Online Office Tools

eFax - We don't do a ton of faxing but it's one of those tools that, when you need it, you can't do without it. I didn't want to have to put a physical fax machine in every location where an employee might need to send or receive a fax. eFax has a great interface and allows us to send and receive faxes over the internet. In essence, eFax receives our faxes then emails us the fax file to us. We view it in their software and can "fax" it back digitally. It has text annotation tools and digital stamps for signatures. Of course, as an internet based tool, we can send and receive faxes through a web based client too.

Skype - Have you heard about Skype? Skype is an internet based phone network. And it's FREE! Download the Skype software - you'll need a headset with microphone for your computer. Get a free Skype account and you can now talk to anyone - anywhere in the world, for as long as you want, for free. Did I mention it was free? Come on - you gotta give the internet some props for that! There is a revenue model for Skype. They charge to enable Skype users to talk with non-Skype users over the internet. It's called Skype In and Skype Out. So, for example, if you pay for a Skype In account (I think it is about $10/year), you get assigned a regular phone number. When someone using a standard phone dials your Skype In number it rings you on your computer. Again, the call is free. If you want to dial from Skype to a non-Skype user you can purchase Skype Out. You dial a normal phone from Skype and it connects you to their regular phone number. And it works! Some of you may have had contact with Chris Butler. He's our design/developer who works primarily with our SelectEdit clients. For the past year he's been in Malaysia with his wife who is teaching English there. If you dial his extension, VirtualPBX forwards the call to his Skype In number. When he picks up he is talking to you from Malaysia over his computer. No kidding. How cool is that!

GoogleTalk - I guess instant messaging is old news, so the fact that Google has an IM service now is no big deal. So does Skype, by the way. GoogleTalk has Skype-like calling features, too. I'm not the biggest fan of IM, but I admit it comes in handy. One reason I don't like IM is that it gives away my horrible speeling skills. My word processor overcomes my typos with little red squigglies (by the way, apparently "squigglies" is not the proper way to spell that word). Aside from the constant humbling spelling mistakes, I am also not very fond of getting bleeped all day. Nevertheless, I use it because it is absolutely the best way to get quick bits of important information back and forth between employees - it's one way to effectively multitask without getting too distracted. A handful of quick abbreviated words and we can move on with whatever task we're engaged in.   next >