Keeping Track of Schedules Driving You Mad?

Do you find it difficult to keep track of families, business, staff or co-workers activities?  What about tracking client appointments or scheduling people in the field?  It is frustrating to add the same event to multiple calendars and phones.  Small Businesses may not have the funds available to purchase Microsoft Outlook or Exchange E-mail server.  But they do need much of the functionality Exchange provides.

Google Calendars is a free, simple but comprehensive calendar that allows you to create a personal calendar for yourself plus additional calendars for other purposes such as Company Events, Family Activities or Holidays.  Each calendar can be made Public or Private as well as shared with specific family members or co-workers.  Additional security can be added to shared calendars to give people access to view only all the way to add/modify/administer the calendar.  Calendars can be combined and presented on a single page on your company web site.  This is extremely useful if you want to have a company events but also display other shared calendars to your customers.

Maybe you have Microsoft Outlook for your e-mail and calendar today.  No problem, Google Calendar has a sync tool that allows you to sync events, at a scheduled interval or manually, from Outlook to Google Calendar, visa versa or both ways.

How do you get your schedule to your mobile phone.  If you have a blackberry or other smartphone with a data plan, there are a couple options.  Google has apps for the Blackberry that allow you to view your Gmail, Calendar and more from a single interface.   The second is to use Blackberry Desktop Manager to sync your Outlook Calendar from your PC to your phone.  I personally sync from Outlook to my Blackberry but also have the Google Apps installed on my Blackberry.

Notifications for shared calendar is a great feature.  Receive and e-mail or SMT text message at a predefined interval keeps you on track.

This isn't a comprehensive list of Google Calendar features or an endorsement but free tools like this are out there for the small business.

NonStop Networks, LLC

Cisco Unified Communications Solutions

http://www.nonstopnetworks.net | http://forum.nonstopnetworks.net

Focused on solving problems for small and medium sized businesses who are frustrated that their communication systems are letting them down, worried about security and concerned with rising technology cost.  Helping businesses communicate in real-time with customers and staff - anytime, anywhere.

There is no warranty in the information listed. It is always recommended that your seek the advice  of a trusted professional.

Three VoIP Applications for Your Business - Part I

There has to be an easier way.  Are you struggling with day to day operations and know there has to be something that can make simple task easier? 

This series will provide information on solutions to automate routine day to day tasks.

1.  Staff Management

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  Time Clock - Toss the manual time clock and have your employees punch in digitally on an IP Phone, record lunch and breaks. Their hours can be viewed on the phone or emailed to them.  Their manager and payroll can also view hours.  Hours worked can be exported into excel, csv or Quickbooks format.
  
  
  
• Scheduling - How do your employees ask for time off or get their schedule?  Automate vacation requests and approvals with a VoIP System and IP Phone.

2.  Task Management

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  Do you have a high turn-over rate and continually train new employees?  Automate routine task by setting alerts to display on your IP Phone.
  
  
  
• Escalation alerts to management can be configured when employees do not acknowledge or complete task.

3.  Reminders / Notifications

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  How do you notify employees of office closures or delayed openings?  Automate pre-recorded calls with a Voice over IP System.
  
  
  
• It is time consuming and expensive to have full time staff making appointment reminder calls to clients or patients.

Summary

Hopefully this blog gave you some ideas on how Voice over IP Applications can assist in enabling your business to be successful through technology.

NonStop Networks, LLC
Cisco Select Partner

Kansas City Cisco Unified Communications Solutions

Voice - Video - Network - Wireless - Security