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Instant messaging, broadband access and video conferencing over the internet has made webcams become somewhat a standard feature with most of the new laptops and all-in-one desktops currently available in the market today. If you happen to need a webcam but your current system doesn’t have it built-in or doesn’t have one bundled then you’ll have to buy one separately.

Finding the product that’s right for you is hard. Reading thousands of reviews and picking from hundreds of products is difficult and frustrating. It takes a lot of time to make sense of all this information and find the product that fits your needs. That is why Wize.com was built to solve this problem.

You will have to consider the following when choosing a webcam:

• Will you be using it on a laptop or a desktop or both?
• Will you be using it on a Windows, Mac, Linux?
• Do you need zoom, pan and tilt features?
• Do you need low light/night mode support?
• Do you need facial tracking features?
• What resolution do you need? Does it meet the picture quality you need?
• Does it have a built-in microphone?
• Is it within your budget?
• Is it user friendly?
• Is it sturdy? Does it break easily?
• Does it provide product support and warranty?

Whatever feature you need, you can easily compare various webcams that you like using Wize’s product comparison feature and find the best webcam that’s right for you.

How about you? What things do you consider when getting a new webcam?

The advent of the web has definitely made communication easier and more cost efficient. Gone are the days that we need to spend a lot on long distance calls with the availability of VoIP. Web conferences and meetings can be done easily and immediately so we no longer have to travel hundreds or even thousands of miles away just to meet with the people we need to get in touch with.

There are a lot of options if you want to have web conferencing. The most practical and affordable option would have to be using instant messaging software with the likes of Yahoo! Messenger, Microsoft’s Live Messenger, Skype and the list goes on.

If you want more functionality and you need to interact with a larger audience you would be better off with web conferencing software and services. The most famous ones available in the market would be WebEx, Microsoft’s LiveMeeting, Adobe’s Acrobat Connect and Citrix’s GoToMeeting.

That is all good if you have a big budget or don’t do web conferencing often. But if you plan to do a lot of web conferencing, you would be better off having your own web conferencing appliance so you won’t need to pay any service fees every time you use their service.

RHUB is one of the providers that have bundled four applications: web conferencing, web seminar, remote support and remote access all into one appliance.

Having one device to do all that has the benefits of easier manageability and reliability since it is a dedicated appliance and at the same time save you a lot of money in the long haul and it even all the features that other web conferencing services provide.

Best of all, since you own it, you control it!

3Com Presentation Schedule

April 25, 2008 12:15-1PM

Demystifying Unified Communications for SME/SMBs

by Pen Keong Fong
Systems Engineer
3Com Singapore

April 26, 2008 3:15-4PM

Demystifying Unified Communications for SME/SMBs

by James Jose
Senior Systems Engineer
3Com Philippines

Visit 3Com booth, drop your business cards and attend the 3Com presentation for a chance to wind an iPod shuffle.

Cisco is pleased to invite you to the biggest event on Unified Communications

The UC World 2008

April 25-26, 2008

Esplanade, SM Central Business Park, Pasay City, Philippines

See live Unified Communications Demos at the Cisco Booth

Cisco presents the Smart Business Communications System (SBCS). More than  just a phone system, it’s everyhting you need for your growing business in one box! SBCS integrates easily with your existing network and is easy to deploy, manage and operate. Ask about the extra cost savings you’ll get  with the special SBCS promo discount.

Date: April 25-26, 2008

Attend the Cisco Unified Communications Workspace Session

Discover how Cisco Unified Communications can help you enhance your business productivity and profitability.How you can be connected and work seamlessly from where you are. How you can maximize collaboration within the company and with external parties. All these while enjoying cost savings in the long run!

Place:  UCWorld presentation area
Date: April 25, 2008Time: 9 :30 - 11:00am

There will be exciting prizes and giveaways that await Cisco booth visitors and Cisco UC Session attendees!

Reserve your slot now for the Cisco Unified Communications at UC World 08

VTC and FileMaker invite you to avail of their promotional offer to get FREE 30 days unlimited access to all IT trainings available in the VTC library.

A regular VTC subscription will set you back around US$30 a month, or US$250 for a year. But you can get avail of a whole month of free access simply by entering the promo code “fmfr33trial” (case sensitive without the quotes).

http://www.vtc.com/promos/filemaker/signup.php

Enjoy!

For people from South Asia especially India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, residing in the United States has its inherent problems. Communication is just one of those. Residing in the United States for reasons of work, business or whatever circumstance can be a trying and harrowing experience in terms of getting in touch with friends and family back home. Yes there is always the email, and internet chat but what could be more personal than a phone call?

Next question then is whether the phone or calling service reliable? Is it secure? Is it economical? The market has been wanting for crystal clear quality, uninterrupted calling, cost efficient connectivity without hidden fees.

If you call India from the United States using say an AT&T line with special calling package for India, it would cost you about US$12 monthly which is inclusive of 60 minutes usage and also charges an additional US$0.19 for every minute you exceed beyond the initial 60 minutes.

A better option would be for you to use an India prepaid calling card. You also get to have the same clear quality, uninterrupted calling but at far more economical rates.

One of the leaders in terms of prepaid calling service from the US to India is TrueRoots. Corporate synergy and sound technology could really work wonders as TrueRoots is backed by India’s largest and most respected conglomerate, the Tata Group.

With true roots, you can get a prepaid calling card for as low as US$5.00 and spend only US$0.069 per minute which easily gives you about 72 minutes of call time unlike other providers where their cheapest card is at US$10. Best of all you also get access to 24×7 customer service and even be able to easily manage your account online.

They are even looking at expanding their offering from just an international calling service to a full blown media hub. Movies, TV series, sports coverage, video games, music download, karaoke, etc. are but some of the various services that could be additionally offered to the market.

So, for the US residents of South Asian communities, here is your chance to call at the best possible terms. It’s your call. Call India. Call Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka as well.

Have you ever had a potential sale slip through the cracks because you weren’t proactive? Have you ever lost a loyal customer because of ineffective service? Here are four reasons why businesses should implement proactive service solutions to help with these and other issues that can be detrimental to business.

1. Help Distressed Web Site Visitors
   A distressed online customer can engage in a number of actions that can be harmful to business success, i.e., changing service/product providers, negative blogging, etc. One area that is a serious business problem is shopping cart abandonment. Marketing Sherpa reports that in 2006, shopping cart abandonment averaged an astounding 58 percent, which represents an enormous missed business opportunity.Some common areas of customer distress include:
   • Cannot find a particular product or service
   • Unsure of how to fill out a Web form
   • Lack of human interaction
   • Difficulty making payments

   The resolution to these issues is to provide customers with the same treatment they’d receive in a brick-and-mortar store. To do this, businesses must implement proactive service solutions, i.e., live chat and click-to-talk through VoIP. These technologies allow customers to access an agent at the point of need over the Internet using dial-up or broadband. Live chat and click-to-talk provide businesses with the ability to truly expand global reach from both the consumer and remote agent perspective.

   The use of these technologies will not only help distressed visitors, but improve customer satisfaction and loyalty.

2. Significantly Slash Service Costs
   According to Gartner Research, proactive customer contacts can be a cost-effective complement to traditional inbound customer service contact center activities. This type of contact can also generate goodwill among your customers and reduce the overall cost per call.Live chat and click-to-talk help businesses provide a highly personalized customer experience and slash service costs by engaging a frustrated Web site visitor before they engage an agent via the traditional telephone, which can be one of the most expensive communication channels.JupiterResearch reports that companies are increasingly offering proactive interactions through chat and click-to-call to consumers who trigger business rules such as shopping cart value, session inactivity and lifetime value.
3. Make Some Money
   These innovative products also allow businesses to benefit from up-sell and cross-sell opportunities. Click-to-talk and live chat can be used to take advantage of live interactions to offer additional goods and services that a customer may be interested in purchasing.For example, a customer appears to be having trouble finding product information about an item she’s interested in purchasing on a Web site. An agent proactively offers a live chat or click-to-talk invitation to help her find what she’s looking for, and closes the sale.Another proactive service solution businesses can use is real-time offers. This technology allows the system to create and push targeted offers to agents so they can offer them to customers.

   For example, a customer is on a mobile phone operator’s Web site shopping for a new plan and has proceeded to the shopping cart. Before the customer checks out, the monitoring agent pushes an offer to suggest a plan that may better suit the customer and also includes a free new cell phone.

   Real-time offers also can be used without an agent by the system automatically pushing offers to customers while they are active on a Web site.

   By using these technologies, businesses will not only increase revenue, but will be able to do something that would be difficult to do via telephone.

4. Increase Awareness and Understanding of Your Customers
   These solutions offer businesses the chance to communicate with customers with whom they may never interact otherwise. This new level of interaction enables agents to gain access to untapped customer information by asking simple questions like, “You look like you’re having trouble finding something; can I be of assistance?”Click-to-talk and live chat also help businesses keep better track of customer information they may not get the chance to gather through other channels.This customer knowledge can also help agents push personalized real-time offers to customers based on prior interactions, which again helps increase revenue and customer satisfaction.

   By using this customer knowledge, businesses are essentially setting themselves up for future successful customer interactions by enabling agents to offer the red-carpet treatment to loyal customers.

By Robert Booher, director of product management, Talisma Corporation

I was on my way home from Makati when I noticed a billboard along South Super Highway (Southbound) that had something about VoIP. I saw the url so I decided to check it out. I wonder why this event that much of a media promotion.

VoIPCon 2006: Beyond IP Telephony & SoftPABXs will offer a great deal of information covering all aspects of VoIP development from core programming to logistical implementation to proper software and hardware selection. This conference is intended for making the general public aware of the emergence of this new innovation.
The conference will have three different categories of discussion for different attendees, this is designed for more interactivity and in depth understanding of this technology. David Troy, President of Popvox and Dr. L.C. Chen of Digium Asia will be among the invited guest speakers who will give emphasis on the significance of VoIP for everyone.

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