It’s an amazing time to start a business and take your ideas to the market more quickly, and at lower costs without the traditional barriers in hiring skilled workers. A world of talented contractors is now available in the “Human Cloud”, ready to help you do the heavy lifting of building your company. In this […]

Microsoft Word is used by over one billion users worldwide, and of those how many are using it to its full potential? Over the years Word has transformed into a complex design tool that allows it to move far beyond simple text editing. Most users know how to change a font or center their text, […]

VoIP is now within reach for everyone – including small businesses. The same network that handles the flow of data such as web access and email can also accommodate voice as well. A few years ago, Voice-over-IP (VoIP), or Internet telephony, was touted as the next big wave in technology. For many businesses – especially geographically distributed ones – VoIP provides a way to dramatically reduce the cost of communications and maximize investments already made in their network infrastructure. In addition to saving money and using resources more efficiently, VoIP lets employees be more productive and efficient by giving them the ability to receive and make calls anywhere with a data connection. VoIP also reduces the complexity associated with managing multiple networks and devices for communication. Companies can set up their office network so that each employee can use a single device, such as a computer or a smart phone, to handle everything from email, chat, messages, fax, and more. Finally, VoIP enables real-time collaboration when used with video conferencing and screen sharing applications. All this used to come with a big price tag, but that’s no longer the case. With the great strides made in technology the last few years, VoIP is now easily within reach for many businesses – large or small. The range of choices include free, downloadable software that allows users to make free calls over the Internet from PCs or mobile devices, as well as services that can be used and accessed from your web browser, your favorite email service or software, and even old-school analog phones as well! VoIP is certainly a technology that has come of age. It’s cheap, ubiquitous, and easy to use, and all businesses would do well to add VoIP to their toolset for substantial cost savings and greatly improved efficiency and productivity. Looking for some guidance in adding VoIP to your toolset? Give us a call – we have answers!

Work no longer has to be a place your employees go at a certain time. Learn what technologies can enable your employees to get more done from any location, any time. Lately there has been a trend among companies, no matter what size and maturity, toward the use of so-called “virtual” teams. Driven perhaps by rising office and energy costs, maturity of computing and network technologies, talent scarcity, or simply the opportunity to realize increased efficiency,  this has resulted in the adoption of flexible work arrangements for some employees including flexible time and working from home – or even from remote locations in different time zones. Along with this trend has come the need to support this new way of working. A wealth of options exists—from virtual team spaces and online collaborative tools to more advanced communication devices such as smartphones and tablets. Here are a few examples. For teams working at the same time but from different locations: Conferencing applications—via telephone or video Shared workspaces and whiteboards Instant messaging Wireless communication devices For teams working at different times but in the same place: Team rooms Intranets For teams working at different times and from different places: Extranets Virtual Private Networks E-mail/Groupware Message boards Blogs and knowledgebase tools With the right tools, work can happen any time and from any place. Interested? Get in touch with us and find out more.