Beat the credit crunch with Powwownow conference calling

• Practical ways for UK small businesses to strengthen their armour to combat the impending recession
• Cut costs, become leaner, more productive and efficient – increase the bottom line.

15th August 2008: The economy edged a step closer to a recession as the Office of National Statistics announced that inflation has soared to 4.4 per cent - the highest level since April 1992 and more than twice the government’s target of 2 per cent. This news comes just after the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) and ASC Finance advised UK small businesses how they can best weather storms in the current economic climate with a range of credit crunch tips1.

It is clear that UK businesses, if they haven’t already, need to look at their operational costs top see where they can trim unnecessary spending. Two of the key pointers the FSB advised that small business look at were to ‘Manage your costs and do something different’ and to ‘Plan ahead as failing to plan is planning to fail’.

With this in mind, we’ve pulled together a few innovative and practical ways that small businesses can change the way they do business easily, bringing both immediate time and cost savings and long term strategic benefits. These include switching to cheaper providers of audio conferencing and web conferencing services such as Powwownow, cutting down on postage by using the revolutionary new service from ViaPost which allows people to post letters via the internet and lastly and new service Servers Direct, which enables small business to get high quality server hardware and software to better prevent against the potential disaster of downtime and losing business critical information through having no back up.

Cut down on travel time and costs and have a powwow - now!

• Research released from Powwownow.co.uk indicates that UK businesses waste more than £55 million out of the £210 million spent on telephone conferences per year. Just by shopping around, businesses can make easy savings with services such as Powwownow’s own telephone and web conferencing services
• It offers simple, cost-effective dial-up voice conferences where each invited participant calls a central number and, using a PIN, joins the conference. This way there are no bills for organisers, no contracts, and each participant simply pays for their own 6.7p per minute call – the same as a national rate call
• Powwownow also has a partnership with Skype, so that SkypeOut customers can dial into the Powwownow service, thereby making conference calling even cheaper – particularly relevant if you are doing business internationally
• Not only that, but Powwownow has just launched ‘Showtime’, an all new web free conferencing service which allows users to share their desktop and present documents as well as chat with fellow conference callers as though they were sitting in the same room – thereby cutting down on travel time and costs.

First class mail for the price of second class – no stamps or franking

• ViaPost is a new revolutionary service that promises to change the way post is sent forever. It allows anyone to send physical post directly from a computer to any UK address - not only good for the environment and secure but offering cost savings of around 25 per cent on traditional mail. Effectively First class mail for the price of second class with no stamps, franking and much less hassle
• A real alternative to traditional postal systems, ViaPost operates in collaboration with Royal Mail and in partnership with Microsoft, enabling users to send out post at the click of a button. Users no longer have to print off letters and invoices in their office as ViaPost will print and fold them at secure, high quality print centres located around the country
• Printing post closer to its destination address reduces the cost and the environmental impact of sending post around the country. An independent study by top environment analysis company Carbon Planet revealed that when compared to current practice within Royal Mail, the ViaPost system would reduce emissions by around 80% on second class mail and around 90% on first class and international mailings.
• To try out the service, simply download the free software from www.ViaPost.com.

Manage and protect your business critical information in better ways as you grow

• Equipping small businesses for expansion and protecting against data loss became easier with the launch of Serversdirect.co.uk, a new website that brings together the best deals on servers and network technology available for next day delivery across the UK with guaranteed stock levels
• The new service aims to be the one stop shop for everything servers for small businesses and is part of the Easycom group (formerly Easy Computers), the UK’s largest multi-brand electronics online retailer and a Sunday Times’ Fast Track company (2005/6/7)
• Ideal for small businesses that are experiencing growth or those that are looking to protect themselves during the current economic climate by making their business more productive and efficient. Key benefits of investing in server technology for small businesses include:

Better collaboration, higher productivity and return on investment

Improved management and protection of business critical information

Better ways of sharing files and data between computers; people can also see shared calendars and work remotely easier

The adding of new PCs, new users, software licenses and software applications is much easier

• Whilst getting the right hardware is important, the support service is what really sets Servers Direct’s service apart. As a Microsoft Certified partner, Servers Direct offers a complete range of network solutions and support services featuring a 24-hour ‘Live Chat’ online support service, a telephone service within business hours (8am – 11pm) and a team of call out support staff.