Is Voicemail Dead?

Voicemail is dead. This provocative pronouncement was posted at TechCrunch. I don’t know if it’s an occupational hazard of working remotely online all the time, but I have always preferred email over the phone. It’s non-disruptive to workflow and way more time-efficient. Apparently, TechCrunch agrees:

Typical voicemail messages today include things like “Please don’t leave me a voicemail, I rarely listen to them. Please just email me at xxxx@xxxx.com” Many people don’t bother setting up their voicemail accounts at all. Then there’s my favorite method, the one I use personally - let the message box get full and then don’t empty it. Caller ID still tells me who called, and I can simply call them back.

How many times have you called someone back and said “I saw that you called but didn’t listen to the voicemail yet, Is it anything urgent?”

Frustration mounts when a simple request or bit of information turns into a three-day phone tag fest - when a simple email would do just fine. 

So how to make the best of voice mail? TechCrunch suggests using a message transcription service- Vonage offers this option for 25 cents per message - and it’s WORTH IT.  Check out TechCrunch’s post.. what do you think?

Think Before You Voicemail  (TechCrunch)

 

Sun Microsystems Study Shows (Again!) Virtual Offices An Energy-Saving Solution

Here’s a quick post to a new Sun Microsystems press release discussing another recent study demonstrating the enormous environmental and cost benefit to adopting telework programs and virtual workgroups.

Quick adoption by the business community of alternative work enviroments such as virtual offices can have a dramatic and immediate impact on the environment and energy costs. Partnering with an experienced virtual assistant can be a timesaver to any business learning to use the variety of tools to manage projects and teams on the web.

Review the Sun Microsystems press release here.

Frugality vs. Blackberry lust: I’m not alone!

You can picture the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other…you see, some months ago I realized that the cost savings benefit of giving up my Palm Treo would outweigh the benefit of being able to read email in the supermarket. Well, THAT was 6 months ago, and now I’m jonesin’ for a shiny new Crackberry. Verizon won’t give me a discount on it until 2009 (OUCH!) so if I want one now, I will have to pony up the full retail ($430+ something). Agh.

I think I can wait… I think. Anyway, here’s a link to encourage me to stay on the low-cost wagon.

Marketing via Twitter

I’m fast developing a Twitter addiction - I’m just hooked on tweets!

Well - thanks to a tip on Nancy Marmolejo’s terrific Viva Visibility blog, I found a great post listing some handy strategies for using Twitter for marketing. Now Twittering counts as work!

Follow me on Twitter

Late to the party: learning to use Facebook

Late to the party, indeed. I just now am beginning to scratch the surface of Facebook. I spend quite a bit of time on LinkedIn (which I love); but have so far spent no time exploring the capabilities of FB… always assuming it was more of a personal thing. In my ignorance, I never bothered to really see what it can do. And it can do a lot. I am surprised by the number of people that use it excusively (and very effectively) for business and that it’s actually very useful - not merely a social distraction.

Along with my “discovery” of Twitter last week (which is surprisingly addictive), I feel I’m making some social networking progress these days. Next week: Squidoo.

Many thanks to Erin Blaskie - who patiently helped me see the Facebook light.

So - since I’m new, I’m still light on friends… please visit me. ;-)  Anyone else feel behind the curve with Facebook?

Brush with Greatness: Andrea Kalli Reads This Blog!!

I’m so jazzed… Andrea Kalli - Virtual Trainer extraodinaire and Podcasting, SharePoint and Exchange guru was kind enough to post to IVAANet about this blog. I’m honored.

Check out Andrea’s virtual training services on Podcasting, hosted Exchange and SharePoint. She’s unique in the VA world. Her teleclasses are great too - she was kind enough to do a teleclass for our DVVAA membership about blogging. It was a big hit!

Thanks again, Andrea.

Back from the IVAA Summit… a BLAST!

I’m finally getting unpacked from the IVAA Summit in Charlotte… and I had a great time! There were terrific programs and a record turnout - about 80 VAs from all over the USA and Canada, and I had the pleasure of meeting most of them. Best of all, I got to meet many contacts I had over the years - this time in person!

The DVVAA girls again made a splash… 15% of the attendees!!  Special thanks to Laura Pumo for being such a gracious roommate.

Kudos to IVAA and the Summit Committee… you really know how to put on a show!

CNN.com Sells T-Shirts with Web Headlines

Frequent visitors to CNN.com have likely noticed that their headlines are sometimes unintelligible, tawdry and/or creepy and have no relationship whatsoever to important news.

Now we know the method to the madness: CNN Shirt

Not familiar? View Gawker’s Extensive History Of Terrible CNN.com Headlines

What if everyone who could telecommute actually did?

I’m always ranting about how the price of gas would drop like a stone tomorrow if all those who could do their work at home actually did. Here in the Philly ‘burbs, the main arteries leading to the city and to the office parks of King of Prussia are CLOGGED daily with information workers of one stripe or another, who, truth be told, really don’t need to be in the office all the time. Now, there is a study that tries to quantify the possible result:

They asked the simple question: what would be the impact if everyone who could work from home actually did? The answer they came up with for the USA: a savings of 625 million barrels of oil a year, as well as $43 billion less spent on gasoline and elimination of a couple of weeks of wasted commuting time per person.

The study (done by telework advocacy website Undress4Success) focuses on the immense environmental benefits of such a scenario, but there are compelling economic woes that can be alleviated as well. With skyrocketing oil prices linked to everything from worldwide food inflation to bankrupt airlines to shuttered pizza shops, anything that can drive down the cost of energy would help reverse the damage. For every infoworker who can skip the daily commute, life is made a bit easier (less traffic) and more affordable (cheaper gas) for those who can’t telecommute: nurses, farmers, police officers, chefs, hairstylists and truckers (and our truckers really need a break)!

The less obvious benefits: happier and more productive workers, fewer car accidents, cheaper auto insurance, independence from foreign oil - and perhaps most gratifying of all - handing Big Oil a well-deserved cash “haircut”.

Thanks to the wonderful Web Worker Daily for the validation I was looking for!

Be sure to read the original article about the study, at Undress4Success.

Ok, I get Twitter now.

I spend a lot of time playing with new Web 2.x services and putting them to use. I love finding something that saves me a few minutes or fills a need - a need that sometimes, I didn’t even know I had (Jott.com, comes to mind!).

I never really “got” the phenomenon that is Twitter. I never spent much time with it, as I assumed it was a MySpace-y type app that was for tweens texting one another about prom shoes - but I confess, I never gave it a fair shake. If you aren’t familiar, Twitter allows you to quickly update “what are you doing” and update your website and your “followers” (or all Twitter-ers at large) with brief text messages. These messages are sent to your website, blog, rss (my favorite), phone, etc. - instant broadcast udpates as to your - status/thoughts/etc.. Twitter, however, allows users to restrict updates to approved “followers”, so that you can use Twitter to update family members, workgroups, etc with updates without burning phone minutes or spending time on phonetag calls and voice mail. Useful!

So, as proof that Twitter is more than another teenage tech distraction… here’s a blog post that describes the clever and lifesaving use of Twitter during a recent tornado outbreak in OK.

In case you are wondering - here’s my Twitter page.. there is absolutely nothing of interest there.. but follow me if you like…

Also - please comment if there is something I am missing - or another great way to use Twitter.

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