technology

All posts tagged technology

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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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IVR tips – the good, the bad and the ugly

Interactive voice response (IVR) is a great tool with a bad rep. Despite its potential convenience and ease of use for companies and customers alike, setting up IVR is a task so rarely executed well, that it has become hated and dreaded by many. So what can you do to make your IVR system stand out from the hordes of ineffectual, repetitive, and confusing keypad-conversations that happen every day?

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AdminIVR tips – the good, the bad and the ugly
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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 online chat tools with LivePerson

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’s why we’ve 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 how you could add another string to your customer service bow with online chat tool LivePerson.

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AdminFree online chat tools with LivePerson
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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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Free survey development with SurveyMonkey

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.

In this instalment, we check out one of the best tools for getting user data on the internet – SurveyMonkey

 

Using data to improve your business

Gathering and using data is one of the key skills utilised by any successful company, influencing every decision from the smallest stationery request to the biggest multi million pound value proposals. A company that does not take the time to research available data will simply be using guesswork, and this can lead to some disastrous consequences.

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AdminFree survey development with SurveyMonkey
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Manchester wins £10m for the Internet of Things

Manchester has recently triumphed over 22 entries across 34 cities, winning a government-backed competition with a prize of a £10m government grant to become a world leader in smart-city technology. Innovate UK’s Internet of Things competition aimed to find the best proposal for using smart technology to improve the public service’s within a city. The winner, Manchester’s CityVerve Project, has great plans for the £10m fund, which will propel the UK to the forefront of adoption of Internet of Things technology around the world, hopefully inspiring other cities to follow its lead.

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AdminManchester wins £10m for the Internet of Things
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Free workflow management: Keeping your team on track with Asana

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’s why we’ve 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 tool to help improve how you track work and come together as a team with Asana.

A digital future for task management

Every company needs a way to manage its projects and optimise its work. Throughout the years, there have been many ways of doing this, from cork board duty rotas to daily team briefings. While these methods are tried and tested, they can be quite time consuming and also limited in their application.

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AdminFree workflow management: Keeping your team on track with Asana