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Archive for the 'Technology' Category

Ring Central - Putting Your Business in Command

I speak to small business owners on a regular basis and was talking to an associate of mine about Ring Central.
Ring Central’s Virtual Phone System
from $9.99/month for professionals and small businesses. There are many businesses that are cutting costs everyday and one great way to cut costs is to do away with your antiquated and probably expensive PBX systems and replace it with Ring Central’s virtual phone system.

How does it work? Let’s say you own a business and need to have your customer calls routed to your business phone or perhaps any number of other extensions… traditionally you would have needed expensive hardware to handle this function or you’d have to pay your local bell a large monthly fee to handle this type of service. - Ring Central eliminates the high cost of operating a system of this type because of the technology is handled in one central location though a “Virtual PBX”. Ring Central lets YOU connect our team wherever they are. Ring Central let’s you create a large company image with an auto attendant. You can even add extensions as your company grows… for instance, today your business may have a sales department and a tech support department but as you grow you may want to add an extension for several sales desks and an extension for advertising accounts. Using Ring Central and your own online control panel you now have the power to make your own business sound more professional and you can track all of your calls online. Ring Central also has business quality voicemail so you can track your messages anytime and anywhere using your PC, online or by phone. You can get notification of new messages on your cell phone. You can even receive voicemail as email if you like. You can set up multiple mailboxes with an auto attendant. Your customers will always be directed to the correct department or to wherever you are as needed.

Ring Central has NO CONTRACTS to sign, NO HARDWARE is required and you can be up an running instantly!

I’ve signed up for Ring Central myself to handle calls for my web design business to help facilitate my current small number of calls today - but since my business is increasing every day, Ring Central will help my business grow and compete in this world wide market. Ring Central offers a great cal screening feature that lets you screen incoming calls by phone or online. You are able to see and hear who is calling you. YOU CAN UNBLOCK HIDDEN CALLER IDs and you can BLOCK UNWANTED CALLERS FOREVER! I love the FAX FEATURE that let’s me send and receive faxes via email or my web account. I can even send and receive faxes from Windows applications and I can create custom fax cover pages. I can edit and sign faxes electronically and send faxes by phone with fax in demand.

Do you see what I am getting at here? Ring Central takes your business into the 21st century making YOU sound like a true professional and all at a fraction of the cost of traditional PBX services. Ring Central plans start at $9.95 per month and you can even add a toll free number or toll free vanity number to your account!

Ring Central lets you create conference calls in one click - this is great if your lets say a carpet restoration service that needs to get in touch with a plumber while your on the phone with your customer. You have the ability to record your phone conversations if needed which is a great feature to get all of the terms down for a new contract.

Ring Central has one of the best features for anyone that owns a website. Ring Central’s Click-to-call Me feature lets you embed a clickable image on your website that when clicked will dial your Ring Central phone number and connect a potential new customer to you in real time. Visitors world wide can call you toll free with a click.

Ring Central was voted PC Magazine’s EDITORS CHOICE and Inc Magazine voted Ring Central “Best for …. toll free numbers”.
RYou can find out more about Ring Central’s Virtual Phone System and Services Here

Tulsa could use this! 8coupons.com

What a fantastic idea! Landy Young and Wan Hsi Yuan have delevoped a great website, 8coupons.com that sends electronic coupons to your cell phone that can be redeemed at local merchant stores that advertise with 8copuons.com.

All of the current coupons are for New York City based businesses at the moment, but if Landy and Wan’s dream comes true… we could see something like this here in Tulsa one day!

Imagine being out with your family, unsure of where to go to eat out of the over 370 restaurants in Tulsa alone… You’d get a text message about some unbeatable deals in town or perhaps you’re alerted to new restaurant offerings in your general vicinity. You’d simply show your cell phone text message coupon to your server or cashier to receive your discounted cost for your purchase.

If you are an advertiser, the cost to advertise with 8coupons.com is minimal compared to most other forms of advertising.

What I really like about the 8coupons.com concept is their ‘OCHO LOCO’ deals feature. An advertiser can offer a coupon that discounts the restaurants specials to unheard of low prices, like an 8oz gourment burger for 8 cents along with $1.00 bottled beers from 11am till 11pm. - There are many advertisers that will use this as an opportunity to lure in new customers… The customer gets GREAT deal and more than likely will come back even when the special isn’t being advertised.

This targeted form of advertising using electronic means to deliver text message coupons is genius to say the least.

I’d love to see this type of technology here in Tulsa where we are the test market for many franchise restaurant operators and also home to some great Mom and Pop dining establishments.

Now while Tulsa, Oklahoma is not as big or as populated as New York City, we do eat out a lot - probably just as much as our friends on Manhattan Island for sure. I mean just drive along 71st street in Tulsa between 4:30 and 7:00 and try to find a restaurant that isn’t full.

I do believe that small Mom and Pop restaurants that don’t get as much patronage as the large franchise operations would benefit from the type of advertising 8coupons.com offers. Most of the restaurants I write about here on TulsaTonight.com don’t get nearly the amount of traffic that the large franchise operators get because the large operators have huge advertising budgets… Take for instance El Rey Mexican restaurant on Tulsa’s east side… Wonderful home cooked food, incredible friendly service and outrageously good cheese cake but most of you have probably never heard of them… or how about The Cache River Cafe just west of 169 on 11th… serving the largest Chicken Fried Steak anywhere! Even Tulsa’s nostalgic Nightingale theatre could benefit from a boost by 8coupons.com. How about some of the best Pizza in Tulsa, available at NYC Pizza just north of 51st on Harvard? The gumbas over at NYC Pizza use the freshest mozarella and sauce in town!

I could go on and on about the Mom and Pop businesses here in Tulsa that so many Tulsans know nothing about… but perhaps if TulsaTonight.com’s readership continues to increase as it has for several months now, the word will get out to more people real soon. Of course Tulsa World and Urban Tulsa do a remarkable job of reviewing smaller businesses in Tulsa as well.