September 2009 Archives

When one's employee or team (also in my opinion negatively known as staff or human resources) buys into its work and task area assignment, he, she or they can be trusted to work anywhere, any time and in any way. When the boss gives this type of work group access to making suggestions and changes, the company can soar financially. The enthusiasm and drive will be seen by other potential employees, customers, and suppliers. But what is needed to work anywhere, any time and in any way and how?

Wireless internet which is every other "where." See Wifi Free Spot, Open Wifi Spots, and one of my favorites, Panera. A smart phone, a netbook, and/or a laptop with wireless internet connection enabled and a cup of coffee or glass of iced tea will please the type of employee I am describing. I have always enjoyed my career history with companies where I was awarded at least a 50/50 power sharing of my work. Being able to work from home, the main office, at a conference, at Panera, or any area of WIFI or other Internet is empowering and results in new and better (creative, innovative, practical, client-enabling) ideas, processes and results.''

In fact, there is the potential with the right team for more quality business to get done.

The team also will be able to make and/or receive phone calls with SIP agents (no extra equipment) which such services as Skype, Vopium, Vippie, Virtual Phone Line, Nimbuzz, Truphone, Fring, Rebtel, mig33, and more. I have tried them all and am extremely excited about the integration of IM, SMS, and other features with some of the services.

It will be really difficult for me after over ten years of working every other "where" I want, any time, and any way, to change back to working at the same desk in the same office on the same street in the same city every day. I won't do it.

No joke! $24.99 per month for Vonage's unlimited calling to 60+ countries with calls to cellular phones excluded, and yes, India and Mexico are included... next step would be to offer phone numbers from the same countries and more:
 

The new business phone systems, the ones that sit in the clouds called hosted IP PBX and are accessible remotely via smart cellphone, netbook, laptop, desktop or other user-held equipment, are one of the biggest proponents and reason for the popularity and expectation of HD voice quality and wide band audio. In fact, HD voice quality on VoIP results in better than that of cellular or landline traditional service. It is an important factor that is driving TDM to IP migration today.

Which IP PBX companies offer phones that can be configured to use the (wideband) G.722 codec on internal calls? Telephone equipment from Avaya, Cisco, Grandstream, Gigaset, Polycom (the one who brands wideband audio "HD Voice" seen as synonymous with wide band audio), Snom, Aastra, AudioCodes (which brands wideband audio "HDVoIP") and others take advantage of G.722 codec (for wideband audio), as well as even higher-quality audio components.

In fact, many readers have been using wideband audio without realizing it when calling from Skype to Skype on your PC, although making a SkypeOut call to a regular phone number does not. You can tell the difference when I am using Skype to Skype or Skype to PSTN (or VoIP on other platforms with or without HD) on my DIDX podcasts.

Want to experiment with HD Voice yourself? Get a phone from one of the companies listed above, upgrade to the most recent software, and follow the directions from the HD Voice Cookbook.

Another great source of information is at http://hdconnectnow.org/resources/.

Conferences focusing on HD are ...
Oct. 14-15, 2009 in New York City http://www.hdworldshow.com/

The regular readers of this blog are used to browsing language that has a marketing flavor. How about a change? Listen and watch  Giovanni Maruzzelli share how to connect FreeSWITCH with Skype and the possibilities thereafter. Giovanni has 15 years of IT experience and 10 years' experience as consultant and entrepreneur creating, managing and advising start-up Internet companies; he has also experience as chief technology officer, trainer, lecturer and journalist on Information Technology issues. Watch videos of his presentation at Cluecon 2009 in part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4.
 

Paetec* is a CLEC, but they are different. They are extremely diversified in what they have to offer SMBs and resellers: check one of the most recent TMC Internet Telephony magazines. Listen to their CEO Arunas Chesonis on video being interviewed by the Telecom Association. Paetec was voted as one of the best places to work in New York. They are now hiring a new Channel Chief. Read Phone Plus for more information.

One personal point... all our company's experience with Paetec has been excellent. From Debbie Grasso to John Nishimoto to many others in the company, we have always been treated with respect and in a collaboratively positive manner. Thanks, Paetec!

In between jobs and/or are an entrepreneur and feel stuck? Try keeping tabs on temporary job services such as on VoIP Monitor for jobs in IP communications, Simply Hired, and GigaOM. Many are with large companies such as Raytheon, Volt Information, Cisco, Mirrant, Sapphire Technologies, and Expedia. 

I'll never forget a sort of mid-life crisis I had between my English teaching years and starting a VoIP company in 1999. I was working both for about three years, very difficult while keeping homelife happy as possible same time.
 
I left teaching and signed up with Kelly Services where I worked during the day with temporary jobs that involved web editing, media intranet libraries, attorney assisting, John Deere factory inventory, CLEC order fulfillment, and even database work with hunting club and forest foliage for International Paper. This way I was able to work fulltime with our startup while getting the income needed from K.S.

I'm not sharing anything new under the sun, but simply wanted to remind readers who have lost their jobs, have had hours cut back or just want to go in a new direction... temporary jobs are interesting and sometimes decent dollars.

Just read an email newsletter from Inveneo, the organization that has since 2006, with their Certified ICT Partners have delivered solutions to more than 300 communities in 23 countries, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, but now also in Nepal, and Bangladesh. There are now 48 Inveneo Certified ICT Partners in 16 countries. Inveneo and their partners have brought access to life-changing ICTs to more than 800,000 people in rural and underserved areas of the developing world. That is an item to brag about. 

Africa is getting popular. The number of DID requests from wholesale service providers for Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, Ghana, Egypt, Nigeria, Algeria, Namibia, Rwanda, and Republic of Congo have increased in 2009 on DIDXchange. Mobility is the key in Africa as Gary Kim wrote in the GlobalVision magazine, 2nd quarter 2009 issue. Wireless companies are joining DIDX to sell Africa phone numbers, and the most recent is Kenya. 

Companies who used to outsource some sales and customer service tasks to India and the Philippines are seriously studying a switch to Africa, Pakistan, China and eastern Europe. The accent on English is quite easy to understand especially of many Africans. Infrastructure and education are key issues in making a success of the switch-over. G. Pashal Zachary spoke about this as early as 2004 and the Global Vision magazine second quarter 2009 dedicates almost half the issue to Africa and the opportunities there.

Visit the Inveneo site for more inspiration, to donate or even to find out how to become an Inveneo Certified Partner today. Check DIDX phone number marketplace (wholesale) to join and sell DID to 12,500 providers in 170 nations and/or buy from 63 countries. Read the Global Vision magazine. Email berge@bekapublishing.com for a subscription.