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Voice Over IP

What is VoIP?

Voice over Internet Protocol, or IP telephony, is a technology that enables you to make ordinary telephone calls over a computer network or the Internet.  VoIP converts the data signals from your telephone into digital signals and sends these signals in packets over the Internet.  It then converts them back on the other end, allowing you to speak to virtually anyone with a telephone.  Today, companies use VoIP technology to reduce or eliminate long-distance costs, include remote or home-based employees on their enterprise calling systems, or enable these remote employees to retain a company extension as if they were working on-site.  Small and Medium Size Businesses Need to Identify All Cost-Saving and Productivity-Enhancing Benefits in Their VoIP Evaluation.  VoIP promises a vast array of cost-saving and productivity-enhancing benefits, ranging from reduced toll charges and network management expenses to advanced calling features and a more unified and flexible mobile workforce.  http://www.tcg3.com/tcg-voice-over-ip.htm  jennifer.vallarautto@tcg3.com

Keeping Track Home Office vs. Home Bills

With home offices becoming more popular it makes keeping track of your bills even more imporant. You can very easily miss something if you are not careful.   You should set up your files as you would if you were sitting at an offsite office.  If your mail carrier brings both personal (home bills) and work bills to your house then make sure you seperate the bills right away.  You want to keep track of both of them on a calendar.  Your work income should come in like you would if you are in an office as well.  Set up an account at the bank for personal and one for business.  Try not to take from Peter to pay Paul.  Dipping into your business funds is easy to do.  But your less likely to put the money back when you take it out.  Decide first what credit cards if any you need both at work and home.  Make sure you have the best interest rates you can.  List out all of your business bills on a calendar monthly.  Your homes bills should be weekly based on the dates that you pay your bills.  If you get paid weekly Thursday you get your check and Friday you see it in your account then pay your bills on Friday.  Mark the date you paid your bills on your the bill you are paying.  If you have a confirmatin number put it on there incase something goes wrong you have proof.  Take this bill and put it on the calendar for the following month with the amount you need to pay so you have an idea of how much money you have to work with.  Factor in gas for your car, groceries.  Try and take out a small amount $5 here $10 there and put that in your emergency fund. You never know!  Budget and cut back where you can.  Keeping an eye on your $$ helps you manage when things get a little tough and when times are good.

Learning about Software

Lets talk software.  The term software refers to a prgroam/set of instructions that tells the hardware in a computer how to work/operate.  Before the hardware can read the data and do something to it, the software must instruct the CPU what to do and how to do it.  The software commands to hardware and makes it useful. (tintactinfo.com).  The types of software you can get vary.  Here are some examples of the types of software you may see. Productivity- Helps you produce documents, spreadsheets or writing. (Microsoft Word-falls under this catagory.) Drill & Practice- Learning math, languages falls under this.  Demonstration- Power Point Presentations.  These are a few of the Software packages out there.  Because these packages are versitile its good to learn about these products.  Here is a site that may be helpful to you.  http://seamonkey.ed.asu.edu/emc300/software/types.html  Learning about software will help you become more informative and when you make your purchases.  Talk with a sales person if you are in doubt. Its better to ask questions up front.

Tips on Server Maintenance

Keeping up with the maintenance on your office products can be tedious, however it does save the lifespan of your purchases. Want to save money- detect problems early on. Schedule maintenance on a calendar.  Weekly and monthly.  Review the DNS Server events log on your server. Look up the events at the Events and Errors Message Center. For people who are looking at this for the first time I suggest you check out this site.. thelazyadmin.com  tip #19 the offer great tips with examples of how to maintain your servers.  Another site I found that may be helpful to you is http://www.mssqltips.com/category.asp?catid=25  For seiminars: http://www.skillpath.com/seminfo.html/st/CMSQL2

Successful Trade Show Marketing Strategies

Successful Trade Show Marketing Strategies ~ Wednesday, April 14th
Skyline Exhibits Greater Cincinnati, Inc., 9:30-11am
Are you questioning whether or not to have a booth at the Chamber’s 2010 Business Expo in May? This seminar can help you decide! Now, more than ever, your trade show marketing program must generate sales and profits. This seminar provided by Skyline Exhibits Greater Cincinnati, Inc. helps you get results by revealing the essential aspects of a successful trade show program. RSVP to Pam Gruber at 513.777.3600 or email by Tuesday, April 13th. amiuccio@westchesterchamberalliance.com

It’s Time to “Reach Out” to your Neighbors in Need!

Bundling Products

Thinking about bundling? When bundling products for the first time,  write out your idea on paper first.  Ask yourself are the products paired together correctly?  There is a method to bundling.  Its effective in adding sales to your business and supporting customer satisfaction.  Pricing should be cohesive to today’s market.  When bundling products you should know who you marketing these items to, and does it make sense.  Who is this product for? What type of advertisement will you use to sell these  products? Are you going to test market the item first for effectiveness?   Finally, if you decide to bundle products make sure that the person selling the item fully comprehends what the objective is and why the two products bundled together are a compliment  to one another.  The seller must be able to translate this need to the customer effectively.  Successful bundling will reveal itself in revenue. Most importantly you have the opportunity for repeat business.

Cisco NAC Appliance 3390 Failover Bundle

Cisco NAC Appliance is an end-to-end network registration and enforcement solution that allows network administrators to authenticate, authorize, evaluate, and remediate users and their machines prior to allowing users onto the network. Customers that purchase a failover bundle will receive two appliances and a failover license that counts both appliances as one redundant unit.

4-Person Work Station Bundle

67″ High Stack & Tile Panel System. 4-Person (2 each side) configuration with colaborative end tables. Includes 4 Task Chairs, and 4 Standard IT Packages. Contact us at Info@OfficeOutOfTheBox.net for color options and diagrams.

City ordinance offers 2 percent incentive to local business.