now.

Fixed Mobile Convergence Includes Android and iPhone

When we think of network convergence, it is generally in terms of engineering the LAN, MAN and WAN to support voice, video and data. Network convergence is at the heart of the productivity and cost savings offered by enterprise VoIP solutions. Even so, there is still one piece missing. That’s the mobile phone. This is where FMC or Fixed Mobile Convergence comes into play.

The idea behind FMC is that cell phones, especially smartphones, are now so ubiquitous that they have to be included in the corporate communications structure or there will be a big hole in the system. It’s especially true for sales people, field engineers, and anyone else who spends a significant amount of time out of the office and away from the desk phone. It’s also true, perhaps unfortunately, that we’re in a 24/7 world where important calls may come in at any time.

Some employees handle this situation with workarounds, such as setting up the office phone to forward to their cell phone when they leave the office. That’s fine when they remember. If not, voice mail becomes the communications method of last resort. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have the office phone system extended to include your mobile phone?

Smoothstone IP Communications thinks so and is now making their Mobile Connect app available to both Android and iPhone using customers. What Mobile Connect does integrate your smartphone into the enterprise communications platform. You then have one number, your work number, that rings on both your desk phone and your cell phone. When you place an outgoing call, the Caller ID reflects your work number, not your personal mobile number. Other calling features include access to the company directory, low cost international calling, 4-digit on-net dialing, visual voice mail and one-touch access to listen to and manipulate voice mail messages.

There are also advanced features from Smoothstone’s VoiceMAXX system that carry over to Mobile Connect. These include call recording and centralized call detail reporting.

VoiceMAXX is Smoothstone’s cloud based PBX telephone system. It relieves businesses of the need to invest in and maintain an on-premises PBX system, yet has the flexibility to integrate with and extend an existing PBX.

Cloud hosted PBX is a pay-as-you go proposition that easily scales to include more users as needed. With a cloud solution, you don’t have to over-provision your system to allow for growth. You simply buy more capacity as you need it. You also don’t have the agony of a “fork lift upgrade” that involves ripping out your old PBX and replacing it with a new one of higher capacity, more modern design or more features. All of those capital investment, installation, upgrades and daily maintenance tasks are taken care of by the cloud service provider. You just concentrate on those things that advance the business you are in.

Is your existing business telephone system creaking at the seams, or are you ready for the higher productivity that comes from advanced features such as fixed mobile convergence? If so, learn more and get pricing for cloud hosted PBX telephone services scaled to match the needs of your business, be it small, medium or enterprise level.

Your Ally In The Android vs iPhone Battle

LG’s first Android phone is a winner right out of the gate. The LG Ally for Verizon Wireless offers an impressive array of features and the ability to customize your phone with tens of thousands of apps from the Android Market.

Is texting or email an important part of your mobile activities? If so, you’ll love the ability to use real keys instead of poking at a glass screen. The LG Ally offers both a 3.2 inch touch screen and a slide out full QWERTY keyboard with nicely sized physical keys. You’ve got 5 home screens to customize, so just go nuts with those Android apps.

This is also a social networking phone. The included LG Socialite widget lets you manage your Facebook and Twitter accounts simultaneously. Why have to choose when you can have both? What fun is voicemail unless you can view and manage it on your cell phone. This one has that capability.

As you can see, the LG Ally has some unique capabilities. But it also has all the standard Internet and multimedia capabilities that you expect in an advanced smartphone. Text message and multimedia messaging are built-in. So is an email client that supports push Gmail and Exchange. The Android Webkit HTML5-based Web browser puts the Web at your fingertips. Verizon’s 3G EVDO Rev A network and WiFi access connect you to the bandwidth you need to access the Web with ease.

You’re all set up to capture what you see with the 3.2 Megapixel digital camera. This one has modes similar to many higher priced digital cameras. You get night mode, macro mode, panorama, smile detection and beauty shot. Flash and auto-focus are part of this camera, as well as the ability to use it as a camcorder to capture videos that you can share with friends or your social network right from the phone.

Other useful features include integrated GPS that provides spoken turn-by-turn directions and real time traffic updates, MP3 player that lets you download MP3s from the Amazon Music Store, streaming multimedia support, Stereo Bluetooth so that you can stream your music in high quality to headphones and other compatible devices, and a lot more.

Does the this sound like the type of smartphone you’ve been looking for if you could afford it? Well, you can. Right now the LG Ally is free when you order it with new Verizon Wireless service. That deal may not last for long, so go for it this is the phone for you.

If you prefer, you can check out all the Android phones and other cell phone special offers now available through Cell Phone Plans Finder.

Amazing Sonos S5 Wireless Whole House Music System

Remember record players? I didn’t think so. How about stereos? They were ubiquitous in every dorm room and then every apartment and home. Record players and stereos are yesterday’s news, but high quality music listening is alive and well. If you want the latest in high performance equipment, you need to be looking at the Sonos S5 wireless music system.




What’s wrong with stereos? Nothing, if the local FM stations or your old Edgar Winter vinyl is all you need. Oh, you’ve upgraded to CDs? Great. Can you still buy those things?

I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I only poke fun a these traditional music systems (my Electro-Voice speakers still take up most of the living room cabinets) to emphasize the advances introduced by Sonos in their ZonePlayer S5 wireless multi-room music system. Each of these devices looks something like a bookshelf loudspeaker. But behind the grill are 5 separate speakers. There are 2 tweeters, 2 mid-range drivers and 1 subwoofer, each with their own Class-D digital amplifiers. The rest of the electronics package is a wireless connection system that allows you to set as many of these as you want around the house and they’ll all play the same song or each can play something different.

What’s driving the music? Your electronic song collection on your computer. You can also tune-in Internet music services, such as Pandora, or choose from a huge selection of Internet radio stations. You simply connect one of the S5 units to your router with an Ethernet cable and the others will form a mesh network to get a wireless connection.

What’s even cooler is the iPhone app for Sonos. Your iPhone or iPod touch becomes a portable controller to select what music plays on which ZonePlayer. Sonos also sells a dedicated controller if you don’t have the necessary Apple gadgets. Or go without the controller and use your computer to run the show.

You’ll have a hard time believing just how different this system is without watching the video and reading through the descriptions. Take a few minutes and check out the amazing Sonos ZonePlayer Wireless Music System .

iPhone Getting its Video in a Sling

Mobile video is developing along multiple lines, including carrier specific formats such as Verizon's VCAST and Sprint TV, and channel specific formats such as MediaFLO. Now Sling Media is entering the fray with a SlingPlayer for iPhone. This is potentially a game changer because it puts control of content back in the hands of the user.

Sling Media is best known for the Slingbox, a set top box that connects to your satellite receiver, DVR or Cable box, and a broadband connection. DSL or Cable broadband is used as a conduit to control the Slingbox and receive video from it on a computer located just about anywhere. It's as if you could pick up your TV set and carry it with you everywhere without trailing a collection of wires behind. The Slingbox and a WiFi hotspot take the place of those wires.

Alternatively, you could simply view IP video streamed or downloaded from Web sites while you are on the go. But this is currently a hit or miss proposition. Some networks offer full length programs after they've aired. Others only give you short teasers. Many popular satellite and cable channels don't offer the same content for Internet viewing. But with a Slingbox it doesn't matter. You input what you are already subscribing to and view it wherever you happen to be.

This isn't Sling Media's first foray into mobile video. They already have support for Windows Mobile, Palm OS or Symbian cell phones and PDAs. The iPhone version should hopefully be available soon. What the iPhone offers is a large and very high quality video display. The new iPhone with 3G data network capability will let you watch video content literally anywhere you can get a decent cellular signal. With the original iPhone you need the high bandwidth of a WiFi hotspot connection to enjoy the experience.

Corporate users aren't out in the cold, either. You might just want to access the business or news channels between customer calls or at lunch. But the ability to pick up any video without the need to first convert it to IP streaming, gives the Slingbox applications for video conferencing, security cameras, and pre-recorded videos from the home office or customer submissions.

As the iPhone advances to support corporate email, 3G and later 4G cellular data networks, Apple aficionados will have more ammo to lobby for the iPhone as an accepted business tool.