App Overload and How to Avoid It

On December 6, 2018
6:45 pm
Filed under Tips and Tricks

It’s difficult to quantify how much businesses use different software and applications for everyday operations. There are so many apps available for messaging, email, editing, social media, and an endless list of others that can be crucial for your small business. But there comes a point of saturation, where the benefit, ubiquity, and convenience actually becomes detrimental. Are you or your employees suffering from app overload? It’s very tempting to read that sentence in an infomercial voice, but app overload is actually real. According to a new study from CITE Research, which surveyed more than 2,000 workers across

In the mobile age where remote workers are spread out around the world, it’s gotten more difficult to get everyone on the same page or in the same room. Schedules are loose, distractions are high, and projects are many. So, if your business relies on smooth communication and yoAduour workforce is vast and spread out, you could benefit greatly by utilizing audio conferencing for any and all meetings. Here are some reasons why… Cost If you’re looking to get all the major players in the office for a meeting, that’s going to set you back a bit. Make room in

One minute you’re being productive at work and the next your phone rings incessantly with an unknown number and your voicemail starts to pile up with cryptic messages asking for money or slick scripts about a fantastic offer you can’t miss. It’s annoying, but more so, it’s illegal. The FTC says that “Your written or oral consent is required for ALL autodialed or prerecorded calls or texts made to your wireless number. Telemarketers have never been permitted to make robocalls to your wireless phone based solely on an “established business relationship” with you.” With life and business increasingly moving more

How many times have you needed customer support and couldn’t for the life of you find a company number? Or are you just frustrated and exhausted by the constant ping of a chatbot that can’t really solve your problem? You’re not alone. There is still a big contingent of consumers who want to talk to a real human. And if you’re a small business that offers a service, you need to be available to help if the going gets tough. For some customers, solving problems online or through messenger apps simply isn’t enough. So if you’re a new startup, an

While some businesses adapt to change faster than others, the business world as a whole is usually kind of slow to change. Even when there are advantages to adopting new technologies, the nature of business and the work (and cost) of integrating new technologies causes most companies to take a “wait and see” approach. While the benefits may look good on paper, these companies want to see how the changes affect others in the real world before committing to an upgrade. While there is some wisdom to this approach, it can also cost time and money that those other

Small business/startup meeting in progress

There was a time when if you heard the word “meeting” you pictured a bunch of people sitting around listening while one or two people talked. Though some meetings had more back-and-forth feedback than others, by and large meetings were often handled the same. And in some companies, they still are. That doesn’t mean that meetings (and the workplace in general) aren’t changing, however. Modern technology has changed the way that we have meetings, and it’s even augmented the way that we look at the workplace in terms of efficiency, the potential of communications and more. If you’re curious as

Here at Phone.com we’re not only proud to deliver top notch business class phone service to a diverse group of small businesses, we’re also able to legally protect the sensitive information handled by medical professionals with our HIPAA compliant coverage in our standard features. If you’re unfamiliar with that acronym or new to the VoIP industry, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was signed into law in 1996 with the chief aim at providing accountability for health insurance companies and patients’ information. With the VoIP revolution, small, medium and large medical companies are able to cut costs by not having to

It’s easy to get caught up in all the challenges of creating, running, and growing a successful small business. It’s also easy to feel isolated, like your hiccups or shortcomings are only unique to you. Luckily there are so many resources available to help guide you along the way, and thanks to the boon of podcasting, there are so many subject matter experts talking about just what you need to hear. We put together a list of five podcasts you can listen to on your morning commute that’ll help get your business off the ground, motivate you to make positive

Everyone wants to be successful, even if we all have different definitions of success. Some view success as amassing wealth and power, others view it as seeing a dream come true or becoming their own boss. Regardless of how you define success, you’re unlikely to find it by simply waiting around for it to show up. If you want to be successful, you’ve got to work for it. While the specific work depends on lots of variables, there are some things you can do to help it along. If you want to achieve maximum success and reach your goals, a

A CEO has a lot of power of his or her company, but with that power comes an immense amount of responsibility. Not everyone is cut out for this sort of responsibility, and new CEOs can sometimes be overwhelmed by everything that’s required for their jobs. That’s why some CEOs seem to flounder once they’re in position while others thrive and take their companies to new heights. To be truly successful, new CEOs typically require certain traits. These traits are often the same sort of traits that one has to have to become a CEO in the first place, but

When you think of “team-building activities” you likely picture trust falls, cheesy motivational speeches and forced participation in boring office games. While developing teamwork and improving office camaraderie is important, the team will only improve if its members actually enjoy the activities. If everyone’s miserable, no one is going to take anything away from the exercise. Instead of trying to bring everyone together through trust falls, try injecting a bit more fun into your activities. Not only will they bring your team members closer together, but they may even help them to work more efficiently as a unit as well.

Because of the sensitive information handled by a medical practice and the compliance requirements of HIPAA and HITECH, you have to be pretty picky when choosing new technologies for your office. This obligation is especially true when dealing with communication methods, since you certainly don’t want to accidentally expose confidential patient data. As a result, many medical offices are slow to adopt new technology. If your phone system could use an overhaul, however, it might be time to consider switching to a VoIP service instead. There are several benefits to choosing VoIP over other options, including some that are vitally

Small business owner using call screening feature for VOIP

When you think of call screening, you likely imagine a feature that’s used be people at home trying to avoid calls from telemarketers or other folks they want to avoid. With the advent of caller ID, call screening is a feature that many people don’t even use. What many don’t realize is that there are still some great uses of call screening even in a world where you can see at a glance where a call is coming from. Not only that, but call screening can

A new report by marketing and research firm Criteo reveals that mobile apps grabbed the lion’s share of e-commerce transactions in 4Q’17 for retailers that have shopping apps. This is a big deal, as more and more retailers are seeing the advantage of having a dedicated mobile app to make things easier on shoppers. Some are even making a major push to make their apps commonplace, with retail giants like Wal-Mart pitching the app in stores and even adding scan-and-pay functionality that lets shoppers scan items as they pick them up to skip most of the hassle of checkout. Why

Some people see working from home as a dream come true, imagining days spent working in pajamas and only tackling tasks when they feel like it. The reality of working remotely is a bit different, of course. While you do have more control over your schedule, you still have deadlines and responsibilities along with a wide range of distractions that you never run into while at the office. This isn’t to say that working remotely can’t be a rewarding experience, however. It’s not for everyone, but for those who do thrive in a remote work environment, it can result in

You’ve probably never considered how the way that you use your phone could influence the success of your business. After all, the two things seem so disconnected that there’s no reason to think that one might affect the other. As it turns out, though, there is actually a direct connection between how you use your phone and how successful your business is. Knowing how to identify and use this connection can mean the difference between a business that does better than you ever expected and one that just barely gets by. Before we get too far into how you can

Welcome to the latest installment of “Innovation Corner.” Here, we dig into the expertise of Alon Cohen, our CTO and Executive VP, and share insider tips, lesser-known features and fun ideas on how to get the most out of your phone system and your Phone.com account. We’re all about flexibility, efficiency, ease of use and, of course, affordability for our customers of all sizes. Service Spotlight: Video Conferencing Our video conferencing tool is a Phone.com premium service. Nothing to download, nothing to install. Bring up to 25 participants together for face-to-face meetings, with up to an additional 200 participants able

We’ve all been put on hold and had to listen to all kinds of hold music. Depending on how long the hold lasts, that music can make you all but want to abandon your call and try again at a later time. If you haven’t put any thought into your on-hold experience, your customers might feel this exact same way when they have to go on hold. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be this way. If you want to make sure that your customers aren’t driven off by your choice of on-hold music, here are a few things you can