Ukash improves global service with cloud contact centre

Ukash, a leading provider of online cash payment, has improved the customer experience and ROI, increased by innovative cloud contact center technology of NewVoiceMedia. The company has implemented ContactWorld for Service, a scalable solution with Salesforce integration, for a single, shared view of all interactions with customers.

The UK-based company had previously outsourced customer service, but selected ContactWorld to telephone conversations with the support service as it moves the internal Department, to focus on an improved customer experience and get complete control of the operations.

The solution was implemented in addition to implementing Salesforce CRM. ContactWorld integrates seamlessly with Salesforce CRM to track all calls and customer service levels measured, Ukash with voice communication addition to its Salesforce CRM system.

Ukash has a rich set of features, including dynamic routing, intelligent incoming calls based on data from Salesforce process. Rather than treat all callers in a queue with the same meaning, the company can more quickly priorise VIP customers, solve existing conversations and recognize international callers and route to agents to speak their language.

The solution provides direct access to a customer or prospect entire history of interactions from one screen and easy call recording allows for a full record of calls is held-a valuable tool for troubleshooting and training. Employees can talks directly from Salesforce with the click-to-dial function, save time and improve the call connections.

Agents can also log in to the same system, where they are, if all they need is a telephone and internet connection, which means that they can work from different locations. The platform provides a real-time window into the entire contact center operation so agents can be easily managed, and customizable, rich reports expose the company let where improvement opportunities exist.

As with many organizations, was reliability an important area that had to be addressed before the company moved its telephone to the cloud. Ukash had full confidence in NewVoiceMedia due to its 99.999% availability SLA and public confidence Site (www.newvoicemedia.com/trust), which shows how platform performance and availability in real time. Customer data protection is also essential for both companies, and as such, is the only cloud contact center vendor NewVoiceMedia ISO27001 certified and compliance with PCI-DSS level 1.

"We brought our in-house customer support in an effort to provide the best possible service, and this certainly have achieved since the implementation of ContactWorld," said Emanuela Azzarello, Customer Services Manager on Ukash. "We now have full visibility of our business metrics and measurable improvements in the service we provide. Reduced average processing time, abandonment rates by 1 percent, improved the management of our Department and increased ROI on our previous model ".

Ukash Operations Director Shiraz NewVoiceMedia 220â, adds, "not only provide us with a reliable and feature-rich contact centre, but a fully flexible and scalable solution. We can add new country support lines within days and not requires expertise to make changes. We have certainly got more control over our customer experience than ever before ".

Jonathan Gale, CEO, NewVoiceMedia, comments, "Ukash currently operates in over 55 countries, so that real cloud technology ideal for the delivery of an integrated and consistent level of service. It is also scalable as the company, without the headache of integration, upgrades and maintenance is growing. We are very happy that the company has made such significant improvements since the implementation ".

Ukash is an international company with an established, with which consumers around the world for shopping, payment, shipping and online, play with cash safe, secure and easy. Ukash is recognized for its significant levels of growth in recent years and was last month honored at the Queen's Awards for enterprise for the third consecutive year for its outstanding contribution to international trade.

For more info on NewVoiceMedia, visit www.newvoicemedia.com.

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VoicePulse Announces VoicePulse cloud Service

VoicePulse, Inc., a leading provider of Internet Telephony Service, launched its new infrastructure-as-a-Service offering called VoicePulse public cloud Service. VoicePulse public cloud is a self-service, hosted virtual Data Center solution based on VMware vCloud Director. Anyone can create a custom virtual Data directly online registration Center, where you can implement to create your own VMware vApps cloud solution.

"Cloud VoicePulse Service is a complete IaaS platform that gives customers the opportunity to not only virtualize their database development, web, email, and custom applications – as well as VoIP, controlled in a safe, environmentally friendly, high-performance physical facility," explaind Ravi Moha, President & CEO.  "Customers realize tremendous cost savings and flexibility, that's just not possible with physical hardware.  We chose to build the service on VMware's technology due to their superior technology and feature-set, as well as our in-house depth of knowledge with vCloud. "

Because it is based on VMware and VMware vCloud Director globe, VoicePulse Virtual Data Centers deliver the capabilities to build cloud environments with shared compute, storage and resources while providing customers full control over the data center virtual networks.

VoicePulse is currently offering a fully functional, free trial of her Public Service Cloud. Customers can deploy a special virtual Data Center environment within minutes using a catalog with the vApps VoicePulse or any software of their choice. In addition to traditional Customer Support VoicePulse has also a community site where customers can post questions and articles, explore ideas.

Visit http://cloud.voicepulse.com for more information.

AboutVoicePulse

VoicePulse is a New Jersey based technology and communication company that supplies advanced VoIP and VMware Cloud hosting services to personal and commercial customers based.  VoicePulse has maintains an ' A ' rating with the Better Business Bureau and features in publications such as Time Magazine, The New York Times, US News World Report &, PC WORLD, PC Magazine, and more. If you want more info on VoicePulse, visit www.voicepulse.com. VoicePulse is a trademark of VoicePulse Inc.

VMware VMware vCloud and VMware vSphere are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other trademarks and company names may be trademarks of their respective companies. The use of the word "partner" or the "partnership" does not mean a legal partnership relationship between VMware and another company.

Media contact:

Public.relations@voicepulse.com

732-339-5101

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Amazon Cloud is great, but not for business

Amazon added a new element to its Cloud Drive service this week that expands it usefulness. The new Cloud Drive Sync app keeps files in sync across different devices and platforms, and pits Amazon Cloud Drive head-to-head against rivals such as Google, Microsoft, and Apple. However, businesses should steer clear of Amazon Cloud Drive.

The Amazon Cloud Drive Sync app is available for Windows or Mac OS X. Similar to other cloud file syncing tools, the app places a folder on your PC. Any files saved to the designated folder are automatically synced to Amazon Cloud Drive, and instantly available from any device that can access Amazon Cloud. By default, the local Amazon Cloud Drive folder created on a Windows or Mac OS X PC includes sub-folders for Documents, Pictures, and Videos. Amazon doesn’t offer a very consistent experience across platforms, though.

The Kindle Fire stores and accesses the data through separate tabs of the mobile OS: Docs, Photos, Videos, and Music. It can get a little confusing because a JPG file stored in the Documents sub-folder on a Windows or Mac OS X PC ends up in Photos on the Kindle Fire, while a video clip stored under Documents will be found in Videos. It makes sense, logically, but may throw people off because the files are not located in the same place from device to device.

Cloud Drive and Cloud Player are related, but distinctly different services. On the Web, there is an additional folder called Archived Music. That folder (which also shows up as a folder under Docs on the Kindle Fire), contains the music files from Amazon Cloud Player. However, Amazon Cloud Player is still a separate service, and uploading or playing music should be done through that. You can download music files from this folder, or click on a file to play it in the default music player. However, uploading or syncing music files, playing entire albums, or shuffling playlists should be done through Amazon Cloud Player.

All in all, Amazon Cloud is on a par more or less with other cloud storage and syncing services. With 5GB of free storage for data that can be automatically synced and accessed from a diverse range of platforms and devices, Amazon Cloud users should check out what it has to offer—especially people who use a Kindle Fire, or frequently purchase content from Amazon.

Amazon Cloud Drive is not a business tool, though. As we’ve seen with Dropbox and other consumer-oriented cloud storage services, users often take matters into their own hands and store data in such cloud services for convenience. However, that data can't be accessed, managed or protected by the business, which could lead to exposing sensitive information.

Box, Dropbox for Teams, Google Drive for Business, and Microsoft SharePoint or SkyDrive Pro are examples of services that provide similar cloud storage, data syncing and file sharing capabilities, while also giving IT the tools necessary to manage access, enforce policies, and protect the data. Ultimately, the single biggest factor in choosing a cloud storage and file syncing service is which ecosystem you rely on. Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive and Apple iCloud all make perfect sense for users invested in the platforms and tools related to those respective ecosystems.

Amazon Cloud is a solid competitor for all of the above, and the no-brainer choice for users of Kindle Fire tablets, or for avid Amazon customers. However, Amazon Cloud Drive is a consumer-centric service that lacks the oversight IT admins need to control and protect business data. Amazon provides guidance for businesses that wish to block access to Cloud Drive. It recommends that businesses block DNS resolution for zcd-00.s3.amazonaws.com to prevent access to Cloud Drive, and zcd-01.s3.amazonaws.com to block access to Amazon Cloud Player from corporate networks.

You might not want to count on that solution, though. At least check frequently to ensure that it’s still working. That solution will only work as long as those specific URLs are required to access Cloud Drive or Cloud Player, and Amazon notes that the specifications are subject to change at any time.

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Crosspeer Cloud Announces New Unified Communications Initiative

Crosspeer, the leader in Next Generation Open Cloud Computing, announced its new Cloud Communications IAAS initiative.  Crosspeer is not only changing the way companies purchase IT computing resources, it is also re-defining the way they communicate – truly empowering their workforces to become more agile, more flexible and more productive.  The vision for the new offering brings together the computing power and flexibility of the cloud with high performance, reliability and security required for communications networks.  Crosspeer sees this as the foundation for a new class of ‘Unified Communications Service’ offerings and part of the core for building a ‘Virtual Telco’ for SIP Communications.  

“Many of our development team members have designed VoIP communications systems even before the SIP protocol was ratified as a standard,” said Patrice Haftman, CTO of Crosspeer.    “We knew early on that that VoIP communications would eventually prevail, and that traditional Telco carrier networks would succumb to packet-based voice and data communications.  Clearly land lines and PBXs are dead, and advanced IP-based Unified Communications systems are taking their place.”

First generation VoIP implementations typically replaced land lines and legacy PBXs with on-premise communications servers that provided similar calling features.  They not only connected softphones and desktop phones, they virtually eliminated the concept of long-distance.  Today, converged IP communications is moving to the cloud where companies can take further advantage of even lower capital costs and overhead expenditures.  Advanced communications such as VoIP, Presence, Instant Messaging, Unified Messaging, Conferencing (audio, web & video) and social networking let users connect and exchange ideas more effectively than ever before.  

“The Crosspeer Infrastructure provides distinct advantages for cloud communications applications,” said Salvador Diaz-Verson, Crosspeer CEO.   “Not only can applications be scaled instantly to meet growing user demands, but the cloud decreases the time needed to provision and deploy new applications and services.  Crosspeer Cloud can also provide consistent, easy-to-access communications for users across multiple locations or geographic regions, and easily support mobile and remote workers – keeping them connected and productive.”

With the current economic conditions, companies are increasingly faced with the need to scale both up or down as quickly as possible.  With premises-based implementations, downsizing often results in unused communications capacity while scaling up can be costly and time consuming.  Cloud-based unified communications systems offer greater scalability and flexibility for the long term.  UC capabilities deployed in the cloud also eliminate the time, money and effort required to integrate disparate applications deployed on premises.

“Crosspeer Cloud also benefits system integrators,” noted Mike Dabney, Director of Business Development for Crosspeer.  VoIP value-added resellers, consultants and those looking to provide SAAS services can take advantage of the Crosspeer Open Cloud to install, configure and custom tune applications to meet specific system requirements on-demand.   Unbundled resources from Crosspeer keep computing costs low by not forcing users to buy pre-configured resource blocks where they may end up paying for more capacity than what is needed.   Being able to purchase the amount of CPU, memory and disk space independently provides significant cost advantages to both users and SAAS vendors.”  

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Connected Health: How Mobile Phones, Cloud and Big Data Will Reinvent Healthcare

Our current healthcare system is in need of a radical reinvention. Traditional approaches have not brought the rapid change required by aging populations and the rising costs of healthcare, and government efforts too often get bogged down in partisan politics and fail to address systemic issues.

Thankfully, there is hope on the horizon. New approaches that embrace game-changing technology — mobile networks, big data, social media, and the Internet of things — could completely disrupt the status quo and transform the healthcare system. For this change to occur, we must create new institutions and collaborative markets and promote a cultural shift in how we think about medicine, health, and the body. Only then will the path to disruptive innovation be able to overcome its many obstacles and reach a future where health strategists are conversant in the tools and technologies of cooperation.

This volume provides a comprehensive overview of the emerging connected health ecosystem, including the startups and traditional technology players shaping the future of healthcare and innovative approaches by the government that demonstrate the need to move beyond the tired rhetoric of big government versus the market in healthcare.

Price: $ 135

Click here to buy from Amazon

D-Link DIR - 868L AC1750 wireless cloud band Dual Gigabit Router

After the disastrous DIR - 865L, D-Link now almost gets it right. The new DIR - 868 L Wireless AC1750 Dual Band Gigabit Cloud router is fast, stable, and offers wide Wi-Fi coverage. It also supports USB 3.0. It's far from perfect, however, mostly because of the ill-conceived mobile apps, and the fact that the router can' t work as a half-bridge or a standalone access point.

If you're setting up a new home network or want to replace your existing Wi-Fi router, the DIR - 868 L is excellent buy at the current price of some $170 street. Just don't expect it to be more than an excellent Wi-Fi router. For those than can do more than routing, check out those on this list of other 802. 11ac-enabled routers on the market.

Straightforward design and easy to set up
The DIR - 868L abandons the squarish shape of the DIR - 865L routers and goes back to the vertical cylindrical design, first available in the DIR-645. It looks more like a computer speaker or a Thermos than a router. The cylindrical DIR - 868L comes with four gigabit LAN ports, one gigabit WAN port, and a USB 3.0 port.

On the front the router has two round green LEDs that show power and Internet statuses. There are no other status lights for the network ports, which some users might miss. On the back, it has four gigabit LAN ports (Ethernet-ready for clients), one gigabit WAN port (to connect to an Internet source, such as a broadband modem), and a USB 3.0 port to a USB host device, such as a printer or an external hard drive. Also on the back, there's a power on/off button and a WPS button, which initiates a 2 - minute window during which other WPS-enabled devices can enter the router's Wi-Fi network.

Setting up the DIR - 868L is about the typical example of setting up a home router, as shown in this How To post. Basically, you plug the router into an outlet, connect its WAN port to an Internet source with an network cable (one is included with the router). Use another cable to connect a computer to one of the router's LAN ports. If you don't have a second cable, you can also use Wi-Fi client (such as a computer or a tablet) and connected to the router's default Wi-Fi networks. The router comes with a label with this information printed on it. The DIR - 868L comes with a QRS (Quick Router Setup) Mobile app, allowing users to use a mobile device to set up the router.

Now, you have to options. You can download D-Link completo QRS Mobile app and use a smartphone or tablet to finish the rest of the of the setup process. Or, from the connected computer, launch a browser and you will be greeted with a Web-based setup wizard that walks you through the process via a few simple steps. You can always go back to the router's Web interface by pointing a browser from a connected computer to its default IP address, which is 192.168.0.1. The default log-in information, unless you have changed it, is admin for the username with the password being left blank.

Technically, after the setup wizard, you don't have to do anything else to use the router, and this is the case for homes. If you want to further customize your home network or take advantage of the router's other features, the Web interface tonica'accommodates all of that.

Common high-end features with cloud integration, but not bridge or AP-only role
The DIR - 868L seems very similar to the previous DIR - 865L, both use Wi-Fi chips from Broadcom. The new router is a true dual-band router with support for the three-stream setup for the 802.1n (Wireless-N) and 802. 11ac Wi-Fi standards. This means it offers up to 450Mbps on the 2.4 GHz frequency. On the 5 GHz band, it offers up to 450Mbps when used with Wireless-N clients, and up to 1.3Gbps when used with 802. 11ac clients. The router supports all existing Wi-Fi clients on the market, regardless of their Wi-Fi standards. (Read more about different Wi-Fi standards here.)

The DIR - 868L use D-Link's family Web interface and supports USB 3.0. Note that enabling USB 3.0 will result in shorter wireless range on the 2.4 GHz frequency band.

The DIR - 868L, however, uses the second-generation Broadcom chip and now sports SmartBeam technology, designed to enhance the router's Wi-Fi performance and coverage.On the other hand, the new router now lacks the ability to work as a half-bridge or as an access point only. This means it can't be used as an 802. 11ac client to add Ethernet-ready devices to a Wi-Fi network, nor can it be used as a switch with built-in access point to work with an existing network. That said, the DIR - 868L should only be used as the first gateway of a home or business network. All of the other 802. 11ac routers I've reviewed offer better flexibility.

As an advanced Wi-Fi router, the DIR - 868L supports all common features found in high-end routers, including guest networking (with two networks, one for each band), IPv6, port forwarding, QoS, firewall, and so on. Additionally, the router offers features that have been collectively available in other D-Link routers, including a well-organized Web interface, an extensive Web-filtering engine, and support for a storage device for data sharing and media-streaming needs via a external USB connected hard drive.

The DIR - 868 L completo USB port can be used with any external hard drives formatted in either FAT32 or NTFS, and in my trials, it was able to power all bus-powered portable drives. You can then easily share the entire connected drive the everybody in the network or securely share its content via user accounts. You can also stream digital content stored on the drive with network media streamers. Note that by default, the USB port works in 2.0 mode, you can use the Web interface to enable the USB 3.0 speed but this will translate in to shorter range on the router's 2.4 GHz frequency band.

Similar to other cloud routers from D-Link, including the DIR - 865L and the DIR - 605L, the DIR - 868L enables users to manage their home network via the Internet, using the MyDlink portal. You first need to create a free account (unless you have an existing one) then add the router to that account by entering the username and password in the MyDlink Settings section of its Web interface completo setup. After that, you can easily view the status of the router as well as manage some of its settings.

While the cloud-based feature can come in handy, it's rather limited since it doesn't offer the same amount of access to the router as the Web interface. On top of that, advanced user can easily set up the router with a free DynDSN service to access its Web interface on the go, without the need of the MyDlink portal. However, the cloud-based feature can also be accessed via a mobile app, called D-Link Light, available for both iOS and Android devices.

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Younity 1.5 could render cloud storage obsolete

As we’ve become a more mobile society—working from virtually anywhere on our smartphones and tablets—we’ve also embraced various cloud storage and file sharing tools, so we can access and collaborate on our data. Younity has an entirely different approach, and it could make cloud storage obsolete. Is that sensational hyperbole? In a word: no. But, it really depends on your data, how you use it, and who you need to share it with. I use a variety of cloud storage services. I rely primarily on Box, but I also have accounts with Dropbox, Microsoft SkyDrive, Google Drive, Amazon Cloud Drive, and others.   Younity is a "personal cloud" that lets you access all of your data.

I appreciate that my data synced to Box is available on my MacBook Air and my Windows 8 tablet as well as my iPhone, iPad, and other devices. I frequently use it as a means of sharing files with others—uploading the data to Box, and then sending an email link to the individuals I want to share with. The fact that my data is in the cloud rather than stuck somewhere on a local drive back at the office has been a lifesaver on more than one occasion.

In order for data to be accessible from the cloud through Box, SkyDrive, Dropbox, or any other service, however, you must first remember to put it there. You must store the data in the designated folder or folders on your local computer for it to be automatically synced, or have the presence of mind to manually upload the data to the cloud.

As great as cloud-storage and file-sharing services are, they require some degree of planning and forethought to choose which files will be available. Younity changes all of that: It simply indexes all your data wherever it’s stored on Mac OS X or Windows PCs, and then it makes that data—all of it—accessible and shareable from your iPhone or iPad.

I’ve been a fan of Younity since it first launched. But the original version had one fatal flaw for my purposes: It could not index external drives. Since my MacBook Air and Samsung Series 7 Slate both have only 128GB of onboard storage (via SSDs), I rely heavily on external storage. The new version of Younity released this week adds scanning and indexing of external storage, so Younity just jumped to the top of my favorite apps list.

Another advantage Younity has over cloud storage is security: I don’t have to rely on a third party to protect my data, or concern myself with configuring and maintaining separate security controls. Younity doesn’t store any of my data, so Younity could suffer a devastating security breach, and it wouldn't impact me in the least. My data will be safely stored on my computer, external hard drive, or wherever I keep it.

The PCs storing your data, however, must be powered on and connected to the Internet in order for the app to access or share the data. If the computer is turned off, Younity will still display the file in its index, but it will labeled as unavailable since the PC can’t be reached.

Younity also falls short from a business security and compliance standpoint: It’s a great tool on an individual level—and many users will install and use it on business computers and mobile devices—but it doesn’t provide any of the centralized management and security controls that IT admins need to enforce policies, protect data, and maintain compliance.

The upside, though, is that because it’s not a cloud-storage service, the user's data remains on the PC and any drives attached to it, where the IT admin does have control and can enforce policies and compliance. IT admins still have to be able to monitor and restrict how data is shared, who it can be shared with, and what happens after it’s shared, and Younity does not provide that kind of oversight—at least not yet.

I spoke with Erik Caso—co-founder of Younity developer Entagled Media—and he shared his broader vision for the product. Younity is iOS-centric now. The scanning agent works on Windows and Mac OS X, but the apps for accessing and sharing data exist only for iOS devices. In the future, there will most likely be an Android version, and possibly the ability for the Windows and Mac PCs to not just scan, but also view, access, and share data from other connected systems.

Tony is principal analyst with the Bradley Strategy Group, providing analysis and insight on tech trends. He is a prolific writer on a range of technology topics, has authored a number of books, and is a frequent speaker at industry events.

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Cloud Business VoIP now reliable and cost effective

Aphoneapp.com a Cloud Based Enterprise PBX and VoIP Solutions Provider in the Midwest has completed a multi-site VoIP 100 user implementation in the Chicagoland Area for a local Real Estate Company. The customer was seeking a solution that did not require a Huge up-front Capital Investment in these strained economic times. The customer researched several options and Aphoneapp.com met the requirements by a long shot.

Companies are seeking more and more ways to be competitive in rough economic times. What most companies don't realize is recurring monthly costs need to be analyzed annually. A Real Estate Company in the Chicagoland area was seeking a solution! They had 3 locations with a T-1 Network for Data and Voice and an ISDN-PRI Circuit for Voice Services!  

The customer had a VoIP Phone System from a large Manufacturer but all the equipment and software was proprietary and required maintenance and software upgrades with expensive service requirements, every time they contacted the Bell provider to get resolution for cut Fiber Optics and Service outages employees wasted hours of valuable time trying to get someone to fix the problem.

The voicemail had crashed after 8 years- the Hard Drive failed and repair costs were something the owners did not want to eat. They contacted several companies seeking a replacement solution, what they did not realize is that Aphoneapp.com would come in with not only a dramatically cost effective solution with little capital investment but also a greener technology and better management tools such as Call Accounting. The Company will have full ROI by April 12, 2013- just under 3.5 months.

The real estate firm can now add new agents on the fly with a simple $8.00 app for the iphone or android devices the agents are already carrying. The owner expecting to purchase other real estate offices in the future can now implement these locations rapidly without the need for additional resources such as Bell Services, T-1 Services, Telecom Contractor Services and maintenance agreements as the client is now self-sufficient with an easily deployable straight forward Cloud solution in line with the existing data infrastructure.

The solution Aphoneapp.com implemented while utilizing the same trunking (phone lines) configuration with it's Cloud Based VoIP PBX Solution freed up over $30,000.00 + in capital annually for the client to reinvest in other things to grow the business. Power savings will be another big savings for the client down the road as they no longer have any on premise telecommunications equipment, Battery Backups, or switching gear, all now residing in the free cloud PBX.

To request a Free copy of the Case Study email sales@aphoneapp.com or visit Aphoneapp.com to request a copy- write in the subject line "Real Estate Case Study".

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