Social Networking Slowly Taking Over E-Mail, Says Gartner – CIO.com November 12, 2010
Posted by pstacks in Uncategorized.add a comment
Social Networking Slowly Taking Over E-Mail, Says Gartner – CIO.com. An interesting statistic to be sure. How do you deal with this in the workplace? So much sensitive information is even now sent through email (rather unwisely, I might add), I can hardly imagine the potential for data exposure to unintended recipients using social networks. It is evident that social networking is gaining ground rapidly when it comes to delivering information previously reserved for more traditional medium (Bully serverd with restraining order via facebook). Time will tell how this plays out.
K2 Enterprises – Great bunch of guys November 12, 2010
Posted by pstacks in Continuing Education.add a comment
I attended a technology conference last week in Charleston, WV put on by K2 Enterprises. The content is intended for accounting firms. At first thought, you’d be thinking “Could that possibly be any more boring?” Quite the contrary! I really had an informative experience and was entertained by the presenters. The instructors, Will Fleenor, Mac McLelland and Bob Spencer, have all been in the industry (accounting and technology) for quite a number of years. They have extensive experience applying technology to the business of accounting. All are very personable and ready and willing to answer questions regarding their presentation or just technology in general. Kudos to the conference and K2. I’m looking forward to attending next year.
PBX In A Flash August 12, 2009
Posted by pstacks in New stuff.Tags: PBX, VOIP
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As some may have heard, accountants can be resistant to change. This is not always a bad thing, except when it comes to old PBX systems. Ours is currently tipping the age scale at 25 years (ugh!!) and may be teetering on the abyss. I have been looking far and wide for a replacement system that will accomodate both offices (the Beckley office system is much newer, but what the heck). I had gotten quotes on one particular system that was VOIP capable, but the most enticing features were only available after paying licensing fees. These essentially doubled the cost of the system. We didn’t need all these features; and honestly a majority of the staff wouldn’t use the phone any differently than the current system. However, the potential benefits were appetizing.
Along comes PBX in a Flash. By some quirky chain of events, I “ran” into an individual that provided DSL support to a former employer. He is now employed elsewhere, but as a side, installs this particular VOIP system. It is based on the popular open-source, Asterisk PBX. We have approximately 40 employees, but my friend has this same system running in call centers with upwards of 400 phones and half-a-million calls a month.
I am presently reading up on the system’s installation, operation and administration. In a nutshell the system requirements are fairly low-key. The developers recommend a $199 Everex PC; no longer available as of this writing, but I think you get the idea. The software is available via ISO download. Analog to digital voice cards are needed to bring in the phone lines. The phone we have chosen is the Aastra 480i. Very reasonably priced at approx $160 (includes a 3 year inclusive warranty).
Aastra 480i VOIP phone
Boot the PC to the CD created from the ISO and you end up with a fully functional CentOS Linux server with many other features included. The feature set included with PBX in a Flash is impressive. All the expected things are there, DID, voicemail, conferencing, call parking, call forwarding, caller ID, etc, etc. Calls can be recorded and voice mails can be sent to recipients via email. A follow-me feature can be configured to forward calls to a number of phones until the recipient is found. The reporting features are exceptional. You can report on all sorts of phone stats, including length of call, time on hold, call audit trail, etc.
Hopefully within the next several weeks we will have the system installed and running. I don’t have any doubts that there will be some bumps in the road as is normal with anything new. I’ve spoken with some end-users and they are very pleased with the system.
Hello world! May 27, 2009
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Hey All,
Just fired up the blog space. Hopefully this one won’t follow the dead-end path my last 3 blogs have, and perhaps it will have some relevant content. Or not. 
