Posts Tagged 'Small business'

Business Central as a PC Backup

Published April 8, 2010 Feature Highlights Leave a Comment
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Hi everyone,

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.

Interoffice Calling

Published March 25, 2010 Feature Highlights , New Leave a Comment
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Calling other office locations can be a real pain. Obviously, long distance charges can really add up, and tying up phone lines can cause missed calls. Using the BC200 to route interoffice calls over the internet keeps your telephone lines open and saves money too.

So, how does this work? All you’ll need are two or more offices with an Internet connection and a BC200 at each location. Setting it up is pretty easy – the BC200′s wizard walks you through it.

Our screenshot below shows that our home office is San Francisco. We’re directly connected to the BC200s in Vancouver, Chicago, and Boston, and we have a local telephone line available too. Via Boston, we can also reach Toronto and New York.

This allows for flexibility in call routing too. With this example, we could allow anyone from any office to place a call to the 604 or 778 area codes, regardless of their physical location. Conversely, a customer in San Francisco can call our 778 number and be seamlessly forwarded to our corporate main offices in Toronto, all with no long distance charges. And the San Francisco office doesn’t even need to be open!

Imagine this scenario: Customer Jane, in Boston, wants to talk to the Sutus sales team, but it’s 7:30pm, and her local office is closed. In the past, she’d have to do several steps.

  1. find out where other Sutus offices are located
  2. figure out the time difference
  3. find their phone numbers, and
  4. pay for the long distance call.

With Interoffice Calling and an optimized call flow, however, she just has one step:

  1. call her local office.

Their BC200 takes care of the rest.
Her call will be forwarded to Vancouver where they are still open and able to take care of her. No research, time calculations or phone charges needed.

Customers saving their money is great, but we at the office like saving too. Especially the finance department! Imagine that I’m in New York, and I need to call our importer in Toronto. I could call long distance, but that’s going to become expensive. Instead, I can use the Toronto phone line. My BC200 routes my call to Toronto, where their BC200 sends it out to the phone network. Success!

Send us a line if you have any questions – our new website has all our contact details. If you’re already a reseller, click here. If you’re an end user who is interested in the Business Central solution, click here.

That’s it for this week. Talk to you soon!

-Dave.

One Number to Call Them

Published January 14, 2010 Feature Highlights Leave a Comment
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Hi everyone,

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.

Video – Sutus Business Central ease of use

Published January 28, 2009 Videos 2 Comments
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We shot a quick video of Business Central that focuses on how easy it is for a small business or their service provider to setup and configure the basic features.

It starts with unpacking the boxes, plugging in the cables, and running through parts of the setup wizard. We also highlight our Polycom phone setup interface (which is in the new software – version 1.6.3 – that is due to be released in a couple weeks!) that we think is a first of its kind, how to change call flow and redirect incoming calls to external numbers.

Sutus Business Central,

Sutus Business Central,

This movie requires Adobe Flash for playback.

This is the first of many videos so keep an eye out for more!

Jon Paul Janze
Director, Product Management and Marketing