November 20, 2010
Filed under: IT — Alan @ 6:50 am
Cloudnet has a new savings program to encourage companies to use VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phone systems. Right now, if you choose Cloudnet as your Voice Over Internet Protocol provider, you can save £70 to £200 per handset.
Cloudnet will give away Siemens Cordless DECT phones or Grandstream Internet phones. This free handset offer remains in effect pending 1 January 2011. Cloudnet Connect is especially geared for businesses that want to avoid large set up charges. The service starts at about £8.50 each month plus calls.
The system utilizes all of the advanced business telephone utilities such as call recording, voice mail and call divert. All phone calls inside the Cloudnet Network are free, as are branch to branch calls. The system is Plug and Play Voice Over Internet Protocol, so there are no capital expenditures. You get free phones, along with online PBX. The international and national calling charges are low.
Cloudnet representatives say that in comparison to IP phones, their Voice Over Internet Protocol system, with free handsets, offers the best telecommunications options for businesses looking to reduce phone costs. Cloudnet claims to have the most cost-effective and easily installed Voice Over Internet Protocol system for small business applications.
October 29, 2010
Filed under: IT — Alan @ 6:48 pm
As the potential of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies for Development) is seen as being in swapping copper cables with networks of optical fibre. The Government has, as such, become bogged down with giving customers a better 2mbp service, which some believe is holding back the introduction of new technology. BT are committed to fibre optics but need reassurance that they can capitalise on any investment.
Ofcom are supporting the major players, knowing that these large ventures involving enormous amounts of money need to be encouraged by allowing a good financial return. Since BT launched the Openreach service, progress has ground to a halt so it believes that letting the networks set price levels for a more efficient service is justifiable.
The UK is the tenth most active user of Information Communication Technology as seen in the latest studies. This is despite the fact that it is one of the highest priced networks in Europe. This is a huge factor that keeps usage down, as consumers watch how much time they spend using their internet broadband and other services. .
September 15, 2010
Filed under: IT — Alan @ 8:47 pm
A new report from CA Technologies discovered that UK organizations lose around £2b every year due to their failure to effectively manage business systems. The detailed report showed that IT downtime causes organizations to lose about 300,000 hours per year.
On average, the report showed that it the time it takes to fix an IT system when it goes down costs most organizations around £208,000 per year in lost revenues.
The report also showed that when the IT systems are down organizations lose their about 22% of their average revenues.
However, the associated costs and downtime itself could be avoided in most cases if organizations took a better look at developing their disaster recovery strategies. CA Technologies recommends that businesses focus their efforts on speed of data recovery in an effort to form better data protection plans.
200 UK organizations were included in the survey report with each reporting to suffer from about 27 hours of downtime of their IT systems every year.
Also included in the survey were almost 2,000 organizations from across 11 European countries with France found to experience the largest amount of downtime and thus the largest subsequent revenue loss. France organizations are estimated to lose about £424,000 in revenues every year as a result of downtime.
On the other hand, Italy was found to have the best IT system protections in place only losing about an average of £29,000 in revenues every year.
April 27, 2010
Filed under: Business Tools,IT — admin @ 12:43 pm
Dubai has emerged in the last decade to reinvent itself away from being an oil producing nation into a major world player in the business, retail and entertainment markets. Its gigantic investments into all kinds of infrastructure, now means that it competes with the main Western destinations for all kinds of amenities such as hotels, conventions, theme parks and sports.
One of its major emerging sports and entertainment events is the Dubai Tennis Championships which is now very much a part of the main international tennis circuit and is jockeying for position against the big competitions such as Wimbledon.
The Dubai Tennis Championships now attract all of the big names in the tennis world, as well as a serious following from those that love the sport. As it has grown in popularity the event has also grown complexity, meaning that it now attracts large numbers of players as well as huge crowds who want to see and be seen at one of the world’s great sporting occasions.
All of this requires an incredible amount of very complex and in-depth organisation on all kinds of levels in order to ensure that all goes well and there are no major logistical problems in holding a competition.
In order to fulfil these requirements the Dubai Tennis Championships have teamed up with Xerox in order to take advantage of their in-depth knowledge of all kinds of essentials from basic printing right up to communicating with hundreds of different organisations spread across the globe in all time zones.
Xerox is also an extremely fundamental part in dealing with the world’s press and giving them everything that they need to cover the event in real time and in depth, so that the right information can be provided to a world audience.
Watch this promotional video to see how Xerox are helping out.
Xerox provides a range of products and specialist services to Dubai Tennis Championships allowing them to focus on what they do best. Visit xerox.com
March 18, 2010
Filed under: Business Tools,IT — admin @ 9:22 am
Small office, Home office (SoHo) businesses are proving resilient and adaptable enough to weather the economic storm – and thrive. In the UK, there are approximately 3 million SoHos and SMEs, many working with overseas businesses, customers and suppliers. Vonage UK believes VoIP technology and in particular unlimited call plans, tick all the right boxes for these businesses.
Vonage suggeste that “part of Britain’s economic recovery will be driven by SoHos and SMEs, and they need to communicate effectively through portable landlines, with capped costs and unlimited calls. We see it as a phone line with no boundaries.”
Until now, however, there has been one major financial consideration for these innovative businesses: communicating with their customers, particularly if those customers are overseas. This is where Vonage UK, one of the UK’s leading providers of VoIP technology is helping.
“For small businesses international trade, cost effectiveness and flexibility are the keys to success and growth,” says Vonage UK’s Managing Director Vincent Potier. “Switching from a traditional landline-based technology over to Internet telephony to make unlimited calls to your international customers is a major cost benefit,” he adds.
Vonage UK has quickly established itself as a major player in the new wave of internet-based telecommunications, concentrating on flexibility and cost effectiveness, as well as outstanding customer service. “Business is changing, the ‘global SoHo’ network where small businesses work with each other around the world is becoming increasingly significant in the business world and Vonage UK is providing the communications solution to make working with customers and partners easier.”.
The flexibility of Vonage UK’s call plans means that distance is no longer a factor in call costs. Many of the packages offer unlimited calls between Vonage to Vonage set-ups, allowing a business operator in London to call its satellite office in Spain, for example, as easily as making a local call. The portability and ease of use of VoIP VoIP revolutionises communication within networks of remote workers and clients, opening up the possibility of working anytime, anywhere and with anyone across the globe – the idea of completely flexible working is now a reality.
But the innovations don’t stop there. Vonage also enables small businesses to have ‘virtual phone numbers’, which have local dialling codes specific to a particular country. This means a client can call a US number and get through to the business’s UK number without paying international calling charges. Vonage believes this will enable small businesses to deliver better service to their customers abroad and position themselves as companies with a global presence.
Website: www.vonage.co.uk.
March 6, 2010
Filed under: IT — Alan @ 6:03 am
If you are thinking about building a website to act as the storefront for your online business you may want to think about outsourcing web design tasks as they can be complex and confusing.
Since your web design is one of the most important components that decides if browsers decide to stay or not you want to make sure that you find an outsourcing solution that you can trust. People make their decision to look at your website or move on in less than ten seconds, which is why you may want to consider outsourcing companies that can meet your needs.
At the same time that you may be thinking about development outsourcing, you are also probably concerned about the price of hiring outsourced IT which is why you may want to consider offshore Indian outsourcing.
This is due to the fact that outsourcing to India can be a cheap alternative to any other type of outsourcing solution without compromising the quality of your outsourcing project.
Outsourcing in India is quickly becoming very popular as India continues to rise as one of the IT epicenters across the globe which you would do well to take note of.
When you decide to look at India for your offshore software development you will get a website design that will attract your customers and supporting outsource software work that will meet your needs. In fact, since the people you hire when outsourcing in India are trained professionals you may even get some outsourcing solutions to problems that you are not even aware of yet.
The fact that software outsourcing India is so developed means that you can allow yourself the joy of being proactive without paying any extra for the excellent outsourcing service that the professionals provide.
There are many different ways that you can take advantage of offshore outsourcing India outside of simply outsourcing web design which is why you will want to look into outsourcing sooner whether than later.
By getting your toes wet by seeing how Indian outsourcing can give your business the online web design page that will create hundreds of new clients for you while also making your website profitable you will want to continue to explore new possibilities.
Simply take a dip and see how design outsourcing can help you and you will never again think twice about trying about an outsourcing service.
February 10, 2010
Filed under: IT — Alan @ 6:54 am
Hostilities between Virgin Media and BT are poised to continue to grow this year after Virgin Media announced yesterday that they will start to target SMEs that are BT’s customers. If the move succeeds, Virgin Media could boost their overall revenues by 66% over the coming five years.
The announcement marks the growing competition between the two mobile and broadband providers after just last month BT guaranteed consumers that it would undercut Virgin’s pricing on next generation broadband.
Virgin Media responded with its chief operating officer Andrew Barron promising SMEs that they would offer a ‘clear alternative to BT.’ There is a great amount of profit to be made as SMEs typically spend around £18m every year on their telecoms and IT.
Currently, Virgin Media has around 60,000 public sector and SME clients that produce around £600m of revenues for the company. Over the next five years industry analysts expect their revenues could increase up to £1bn. Among the key contracts that Virgin holds is with the Hampshire County Council, Terminal 5, and Arqiva the broadcasting infrastructure group.
Among the many attractions that Virgin has posted to attract consumers is a 50Mbps fibre broadband network.
Barron also said that the new Virgin Media announcement is a step forward for the broadband provider since they have been working the last 18 months on getting their fibre network ready to provide businesses with the right level that could help distinguish their offerings from other broadband companies.
February 4, 2010
Filed under: Business equipment,Business Tools,IT — admin @ 12:47 pm
The stage is set, you have that fateful interview with Van Morrison. You know fine well that he’s a grumpy and does not suffer fools gladly, if there is any issues he will probably hang up. So how do you make the call go as smooth as possible?
1. Remember the ‘holy couplet’ of conference calling. Dial the right number and be on time/early! Furthermore remember to familiarise yourself with the phone conferencing system you will be using beforehand.
2. Introduce yourself and encourage others to do the same. Participating in a meeting on the phone is a little un-natural to some people and a little introduction will help them get involved from that start.
3. Names are extremely important in a conference call. Learn everyone’s name beforehand and use them regularly. This will help to prevent callers answering the same question at the same time and talking over one another.
4. Use a quiet, undisturbed room with no background noise. A quiet room is exactly what it says. The only thing that should have the capacity to make unrestrained audible noise is you. In an ideal world your audience will find it amusing to hear you tussle with Fido screaming expletives at him. However in reality your audience would find it much more amusing to watch Hamsters surfing on You Tube but can’t because their boss said they have to talk to you.
5. If at all possible do not use mobile or cordless phones. Remember when the 3G network was being touted about with people proclaiming that everyone would have crystal clear connection wherever we were. It didn’t happen. If your goal is to trick your fellow callers into thinking you are Stephen Hawking in the midst of a sneezing fit go ahead, otherwise use a land-line.
6. Be cautious with the mute button. If you must use mute in order to make a private comment to the people in the room for your sake be careful. The reality is that a conference call, like everything else we encounter in our lives, follows sod’s law. You may be well versed when it comes to how to mute conference calls effectively and you may even have done it before. But you know as well as I do that when you use it in order to have a moan about one of your callers it won’t work. So, if you must use it be careful.
7. If you must nip out to relieve yourself during a conference call make sure that using your hold button does not commence your novelty on hold music. Everyone loves a novelty jingle but it may be distract Dave from accounts in his final year financial analysis. He doesn’t participate in much human interaction, so be nice and don’t ruin his time in the sun.
Take these tips on board and go forth and conquer phone conferencing in all its glory.
January 15, 2010
Filed under: Business Advice,IT,Small business — admin @ 1:29 pm
Over half (58%) of senior decision makers in small businesses in Britain admit their business suffered as a result of the winter weather last week, despite 78% saying they thought their company was prepared to cope with the snow chaos, according to a survey of over 500 senior decision makers in small businesses, commissioned by Citrix GoToMyPC and carried out by YouGov.
Some small businesses did take steps to combat the weather conditions and ensure business as usual though, by enabling more staff to work from home (25%) and holding more online meetings (10%). The research does suggest however some small businesses could have done more to prepare for the unexpected, as only 42% said they have a business continuity plan in place.
The impact on small businesses has been widespread, with businesses across Britain reporting problems. A quarter of small businesses decision makers say some staff were late into work, while 26% reported that some staff couldn’t make it into the workplace at all. In addition, 21% found that key suppliers and contacts were not available and 26% had to cancel or postpone business meetings.
However, small businesses also suffered as a result of unexpected disruption caused by widespread school closures and a lack of road salt, with the Federation of Small Business (FSB) this week claiming the government could have helped by being better prepared for the conditions. As many as 74% of British workers were affected by last week’s winter conditions, with 8% forced to stay home due to school closures and 12% not able to work at all, according to a related GoToMyPC study of more than 2,000 adults. When asked about the most annoying aspects of the winter weather, a massive 71% voiced the lack of grit on roads as by far the biggest issue.
For the week beginning 4th January 2009, almost a quarter (24%) of British workers claimed they lost more than five working hours, with the survey showing that as much as 124 million working hours could have been lost last week alone as a result of the weather. This equals £1.35bn in lost productivity.
Andrew Millard, Director of eCommerce, EMEA for Citrix Online’s GoToMyPC, said: “The weather in the first week of 2010 has had a catastrophic effect on UK business, with the FSB estimating the cost to the UK economy to be at least £600m a day. Many businesses thought they were sufficiently prepared to handle the snow, but the sheer scale of the disruption and a lack of planning from the government has taken its toll. With more snow on the way, now is the time to revisit or put in place business continuity plans, but it remains to be seen whether the government will be able to act to protect smaller businesses should the bad weather continue.”
Top Tips
Andrew Millard of Citrix GoToMyPC sets out his top five tips for businesses to stand them in good stead for handling the unexpected:
1. Communicate clearly in advance – with your workers so that they know what they need to do if they can’t get into the office.
2. Equip employees with remote access and Web conferencing technology – which will help them to remain productive even if they can’t get into the office.
3. Communicate with your customers – Phone redirects and remote access software will allow you to work productively away from the office. But if clients or customers are likely to be affected, let them know as early as possible and keep communication channels open.
4. Consider alternatives – Travel to the office or to client meetings may be impossible, but instead of cancelling, conduct the meetings online instead.
5. Put in place a business continuity leader – if the unexpected happens, it’s wise to have one person in your organisation responsible for coordinating efforts and informing all staff of the potential impacts and company policies.
Citrix Online is offering businesses and individuals a 30-day free trial for GoToMyPC, which enables fast, easy and secure access to a desktop from any remote location: www.gotomypc.co.uk ; and a 30-day trial for GoToMeeting, to host online meetings anywhere, anytime: www.gotomeeting.co.uk . Just visit the websites and enter SNOW in the promo code option.
January 14, 2010
Filed under: Business Tools,IT,Sales — admin @ 9:10 am
m62 visualcommunications, a specialist company in presentation effectiveness, has offered some useful tips to ensure that presenters are using their PowerPoint slides as effective visual aids in ssales presentations, by using relevant images and diagrams to illustrate points.
Although millions of PowerPoint presentations are delivered each day, many presenters still do not use slides effectively. According to m62,l two common mistakes are for the presenter to use the slides as cue cards by including too much text; or to include one large image per slide that does not help to explain the point being made.
The danger with using text on a slide is that the audience will read it instead of listening to the presenter, thus disengaging as they do not feel the need to pay attention. This remains true if the text is reduced to bullet points; the audience will still be able to understand each point before it is made, and thus may not deem it necessary to listen to the explanation.
While using a large background image to convey an idea is an improvement from using bullet points, it still does not guarantee audience attention. Unless the picture chosen is strictly relevant to the point being made, there is a risk that the audience will begin to think about the image rather than the message, and thus become lost in their own thoughts.
Instead, presenters should use diagrams, graphs and relevant images to illustrate their points, especially when the presentation is data heavy. PowerPoint slides can be designed to build on each point made, to ensure that emphasis is drawn to the correct point at the right time.
Nicholas Oulton, Founder of m62, commented: “There has been a shift in the way PowerPoint slides are used, and it has definitely been a shift for the better – yet the majority of presenters could still improve further. It is important for presenters to really think about their visual aids: why are they being used? How should the audience feel? If these questions are understood, a presenter’s slides will prove much more effective.”
m62 visualcommunications operates from offices in the UK, US and Singapore, and has produced almost 10,000 presentations for clients in a wide range of sectors, from medicine and education to finance and IT. For more information about m62 visualcommunications, call +44 (0)151 259 6262 or visit m62.net.
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