Working from home, on line tools for a virtual office

The aim of progress is to better life quality: technology to simplify the job and to optimize costs. More and more people are leaving traditional jobs and moving productivity and tools on the net in order to work on their own from home, increasing the income and reducing expenditure: in a few words, improving the quality of their life.

On line technologies, available to everyone, are already able to replace minimal infrastructure of independent enterprises and often have a paltry price in comparison to their considerable functional capacity. The essential working actions are in fact: phoning, faxing, filing, moving for meetings and conferences. For each of these needs there is a digital counterpart, which can utterly replace traditional organization and habits.

Telephone

Calling and receiving calls is a basic need. Apart from using e-mail, it is now possible to connect to common telephones through the computer. The programme is Skype, which allows both calling a normal number and receiving calls from a common telephone device.

• Phoning through the computer – it is possible by downloading and installing Skype. The application is free. Phone calls to other pcs equipped with Skype are free as well, while calls to normal numbers have paltry fees. The service is SkypeOut and is rechargeable.
• Receiving calls from a computer – Skype also gives the opportunity to connect a telephone number to one’s own pc through the SkypeIn module. In this way, you will be reachable wherever you are through your portable pc. Telephone numbers are provided on the basis of a geographical distinction and Italian numbering is not yet available. The price of a telephone number is 10$ for 3 months or 30$ a year.
• Answering machine – Skype has a free built-in answering and call deviation system, extremely useful when your pc is switched off.

The fax

Sending and receiving paper documents is still an essential need, but it is now possible to get rid of the old fax machine and do everything on line.

• E-Fax – it is a first-rate utility, which allows sending and receiving faxes by using the email. A district telephone number is associated to the email. In order to transmit, you just need to send an email. As for the receiving, you will get each fax send with a common device in your mailbox. Useful and safe. Numbers cost $12.95 /month. Fax reception is free of charge, sending costs 0.20 per page in Italy, while sending a fax in the USA has a cost of $0.09 per page. It is possible to evaluate eFax service for a month free of charge.

Document filing and sharing

Document maintaining, filing and searching is fundamental. It brings with it major problems and risks related to loss and theft. It is possible to manage one’s archive on line.

• Xdrive – It is a service which supplies a virtual 5 Gb hard disk. Users can move documents and material from their pc by simply dragging icons and files as if working on a local hard disk, with the only difference that it is on internet. The whole filed material is shareable. This removes the dangers of theft, loss and deterioration. It is possible to store files, pictures, MP3 , applications, whatever. Remarkably useful in case of recurring backups. Basic price is $10/month. Try it for free!
• Streamload – It is similar to XDrive, with the only difference that this service is designed for multimedia files (audio, video, images, etc). Moreover, it’s noteworthy the opportunity to register free of charge to the basic service which provides 10GB free, with the only limit of 10Mb for single file size and 500Mb/month of traffic. The non-free versions offer a wider range of functionalities.

Meetings and conferences

Apart from the great number of video-conference programmes, there is a free plug-in for Skype released by Festoon Inc., which allows using a webcam during Skype calls. The solution is easy, fast and cheap and, in case you do not have special needs, perfectly replaces video-conference complex software. Download it here. If you need something really professional, the next generation in online meetings has arrived! GotoMeeting hold as many meetings as you want for as long as you want for one low rate. You can dramatically reduce travel costs, save time and increase productivity. Try it for free now!