Power Supply a VAR Opportunity, Knowledge Management Fads, Call Distribution Platform, Facebook as Debt Collector

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Power Supply a VAR Opportunity, Knowledge Management Fads, Call Distribution Platform, Facebook as Debt Collector

Recently, Business Solutions Editor Gennifer Biggs had the chance to sit down with Minuteman's Bill Allen to discuss the VAR opportunity “tied to uninterrupted power supply (UPS) and extended run time if your customers have low-tolerance about network security, physical security, and disaster recovery.”

Minuteman UPS/Para Systems, a leader in power protection technologies, offers UPSs for computers, servers, peripherals, voice and data communication systems, security systems and other mission-critical equipment.

During the interview, Biggs asked Allen about growth opportunities in the power protection industry.

“For the reseller community, there have always been opportunities in the IT sector for extended run time,” Allen said. This is because there’s certainly the need to keep network systems up and running for longer than 10 or 15 minutes, which as Allen said “is the standard UPS backup time.”

Telecoms have traditionally been another sweet spot for the UPS extended run time value proposition. As Allen explained, “it’s very important to keep the phones up and running.”

Read more here.

Here’s one thing we don’t have to tell you: Management love fads. Love, love, love ‘em. Try this, do that, here’s the newest things, we’re retooling everything based on this article I skimmed on the flight over from San Antonio, I expect complete buy-in and everybody on board.

Or even worse: “Hey everybody, this is I.M. Smart, a consultant who’s got a great idea...”

Does knowledge management have its share of less-than-stellar fads? Uh, yes. That’s according to T.D Wilson from Sheffield University, who sniffs at knowledge management as one big fad “pushed by certain consultancy companies,” according to the Chartered Management Institute. He confidently asserted that KM would fade, along with other fads.

One thing: He said that in 2002. And here we are today in 2011, talking about KM, the $72 billion-in-America-alone industry. Maybe a paper published last year by Harvard University “on the issue of turning corporate knowledge into better team performance,” as CMI says, might be of more interest.

Read more here.

Broadview Networks, which sells network-based business communications, has released its OfficeSuite Automatic Call Distribution and Recording platform.

It’s targeted to the small and midsize businesses market, and it’s a hosted application integrated with OfficeSuite, the vendor’s hosted IP phone. So if you were looking to stay hosted, you might want to check it out.

The platform has all the call center functionality SMB customers would want -- advanced call routing, queuing, call recording, out-of-the-box reporting, dashboard functionality, customized hold treatments, routing options that factor-in call agents’ skills, location, experience or other parameters, all the expected features.

Still, education is necessary for some: “Many SMB customers don’t think in terms of traditional ACD functionality even though they use it in their everyday business,” said Jeff Blackey, senior vice president of marketing for Broadview Networks.

Read more here.

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Here’s a story you’re going to post on your Facebook page, as we just did: Be careful of unwittingly friending a debt collector.

According to Portland, Ore.’s KATU News, social media gives debt collectors a whole new way to catch scofflaws. KATU spoke with Tim Mabry, who owns a debt collection agency.

Mabry loves Facebook. He told KATU that he gets told oh, I don’t have the money to repay them now, I really don’t, but “you go on their Facebook page and [they’re] standing out in front of the pickup with big tires and fancy wheels -- you have to be careful.”

According to a recent item on FoxBusiness, a St. Petersburg, Fla. judge recently ordered a debt collection agency to “stop contacting one debtor’s friends and family on Facebook” in an attempt to find a woman who owed $362 on an unpaid car loan.

Personal finance consultant Gerri Detweiler of Credit.com told FoxBusiness that using Facebook “is legal when trying to locate a debtor,” adding that they can’t just use any means they want. “They have to follow the law— it's not necessarily that they can’t use Facebook to find more information about a debtor. For consumers, if you owe debt, be well aware that anything you post online is fair game for a collector.”

Read more here.



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