Communications

Communication is the key to having a virtual office and virtual employees. Simply put, without it, virtual doesn’t work. Communications has several terms that may be strange to you. They are defined below:

Presence – the ability to detect when someone is online or busy.

IM – Instant messaging or the ability to send near instantaneous messages to people on your list.

Video Conference – the ability to transmit and receive sound and video with one or more other persons.

Voice over IP (VOIP) – the ability to have phone conversations using a computer and the Internet. (Other terms for this are: Internet telephony and IP telephony)

Chat – the ability to view and send messages to one or more people at the same time. When several people chat together, the sum of their messages are contained in what is known as a “chat room”.

Document Transfer – the ability to transfer documents to another party over the internet

Our Recommendations:

	Skype software is secure (our primary criteria), supports ALL the above abilities and is inexpensive as well. Skype supports easy movement between chat, phone and includes support for VOIP and traditional phones as well as international calling. It is also VERY inexpensive.
	This site supports one or two way text messaging to your employees or prospective customers. Messages can be sent singly or in bulk. This is a good way to quickly distribute emergency messages.
	When you are on the road with your laptop, its easy to come up missing a file or two that you thought you wouldn't need. Use Dino to store your files online. The 1st 2 Gigabytes are free.
	HearMe supports web-based meeting rooms and video or audio conferencing for up to 150 users. It also supports document and application sharing.
	ViaTalk a broadband phone alternative for your calls with unlimited US calling for a flat annual rate. The plans come with many many features included.

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