With the nice weather approaching, more people will be bringing their phones with them when they start enjoying the outdoors.  Even if you plan to go camping and get away from the excessive phone ringing, it’s nice to know you have it with you in an emergency.  Plus it’s great to listen to music on.  With that in mind, we came across a pretty cool new product to keep your phone and other electronics charged up when in the great outdoors.

It is called the PowerPot.  Unlike traditional outdoor chargers that use solar or wind power, this charger uses your campfire.  As crazy as it may sound at first, it is a proven technology.  Using thermoelectric technology, this device generates electricity (enough to power most USB devices) by converting the energy from your campfire to heat a pot of water.  Unlike solar technology which only works during the daytime, and best when the sun is shining bright, thermoelectric technology works day or night in all kinds of weather conditions, provided you have a heat source capable of warming a pot of water.

In essence, the PowerPot is just that; a pot.  It looks similar to most pots you would find at a camping supply store used for small stoves or over a campfire. The difference is in the plate attached to the bottom which conducts the heat to the pot while generating electricity.  As the creators of the PowerPot say:

“PowerPot is a useful solution for recreation and emergency preparedness. Backpackers can replace a typical backpacking mess-kit and charge GPS units, headlamps, water purifiers, and cell phones. Many will find it useful as a just-in-case measure for power outages. Those equipped with propane stoves, wood stoves, or fire pits will be able to turn on a dead phone within minutes using the PowerPot.”

Currently the product is near completion and is almost ready for mass production.  It is looking for funding through Kickstarter in order to ramp up production.  If all goes well, we should see these products available early this summer, just in time for your big camping weekend.

To learn how you can contribute to the project, or to get one of the PowerPots for yourself, check out their page at www.thepowerpot.com.  If you want to learn more about how to stay connected, even under unusual circumstance, feel free to contact us, and tell us how you need to stay connected.

Google Apps is essentially Gmail for business but with some noticeable differences.  Most importantly, your business does not have a @gmail.com or @google.com email address.  Your Google Apps email address is your company name or domain name, such as @yourcompany.com.  Many small businesses that use free email programs to run their business do not realize how important your own domain name is.  It adds a level of professionalism to your communications.

Google Apps is not just email however. It is a suite of programs all located online.  They include email, Calendar, Contacts, Documents (Word processor, spreadsheet, Presentations, drawing programs and more), Sites (which is a web site built into it which allows you to host information, similar to the Intranet in a large company), and video sharing.  All of the Google Apps programs are available through a web browser.  This means wherever you have internet access and a web browser, you can access your company information.

Email is the biggest draw of Google Apps.  With the business edition, each user gets 25GB of data storage for emails.  The concept behind this is the philosophy that you shouldn’t have to worry about deleting emails, just archive them.  Email uses Google’s powerful search algorithm to find emails just by entering some basic details of what you are looking for, such as name, subject, email address or any words that may be associated with a specific email.

Unlike traditional email programs such as Outlook, Google Apps do not use folders to keep your emails together.  Instead they use labels.  The difference is with Folders, emails are moved from one inbox and into another sub inbox.  With labels, all the emails stay either in the main inbox or the archive file, but are all easily accessible and sortable with labels.

While the Google Apps interface for email is very well designed, some people prefer to have the familiarity of Outlook or other email clients.  Google will allow your email to be accessible via IMAP protocol, which allows your email to be synced between our Outlook program and online.  Labels, as previously mentioned, will show up in Outlook as folders.

Google Calendar is another great feature which allows us to have a single calendar to store all of our appointments.  It is then accessible anytime we have access to a computer, plus it also syncs with our mobile devices easily.

Integration with mobile devices is probably one of the strongest points about Google Apps.  Naturally it syncs exceptionally well with Android phones (also from Google) but connected to our Blackberry and iPad, all of our emails, calendar and contacts are wirelessly synced across all devices in near real time.  If we change a calendar event online, it propagates down to all our mobile devices, so we do not have to re-enter items repeatedly.

Probably the most underrated application on Google Apps is the contact list.  Why is the contact list so good?  Using the sync capabilities mentioned previously, we can add a contact on our Blackberry and have it show up in our Outlook contact list next time we log on.  If there are accidentally multiple contacts for the same person, merging the contacts into 1 entry is as easy as selecting them, and clicking the Merge button.  You will have to go through to make sure all the information is correct with no overlap, but it is really easy.

Google Docs is a powerful tool for organizing information.  While it is still not as powerful as the full Microsoft Office suite you can purchase, for basic document and spreadsheets, it works great.  We often have to keep a lot of information in spreadsheets for reference, and having them accessible whenever we need them is great.  Google Docs also keeps previous copies of your documents so if you make a mistake you can always go back and restore from a previous version.  With organization where many people could be working on the same document, Google Apps Docs allows multiple people to work on the same document and make changes.  By having everything in one location keeps your information up to date as you no longer have to email files back and forth and not know which one is the most current document.

Overall, our experience with Google Apps has been a very positive one and we recommend it to our clients who need a cost effective solution for organizing their communications.  There are other great programs out there that work very well for Cloud communications, such as Microsoft Office 365, but for our company needs, currently we use Google Apps.

If you are interested in moving your business email into the cloud and want to talk to us about solutions for your business, contact us to schedule a meeting.  We can discuss different options, and find the right tools to keep you connected.

Does your current business email end in one of the following addresses:

-hotmail.com

-gmail.com

-Yahoo.com/Yahoo.ca

-Rogers.com

-Sympatico.ca

-Cogeco.ca

These accounts are great for personal use, but don’t belong in the business environment (Unless you work for one of those companies directly, of course!)  I have seen many professional advertisements, primarily from Real Estate agents, who have a beautiful flyer professionally produced in my mailbox, but end up with their hotmail.com address on it.  To me, their professional credibility drops a little bit when I see that.

2 of the biggest companies for providing managed business email online are Google Apps and Microsoft Office 365.  Both offer your own email address with your own domain name (yourname@yourcompany.com) and provide a number of enhanced services over traditional email solutions.

For example, if you currently have a pop3 mail account from your internet provider, chances are all of your important business emails are on your computer.  What happens if your computer was stolen, damaged, or simply crashed to the point of no return?  How would your access all those emails?

Managed email online (also called Cloud based) provides you with the benefit of having your emails stored away from your computer.  If something happens to your computer, your emails are safe.

Contact us to find out how we can help you transition your business email to a professional email address managed online.

Years ago, when I was selling phones at a retail store, I found that I would go through all of cell phone models available to a client, and then have them ask me: “So, what phone do you use?”  I sold more models of phones based on the fact I was using it than any other model.  The concept is simple:  If you use the phone, then it must be good!

Some of the products and services I will be writing about in this series are ones that we sell/resell, and others are technologies that we find really useful and want to share our experiences with them.  In all cases, we use them for a reason and hope it may help you find a solution to a particular problem or need you have.

Today, we will be talking about: Evernote

Evernote is a note taking application for your computer, Smartphone, and tablet computer.  It is designed to help you record everything you need electronically instead of on little scraps of paper.  The beauty of Evernote is that when you record something, (it handles text, audio, documents, etc.) it is then uploaded to a central server that makes it accessible from your other devices.  This allows you to start a note on your computer, and complete it on your phone, or from a web browser on a different computer.

Evernote also offers a great text recognition feature, which will scan text in images and pdf files and make them searchable.

All-Aboard Telecom uses Evernote to help us keep our notes all in one place and searchable.  It is one of the ways we have been transitioning to a paperless office system over the past year.

As we get business cards from new contacts, we can either scan them in (more on that in a future post) or take a picture with a camera phone and upload it.  Once it’s online, Evernote works their magic and makes the text from the business card searchable.  If someday, I need to find a name of someone I once met, or are looking for something in particular, like a mortgage broker, all I have to do is a keyword search, Mortgage for example, and it will find all the text entries, not only in our text notes, but for the occurrence on business cards that we have submitted images for.

All-Aboard Telecom believes in a multi-platform environment for business tools.  PC’s and Mac’s can co-exist along with Android phones, Apple iOS devices and BlackBerry’s. We like how Evernote is available on such a wide variety of tools.  When it comes to notes, memos and general information we need to keep a record of, Evernote works best for us.  It is a great combination of Hybrid cloud computing which makes your records available both online and locally.

Evernote offers both free and paid premium accounts depending on your needs.  If you are looking to go paperless, this is one of the great services that helped us.

Many businesses today run using phone systems that are getting up there in years.  While they still might work, are they really working for your business?

Traditional phone systems, sometimes called a Private Branch Exchange or PBX, handle standard analog lines and route them to digital handsets in the office.  Most of these systems in small businesses are designed to handle a certain number of lines.  If the line is free you can make a call, if it’s not, you have to wait.

When someone calls, phone lines will start blinking and ringing indicating a call, but who answers the phone?  If you have a receptionist, it’s usually them, but what if they step away from the desk. Who answers it then?  What if you don’t have a receptionist?  Do your employees scramble to answer the phone, or worse, do they all hope someone ELSE answers the phone?

While traditional phone systems may work at making and receiving calls, that’s about all they can do.  What if your phones could do more for you?

Newer Internet telephony based phone systems or Unified Communications Systems provide many more benefits to small and medium size businesses than simply allowing you to make phone calls.  Auto attendants built into the system can provide your business with a first point of contact for your callers and provide not only an introduction to your business, but a marketing opportunity.  Have you ever thought of an auto attendant message as being a branch of your marketing?  A recorded greeting stating your company name and a brief mission statement goes a long way to providing a level of credibility and branding that simply answering the phone can’t do.

Do your employees have their own voicemail accounts, or do they use their cell phone voicemail accounts instead?  What if each employee could have a single voice message inbox that would forward messages to your phone when out of the office?  Being able to call in and check your messages is one thing, but just think how much time you could save if your voicemail was automatically emailed to you when a message was left?  That is how a Unified Communications solution saves you time in your day and prevents you from missing that all important message.

What do your long distance bills look like?  Are you paying a lot for long distance charges, or are you paying long distance for phone calls that you think SHOULD be local calls?  Traditional phone systems only handle analog phone lines and you are stuck with the traditional billing packages that go along with them.  Internet based phone systems and Unified Communication systems provide you options on how you handle your calls.  While analog lines can still be incorporated into your phone system, Digital Voice over Internet technology helps bring your monthly costs down.  Voice over Internet calls are significantly cheaper than over traditional analog lines.  We can create systems that are entirely digital voice; we can make it solely analog lines, or a combination of the two, creating a hybrid telephony solution for your business.

If any of these scenarios look familiar to you, consider contacting us to discuss how a new Internet based or Unified Communications solution can benefit your business.  We will be happy to review your current system, discuss your current and future needs, and recommend a solution tailored to your business.

For more information and to set up a meeting contact us today.

These moves are to be inline with the new focus of the company on business technology solutions to keep you connected.

Over the coming weeks, we will start talking about different solutions and services that can help small and medium size businesses to communicate more effectively. We will also relaunch some of the products and services that we offer to help explain why these are so beneficial to businesses.

We also plan to launch new products and new services, along with strategic partnerships to better serve the SMB market.

Stay tuned to learn more on how we will keep you connected!

Please see the following press release for details.

All-Aboard Telecom Inc. Achieves Select Certification from Cisco Canada

[Burlington, Ontario] – May 12th 2011 – All-Aboard Telecom Inc. announced today it has achieved Select Certification from Cisco. The Select Certification recognizes Cisco® resale channel partners that focus on meeting the technology and services needs of small businesses.

“By reaching the Select Certification level from Cisco, we are now able to bring forward a number of new tools, products and services to our Small and Medium size business clients to help them stay connected.”
-Christopher Allsop, President

“The Cisco Select Certification was created in response to customer demand for channel partners capable of designing and implementing Cisco solutions purpose-built for small businesses,” said Andrew Sage, vice president of Worldwide Small Business Sales at Cisco. “With the Select Certification, All-Aboard Telecom Inc. has made an investment in obtaining the training, skills and knowledge necessary to play a pivotal role in meeting this growing demand.”

To earn Select Certification, All-Aboard Telecom Inc. fulfilled the training and exam requirements for the Cisco Small Business Specialization. All-Aboard Telecom Inc. also met the personnel, training and postsales support requirements set forth by Cisco.
The Cisco Resale Channel Program provides a framework for channel partners to build the sales, technical and Cisco Lifecycle Services skills required to deliver Cisco solutions to end customers. Through the program’s specializations and certifications, Cisco recognizes a channel partner’s expertise in deploying solutions based on Cisco advanced technologies and services. Using a third-party audit process, the program validates channel partner qualifications such as technology skills, business best practices, customer satisfaction, and presales and postsales support capabilities — critical factors for customers choosing a trusted channel partner.

About All-Aboard Telecom Inc.
All-Aboard Telecom Inc. is a telecommunications solutions provider, specializing in the small and medium business market. Our emphasis is on providing solid telecommunications solutions and customer service to businesses looking to start up or expand their operations. Founded in 2007, our emphasis has always been on finding the right solution for the client to keep them connected.

Press Contact:
Christopher Allsop
All-Aboard Telecom Inc.
416 477-2566 ext 200
callsop@allaboardtelecom.ca

# # #

Cisco, Cisco Systems and the Cisco logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems Inc. in the United States and certain other countries.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Even though Bluetooth headsets are the best choice to go hands free, here is an option for those that Don’t want to go hands free.  The video demonstrates how a toy Star Trek communicator can be turned into a Bluetooth speaker phone, and provides a web site to learn how to build it yourself.

Geeky, Yes.  Cool, Absolutely!

"Black's premium locations provide an established network across Canada for the distribution of TELUS' wireless products, which nicely complements our extensive network of dealers and stores. In anticipation of our clients' evolving needs and as more wireless devices have imbedded high quality photo and video capability, there is a natural link between TELUS and Black's."
-Joe Natale, executive-vice president and
president, TELUS Consumer Solutions
While there is an obvious need for wireless data devices if you plan to send digital photos while on the go, the list of synergies between the two companies seems rather short.  Until more cameras start being released with wireless data cards built right into them, this will still be two separate product lines being carried in 1 location.

With the announcement of Telus migrating to a Long Term Evolution (LTE) data network in the new year, they may be strategically planning ahead with products designed to take advantage of the network, however the number of cameras that have been released that offer any kind of wireless data transfer are quite slim.  More likely this is an attempt by Telus to keep up with Bell, who recently purchased "The Source" chain of consumer electronic stores.

While the idea of increasing the number of locations in which you can purchase a product seems like a good idea, it will also serve to water down the existing locations.  Many retail malls and locations that currently have a Blacks Photography probably have a Telus dealer or corporate store nearby.  Time will tell whether this is a great opportunity to merge consumer electronics and wireless data products, or just a case of "keeping up with the Jones". for Telus.

The focus of Wind, according to their press release and their new website, is they want to encourage dialogue with their customers and promote a stronger focus on customer service.  In an industry that has come under fire for poor customer service skills, this strategy could prove to be extremely effective.  There is already quite a bit of excitement in the consumer market for more choice in wireless providers.  A marketing plan geared towards open discussions with the customer and listening to their needs may be exactly what the market needs.

Wind Mobile highlights 4 areas that it will focus on in its launch:

• A dialogue with its customers to help determine everything from what phones to carry to who they should hire
• Simplicity in customer service in everything from the bills you read to the people you interact with at the company
• Control of your wireless experience.  Wind Mobile wants you to feel like you have a say in the company and its products
• Value for the customer.  Wind Mobile has stated they will not charge their customers for services that they are not charged (Highlighting the System Access Fee as an example)

Currently, there is no news about any of the actual price plans, products or services that Wind Mobile will offer, except that we know they will be offering their phone services on a next generation HSPA network that is the next evolution of GSM technology.  They are currently in a major push for hiring so expect to see their services offered by the end of this year or early into 2010.