Tag Archives: services

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Microsoft Online Services Extends SaaS to SMB Users

Microsoft recently announced plans to provide a software-as-a-service offering not just to the large enterprises already eligible for such a service from Microsoft, but to companies of all sizes. Through the new Microsoft Online Services, businesses with less than 5,000 employees will be able to subscribe to Internet-based applications from Microsoft and its partners instead of buying hardware servers and software licenses.

Initially, the company will offer subscription-based applications around e-mail and its SharePoint teamware. Microsoft has already provided similar services for enterprises with more than 5,000 employees.

US-based customers can register to take part in a limited beta of the new service at www.mosbeta.com.

We have been an advocate of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) model for some time. It is particularly well suited to agencies because it allows them to use sophisticated software without the pain of having to manage software and hardware in-house.

There are a number of examples of other product offerings that utilize this model. Microsoft is trying to head off similar services from Google (Google Apps), Yahoo, and other firms like Dell.

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Tools for Finding People on the Web

FindMeOn is a profile management service that connects online identities across social networks, blogs, and photo sharing sites. This is a meta-social network that you can use to update all your sites simultaneously. You can hide select profiles from coworkers or family and use identity controls to share only the content you want.

PeekYou is a site that enables users to search for people by first and last name, username, tags, or location. The aggregated profile pages contain bios and links to blogs and social networks. They also have modules for RSS feeds, so you can see what people are saying on their blogs and on Twitter.

Pipl, a people search engine, crawls deeper than most to include social networks, blogs, and publicly available information such as addresses, birthdays, SEC filings, court records, patents, and more.

Spock aggregates a person’s profile by crawling blogs, photo sharing sites, and social networking profiles. Users can vote on tags used to describe you.

Wink searches for people by name, location, school, work, and interest by crawling social network sites. The site plans to also start crawling blogs, photos, and general Web pages. You can create and share your own Wink profile.

Backgroundchecks  the Internet’s premier resource and database for everything related to Public Records, both online and off. Everyday, our Researchers add new resources to help you find the information you’re looking for.

Zoominfo is a business information search engine. It delivers comprehensive, easy to read profiles of 37 million people and 3.5 million companies. Search for prospects using targeted criteria including title, company name, location, industry, and company size. ZoomInfo delivers the business information you can’t find anywhere else, such as the person’s work history, educational background, and board memberships.

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Capture Pictures as Documents

scanR is a service that helps you capture information contained in whiteboards, documents, and business cards. You simply use your cell phone camera or digital camera to take clean photos of whiteboards, paper documents, and business cards. If you use your camera phone, you send the picture via MMS (also called Multimedia Messaging, PIX Messaging, or Picture Mail) or e-mail to scanR.

To send an MMS, take a photo, select the option to send the photo via MMS, address the message to doc@scanR.com for documents, wb@scanR.com for whiteboards, or bc@scanR.com for business cards, and send it. Most phones take less than one minute to upload the image. Larger images always give better results, so set your phone to take the largest possible image (biggest width and height) to send to scanR. If you’re using a digital camera, be sure to save it as a JPEG (.jpg or .jpeg) file and send it via e-mail to scanR.

You will receive via e-mail a PDF file of the photo with the text converted, if possible. scanR currently has a free version, scanR Trial, as well as a premium paid version, scanR Pro. The premium version permits unlimited uploads and removes all advertising from its processed images. scanR Pro offers two plans: unlimited use for $2.99 monthly or $29.90 annually, or 40 uploads for $9.99.

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Progressive Goes Paperless

Progressive Insurance stopped sending agents paper copies of policies and endorsements some time ago. They’ve now taken the next logical step: turning off paper to policyholders. This new service is an extension of a Paperless Billing service introduced in early 2007 that allowed customers to request that they receive an electronic bill versus a physical paper bill delivered by the U.S. Mail.

New or existing clients can request that all of their documents from Progressive be delivered as an attachment to an e-mail. Consumers are increasingly receiving and paying their bills electronically. This trend will continue. It is important that you began asking your clients how they want to receive information from you.

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Send Letters via Email

Sometimes you just need to send a letter. And that’s the basic concept behind Postful. This Web site service is designed to allow you to easily mail a letter just by sending an e-mail. This lets you use e-mail as a single method for connecting with all your contacts, whether they have access to e-mail or not.

There are several ways to use the service. QuickLetter is the easiest. You simply send an e-mail to quickletter@postful.com with a name and mailing address in the subject line. The body of the e-mail contains the information you want to be printed in the letter. You should format the body of the e-mail to look exactly like you want it to look in the letter, including the signature block. Once done, you simply send the e-mail. You will receive a confirmation e-mail from Postful that will allow you to confirm that the address was interpreted correctly and to view a PDF of the actual letter prior to it being printed and mailed. The cost is $.99 for the first page and $.25 for each additional page, which includes postage.

The service is customizable in several ways. You are able to upload a color PDF of your letterhead and store it on the site. E-mail letters can then be printed using your letterhead template in full color. You are also able to create special e-mail addresses for frequent contacts. Rather than typing the mailing address every time, just send your letter content to this e-mail address. You can also create a Groupbox that contains an entire mailing list. Complete information is available at www.postful.com.