I’ve been lucky enough to be involved with beta testing recently, and I’m pretty excited about some new product that will really make customer management easier. Interested? Read on…

First things first. This application lives in your Windows toolbar and works with both your Outlook and your Polycom phone. There are also plans to have it integrate with some common database systems (CRMs), so you can log call numbers and times, customer support information, and case notes from your workers.

It makes all your dialing as simple as typing part of a person’s name. It’s actually just like having all of your contacts on speed dial! When you receive a call, your computer uses the CallerID number to find and display the Outlook contact information, so you will know exactly who it is. It can also flash up a window with the contact’s details when you receive a call, which will let your customer support workers greet each caller in a well-prepared fashion. It’s also only one click to call people back!

Also, it can interact, work, and integrate with Google Maps. If you enter contact info that is not in Outlook, you can perform a search without opening your browser. Once you choose the correct hit, you can call them with only one click. When you’re done, you can create a new Outlook contact, including a clickable link to Google Maps, which will autofill to save time and effort.

The plan is to make this available upon request within the next month. Just email the Sutus sales team and they’ll contact you when it goes live!

-Dave.

I thought I’d save some trouble for you out there in blog-land, and tell you about an easy fix we came across this weekend. I was out of the office, and our new IT guy wanted to set up a spare phone in the lunchroom. However, he wasn’t totally sure about how to do it, and didn’t want to do it wrong. So, he called me and woke me up.

I wasn’t totally sure about the process either, and he didn’t really think it was important enough to call Sutus Support about. After some deliberation, he decided to check out the help files. I know it sounds surprising, especially for a technology company, but the help files actually helped him figure out what to do!

If that wasn’t enough, while he was using the BC200′s web Administrator interface, he also clicked on a few of the “Learn More…” links to find out some more technical details. We got in to the ‘Help’ menu (in the top right corner of the Administration screen) and found the tutorials. There are quite a lot of them!

We also learned that we could rightclick on an area of the screen to get help on that topic. It turned out that the System Administrator Guides have screenshots, and some of them are available in PDF format. We printed out the Receptionist Guide, just to have it on hand.

In conclusion, RTFM. That’s “Read the Fantastic Manual!” Oh – and to set up a new phone, all you have to do is plug it in to the BC200. It will automatically connect and be functional, and then you can assign it to a person or workgroup later.

-Dave.

Today we’ve got a simple way to save both time and money, all while keeping your data backed up in one convenient place.

Getting some kind of standard method to back up files was always on our list of ‘to do’ items here at the office, but it never seemed to be important enough to get done. Some people would burn their data to a DVD, some would copy it to a USB stick, and some just wouldn’t back up at all. Using the BC200 as a central backup makes sense for all involved. It’s a simple 4-step process to back up your My Documents folder in Windows 7 and Windows XP, so let’s get started!
Windows XP:

1. Click on “Start,” then “Accessories,” then “System Tools,” and then “Backup.” You will come to a screen like this:

2. Click “Next.” Make sure you select “My documents and settings,” otherwise your backed up files will fill the BC200 too quickly. Click ‘Next.’

3. On this screen, you can tell your computer where to save the backup file. On ours, we already set up a mapped drive to the BC200 on the Y: drive.  (The full path to the backup files is \\central\workspaces\personal\kyle perry\Backup, just in case we need to find it.)

4. Click on “Next,” and then “Finish,” and you’re done!

Windows 7:

1. Click “Start,” and open “Backup.” You will get the following screen. If you haven’t set a backup before, you’ll need to click on “Set Backup” to continue.

2. To tell the computer to save your backup to the BC200, click on “Save on a network.”

3. To tell the computer exactly where you want the files on the BC200, fill in the location. This one here is just an example – you’ll need to replace “workspaces” and “name” with the name of your workspace and person. Also, you’ll need to enter your username and password on the BC200. Click ‘OK’ to go to the next window.

4. You should select “Let Windows choose.” Click “Next” and then “Finish” on the next screen and you’re done!

Your computer will back itself up to your BC200, keeping a copy of the files in your “My Documents” folder.

That’s it for today. I hope you never need to use the backups, but if you do, you’ll be happy you took the time to set this up. (Just a quick technical note – the BC200 has two separate hard drives inside in a RAID configuration. If one of them fails, you’ll still be be able to recover your data from the other drive.) Happy computing!

-Dave.

Some of the crew in Sutus Support mentioned that asking about integrating a Free/Busy calendar from Outlook was a popular topic, so I decided to do some research. There’s a good article in the Help files, but why go there when you are already here?

First of all, a free/busy calendar is not just a calendar for one person. It is a calendar that combines many schedules and displays them on one page. This really saves time when you are booking appointments or scheduling team meetings, to name but two examples. Essentially, when a person publishes their Outlook calendar to the Business Central, that schedule information becomes available to other employees.

Enough of the talk, Dave. How do we do this? Well, if you’ve used the BC200′s Install Wizard, your Outlook calendar is already ready to use. If you haven’t, or you have recently upgraded your systems, or you just want to know what’s happening under the hood, read on.

These instructions may not be exact if you’re using a different version of Outlook. Here is what to do if you’re using Outlook 2003. (This is all in the BC200 Help files, if you get stuck.)

1. In Microsoft Outlook, select the Tools menu, and then go to Options.
2. Click on the Calendar Options button, and then click the Free/Busy Options button.
3. Check the Publish at My Location checkbox, and then put http://central.YOURDOMAIN:8080/freebusy/daveco.vfb into the Publish at My Location text box. Be sure that you have entered it exactly as in the example! Now replace “daveco” with your Business Central logon name, and “YOURDOMAIN” with your domain name.
4. Fill in the Search location text box exactly as follows: http://central.YOURDOMAIN:8080/freebusy/%NAME%.vfb This time, don’t change YOURDOMAIN or %NAME%, though.

Now, your Outlook calendar appointments will be visible to other people when they are scheduling appointments in their Outlook. Be careful, though – the Business Central does not support calendar sharing, which is when you can see other people’s calendar information in your own calendar.

It’s hard to be excited about a calendar, I know, but it’s simple to see how this can increase efficiency around the office. I’ll write again next week, as I see that I’m free at 4:30…

-Dave.

I want my customers to get a hold of my people easily. Isn’t it frustrating to have to remember two or three business phone numbers just to talk to one person? Get a competitive edge and make your people easy to contact by optimizing your Call Flow.

Case 1 – The Mobile Employee

Jim, our service tech, usually works offsite, but in town. He starts and ends his day at the office, so he needs to be contactable, but he doesn’t want to give out his cell numbers to clients. When somebody calls Jim’s extension, the BC200 will ring his desk phone first, in case he is in the office, and then forward the call to his cell phone using an external line.

Case 2 – He’s Overseas

Daniel, our traveling sales agent, is often out of the country, and he’d like to have an ‘office phone’ while overseas. Calling his extension here will ring his desk phone and his softphone (communications software that acts like a telephone) at the same time. If he doesn’t answer, the caller will be directed to the Auto-Attendant. The caller will think he is in the office down the street, but he’ll really be in Germany, connected to our BC200 with a VPN! As a bonus, the VPN allows him secure access to his email, the internet connection in the office, shared documents, and even the office printer.

Case 3 – Her desk is here, but she works over there…

Renata is a designer, but she spends a lot of time collaborating with Jean in the production department. She needs to be available wherever she is. Here, the BC200 will direct the incoming call to Renata’s desk phone, then ring Jean’s phone in the engineering department, and then terminate the call back at Renata’s voicemail.

Case 4 – Like a Pager

Dr. Beesie doesn’t want to take non-emergency calls while in the clinic, but she wants to get messages. In this case, the BC200 doesn’t ring a phone – it just terminates the call at her voicemail. The good doctor can then return her calls as time permits. (Using the last tip, we could forward the notification emails to her cell phone… just to give you a few ideas!)

Case 5 – Anyone Will Do

Our tech support department has many workers – Bill, Steve, and Eric, to name just three – and they can all help our clients. Someone calling Bill will ring his desk phone, then to all the phones in the Tech Support shared workspace, and then to the voicemail for the tech support shared workspace.

Set It Up.

Here’s how to do it. Call flows are editable under the Edit Workspace tab – just double click the workspace name, select Phone Service, and choose Incoming Call Flow. We can have up to three sequential destinations for an incoming call. Each destination can be a physical phone, a softphone, a forwarding number, a voice mailbox, or the Auto-Attendant. Just start at the top of the page and work down, and that’s the order the BC200 will follow when it receives a call.

So, what’s the secret? There really isn’t one. We need to remember that the BC200 frees us from the old idea that ‘each phone has one extension number, and that’s that.’ Just give your clients one extension, and let the BC200 and your Call Flow keep you in touch wherever you are! Have any questions? Just call me at the office, and I’ll be there… or will I?

-Dave.

Wouldn’t it be convenient to get a text message whenever a voice mail was left for you at work?

One of our sales guys was out of the office but on the phone a lot, and he couldn’t get his email notifications of voice messages at the office. Normally he would just check his email on a smartphone, but he doesn’t have a data package! Here’s a way around that situation.

Your BC200 emails you whenever you get a voicemail – mine goes to my Gmail account. I set up a filter that says “If the subject contains ‘voicemail,’ forward it to ‘myphonenumber@mycellcarrier.com.’ It’s pretty simple – here’s the whole process:

1. Someone leaves a voicemail on the BC200.
2. The BC200 emails my Gmail account, saying I have a voicemail.
3. Gmail forwards that email to my cellphone carrier.
4. My cellphone carrier sends an SMS message to my phone.

Data packages cost money, but most cell companies offer free incoming SMS messages.

I hope this little tip helps you make the most of your BC200. Until next time,

- Dave.

I was speaking with the Sutus support team, and they mentioned that there is sometimes confusion about what the default Reception workspace is for, why it is included, and how it can be used effectively.

The Reception workspace, for the most part, is like all other shared workspaces: it allows its members to share access to files, emails and phone calls. Also, all members of Reception can configure the behavior of that shared workspace; what happens when someone calls (the incoming call flow) or when someone emails reception (email forwards/alias). Reception has two other benefits that normal shared workspaces do not have:

1. It is the default destination for all external incoming calls.
2. Its members have the added ability to record the Auto-Attendant greeting.

Now that we have an idea of why and how the Reception shared workspace is used by the company, we should look at how shared workspaces help administrators manage their system. The first and foremost benefit is that it allows for role-based configuration. For most companies, it does not matter which employee is currently acting as the receptionist. Calls and emails will normally be handled in the same way by all receptionists.

Imagine, for example, that your receptionist, Bob, is leaving the company and will be replaced by a new employee, whom we will call Jill. By using the Reception shared workspace to handle the role of the receptionist, all you will need to do is:

1. delete Bob’s workspace, because he has left the company,
2. create a new personal workspace for Jill, and
3. add Jill to the Reception shared workspace.

However, if the Reception shared workspace was not being used, the administrator would need to:

1. create a new personal workspace for Jill,
2. write down Bob’s configuration, including call flow, email settings, and the like,
3. forward all of Bob’s non-personal email to Jill,
4. copy all of Bob’s non-personal files to Jill,
5. forward all of Bob’s non-personal voice mails to Jill,
6. delete Bob’s workspace,
7. edit Jill’s workspace configuration to be the same as Bob’s,
8. edit the callflow of all GW310 line’s to use Jill’s callflow, and
9. edit the callflow of your VoIP provider to use Jill’s callflow.

Ouch. That is a lot of work.

In the second example, the role of reception was attached to a personal workspace. Moving this role to a new personal workspace requires a lot of customized configuration. In the first example, the role of the reception is attached to a shared workspace. This means that just the members change, not the workspace configuration! Jill will automatically have access to all of the reception email, files and phone calls that Bob had received during his time as the receptionist.

Using a shared workspace to manage roles applies to other positions in your office such as support, sales or accounting. By creating shared workspaces to handle each role, employees (personal workspaces) can move between roles and even share multiple roles.

The other benefit for installers is that all incoming calls go to a known place by default. This means that there is no configuration required if a new GW310 PSTN gateway or VoIP provider is added to the system. This is because the default behavior is to direct all of the phone lines to Reception’s incoming call flow. This makes new equipment installation easier and faster by reducing the number of configuration steps required.

That’s pretty much it for this week. Shared workspaces, in particular the Reception shared workspace, are pretty powerful tools. They can simplify the administration and day to day usage of your Business Central.

-Dave.

I really enjoy working from home. It’s relaxing, comfortable, and I don’t have to commute! However, I always had to remember to bring home a laptop and any files I needed. What if I forget one of them? Worse still, what if the laptop is stolen and my data is lost or compromised? Your BC200 can help you out. It’s not a new feature, but it really is a useful one. I’m talking about a Virtual Private Network, which is a simple way to connect to the office network from anywhere with an Internet connection. It takes just a few steps to set up, too. Open Business Central Manager, and click on Remote Office Access. Follow the instructions to set up either a PPTP or IPsec VPN. I’m going to recommend the ‘Help’ files this time, rather than have you follow my instructions. Just click the ‘Learn More…’ BUTTONS if you’re not sure what is right.

Here are some creative uses for a VPN, some that you may not have heard of:

• connecting to an office file server, so you can work from home.
• sending documents to network printers at the office.
• backing up data remotely, just in case something happens to your home machine or laptop.
• using a work softphone at home – the callers will never know that you’re at home, instead of at your desk. You’re still reachable, but callers don’t ever need to know your home number.
• accessing company web servers for editing web pages or using a business instant messaging application.
• making a proxy connection for Internet traffic – one of our contractors used her BC200 to watch her favourite local TV via Slingshot while she worked overseas!
• deterring traffic snoopers – it is safer to use a VPN when you’re using a hotspot, for example.

So there you have it. It’s not much work to set up, but it really does open up a lot of connectivity possibilities. I’m going to leave it there for this week.

-Dave.

(P.S. – I’m not in my office while I write this!)

We’ve just started our Webmail beta trial, and we’re pleased to offer this opportunity to try out our new service. If you’re interested in a free, secure, Sutus-branded webmail address, head on over to the sign-up page.

Today I want to talk about one of the receptionist/executive assistant features of the Business Central: Workspace Monitoring.

Since my receptionist, James, wanted a big phone with lots of buttons, I got him the colour Polycom IP 670. It has a big screen, 6 line buttons and has support for up to 42 more buttons with expansion modules. At first I was concerned about having to configure the beast, but then I remembered that the Sutus does device detection and configuration automatically, so I gave it a shot.

Adding the phone was easy:

• Just plug the phone in, and it will boot up. The BC200 provides both power and networking through the Ethernet cable.
• Open Business Central Manager and go to the ‘Manage Phones’ tool. Your phones will appear listed by the current phone labels.
• Double-click the phone, and you’ll get to the ‘Configure Phone’ tab. From here I can assign the phone to James.
• Click on the ‘Phone Buttons’ tab and you can set up the number of call appearances, add speed dials, and assign keys to monitor other people to see if they are on the phone. This is where we’ll be doing our work today.

The Business Central 200 knows what each Polycom phone looks like, and features you can change are highlighted when you mouse over them. Click on ‘Configure Phone Buttons…’ and you’ll see the choices that are available for each line button. James needs to call the marketing staff many times a day, so a speed dial button will make his life easier. He also needs to know when staff are available to take calls. Enter Speed Dial and Workspace Monitoring.

This service offers one-touch calling to a local extension, and it also lets us know if any other phone in the workspace is in use. Because most of our calls are for the three people in marketing, it’s really helpful to be able to see who in that department is available to take calls. Just looking at the screen of the Model 670 shows the status of all their phones. If someone is in a meeting or away from their desk, then can hit the ‘do not disturb’ button. This makes them show to James as busy, so he knows that they’re not available at the moment.

With the Model 670, this is really simple. There are 6 assignable buttons, which allows for a lot of flexibility. I set it up like this:

The top two buttons are the two call appearances, the next three are for our marketing team – Vivian, Michiko, and Ryan – and the last button connects to Call Park and Unpark. Now James can see who is on the phone or available to take calls, and it also allows him to see if parked calls for other team members are being picked up in a timely manner.

Should we need more control in the future, the Model 670 also has the ability to work with up to 3 expansion modules. They are called sidecars, and each sidecar adds 14 configurable buttons with a display showing their function and status. Each button can be assigned independently of the others, just like those on the phone. 

That’s it – it actually took longer to type this out than it took to configure the BC200!