mobile

All posts tagged mobile

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What is an SMS shortcode?

A shortcode works like a regular telephone number, but it has one characteristic which makes it really special – its length. Shortcodes, as their name suggest, are shorter than most telephone numbers as they are made up of only 5-6 digits. The value of this is that it’s really easy for your customers, and prospective customers, to remember the number and get in touch with you.

Typically, businesses use shortcodes as a means of allowing customers to opt-in to their SMS marketing or feedback campaigns.

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AdminWhat is an SMS shortcode?
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Are people bored of tech?

A survey conducted by Accenture has yielded some pretty concerning results for the wellbeing of the technology industry. 28,000 consumers in 28 different countries were asked about their intentions and expectations regarding technology in the coming year, and the general impression seems to be one of disappointment, disillusion, and a lack of enthusiasm.

Less than half of all the respondents reported any intention to purchase a smartphone in the next year, dropping from 54% last year to 48% this year. Accenture has been conducting this survey for almost a decade, and this marks the very first time that any drop in the number of people intending to buy a smartphone has been found.

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AdminAre people bored of tech?
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Free social media management: Look after your customers with Hootsuite

Social Media can be one of the best tools for spreading knowledge of your brand. A single post that goes viral could suddenly mean your company name is on the lips of millions of potential customers. However, a poorly managed channel can be a thorn in your virtual side.

The benefits of social media

Having a social media presence grants your company a number of benefits that may not be evident straight away. These include;

    • Audience reach – By growing our audience, social media gives you the potential to reach a vast amount of people for potentially minimal expense. With users generally in the hundreds of millions, no other channel has this kind of coverage.
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AdminFree social media management: Look after your customers with Hootsuite
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Free project management: Organise your working life with Trello

At WHYPAY? we believe that effective business tools shouldn’t cost the Earth, which is why we set out to make the best free conferencing service out there. This got us thinking: if you can get conference calls for no cost, what other great services can you get for free? That is why we have scoured the web to find the best free services to help your business and to bring them to you weekly.

This week we look at a very visual way of organising your work with Trello.

Visual organisation

Trello was originally created by Fog Creek software back in 2011 as a solution to high level planning issues. Officially released at TechCrunch Disrupt in September of the same year it had already amassed 500,000 users by the following summer and had created one adorable husky spokes hound. Now split into its own company, Trello, Inc, has grown from strength to strength and recently hit the 10m user landmark.

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AdminFree project management: Organise your working life with Trello
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What does expanding Twitter to 10k characters mean to businesses?

Rumours are quickly spreading that in the next couple of months, Twitter will be increasing its character limit from 140 to almost 100 times that, with 10,000 seeming the likeliest figure – that is what the limit for Direct Messages was raised to, after all. Many of Twitter’s committed users were far from overjoyed by the news, but is their reaction justified? And how different are the consequences for personal accounts, compared with those representing businesses?

For many, it seems to be a step closer to Facebook, meaning perhaps that social media strategies will change, and become less diverse. There would be a greater allowance for the longer essays which tend to find their place on Facebook, or blogs, replacing the sharp, witty, eye-catching lines that Twitter called for.

Are our social networks converging?

Of course, this suggests perhaps a lack of concern with the desires of regular Twitter users, which could result in more users following through with their threats to leave the social network. This could be a reason for businesses to worry that much of their target audience will suddenly fall out of their reach, impacting on the success of their marketing and the spread of their brand. But in reality, the results may be quite the opposite.

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AdminWhat does expanding Twitter to 10k characters mean to businesses?
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What is LiFi?

A buzz is quickly growing around the term ‘LiFi’, but what is it actually all about? The quick version is, it’s a much, much, much faster version of WiFi – about 100 times faster, in fact, reaching up to 224GB/s. Li-Fi is an abbreviated form of ‘Light Fidelity’, which is the term given to this particular wireless connection. As its name suggests, it is an optical wireless communication, using visible light, infra-red, and near ultra-violet in the place of radio frequency waves. This means it can carry a great deal more information. In normal Visible Light Communication, LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) are switched on and off rapidly – too rapidly for a human to notice. However, LiFi would involve keeping the LEDs switched on all the time, although they could be dim enough to be impossible to perceive by the naked eye. This, of course, means that LiFi will be a relatively energy efficient mode of communication.

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AdminWhat is LiFi?
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Remote working: what’s it all about? Is it the new way to work?

Technology is developing and multiplying at an incredible rate, with new improvements and innovations being made every day. As these changes occur, more and more people are able to perform the tasks necessary for their jobs without having to actually go into their place of work. As a consequence the way that we work is seemingly undergoing a revolution.

Is it a good change for the business?

Working away from the office undoubtedly has its attractions to many people on a personal level, but how will it impact businesses’ success? Studies into these developments are frequently finding that working away from the office actually increases many employees’ productivity, making the move a great thing for a lot of companies.

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AdminRemote working: what’s it all about? Is it the new way to work?
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Are 6-hour working days a good idea?

For years, Scandinavians have had a reputation for placing at least as much importance on their personal life and well-being as on their professional endeavours and expectations. One consequence of this concern has been the emergence of the 6-hour working day, which first became popular in the 1990s, and is having a resurgence today. But is it really feasible?

Erika Hellstrom, and many like her, the answer is yes. The theory is that working fewer hours means people are actually more productive within the time they do put in, and therefore get just as much done – if not more. It’s not just a case of clocking out of work early; Swedes are expected to completely omit social media, online shopping, personal calls, and other irrelevant activities from their work day. And as these pass-times have been found to eat up a massive 1.5 – 3 hours of the average American worker’s workday, as reported by The Atlantic, the maths adds up. Essentially, you’ll be spending the exact same amount of time working while at work. Just fewer hours squandered procrastinating in the office, and more freed up to spend as you wish.

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AdminAre 6-hour working days a good idea?
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Feeling the cold? Take advantage of conference calls when you really need them

Conference calls have a huge amount of potential and utility, and can be an ideal solution in many different circumstances. Winter is one of these, as it is a time when both weather and festivities can make going into work difficult and unappealing. With teleconferencing you can remove the need to battle treacherous conditions to attend a meeting.

During the winter months, the weather can become bitterly cold – particularly in some areas. This then makes the thought of a long commute to a business meeting extremely unpleasant for all participants. In severe conditions, it can be even more than unpleasant, it can become impossible to travel. Public transport gets disrupted and cancelled, roads have to be closed, cars can be very dangerous to drive.

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AdminFeeling the cold? Take advantage of conference calls when you really need them
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GoDaddy survey finds 60% of businesses don’t have a website

If you asked a random sample of people which single technological development has had the greatest impact in the past few decades, the answer you would probably hear most is ‘the Internet’. It has completely revolutionised almost every aspect of modern life, from dating, to shopping, to research, and obviously, the world of business.

However, there are those who have somehow not been swept up in the tidal wave that is the Internet. One group who has somehow slipped past is very small businesses, which GoDaddy defined as any businesses with fewer than 6 workers.

In fact, 59% of the 4,000 surveyed by GoDaddy don’t have a website, often citing the expenses and time that building a website would require as their reason for not taking control of their online presence.

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AdminGoDaddy survey finds 60% of businesses don’t have a website