Internet has come of Age. Today people vie for online content and have started using the Internet for anything and everything. Right from blogging to the oldest application, email, the WEB as its best known is becoming part and parcel of our life like our televisions, electricity etc.

Web Hosting companies play a very important role in this spread and make this wide usage possible. Through competitive pricing , excellent customer support via tickets and chat, the business has grown big and lot of web hosting companies have come of age, reducing prices and encouraging outsourcing. Today we have reached a stage where cheap and sturdy servers, coupled with feature rich control panels and helpdesk systems to handle customer issues have all but systemized and made web hosting effective enough for any layman to host his site.

But from here to where is the next question? All webhosts provide cheap support, customer loyalty is only relevant to the point where the next cheapest but reliable hosting company brings out a plan!

Everyday resellers and new web hosts sprout, with just the idea to make it a viable enough business so that they can sell it to some bigger hosting company at profitable margins. No one thinks long term and those who do have to struggle with lower prices to compete with the short term traders whose only idea is to increase customer base to make it viable for a sale whatever be the cost. Discount offers, special offers whatever else to incite a customer to jump from his existing webhost is the way of life. Some lose the gamble and its becoming like a stock exchange with traders running aghast or happy at the way the nasdaq points move down or up.

1. Customers trade their loyalty to :

   Cheaper prices - No differences between hosts. All provide cheap plans, good support and reliable servers mostly. But they all either sell off or in the rush to compete for increased customer base, compromise on quality of servers.

2. Offices are non existent. Servers are co-located or got from NOC and they have no one to respond to them or handle them. All they know is all if not most support is outsourced to some other country specially India. So patriotism is out of the window.
3. If they try to chat or call , they realise that they would get as response, a accented english with no idea of the cultural differences or understanding of the US culture fully and hence get frustrated trying to explain beyond technical aspects. Though its improving, tech support is one area that has yet to reach the standards.
4. Even if you bring in other nationalities to handle phone support, their english will never be similar to the US English Customers may never touch base with the company that does this.

How do we workaround this? American Phone Support!

As everyone has witnessed within their own lives, economies, of individuals or nations globally go through cycles of up and down. If today its cheaper to outsource to India, the rate of development and the cost of living rises over there too and it will reach a stage where the trend gets reversed. More and more countries would prefer to come back to US and utilise the American skills. American Unversities are one of the most advanced universities in the world in terms of academics and infrastructure.

Thats why it makes sense to go for a Phone service staffed by Americans along with Indian engineering skill. Imagine your customer calls and for simple issues, his call is directed to Americans who understand the difference between Washington DC and Washington State, someone whom the customer can associate with. A person who could give simple help via phone and then proceed to handle complicated issues via mail. This would mean that the customer gets a feeling there is a live voice behind the scene of this web host and the client would feel it better knowing that if things go wrong, he will get proactive support rather than wait for the email response to come sometime later. He will feel great that there is a person 24/7/365 rather than a answering machine.

This is the next stage to customer delight and it will be something that will be the next most wanted thing for Web Hosts who intend to stay in this business for long.

The customer gets a placebo effect that his support company is staffed by fellow Americans and he gets the confidence, knowing he can talk via phone to anyone anytime during the day or night to get solutions and stop feeling frustrated that the tech support guy cannot understand his english.

Cost Will be too high?

Calls costs for implementing a phone support setup in US would vary anywhere between 30 cents per minute to 2 dollars a minute based on the package of minutes bought.

You cannot discount the fact that US economies have one of the highest cost of livings and at the same time taxations. Also fewer Americans prefer to live outside their country, a patriotism, that developed US to its present stage of strength which is very highly respected. Hence when you employ Americans for phone support you can expect that whether they get a call every minute of their shift or just one call the whole day, they need to be paid by the hour they sit to work. Hence this variation comes in and pricing will be slightly higher than outsourced to India or China or a South American country but still competitive than employing inhouse.

If you decide to start your own phone support which is the best, you need to think of the following:
a) Cost involved in recruiting, training, setting up infrastructure & managing the employees.
b) Cost involved in terms of salary, expected hikes, loss of employee due to resignations, necessity to move to bigger office space to handle the increased personnel etc.

The best solution would always be to follow the new Business Model, “Global Delivery Model” where you use a mix of onsite and offsite teams to handle your work having the best of two worlds. Your clients get American phone support and Indian tech support via the backend. This would mean that you would have a quality mix at the most cost effective pricings.

Studies have shown that there is between 30% reduction in your overall expenses if you decide to outsource your work to third parties within the country and about 50% outside the country to say places like India.

In the long run, taking phone support with American employees is best done by outsourcing rather than inhouse specially when its a added feature. You can spend the difference in amount as well as the time & efforts on further marketing and research rather than setting this up.

Phone support reduces profits?

Its a question many people ask. Some don’t as they do not have the ROI(Return Over Investment) to do it. Such companies need to spend some more time to reach that level.

“Profits = Revenue - Cost”

Revenue is earned with your increased customer base. Phone support brings it in when people know they can talk to someone at the other end.Cost can be reduced by outsourcing.

So when you start phone support services, prefer to look to outsource as it reduces the overhead. An excellent combination to average your outsourcing costs would be to :

a) Outsource your email support to a cheaper source say to India, where english is spoken by a lot of english speaking graduates.

b) Outsource the Phone Support to companies within US which brings in the placebo effect that ensures the clients feel comfortable calling up.

Why would you need to start? Businesses, like nature, has shown that Charles Darwin’s theory of ” Survival of the fittest” is applicable to them too! Changes in your offerings that add value by bringing in innovations, disruptive or constructive so that you have the edge, is the need of the hour.

This is the future and is something you need to plan for or else you will get left behind….

Lijoe Chakiath works as Executive member in Bobcares.com , a Tech support company for webhosts and ISPs. He is a Computer Engineer based in India and has over 4 years of experience in the Hosting industry.

The Nokia MP3 Cell Phone is a great little mobile portable device that fits right into the palm of your hands. It is very affordable and will do all the things that you are wanting it to do. It plays MP3 music so you can put your favorite MP3 songs on it. This cellphone is blue tooth enabled so you know that you have the best technology built in, for when you are surfing the internet or sending and recieving email back and forth to friends or family or just do some very important business. The built in digital camera is a 2 Mexga Pixel, but it takes some great shots and also shots video and has a built in flash.

The Nokia MP3 Cell Phone has slot for secure digital memory upgrades. You can also download video games onto this mp3 cell phone to play. It has a memory phone book to keep all those important people on a list for easy access. It also has 4 playS, AAC files and 4 mp3 player. It has ring tones built in to choose from or you acn download a favorite one that you want to hear everytime the phone rings. The battery is a standard li-ion with standby of up to 290 hours and talk time of up to 3 hours.

The Nokia MP3 Cell Phones come in a few different makes and models.

Here are some of them :

The new Nokia n60 empowers you to go for your presonal and professional goals.

The Nokia Mobile phone : general network UMITS GSM 900/ GMS1800/ GMS1900 with these are three other great models to ,they are the Nokia 71, Nokia9100i, Nokia 66680.

The Nokia 8800 , it has all the features you will want. It has also just recently come out with a brand new cell phone.

The Nokia N90 phone is one you will like just as well. This one has a flip up top.

The Nokia N -Page phone , this one is really cool looking and very affordale.

The Nokia 6230 phone .

The Nokia N80′S WI0FI’s phone.

The Nokia 9500 phone has the look of a small lap top.

To get all the lastest and current information on the Nokia MP3 Cell phone you should visit there website so you can compare phones and the features that you want and price too.

Brian Lupichuk, invites you to World of mp3 players an information web site focused on Mp3 Players, MP3 reviews, car mp3 players, brand name mp3 players, cell phone mp3 players, mp3 cell phone players with digital camera, podcasting, accessories, free downloads, and other valuable information about mp3 players. Find out why more and more people are replacing their cd player with a MP3 player or MP3 Cell phone. Before you go to by your new MP3 Player or MP3 Cell phone consult Worldof MP3 Players

to help you find the right mp3 player or mp3 cell phone that fits your lifestyle and budget so you can enjoy it to the MAX!

For that new MP3 Player or MP3 Cell phone player you have just purchased you are going to want to put all your favorite MP3 tunes on it. I can help get your FREE MP3 DOWNOLADS

The words are; cost effective, portable, and flexible. And hey it comes with array additional new features too! No it is not our regular PSTN phone connection. The buzz word here is; VoIP phone systems.

It is the technology that transfers your voice from over the internet using specially designed call signal protocols in a much efficient manner. Efficient in terms of its low cost, the number of additional features that it offers, the convenience with which the call can be placed from anywhere at any time and for as long as you want!

The advent of the internet, bought the world closer. And it swept each one of us by our feet and today we are completely dependent on it for our day to day activities. Walking a step closer VoIP system has been developed! And it will completely revolutionarise the traditional way of making phone calls.

It’s smart, convenient, cost effective and absolutely relevant with the times we live in. How much on an effort is it, to switch on your laptop and make a call! Practically nothing! While at the same time it offers us a chance to talk for as long as we want without having to worry about the long bills!

Traditional analogue phones are a lengthy network of wires used to facilitate calling from one end to the other, and while a call takes place that particular wire system is dedicated to that one call. This is the reason; phone bills are higher on international calls. While VoIP Phones System work on the broadband connections. Once a call is dialed the analogue voice data is converted into small packets of digital audio data and transferred using special internet protocols from one end to the but delivered to the person in a comprehendible analogue format

Truly VoIP telephony is a step above the traditional phone lines and not far from now it would completely change the way we make long distance calls!

Webmaster
VoIP Termination

Are you acquainted to the pace with which IP telephony is catching up?

With major telecommunication carriers, in the process of preparing to launch VoIP applications it is heading towards a prime time. However a new sense of urgency is developing with the risk of wide spread security violation as VoIP technology is gaining popularity.

Until now VoIP security was not a volatile subject, since IP voice traffic remained on local and wide area enterprise networks mostly but VoIP usage becoming widespread has raised concerns over the VoIP security-security of voice data transferred since these voice networks are IP based and special call signal internet protocols that carry these data contains flaws.

To combat threats on VoIP security system it is essential to first device a method of sending VoIP traffic through firewalls. Which can block or restrict data packets due to their inbuilt security functions. Until then we are all susceptible to security breaches like denial of service attacks, tapping, loss of data, snooping.

The apprehensions attached with VoIP security are the major deterrents in the popularity and acceptance of IP telephony. Issues like invasion of privacy, eves-dropping are a serious matter and one would not want to fall victims to them. And it is this feeling of venerability that discourages people to adopt VoIP technology.

However there is a newer technology which has developed not very late ago. It’s called VPN (Virtual Private Network) -it’s a wonderful way to connect through VoIP, fully guarding your concerns on breach of security. VPN forms a personal gateway between two users with the help of routers and forbids any attempts of intrusion. Although placing routers is an expensive affair altogether but many broadband service providers have begun offering a separate VPN servers to their routers.

Hence to ensure a secured calling experience with VoIP, choose a broadband service provider supporting VPN routers. And you could get the best of VoIP telephony.

Webmaster
VoIP Termination

There are two main ways, utilizing technology, that a small business can project a big-business image. A dynamic and professional website, and a dynamic cutting-edge phone system. These two can compliment each other and are often used in conjunction as marketing, customer service and revenue generation tools.

As a marketing tool it’s obvious what a website can accomplish. It states for all to see what the business does and other promotional items. A phone system can be the second part of that marketing campaign. A customer who calls the business, as a follow up from the website, is already under a good impression. This positive feeling can be built upon with an advanced PBX (phone system). A multi-level menu system, with a professional-sounding voice, can greet the potential customer. The menu can be divided by departments. For a small business this can be valuable by giving the impression that there really are departments! The Sales, Technical Support and Customer Service departments can all be going to the same person. When a person is waiting on hold, or is being routed through the system, they can hear music or a recording about the business and what they do.

As a customer service tool a website can inform a customer on the different policies of the company. It can have technical support questions and answers. Contact can be initiated through the website via email, contact forms, instant messaging or web-VoIP (Voice over IP) calling. An advanced phone system can be setup to route calls based on priority or caller-id to the appropriate individuals. For example, if a small company of eight people lands a large account they will try extra hard to please this client. The phone system can be setup so that when the large client’s caller-id, or a group of caller-ids if the company has multiple numbers, comes up it will be routed to the owner/manager. After business hours it can be routed to a special number. Losing a client has never been harder.

As a revenue generation tool a website can have a store. It can do lead generation by offering information or demos of your product which would require the customer to fill out a form. A sales associate would be able to follow up on these leads to convert them to sales. A phone system can be setup to make appointments for a service business. It can also be used to call past customers as a reminder for further service. The system can route calls to a salesman on the road to close a sale. No one even needs to be in the office, as the system will route the calls appropriately.

This is a small sample of how a website and an advanced phone system can make Sam’s Discount Drug Store look like Walgreens.

Cy Yablonsky is a realtor associate at Othello Realty, http://www.OthelloRealty.com. Cy has an extensive background in technology and communications and applies that to the real estate market. Feel free to reprint this article as long as all links stay live and no changes are made.