Cut call costs

Avaya Inc. has made enhancements to its Intelligent Communications suite of converged IP telephony solutions for small and mid-size businesses (SMBs). The enhancements give smaller firms an affordable way to take advantage of IP-based communications to improve productivity, customer service and many other business processes.New developments also allow companies to access less expensive call services from service providers offering Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-based trunking, which can cut calling costs in half. SIP is a protocol governing voice and data signals traveling together on a converged network. A SIP trunk is similar to a phone line, but routes calls over an IP network instead of the public switched telephone network. Avaya is introducing two versions of enhanced software for Avaya IP Office, the company’s flagship solution for SMBs. The Standard edition is designed for very small businesses and serves up to 32 users. The Professional edition lets firms take advantage of enhanced mobility, multi-site networking or customer service intelligence. It also scales up to support up to 270 users. Avaya is also introducing a new IP Office 500 communications server, which supports telephony, voice messaging, and a complete customer service suite.

E-Mail, the latest marketing frontier
A new book, downloadable as a PDF, called “How to Use E-mail to Skyrocket Your Sales Without Burning a Hole in Your Pocket” is available from Small Business Mavericks. Priced at $49, the book introduces small business owners to important concepts in e-mail marketing, offers guidance on choosing tactics appropriate to your goals, and tells companies how to track and measure their effectiveness. Among the topics discussed are: the five types of e-mail marketing – and how to use each one; why you need an electronic newsletter, how to create one, and how to build lists; which advertising models work and why; where you can find content; why electronic post cards and e-brochures are effective; and how e-courses can increase your respectability and credibility as an expert in your field.

Stops leakage
Code Green Networks, a developer of solutions for protecting customer data and intellectual property, and Centennial Software, a provider of security and audit solutions, have signed an agreement to deliver the Code Green Networks Content Inspection (CI) Agent to the SMB market. This PC-based anti-data-leakage solution extends data protection to individual endpoint devices. The unified solution lets organizations monitor content and enforce policies to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of sensitive files via all leakage points, including widely-used TCP protocols – SMTP, FTP, HTTP and Web mail, as well as local data transfer ports such as USB, FireWire, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, DVD/CD-ROMs, COM ports and portable media devices.

Discrete assistance
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software specialist IQMS has enhanced EnterpriseIQ, its ERP software solution, with new functionality designed to give discrete manufacturers a greater strategic advantage in today’s real-time, global economy. EnterpriseIQ newest version (7.2.0.15) provides enhancements in visibility and control to improve quality management, inventory control and outsourcing. The software allows companies of all sizes to operate lean. It can be cost-effectively tailored to meet any company’s unique business requirements, according to IQMS. Recent enhancements include: the Outsource Central Module, which tracks the status of products produced in partial or completion at outsource vendor locations, and a Cost of Quality Module, which drives tighter cost control by allowing manufacturers to see and eliminate poor quality and high production costs in areas such as rejects, unscheduled machine downtime, and returning or reworking.

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Jim Love, Chief Content Officer, IT World Canada

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