Setting up Email Filters will reign in an unruly Inbox

One of the most powerful ways to get control of your incoming email is to use filters. I’m not talking about filtering SPAM because Postini already does that for us. We’re talking about automatically filtering email that you want to receive to a folder other than your Inbox. Automatically filtering your incoming mail ensures that less important email does not get in the way of messages that matter or are time sensitive.

My current filters automatically divert ~20 messages per day to a folder I scan once or twice a week. While I do want to receive these emails, they are mostly automated informational emails that do not require action on my part. With automatic filters routing these emails to a special folder I can check these messages on my schedule, not the senders. I regain control of my email and my time. It’s a refreshing change!

What are the best critieria for setting up a filter? First, resist the temptation to create dozens of filters. The goal is to simplify. We suggest a single filter for all automated emails. This would be any newsletter (except ours!), mailing list or other email that is not sent by a human. Try this filter for a week. If it’s done right, you’ll notice email is less of a burden as you are managing the flow instead of the flow managing you!

You can read Google’s tutorial on creating Filters here.

We can provide assistance on setting up filtering and many more tips that will transform your relationship to Email.

Contact us to learn how we can help you.

Share and Enjoy:
  • email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • RSS
Posted in Email, GTD, Time Management | Leave a comment

Twitter: the new customer service tool

In the past week we’ve experienced Twitter in a new and unexpected way: as a tool for resolving customer service issues.

We speak with customer service representatives on a daily basis. It can be a very frustrating experience. That frustration can lead to a need to vent. Recently, we’ve vented on Twitter.

Twitter has become so popular that many companies are monitoring Twitter for real time feedback about their products. Call it “brand protection”. If a company sees a negative comment about their product they are jumping on the opportunity to fix the situation. See also our earlier blog, What is Twitter? (and why you should care) where we posted:

Twitter is impactful because people are moving towards consulting their peers in real time about their experiences via Social Media. Had a great steak? Take a picture with your phone and share it, instantly, with all of your followers. Wondering why traffic is so bad? Ask the “Twitterverse” and find out. Looking to interact directly with the consumers of your products? Bingo! Twitter is your answer!

This week we tweeted our frustration about two vendors and within the hour they responded to us on Twitter and within four business hours we received follow up phone calls from Managers who offered us an ideal solution. Why we couldn’t reach that same solution via standard support channels is still a challenge that companies need to fix, but getting the right type of support is an improvement over no support at all.

If someone searches on Twitter about your product do you want them to see a lot of negative feedback or only positive customers raving about support? What are people saying about your company on Twitter? If you don’t know, maybe you should find out.

Share and Enjoy:
  • email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • RSS
Posted in Business, Social Media | Tagged | Leave a comment

We’re a Favorite Place on Google

We’re on Google’s Favorite Places list.

Share and Enjoy:
  • email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • RSS
Posted in Business, Google | Tagged | Leave a comment

City of Los Angeles Chooses Google Apps

The Official Google Enterprise Blog has a post about the City of Los Angeles choosing Google Apps for their new Email system that will serve 30,000 city employees. The entire post and video are available via this link.

Some highlights from their post:

  • Important decision. 15 proposals were submitted. The top four candidates gave oral presentations to city officials. The City Council unanimously chose Google Apps.
  • Improved collaboration. Much of the city’s work requires multiple people – even multiple departments – to work together. With instant messaging, video conferencing, and simultaneous review and editing of documents by multiple people, employees will have better tools to work together on projects.
  • Easier remote access. In a fast-paced city government, people often need access to work information when they’re not at work. With Google, employees will be able to access their information from any computer with an internet connection, as well as from their mobile phones.
  • Expanded storage. With Google, we can provide employees 25x the email storage they have today, saving them from having to make difficult decisions about which emails to keep or delete.
  • Cost savings. Moving to Google will free up nearly 100 servers that were used for our existing email system, which will lower our electricity bills by almost $750,000 over five years. In short, this decision helps us to get the most out of the city’s IT budget.
Share and Enjoy:
  • email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • RSS
Posted in Email, Google, Google Apps | Leave a comment

Securing your company data on an iPhone

2010-02-03 UPDATE: Google Apps can now remote wipe an iPhone and enforce security policies. Read more here.

Apple has two three* ways to secure company data on an iPhone in the event an iPhone is lost or stolen.

If you have a subscription to Apple’s MobileMe you can now find a lost iPhone and/or wipe all of it’s data from the MobileMe website. More info on the MobileMe capabilities are available on the Apple website.

Many corporate users do not use the MobileMe service (which costs $99/year) but still need to protect the data on their iPhones. Well, Apple has you covered there as well. You can enable a four digit passcode on your phone. If the incorrect passcode is entered 10 times in a row, then all the data on your phone will be erased. If the data is erased accidentally or the code is forgotten you can restore the phone from iTunes.

Here’s how you would enable the setting to wipe your phone after 10 incorrect passcode attempts. From your phone choose:

  1. Settings – General – Passcode Lock
  2. Enter a 4 digit passcode twice to confirm. Be sure you won’t forget this passcode!
  3. From the next menu click on Require Passcode and choose a timeout. A shorter time is more secure.
  4. Make sure Erase Data is set to On. Screen should like the image below.

That’s it! Your iPhone will now wipe all data if an incorrect passcode is entered 10 times in a row.

Each method has it’s own advantages and disadvantages. We feel the built-in feature of using a passcode is the most straight forward solution and provides a high level of security.

*Companies running Microsoft Exchange Server can remotely wipe an iPhone. Please see your company’s system administrator for details.

Share and Enjoy:
  • email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • RSS
Posted in Macintosh, Security, Smartphone | Tagged , | 1 Comment

The power of Google Apps: Forms

In this post we’ll take a look at the power and ease of use of Google Apps Forms. We’ll cover creating a form, viewing the data in a spreadsheet and using that data to create graphs. But first, a quick intro video:

Forms allow Google Apps users to create custom forms for gathering information. Forms can be used for many purposes: from vacation requests or ordering lunch to complex business processes or client surveys, forms are a powerful feature of Google Apps. Below is a screenshot of creating a sample form:

Notice above the different types of questions and the simplicity of the interface. No advanced programming knowledge needed! Forms can be emailed, require sign-in to use or made public for use by anyone. Each completed form will become a row in a spreadsheet and alert notifications can be set as needed.

Here is a basic form:

Here is an example of the spreadsheet this form creates with one submission:

Once a form is created it is very simple process to create graphs from the data. As an example I’ll share data from a form I created to track my diabetic dog’s blood glucose.

Diabetic dogs require accurate tracking of blood glucose, insulin doses and food over long periods of time. Our vet was regularly asking for this information so I made a form, used the spreadsheet data to create a graph and then made the graph public and shared the link with my vet. Now the vet can get real time updates on my dog’s diabetes by visiting the chart I published online. Think about the potential for your business. How could you use this functionality? Track client responses? Gather sales inquiries? Employee feedback? Executive dashboard? Here are the examples from my spreadsheet.

The form:

The data:

The graph (click for big):

When a form is submitted the spreadsheet and graph are updated in real time! What metrics in your business could you track on a daily basis that could make a difference for you?

Since Google Apps Forms are online applications all that is needed to use these powerful tools are a Google Apps account and a web browser. In fact, most of the time I use my iPhone to fill out the form to track my dog’s diabetes. See screenshot below:

As you can see, you can use any phone with a web browser to complete Google Apps Forms. This is powerful stuff!

Creating online forms to streamline business processes used to require a team of people with complex technical backgrounds. Now just about anyone can put the power of Google Apps Forms to work for their business. To find out how we can help you put the power of Google Apps to work for your business contact us.

Share and Enjoy:
  • email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • RSS
Posted in 100 reasons, Google, Google Apps | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Year end process review

Every so often it is important to sit down and objectively critique areas that could be improved. As the year ends what are you looking at transforming in your life to help you reach your personal and professional goals?

One area where we feel we have room to improve as a company is in communication. While we pride ourselves on making technology simple for our clients, we can always do better. Clear communication is an ongoing process. It takes hardwork and dedication.

We came across this Dilbert cartoon and felt it was a great example of the challenges of communication. We always have our clients best interests at heart, but I can also say we’ve had meetings that have unfortunately gone like this! All we can do is keep trying and keep laughing. What area can you improve? Is there a way for you to keep that focus throughout the year?

Here’s to a great 2010!

Dilbert

Thanks to Dilbert.com for use of their comic.

Share and Enjoy:
  • email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • RSS
Posted in Business, Process | Leave a comment

Wanted: Dead or Alive

Parody of tech support set to Bon Jovi’s Dead or Alive. ConnectWise is the Professional Services Automation software we use at Network Velocity.

Share and Enjoy:
  • email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • RSS
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Our Reading List

We recently had the privilege of hearing Verne “the Growth Guy” Harnish speak at the ConnectWise Partner Summit. Thanks to Verne we have a lot of reading to do! Here are a few of his recommendations.

Books

Not shown but still on the list is: Reality Marketing Revolution.

To this list I would also add Free: The Future of a Radical Price and The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More by Chris Anderson, the editor of Wired Magazine.

Links to the books in the picture above:

Meditation in a New York Minute: Super Calm for the Super Busy
Nurturing Customer Relationships
The 4-Hour Workweek
The Ultimate Sales Machine: Turbocharge Your Business with Relentless Focus on 12 Key Strategies
Pricing with Confidence
Built to Last: Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
Hidden Champions of the Twenty-First Century: The Success Strategies of Unknown World Market Leaders
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t

Share and Enjoy:
  • email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • RSS
Posted in Books, Business | Tagged , | Leave a comment

What is Google Chrome OS?

Share and Enjoy:
  • email
  • Twitter
  • Print
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • FriendFeed
  • LinkedIn
  • StumbleUpon
  • Technorati
  • Tumblr
  • Posterous
  • RSS
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment