Monetizing IP Communications

Submit M2M Case Studies for M2M Evolution Conference - Oct 23, 2012

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Least Cost Routing Made Simpler and Less Secretive

Thu, 02 May 2013 08:10:08 -0600

Talk to anyone involved in voice over Internet or any type of telecommunications, and the terms "termination," "routes," "minutes," and "LCR" always creep in, but like the verb "creep," it traditionally seems so secretive. I have often laughed as I ask, why is it that all these face shots of beautiful young women fill Yahoo! forums, Google hangouts and Facebook pages talking about grey and white routes such as "BD PURE CLI => 0.0317$ / 2.22tk,"INDIA Gray.................. 0.0102," or "SELLING CHEAP 2126 MOROCCO AND 53 CUBA?" How do we make a choice in what seems like a totally cryptic wholesale telecom business space? Abe Haim may know.

A telecommunications veteran recommended that I interview Abe Haim, the Director of LCR Solutions, who is an expert at LCR and has been interviewed already by VoIP Users Conference. Feel free to listen to the audio podcast interview between me Suzanne Bowen and Abe Haim.

Crowd-sourced Wikipedia editors say, "In voice telecommunications, least-cost routing (LCR) is the process of selecting the path of outbound communications traffic based on cost. Within a telecoms carrier, an LCR team might periodically (monthly, weekly or even daily) choose between routes from several or even hundreds of carriers for destinations across the world. This function might also be automated by a device or software program known as a "Least Cost Router."

Mr. Haim gives no-nonsense advice and ideas such as:
1. If you buy right, you'll be able to sell right.
2. If you don't run your business by code, you're in trouble.
3. There are no favorites, and there are no secrets.

Abe Haim reiterates in the audio podcast, "If you don't run your business by code, you're in trouble. Years ago, I would get code in from guys saying 'Brazil ALL.' What does that mean ... 'Brazil ALL?' And then, we'd route to 'Brazil ALL,' and all sorts of codes didn't work. You call a vendor and say this code isn't working and that one ... oh, oh, we don't carry those codes ... I'm looking at your codes, and it says 'Brazil ALL.' What does that mean? ... Why are you telling me ALL?"

A client of Mr. Haim's recommended him on Linkedin with these words, "LCR Solutions is a great service for any small/ medium sized Voip Company to organize their rate sheets and take a step to become a bigger and more professional. Now, we know who to buy from and who to approach ... a wonderful and inspiring man 'Abe Haim'. He has been able not only to guide and put endless time and effort into our challenging situations but has shown great insight and moral support and definitely a light for the future. He is very dedicated with his work and surely gives words of wisdom; words of which I know will make me and my company work with the same ‘professionalism’. Abe is able to make one laugh but think logically and positive even at the most critical situation."

Once Mr. Haim's customers get started with the LCR Solutions, they experience an average increase of 10 - 15 % margin which is extremely important in the highly competitive world of minutes / termination trading, buying and selling. Many thanks from me Suzanne Bowen to the guys at VUC who recommended that I interview Mr. Haim and now share with you. Visit http://www.lcrsolutions.ca for more information.

]]> Tags: abe haim, lcr solutions, Least-cost routing, Telecommunication, wholesale telecom Related tags: suzanne bowen, google hangouts, audio podcast, telecommunications, brazil, least

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Frank Talk on Telecom Fraud with Humbug Labs' Eric Klein - Jan 25, 2012

You People, 3 IP Communications Customer Service No-Nos - Jan 11, 2012

Video Demo: Searching for IP Communications Movers and Shakers Like you on TelecomYou - May 30, 2011

A Song for Unified Communications - May 14, 2011

What is the Universal Service Fund? - Feb 26, 2009

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Hipsters' Love Hate Relationship with Technology, Maybe

Sat, 27 Apr 2013 05:33:10 -0600

Obsessed with a desire to avoid the chaotic, social technical life of modern society, hipsters find themselves in the state of "maybe" that Carly Rae Jepsen is famous for, but instead of about a lost love, it is about technology and the relationship of people with technology.

Hipsters ride fixed-gear bikes, shoot pictures with Polaroid SX-70s, swear by Craigslist, use Viber or Vippie to talk (not Skype) with a faux analog handset plugged into a cell phone, and wear flannel shirts and kitschy cable knit sweaters from the local thrift store or Aeropostal (shh). They exude the age old inner conflict in the hearts of woman and mankind between the group and the individual, but favoring the individual. To opt out or to embrace? Don't try to second-guess them.

Some present-day philosophers believe that the popularity of hipster culture may be important for American economy. How? The US needs to more high school graduates with potential, attitude, and curiosity necessary to be software engineers, graphic designers, and Wikipedia editors ... who mix the best of the old with who knows what is new.

Life as a hipster is complex. They keep online sex diaries and play with Instagram incessantly on old Tandy desktops (or Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 and the lastest i-Whatever when no one is looking) in an Occupy Low-tech/analog Media and Device World. Institutional management in growing a country's economy may be detrimental and claustrophobic, at best and counter-productive to a world that needs more ideas and shockingly practical innovations, but self-starters like hipsters could meet this criteria, maybe ... especially with social media mass surveillance as is, in place, but not really.

A Cracked magazine writer's words about Hipster Douchebags (coined by the Slays), "This is about looking like you traveled back from the not too distant future. A future populated by douchebags."

If you are 25 - 35 years of age or act like you are, have larges sums of disposable income and have not bought a house yet, then you are the demographic that Apple markets to. You could be a hipster. If you mostly use your smartphone on speaker mode in public, you are not hipster material. They only do that in private. If you watch Doctor Who and listen to George Jones in your attic and, LOL, suddenly have an epiphany of who you really are, you should have been a hipster. They wear ear plugs at concerts and wear their skinny jeans with hems folded neatly three times under and tucked up behind that great big tongue on Chuck Taylors.

Study Slavoj Žižek. He is the most popular philosopher of hipsters. Wikipedia writers share that critics believe he "constantly recycles old ideas which were scientifically refuted long ago." Like low-tech gadgets, that is seductive. It saves hipsters from information-overload, massive stimulation, and the often depressing anonymity of fast-paced city life. Besides, no matter how often people say we are never alone with Facebook, online social networks do not replace street corner, front porch, and neighborhood cafe conversations and community. In fact, hipsters are not afraid to strike up conversations with people they do not know, and they don't mind sitting at communal tables German-style at restaurants. Pass the currywurst, maybe.

Speaking of German things, the July, 2012 Hipster Olympics was held in Berlin. Over 8000 opt-out kind of people gathered to cheer on lackadaisical participant competitions. What did they do? They built mustaches out of duct tape, cello tape and construction paper. They sprinted around turntables. They did the standard broad jump with relaxed textile shoulder bags. This year 2013, they should add a pseudo Mash-Up event where each participant brings found low-tech and high-tech materials with an objective to create new wearable tech that doesn't look like tech. (Opposite of steam punk fashion!)

It's hard to look back at you, baby, but here's my number (to my favorite thrift store), so call me, maybe.

]]> Tags: Carly Rae Jepsen, Hipster, hipster douche, hipster olympics, Slavoj Žižek, thrift store love, wearable tech Related tags: thrift store, hipster, hipsters, maybe, people, thrift

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What if All VoIP Carriers Were Connected Transparate Style?

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:36:30 -0600

"What if every carrier could be in direct contact with all other carriers on this planet? Sounds like a big idea ... like what do we mean by that? I mean virtually connected via rates and targets?" Eugene Nedbailo asks at the beginning of our audio interview with him about Transparate.

People ask me, "How are you?" I also want to answer with what I am doing, why I am doing it and what if ... from there, so the concept behind Transparate is pretty refreshing and interesting. When I mentioned this to Eugene, he again replied with something unique, "This market is mostly uh ... I don't want to call it 'grey,' but it is mostly hidden, so carriers are not in touch with each other. They are trying to hide where ... not promote very well rates and targets. They don't want to lose their current customers, and people are not united in this way because we are all competitors with each other. Our idea was to make this situation more transparent."

(I can relate. I have written so many times during my careers in education and telecommunications about the value in collaborating with one's competitors. http://suzannebowen.blogspot.com/search?q=Collaboration+among+Competitors%3F+Why+not%3F)

Mr. Nedbailo says that Transparate is about the Pre Sale, the building of business cases. Customers upload rates (seller) and targets (buyer), analyse matches (positive differences between selling and buying rate), and then possibly talk, sell, or buy. Transparate's job is to link the participants, so they can be in direct contact with each other via SIP, Skype, phone number or other communication type.

He admits that the first two years of Transparate including growing pains, and I know exactly what he is talking about when I think back to the beginning of DIDX global DID marketplace, a health and nutrition business I had, and now Elegant Group Inc. Early adopters are a startup's best group of friends, no matter how critical they are, I think.

"There was time we actually spent on making experiments and doing mistakes because we've got our illusions about what it is and how should it work, but our customers gave us ... without our customers, it would just be a what if?" notes Eugene in the interview, about 6:02 into the audio podcast interview at http://didx.net/podcast/?p=episode&name=2013-04-16_transparate_2013_april.mp3.

Transparate records every change of rates and targets which builds a comparison list in accordance with the changes. The engine does nothing by itself.

Transparate is rather customized such as if a carrier or provider is selling or buying only free destinations, the engine sets an 'ignore' for anything not relevant to that business plan for those members (customers).

Since Transparate is only about Pre Sales, they have partnered with two other independent companies should the customers choose to use them. Verdecto is one ... they provide payment protection via escrow and neutral transaction services to route buyers and sellers in the wholesale telecom industry. Second, they have partnered with Digitalk's VoIP peering and routing platform. As a result, there are three aspects to the business:

1. Managing rates
2. Protecting payments
3. Routing minutes

"It's not like social networks where you have to spend hours. It's a business tool," Mr. Nedbailo says. "It is switched between two options. Option one is you go to an exchange where everything is anonymous and better service and more things being done for you. At the other end, there are free forums filled with unchecked information and with very often fake companies and 'time-wasters.' We are between because our service is not free. There is a membership fee ..."

I asked Eugene to share his thoughts on business trends whether in VoIP or other field, and he answered first with the need for mobile applications.

David Gitonga, Tech Republic writer and SMB technologist, wrote an article that was published on March 9, 2013, and his summarizes mobile applications and small businesses. When you start to look at mobile as an opportunity to create better solutions for your customers (and for your business), then you are on the right track.

Erik Linask of TMCnet says the mobile application problem is that the "small businesses add * mobile apps that engender little interaction between users and brands other than the device manufacturers."

(Take a view of Transparate interface.)

Mr. Nedbailo also mentioned that Transparate's mobile application enables members to see the list of all people they can talk to, ones they have already agreed to deals with, and people who are sending incoming requests. Transparate's next plan is to connect Transparate members who participate in an event such as ITW, PTC, ITEXPO or Mobile World Congress Barcelona, via the mobile app even while there to easily find each other physically.

By the way, my new company Elegant Group Inc includes on its team, mobile application development experts, so contact me via Linkedin or Elance for yours. We are a quiet power behind hundreds of fast-growing new companies. Thanks for the customer referrals and the audio podcast interview recommendations such as Transparate ore sales engine and PG Consultants home automation and security services, readers!

]]> Tags: Digitalk, Eugene Nedbailo, Monetizing IP Communications, Pre Sale, Telecommunications, Transparate, Voice over Internet Protocol, VoIP Related tags: rates targets, mobile application, podcast interview, elegant group, selling buying, transparate

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What Do you Call a Non Toll Free DID or Phone Number?

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:08:27 -0600

One of my favorite online locations to collaborate is in my own Facebook network. It is filled with providers, developers, reviewers, early adopters and other users of IP communications, Internet security, social media, healthcare, exercise and nutrition, and more. Recently I asked this question, "s there a specific name for telephone numbers or virtual phone numbers that are not toll free besides DID, DDI, IDD and non toll free? My mind draws a blank as I am working with a team on a new Wikipedia page."

Answers came from telecommunications, open source telephony, and voice over Internet users, providers, developers, engineers, and marketing persons. I will share the results with you:

David Knell (open source developer): Phone numbers.

Ali Hadi of PROACTIVE Communication Agency: Do you mean?....1-800-CALL-INFO

Tanveer Akhtar of Alpa Foundation: Helpline

Suzanne Bowen: Good ones, David, Ali and Tanveer. I just thought of ... generic phone numbers. Make sense? Does anyone ever call them that? I've asked on Quora, too. No answers there yet.

Tanveer Akhtar of Alpa Foundation: NWD, ISDN, PSTN are also used

Harry Brelsford of SMB Nation: Not free

John Freed of the New York Times: I believe they're called toll numbers, tho I admit I haven't heard that for a long time. I think in Europe they can be called tariffed numbers but I never heard that in the USA. If you call an 800 number from Europe you get a recording, "this toll-free number will be charged at direct dial rates." But toll free numbers are direct dialed. The opposite of direct dialed is operator assisted.

Tom Michaels of 360 Networks: TNs........as in telephone numbers

Barbara McNeil, a telecommunications user and real estate professional: PRI?

Facebook, like anything online or offline is what we make of it. Some call it Farcebook, but I have my own personal, social and professional goals in using Facebook social network. I also have an ongoing plan while using it with the people who are in my network to mutually work to help each other in education, fun, quality of life, and business.

Can't wait for the next discussion on my wall or anyone's in my network!

]]> Tags: Facebook, generic phone number, Telecommunications, Telephone number, Toll-free telephone number, Wikipedia Related tags: phone numbers, tanveer akhtar, direct dialed, providers developers, telephone numbers, numbers

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Dotcom-Monitor VP Brad Canham on Website Monitoring Technology and Education

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:03:35 -0600

Web application monitoring, website monitoring for website and Internet performance improvement are important for customer retention, sales, trust, and respect. Visit a website that is down, that is slow, or that is not working like it should and you go to the competitor whose website is up and working great. Dotcom-Monitor's VP Brad Canhan answered questions posed by DIDXchange telecommunications and mobile service provider members, in general about Internet performance, but in specific about proactive Internet performance improvement and also what can go wrong such as hiring new, inexperienced services. We discussed what customers feel and see while participating in business on the internet as well as the technical stuff in the background such as routing and access problems and remote traceroute.

(Click to listen at your leisure to the audio podcast interview with Brad Canham on web application monitoring and Internet performance.)

For example, heard of response time? How many seconds are customers patient enough to wait for their login to one's website to complete? Customers begin to get irritated and leave when they have to wait more than six seconds for a website to load or for their login to complete. I tested www.didx.net (who co-sponsored the audio podcast) wait time which was 1.94 seconds ... www.dotcom-monitor.com was 1.81 ... and this blog took 1.18 seconds to load. Strange things can slow a website such as third party widgets. Examples are text to speech tools, "social media recommend aggregator tools," and font kits. Everyone is trying to create happy, memorable and repeat user experiences, but do we do this via third party or one's own in-house developed widgets. Second, having a web application monitoring service can do the police work.

Poor monitoring might include only watching and examining cached HTML and DNS processes. Doing the second causes real DNS issues to go unnoticed and unfixed. Look at the AT&T in January 2013 and GoDaddy outage in September 2012.

"Good monitoring is more than setting simple ping tests from three monitoring sites," says Brad. "... we take screenshots and when we do web application monitoring, we actually take a video (first company to do this) of our browsing going through a shopping cart and send that to you immediately. You can use a remote traceroute, the video or the screen snap shot that will say you are having a 404 error or a 501 error to quickly pinpoint where the issue is and what it looks like ... diagnostics are part of process of getting a website or web application back up and running ... a "waterfall chart" ... synched with a video ... a mixture and data and the video aspect."

Dotcom-Monitor's motto is a drive to constantly improve Internet performance of its clients. The bar is high. They enjoy not only providing their Internet performance monitoring but also helping to educate people and businesses what is involved. Some of the latter that Mr. Canham recommends:

1. Dotcom-Monitor free tools: http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/WebTools/trace.asp

2. TRAC Research has a new report out today March 1, 2013, titled "2013 Application Performance Management Spectrum Report." Many may have heard of the expert behind this named Bojan Simic, President and Principal Analyst at TRAC Research.

3. Dotcom-Monitors demos and tutorials at http://www.dotcom-monitor.com/tutorials.asp

Readers of the "Monitizing IP Communications" blog are welcome to recommend to me services, applications, products, inventions, businesses and people that are notable. Put me in touch via my Linkedin profile (Suzanne Bowen, Co-founder of Elegant Group Inc and Super Technologies, Inc.)!

]]> Tags: Application performance management, AT&T, Business transaction management, Dotcom-Monitor, HTML, Website monitoring Related tags: dotcom monitor, internet performance, application monitoring, performance improvement, third party, monitoring

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White Label Cool Mobile Voice Video IM App Vippie

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 11:38:00 -0600

Vippie mobile dialer created more than a stir at ITEXPO East 2013, and now, those who can make it to Barcelona for GSMA World Mobile Congress ... can be a part of the action again. Some may think that I am such a blatant marketer or marketeer, but when I find any app, service, or product that is useful, life-enhancing, and lucrative, I am there sharing what the team behind it ... has to say. Vippie mobile app is available for white label, and it is compatible with iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Phone, and Symbian.

Michael Bibleman notes the features and gives a demo on video.

Open the app, and you're greeted by a calmly colorful screen. Browse and choose from your phone contacts. Phone them, have a video chat (high quality VGA resolution), or instant message (IM). Send attachments such as short videos, audio notes and pictures. Vippie can be integrated with Social Hub, Facebook and GTalk on mobile devices. All of this for free.

Users can place phone calls to international phone numbers at much lower rates than using standard mobile phone service.

Thousands of downloads occur each day, so no wonder there was such a crowd of mobile operators, ISPs, VoIP companies, social networking companies, and other types of telecoms and entrepreneurs crowding the VIPPIE (VoIPSwitch) booth around the corner from me (DIDX - Techistan magazine booth) and Comptel.

]]> Tags: fring, iPhone, mobile app, mobile dialer, mobile video, skype, Symbian, vippie, Voice over Internet Protocol, white label voip, Windows Phone Related tags: white label, vippie mobile, mobile, phone, vippie, video

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GoAnimate your Social Media Message, I Did for ITEXPO

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:03:41 -0600

Just visit GoAnimate and follow the instructions! I did. It is easy, fun and much more likely to get attention and elicit action from those who are important to you than a press release or a text-only blog post. In this case, look me and those I represent DIDX and 1000s of its wholesale telecommunications members, Elegant Group Inc, and BlockDosup at ITEXPO East January 30 - February 1, 2013 at booth 737 near the Spiceworks Exhibitor Lounge.

]]> Tags: BlockDos, DDoS protection, DIDX, direct inward dialing, GoAnimate, itexpo, LinkedIn, video animation, Voice over Internet Protocol Related tags:

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AudioCodes' Alan Percy on SIP and Unified Communications

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 07:56:39 -0600

"Folks say, 'I've got a SIP-based contact center, and I've got a SIP-based PBX. They are both SIP, so they should just be able to plug right into each other."

Right? But AudioCodes' Alan Percy says, "The answer is often 'No.' Behind all that ... the SIP specification is a product of IETF which is the Internet Engineering Task Force. It is a committee-designed protocol specification. The side effect of that is there are 2-3 different suggested ways of how to implement a feature or function ... sort of duking it out ... Sure, we'll do all three or all five ... and the specifications for the protocol are loaded with numerous ways to accomplish the same thing. Vendors who build systems may select one of these mechanisms to implement their solution to be compliant, but unfortunately, with different systems from different vendors who choose different solutions or different protocol options ... find that two systems can't communicate directly without some kind of mediation between the two of them."

Listen to the talk between AudioCodes' Alan Percy and me on DIDX audio podcast channel. There are more great audio podcasts there, too, with experts in VoIP, mobile, M2M, rich or unified communiations, open source telephony and social media and networking for business.

Mr. Percy will present on the topics of "Why Your Enterprise Network Needs an SBC" and "Is Microsoft Lync Living up to the Hype?" at ITEXPO East 2013 in Miami Beach. During this DIDX audio podcast interview, Alan and I discuss SIP issues, history of AudioCodes company, its products and services and why we take part in TMC's ITEXPO East and West events. Visit http://www.itexpo.comand http://www.audiocodes.com. AudioCodes is one of the many highly respected IP communications and technologies companies who sponsor, present and exhibit at ITEXPO events. We thank DIDX (ITEXPO booth 337), BlockDos, MakeItSo, GoAnimate and Elegant Group Inc for sponsoring this educational podcast available on the DIDX audio podcast channel, Podbean and iTunes.

]]> Tags: Alan Percy, AudioCodes, iTunes, Miami Beach Florida, Microsoft Lync, session border controller, Session Initiation Protocol, Voice over Internet Protocol, voip Related tags: audio podcast, social media, podcast channel, itexpo, audiocodes, different

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Sharing Experience with First Computer Purchase

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 22:04:54 -0600

My freshman year Introduction to Computers class professor told me I had no future in computers and not to take the class again. I was depressed for several weeks. Then, I saved up until I could buy my own computer. I bought a Tandy 1000 HX which had a 3.5" floppy instead of a 5.25" one. I was ecstatic. It had DOS 2.11 in the ROM, so I didn't have to start the computer with a boot-able disk. It had a clock speed of 8088 CPU as I recall but could clock down to 4.77 MHz for compatibility with the older applications. I used the Basic program to create a different version of a Sorry game and had success. I never could get it to work in my college class.

I remember buying a dot matrix printer also and hating it because the holes never matched up. The computer's memory could be expanded to 640 kb. This would be accomplished by placing a memory expansion card, which came with 128 kB, in the expansion slot and adding another 256 kB (for a total of 384) kilobytes in memory chips to this board. I brought this Tandy 1000 HX into my English and gifted studies classes at G.W. Carver Middle School. We actually practiced taking it apart and putting it back together whenever discipline got really bad and also many times during a Power Puff Mechanics class.

I wonder where that computer is now? I don't even remember what I did with it, but I miss it sometimes. Where is that Introduction to Computers teacher?

The only reason I wrote about this is that Denzil Daniel, my Facebook friend and engineer, based in Dubai, was talking about negative experiences can actually inspire. I agree ... if you let them.

I heard that my Introduction to Computers class professor is in his 80s and lives in Atlanta. I think I'll sign up for Peachtree Petals' Atlanta Floral Gift Club and set up one reddish-black rose to be delivered to him on a monthly recurring basis with, "Thank you so much for telling me I would never be able to understand computers."

]]> Tags: DOS, Floppy disk, Read-only memory, tandy 1000 hx Related tags: introduction computers, class professor, computers class, computer, computers, class

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Need Eight Arms to See Social Media ROI nbm

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:24:18 -0600

What keeps so many companies from using social media? The boss asks important questions, "Where’s the ROI of social media? Why should I gamble my marketing team's time? How do we make the most out of the world's vast volume of digital data in the area of social media?"

Oktopost, a hot, new social media marketing platform for business looks like it fits the "effective use of social media" bill. It enables you with the least effort to publish social messages, converse with prospects and generate leads. It lets you use its computational techniques and software in the cloud for analyzing huge volumes of data that even the best multi-tasker in your organization could never begin to achieve.

Oktopost enables companies for the first time to say “This new customer came from this LinkedIn post (or this tweet).” Oktopost enables its users to track closed sales back to the originating social media interaction (e.g. tweet, LinkedIn post).

Several of my industry friends at DIDX, at conferences I participate in, on Skype, Linkedin, Facebook, Pinterest, Youtube and TelecomYou have recommended Oktopost to me, so that is why I checked it out and am now sharing it with my readers. My friends talk about how difficult it is for most of them to use social media effectively and how Oktopost has made their work lives less stressful and more productive. Most of them normally feel lost in the swamp of LIKE, FOLLOW, PIN, and THUMBS UP or DOWN and would love for trusted, automated algorithms to take over.

Perry Nalevka, a friend of mine since his MobileMax days, works with Oktopost, so I have some inside information about how it works. He gave me a tour which showed some great features such as truly leveraging all of Linkedin's best networking and business development tools that most of us do not have time to work with.

Oktopost saves time and effort and gives promising leads that we don't even realize are waiting for us in social media. Also once a company sets up an Oktopost account with the social profiles of all the people associated with the company, each of those people can participate in posting to the company account. In turn, Oktopost enables one to post to all connected Linkedin individual accounts and Linkedin group accounts that one is allowed to access.

Let's say we post to 100 different Linkedin groups a certain discussion question. The Oktopost social inbox would collect those messages. Instead of wasting time, logging into Linkedin and opening each Group and each message from any Individual; all is collected in one place on Oktopost. We can answer each from Oktopost, but those answers post back to the correct location in Linkedin. Cool!

What is the difference between Oktopost and Hootsuite or Oktopost and TweetDeck? Social inbox and post to call to action to leads' conversion, for one. Oktopost seems to pay more attention to detail, almost as if its automated algorithms are smarter. I mentioned how much easier that Oktopost is to use than other platforms like it that I have tried. It has scheduled messaging available and in addition, a message manager where one can save message templates to use over and over.

The analyses tools are the best such as the ability to see how many clicks on each message, see which social media platform is more effective for each type of message, which Linkedin groups were most interested, and to keep track of one's calls to action and the resulting leads. How does Oktopost do the last item? It gives the Oktopost user some code to include on their website and elsewhere that automates the conversions! What would normally take a marketing teams days to complete ... can take as little as ten minutes with Oktopost.

It is also possible to integrate Oktopost with Sales Force, Google Analytics, BaseCamp or Marketo.

I think Oktopost will not take the place of a company's marketing team regarding social media, but it will make it so much more efficient, ROI-friendly, and able to convert "calls to action" to leads. Social media is big data that is begging to be mined for the benefit of businesses and their customers.

Since ITEXPO East 2013 in Miami Beach is right around the corner, why not use it for that. I'll be at booth 337 near DIDX, Xorcom, VoipSwitch, Five9, BlockDos and the Spiceworks Exhibitor Lounge. Sign up now for a free Oktopost trial at http://www.oktopost.com/?aff=suzannebowen. (For each sign up through my link, I will donate money to Big Brothers Big Sisters whose mission is to help children reach their potential by providing professionally supported, one-to-one relationships that have a measurable impact.)

Also let me know also if you plan to run the ING Miami Beach marathon the weekend before ITEXPO. I am doing the 1/2.

]]> Tags: BaseCamp, Facebook, Google Analytics, Linkedin, salesforce, Social media, social media marketing Related tags: social media, oktopost enables, miami beach, calls action, social inbox, oktopost

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Greg Giagnocavo from the Classroom to Communications over Internet Innovation

Tue, 11 Dec 2012 15:01:22 -0600

ITEXPO East and West are events that not only place us amongst scores of productive business and technical development opportunities, but they also introduce us to some of the most inspiring technology and communications entrepreneurs and thought leaders. For example, does anyone remember Classroom Connect in 1994, a really cool educational startup with a website? I do. I was a teacher, and I discovered their website after I bought a Tandy computer, a phone line, and a dialup Internet account that year for my 8th grade English and Gifted Studies classroom. I had no idea that Gregory Giagnocavo, who is now Conexiant Telecom CEO, founded Classroom Connect. Small world where there is more than one person who started somehow in the classroom and landed in the middle of IP communications innovations!

Gregory's company Conexiant Telecom was one of the five companies that sponsored the ITEXPO West 2012 All Conference Party along with OnSIP, DIDX, Coredial, and Taqua. What has happened from the time of Classroom Connect startup to this point in 2012 for Gregory Giagnocavo, I had to know and to share with you. Mr. Giagnocavo agreed to let me record an audio podcast interview with him about thoughts on social media use online, which business trends matter and why, how his new company Conexiant is different from other telecom companies, wholesale telecommunications in general and which industry events we both recommend others to participate in. The "Conexiant Greg Giagnocavo on Telecom Needs of Wholesale" audio podcast is available to download and listen to any time offline or to stream online now.

Some questions we pursued:
1. Should larger companies pay attention to social media? Why or why not? How can a published audio podcast interview be leveraged for online social marketing success?

2. Trends? Most of us talk about lofty ideas that barely anyone can imagine working, but Mr. Giagnocavo's answers were extremely down-to-earth, practical, credible and wise. What can make or break a company is very likely to be how it deals with customers who need customization of services and who need their vendors to truly be available 24/7.

Hmm? I pause and then think, "Brilliant!" Why not? Makes me think about the no-nonsense advice of Tim Brown's"Big Idea 2013: Stop Designing New Things" article. (Brown is the CEO of IDEO.)

In what ways is Conexiant Telecom different? Seven points stood out in Conexiant Telecom CEO's answer.
1. High availability is crucial to them.
2. Use of global meshed networks with highest possible number of nines is made available by them.
3. Moving of calls in and out to different POPs as needed is a popular feature of their service.
4. They emphasize their experience in international needs as well as domestic. Many ignore that our world is more interdependent than ever, and we can't escape each other, as Bill Clinton said in "The Case for Optimisim." DIDX, a service I co-founded in 2005, was and is based on the same concept. Conexiant Telecom and DIDX show how financially, culturally and socially empowering it is to all ... to embrace Clinton's wise words.
5. High quality CLI delivery worldwide and even dialer is fully available to foreign countries.
6. They are ready for enormous bandwidth commitments.
7. They use the power of freeSWITCH capabilities.

Meet Gregory Giagnocavo, CEO at Conexiant Telecom; me and other representatives of DIDX; and 1000s of exciting companies and people to develop business with at ITEXPO East January 29 to February 1, 2012. Start networking now on Facebook and Linkedin. Why not sign up to do the ING Miami Beach 1/2 or whole marathon the weekend before, scheduled January 27th? A few dozen ITEXPO East participants plan to run the half. Let me know if you will be there. Visit http://www.itexpo.com and http://www.ingmiamimarathon.com/ to sign up.

Visit http://www.conexiant.net or contact info@conexiant.net for business development or to sign up for services.

]]> Tags: Bill Clinton, Classroom Connect, Conexiant, Greg Giagnocavo, OnSIP Hosted PBX, Social media, Voice over Internet Protocol, wholesale telecommunications Related tags: conexiant telecom, gregory giagnocavo, classroom connect, audio podcast, podcast interview, conexiant

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Free Phone Calls from USA to Mexico and Canada via Credo Mobile?

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 10:43:33 -0600

Something like that! USA mobile phone users are used to unlimited calling nationwide on mobile service plans, but add unlimited calling from USA to Mexico and Canada, and you've got a dream come true for at least ** 1.6 million Canadian immigrants and at least * 12.7 million Mexican immigrants who live in USA. This does not count in the number of people who are not immigrants who need to call either country for personal or business reasons. The Credo Mobile announcement was made on November 5, 2012: "In keeping with its progressive values, CREDO Mobile announced today that calls made from the U.S. to Mexico and Canada will be included in all voice plans at no extra charge starting mid-November."

Talk about uniting the Americas and making personal and business relationships among the people of these three countries (U.S.A., Mexico and Canada) easier than ever! The potential! The opportunities!

You know me and social marketing, especially anything that I believe is extremely empowering or innovative. I immediately dialed Credo Mobile headquarters from my LG Android phone, which uses Credo Mobile phone service, to see if I could interview them. Listen now to a recorded audio podcast on iTunes or DIDX between me and Credo Mobile's Haruko Kurata, VP of Product Development, and Becky Bond, their VP and Political Director.

What we talked about ...

Credo Mobile's voice and new MiFi service:
The choice to add calls from USA to Mexico and Canada to all mobile plans without adding extra cost is a result of their customer-centric approach. There is not any other mobile phone service that offers this. Credo Mobile will also add a new data product soon that enables customers with Android smart phones and the ability to "HotSpot." Becky Bond, after testing it, says that up to a total of three devices can access Internet at one time on the plan.

Credo Mobile's progressive vision and activism:
See, I asked a seventy-two-year-old neighbor of mine in Northwest Florida why he cast his presidential vote as he did. The first of many reasons he gave me include the fact that the Koch Brothers bought the company he worked for and laid him off. It took him four years to find another job. He had a wife and children to support.

Poll Workers for Democracy has an aim to make sure that every eligible voter can cast a ballot that counts. It is one of the many powerful progressive programs of Credo Mobile. I have an intense interest in this program since I have been driving elderly citizens to the polls to vote for the past three elections. One probably does not realize how difficult it is for these "politically-savvy persons who just happen to be older" people to get to the polls, to be treated fairly and to be taken seriously at the polls where they have a right to vote. It feels like poll-bullying. Such a small thing that I do ... but, everytime I visit my own 70-something-year-old parents and listen to their wisdom and experience, I know I have to do this every four years.

"CredoMobile shifted its focus from "the right to vote" to forming a Super-PAC of its own and working to defeat ten of the worst tea party Republicans in the house," Becky Bond said. "Go door to door ... make phone calls ... give voters rides to the polls ... of the ten, we defeated four ..."

Becky Bond stated, "Volunteerism ... is what it takes to keep this country in the hands of the people and not corporations."

She also shared that Credo Mobile is a "social change organization with an awesome mobile phone service."

(My experience and reason for using Credo Mobile: I've been using their service because I of that very combination. I like the quality, the price and the fact that I can be a part of such practices that are important to me ... such as a more shared economy, elderly citizens' rights, and support of diplomacy instead of more costly wars at the expense of education and other domestic needs.)

Credo Mobile business:
They are now a progressive MVNO and in business for 25 years. They are also a long distance phone company, originally named Working Assets, of they still have many landline users. Hiraku mentions Credo Mobile's past Green Power and Working Assets Radio as well as their new interest of participating in a shared economy. (Shared economy examples are peer-to-peer marketplaces such as DIDX, LendingClub and Airbnb ... the last which enables New Yorkers to offer free housing for Hurricane Sandy victims.)

As political director, Becky Bond helps CREDO customers and CREDO Action members fight for progressive change in Washington, D.C. and in state capitols. She is the president of CREDO SuperPAC and serves on the board of the New Organizing Institute. Becky ran CREDO’s campaign to register more than one million voters in 2004 and the successful effort to defeat California’s Prop 23 in 2010. She was the producer of Working Assets Radio, which aired on San Francisco’s NPR affiliate KALW from 2001–2003. Before that, Becky ran a conceptual art practice in San Francisco called South to the Future. She is a Nashville native and a political science graduate of Williams College. Becky uses a bicycle as everyday transportation and hasn’t owned a car since 2006. She is proud of having been arrested twice during her tenure at CREDO—protesting the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and protesting the Keystone XL pipeline at the White House in 2011.

From Suzanne Bowen Mobile Photo Gallery

Haruko Kurata oversees the acquisition and development of all mobile phones and related products at CREDO. Before joining CREDO, she served as Product Manager at Moderati, a mobile content provider. She worked with Qualcomm, as well as other original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and operators to create content training and provide marketing support for Qualcomm's embedded multimedia software. Haruko holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Washington and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Santa Clara University. Throughout her career in technology, she has always been one of only a handful of women—something she hopes to see change in the future. She looks forward to a day when being a woman at the Consumer Electronics Show isn't an oddity.

The original Credo Mobile press release, regarding the addition of calls from U.S. to Mexico and Canada at no extra charge in all Credo Mobile voice plans, is at PR Newswire. Visit CredoMobile, CredoAction and the CredoMobile Facebook page for more.

The recorded audio podcast interview is on DIDX and on iTunes. Complete lists of audio podcasts with Suzanne Bowen and the movers and shakers of social media for business, mobile, and IP communications worlds are at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/didx-podcasts/id322949120 and http://www.didx.net/podcast/?p=archive&cat=all. Connect with me on Linkedin where I network and collaborate with hundreds of USA and international business movers and shakers like you. (Pictured at the top of this blog post are Haruko Kurata, Credo Mobile's VP of Product Development; Becky Bond, Credo Mobile's VP and Political Director; and Suzanne Bowen, Monetizing IP Communications blogger and audio podcaster.

* According to 2008 Pew: http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/47.pdf

** According to 2009 CBC News: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2009/10/28/canada-emigration-c.html

]]> Tags: Becky Bond, call Canada, call Mexico, CredoMobile, Keystone Pipeline, mifi, mobile phone, sungevity Related tags: credo mobile, mexico canada, mobile phone, phone service, shared economy, mobile

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Sprint Velocity's Tim Johnson on Connected Vehicle and Mobile Opportunities

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 06:32:33 -0600

M2M and connected vehicle technology are significant topics because of the positive potential for increasing revenue and exciting diversification of services but also of retaining customers and making their lives more productive and convenient in one of their favorite places ... their cars. I jumped at the opportunity to interview Tim Johnson, Sprint Velocity's Global Business Development Manager, who is also a Connected Cars Conference presenter on November 13, 2012 in Dallas, Texas. Stream it by clicking here and clicking at the end of the description where it says "Download" at the end, or download it here to practically any mp3 player and listen offline even. (Want to participate in the Connected Cars Conference? Sign up at www.ConnectedCarsEvent.com.)

Tim has been the Sprint Business Development lead in the Connected Vehicle space since 2007 when Sprint entered a collaboration with Ford around "Ford Work Solutions." He did not shy away from the rather pointed questions I, Suzanne Bowen, shared with him from my Twitter, Google + and Linkedin online networks of friends:

1. What is Sprint Velocity Connected Vehicle and connected cars in general?

The crucial task is "to understand and discuss value propositions of what Sprint can do to help enhance OEM's connected vehicles' strategy. An example ... the Sprint Velocity initially began because of a program commercialized with Chrysler Corporation under their uConnect Access. Remember that "velocity" is defined as the convergence of speed and direction. Here is an opportunity to "accelerate connections of customers with their vehicle and with the OEM of the vehicle, dealer networks and all those people associated with the ownership experience ... Sprint is incredibly open to new ideas and partnerships whether with large or small entities ..."

2. How can the automobile industry stay compatible with innovation and distribution cycles of mobile Internet and software?

"A commercialization cycle is a little like a hamster wheel. The development for an OEM and a vehicle is more like a ferris wheel ... why we very strategically said, 'We can bring some great melding to those gears in this stage because certainly understand consumer electronics and device launches with Ford and others ... Traditionally auto development cycles have been very linear in terms of OEM, to tier 1 to tier two to tier three, etc. It has to be much more of a collaborative loop ... The short answer ... there's no going back whether it is Asia or Europe ... the entire industry now understands going forward, collaboration between the use cases of the consumer's device, what they aready have, married to the technology that the auto OEMs and their hardware providers must start on the same level and grow up together ... this is why Sprint Velocity exists."

3. How do you respond to potential users who question how connected car technologies, especially automatic / automated ones, makes them feel as if their driver autonomy is being taken away?

Though the most important use case for "connected vehicles" is safety, people have an emotional connection to their car. Think about your own car and even of the songs dedicated to them such as "409," "Maybelline," and "Mustang Sally." Mr. Johnson says, "If your car becomes a moving living room, a lot is lost there. The technology surrounding the autonomy aspect are first and foremost about safety such as lane deviation detection and rear parking monitor camera ..."

"Auto makers want to continue to differentiate on the driving experience which entails acceleration and braking, as well as now, climate control and info-tainment ..."

4. How can the mobile device and automobile digital dashboard capitalize on each other's advantages for the benefit of the user / consumer? Obviously, people are not going to carry around their automobile's digital dashboard everywhere, for example.

"It goes back to the head units where the radio is ... and the display ... what does it look like from a device interaction perspective because at the end of the day, back to my safety comment ... almost anything can be done at this point, short of de-materialization like Star Trek, but that may not be too far away ... from a distraction standpoint ... eyes, hands, wheel ... safety is best use case of all."

5. Would you give us an example of how Sprint Velocity works with Clients or Partners such as the Strategic Wireless Partnership between Chrysler and Sprint Connected Vehicle platform? How does the Uconnect Access fit in?

It's a partnership and Chrylser is Sprint Velocity's valued customer. Chrysler was going through general corporate reorganization with huge changes in ownership. As far as connected vehicle, Chrysler didn't have legacy in place for this such as GMC with OnStar and Ford with Sync. (Awesome for Sprint Velocity and Chrysler to start with a white piece of paper to do something big, never done before, with none of the "set in stone" procedures and dead-ends to get in the way!) Instead of thinking in a linear fashion, the partners were able to take from a sumptuous and abundant Thanksgiving table situation with all the right partners around the table. Tim Johnson says that Uconnect Access is just the beginning.

Listen to a recording of our conversation for more exciting details and about the different types of organizations that can gain the most from working with Sprint Velocity. Click a Sprint Velocity summary in PDF to see a full building block perspective

Find out more and get started by visiting http://www.sprint.com/m2m and http://www.ConnectedCarsEvent.com. Sprint is the host sponsor and network reception drink sponsor of Connected Cars as well as the provider of Tim Johnson as a panelist on the session, How Will Industry Players Work Together to Deliver Truly Excellent Customer Experience in the Automotives of Now and the Future." Get in touch Tim Johnson, Sprint Velocity's Global Business Development Manager, at 616-292-6238 or timothy.johnson@sprint.com. I can relate to the final line in his email signature: "Make No Small Plans" - Daniel Burnham.

Let's meet Sprint Velocity group and other M2M / connected vehicles-related innovators at Connected Cars next week and perhaps at an ITEXPO / Mobility Tech Zone conference in the future.

]]> Tags: Chrysler, Connected car, Connected vehicle, Informa, OnStar, Original equipment manufacturer, Sprint, Tim Johnson, Uconnect Access Related tags: sprint velocity, connected vehicle, business development, uconnect access, johnson sprint, sprint

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