Improve Office Productivity with RingCentral Office and Fax

Today you will read some fresh news about RingCentral. Enjoy!

Owning a small- or medium-sized business can be overwhelming at times. That’s why business owners are always looking for ways to make their everyday tasks simpler. With one San Mateo, Calif.-based office and fax solution, businesses can extend their customer base and not bust their wallets.

RingCentral can connect businesses to their customers even when they are closed. There is a click-to-call me option that allows customers easy access to the business Web site by letting them call directly from a blog or e-mail. Simply embed code on the Web page or e-mail. The cloud computing based phone systems provider also allows owners and employees to listen, view, play and call back voicemails.

Company officials say their cloud computing-based business phone system offers a fixed monthly fee, with no contracts and zero setup costs.

“The fact that RingCentral offers a unique self-service capability with an all inclusive pricing model and no contracts is, frankly, quite revolutionary in the business phone systems market,” said David Lemelin, senior analyst at market research firmIn-Stat.

“In addition, this system delivers more business class telecommunication services and functions than many office phone systems designed for small businesses, yet remains affordable. With small businesses cutting costs due to the economic downturn, RingCentral Office is an attractive phone service, particularly due to its low and predictable monthly fixed cost,” Lemelin said.

RingCentral Office combines a hosted multi-extension business phone system with voice and fax functionality, always-on service, unlimited calling and full-featured phones that arrive pre-configured and ready for use.

The company’s Internet Fax both inbound and outbound service, sends and receives faxes that can be converted into PDF files. There is also the capability to have Internet faxes forwarded to an e-mail account.

RingCentral officials say that they offer the only virtual phone system that is completely integrated with Microsoft Office and Microsoft Outlook. Place calls directly from Outlook, receive faxes in Outlook and even send a fax directly from applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

RingCentral also allows companies to promote its products and services by providing Message on Hold Custom Plans. While a customer is on the phone, keep them informed with specials, discounts or announcements that are recorded by their professional voiceover team or by an employee.

To learn more about this exiting product visit RingCentral’s Web Site or check out their Fax channel here on TMCnet .

Man sounds warning after falling victim to Internet job scam

Nowadays we must be aware of scam! One more note about scamming, but on the different theme – Internet job scam! Read next!

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Tough economic times seem to bring more opportunity for crooks and more hazards for job hunters.

A Bakersfield man who just lost his job also lost a lot of money in an Internet job scam.

Daniel Nichols, 31, answered an ad he found on the Web site Careerbuilder.com, and he was offered a position by a company calling itself International Design Center.

“It was a legitimate job hunting Web site, where you post your resume,” Nichols said Friday.

He said the company asked him to fax back an application and a document they called a “contractor agreement.” It all looked like a real job and a real company. And the position was Financial Manager.

The company then mailed him a check for $2,743.80. He was supposed to cash the check, keep 5 percent for himself, and wire the rest to the company. He did that, and then got the bad news.

“The next day when I came home from a job interview, I found out that my bank account was at a negative $2,700,” Nichols said. The bank told him the check from the company was counterfeit, and he was responsible for paying back the money.

Nichols had just been laid off from a job in a store at the mall. He had about $600 in his bank account from his last check. He hoped that would cover some bills while he looked for another job.

The bank took that $600 to cover the counterfeit check, and he still owes the rest. He expects to also get hit with steep bank overdraft fees.

Nichols said he hasn’t been sleeping much since this happened. And he admits he did think the new job might be too good to be true.

“It did unfortunately, I have to admit it,” Nichols said. “But because of my certain situation right now, as far as having a new child on the way and losing my job, I thought this might be too much, the thought did run through my mind. Unfortunately, it should have run through my head a little bit better.”

Nichols has filed a crime report with the Kern County Sheriff’s Office. He’s contacted the FBI, the district attorney’s office and some consumer groups.

Kern County Sheriff’s Sr. Deputy Mike Whorf said there were definitely some red flags in this scam. It’s always suspicious when someone is asked to cash a check and wire money back. Whorf said the cash is immediately gone, and almost impossible to track.

Meanwhile, it takes longer for a bank to clear a check and discover if it’s bogus.

Wiring money out of state or out of the country is another big warning sign. In Nichol’s case, he was asked to wire the funds to Russia.

But, he insists the bogus company’s Web site looked so realistic.

“These people that are doing this kind of stuff are very sophisticated. They build extremely good Web sites that make it look like it’s a legitimate business,” Nichols said.

He now thinks the scammers stole a Web site from a real company, and put it on their Web site.

So far, every agency he’s contacted told Nichols he is probably out his money, and stuck paying back his bank to cover the counterfeit check. He’s still out looking for jobs, he’s been on interviews, and hopes for good news on a real position.

“Basically, I’m just trying to reach out to the community if there’s anything they can do to help me,” Nichols said. “And I’m just trying to help them. I want people to know that this can happen to anybody.”

Goodbye Hardware-Based Business Phone Systems, Hello RingCentral: Interview

Hey! Found a nice interview! Maybe you will like it! So read next!

This economic downturn is shining a light on services provided by one San Mateo, Calif.-based company that combines a toll-free or local number with advanced call management, PBX, voicemail and Internet fax, officials said today.

The vice president of strategy at RingCentral Inc. told TMC President Rich Tehrani in an interview that the strength of the economy is cyclical and that it’s important for businesses always to understand that their clients need to run efficiently.

“RingCentral small business customers like the fact that our solution requires zero setup fees and costs a small fraction of legacy hardware-based business phone systems,” Praful Shah told Tehrani.

Shah – who is speaking during a session at ITEXPO West in September on applications that are based “in the cloud,” a very hot topic – said his talk would include demonstrations of how cloud-based solutions are impacting the market today, and will examine the technology’s challenges and opportunities.

Their full exchange follows.

RT: What has the economic crisis taught you, and how has it changed your customers?

Praful Shah: Economic cycles are a regular part of business and a company should always assume that their customers have limited resources which they want deployed in the most cost efficient manner. RingCentral small business customers like the fact that our solution requires zero setup fees and costs a small fraction of legacy hardware based Business Phone Systems.

RT: How is this down economy affecting your decisions to reinvest in your company or market, if at all? Where will you invest?

PS: We continue to invest in technology to expand the rich capabilities RingCentral offers to its small business customers.

RT: What’s the strongest segment in the communications industry?

PS: The new Cloud Computing based business telecommunications services segment has shown the strongest growth.

RT: With the rise of smartphones and netbooks, many wireless technologies, such as WiFi, appear to be poised for rapid growth. For example, we’re seeing more and more airlines add in-flight WiFi. In general, how widespread should WiFi be, in your view?

PS: With costs dropping rapidly, over time it will be like electric lights – available at most public please for free.

RT: Which nation or region of the world will present the largest opportunity for your company in 2009/10?

PS: The United States and Europe.

RT: In what ways is President Barack Obama helping or hindering the technology markets? What more can he do?

PS: At this point in time it is too early to say.

RT: What device or devices do you use, and what do you wish you used?

PS: iPhone.

RT: What has the iPhone 3G taught us? I know it’s very new, but what about the Palm Pre? What are we learning from the smartphones based on the open source GoogleAndroid platform?

PS: Smart Phone platforms are changing how applications will be developed and distributed. In couple of years there will be little differences between the platforms.

RT: I understand you are speaking during ITEXPO West, to be held Sept. 1 to 3 in Los Angeles. Describe your talk and tell us what companies or people should attend.

PS: In the session “Exploring Applications in the Cloud,” attendees will learn about what is involved with developing voice applications on cloud computing platforms. What options are out there? What do you need to look for in a platform? How can you get started? The session will include demonstrations and offer insight and real world examples of how cloud-based solutions are impacting the market today, challenges and opportunities, as well as what the future holds.

The session will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 9:30 a.m.

RT: Why should customers choose your company’s solutions? How do they justify the expense to management?

PS: Small businesses should look at alternatives to inflexible and expensive legacy hardware based business phone systems. The new cloud computing based solution from RingCentral provides services starting at $10 per month with zero set up cost, free trials and no contracts. The best part is that it is online, self-service and requires no technical skills required by legacy systems.

RingCentral Makes SMBs Look Like Enterprises

Hey! One more message about the RingCentral company. Hope you will find out something new. Enjoy!

When starting a small- to medium-sized business (SMB), one of the most important aspects is to get the name and offerings of the company out into public view. Once this happens, maintaining company organization with employees and ensuring customers are satisfied with the service helps build the company and its footprint.

Redwood City, Calif.-based RingCentral offers features that help SMBs operate just as big businesses do, with a name-brand IP-PBX. For a monthly fee, SMBs can enjoy dial-by-name, on-hold music, call screening, auto attendant, professionally recorded custom greetings, Internet fax and toll-free numbers. Vanity 800 numbers are also available to incorporate the company’s name or tagline.

Officials at RingCentral said the capabilities they offer are more important than the cost savings of Internet VoIP.

“The things that keep a small business from growing are not that their phone bills are too high,” said Jay Blazensky, the company’s vice president of business development. “Their struggle is, ‘How do I look bigger in this brief window when I’m trying to get my business off the ground?’ ”

Currently, RingCentral Online is offering a free trial plus a ten percent coupon off RingCentral Online Coupon. RingCentral Online is a Web-based telephone and fax service for professionals and small businesses with features such as toll free or local phone number and advanced features not found in traditional phone systems.

Nevada toughens data protection law with crypto, PCI requirements

Some news about the protection law! Read!

Nevada is getting serious about mandating the use of encryption to secure personal information. On May 29, Gov. Jim Gibbons signed into law Senate Bill No. 227, which repealed data protection law NRS 597.970, which had been in effect for less than a year. Among other things, the new law requires data collectors to use cryptographic key technology that meets established industry standards and, if they accept credit or debit cards, to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) with respect to those transactions.

In late 2007 Nevada became one of two states in the country (the other being Massachusetts) to depart from a technology-neutral regulatory standard and specifically require the use of encryption to protect certain data transfers. The original Nevada data protection law, which became effective Oct. 1, 2008, provided that businesses could not electronically transmit “any personal information of a customer” (other than by fax) “outside of the secure system of the business” unless encryption was used to ensure the security of the transmission.

Personal information means unencrypted information consisting of an individual’s last name and first name (or first initial), combined with his or her Social Security number, driver’s license or identification card number, or financial account number plus password or access code.

A fax containing personal information that is received by a fax service and re-transmitted to a laptop or mobile phone as an email needs to be encrypted upon re-transmission. In addition, it is unclear how the statute applies to the use of third-party Internet fax services like eFax; businesses that rely on such services may need to encrypt personal information sent through them, since, literally speaking, transmission and reception of data by means of such services requires the data to pass outside of the business’ secure system.

The new style of state information security regulation is more aggressive in some ways than the pervasive but flexible risk assessment-based strategy favored up to now by federal banking regulators. Increasingly, therefore, financial institutions and other members of the financial industry will have to look to state information security law, and not just federal and state banking guidelines, in crafting the architecture and features of their security programs.