Faces to names

At BT BizBox we want to encourage a community and we find it friendlier if we know who we are taking to :)

It has been a number of months now that we have had this forum live, so I thought it was about time I put a face to name.

As you can see I have updated my profile on the blog and over the next few weeks the rest of the BT BixBox team will be introducing themselves to you.

We are a small team so please feel free to introduce yourselves to us.

Thanks
Sarah

October 29, 2007 | Filed Under BTBizBox Updates | Leave a Comment 

Photo

October 28, 2007 | Filed Under BTBizBox Updates | Leave a Comment 

Latest at BT BizBox

Hi,
You may have noticed that we have been quiet this week with our development announcements, however it has still been extremely busy at BT BizBox.

What have we been doing?

We have now built all the pages with the new design and are rolling them into Beta for testing over the weekend.

We will continue to test and resolve any outstanding bugs and intend to roll to live during the course of next week. I will keep you posted.

Thanks
Sarah

October 27, 2007 | Filed Under BTBizBox Updates | Leave a Comment 

Community driven software

Hi,
We stated back in September that we would be looking to produce a number of articles to stimulate the SaaS debate.

We have now completed the first article which focuses on the community driven element of BT BizBox.

Below is a copy of the article, we would be interested in your thoughts.

CRM’s 21st Century Challenges Are Met By BT BizBox

From the UK to the U.S. and all points around the globe, the CEO’s are no longer running the company. It’s the customer who’s now in charge.


The explosive growth of the Internet during the last decade has resulted in options for customers that were at one time unimaginable. As of June 2007, 1.133 billion people use the Internet, according to Internet World Stats, making it, as American philosopher N.J. Slabbert noted, “a basic feature of global civilization.”

As the Web has given customers more power, businesses have turned to Customer Relationship Management, which itself has emerged as a powerful trend. Companies have realized that they have to sell the way customers want to buy, not the other way around. In what has become a buyer-driven economy, customers have finally been able to drive the issue home because technology has given them a much louder voice.

CRM comes in many software packages, but is more than tech gear. It’s a philosophy in dealing with customers that covers a wide spectrum of requirements, from service to employee training to information management. It’s constantly evolving and taking on many forms, one of which is being orchestrated by a new system called BT BizBox, whose aim is to provide simple and effective productivity tools for small and medium-sized businesses.

It is becoming more important to understand your customers and their behavior in order to stay ahead of the competition. Understanding the customer is important for product designing and marketing, so the more information you can store on your customers, the better. If you do not have a suitable CRM for recording all this information, it means you have to employ people to do it for you, which adds additional operational costs to your business.


CRM evolution is still in the early stages, with a bright future that is leaning toward more and more companies incorporating the objectives of a CRM strategy into their business plans. But those business plans are fluid, and always changing. Therefore, CRM needs to be flexible, which is the essence of BT BizBox. Instead of being fully developed before it’s put into organizational use, BT BizBox can be developed by these organizations in real-time, creating a customized solution that can roll with the latest developments of a new generation.


That new generation, as has clearly been demonstrated, is a digital one. The so-called “PlayStation” era is a group that’s comfortable with tech and has been bred on digital. It’s a culture that’s wired with iPod’s and Sidekicks, Blackberry’s and Razrs.


“This group of customers will expect you to conduct business with them in an always on, always connected, real-time way,” wrote Barton Goldenberg, author of CRM Automation. “Always on, always connected is a result of the move from an analog to a digital world, which will be completed around 2030. In the digital world broadband rules, every mobile device has a wireless connection to the Internet, all computing devices are connected to each other, and all computing devices are synchronized and always up to date. In other words, real-time becomes the norm for conducting business. ”


The norm has become solutions that are vertical, where products that are designed can meet the needs of a particular industry. A one-size-fits-all CRM market is headed for extinction. Because the customers of these businesses want their information On Demand, these businesses are demanding more from the abilities of CRM, looking for more management functionality and adaptability.


Like a customized house, Tierlinear has built the foundation, partnering with BT (British Telecommunications), one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions and services. Its web-based system has all of the basic business tools like customer and contact management, timesheets, scheduling and invoicing. Now, BT BizBox is turning to the consumers to influence the finishes touches, with further development of the application being built through feedback from the BT BizBox community. This solution, which is currently in Beta format and free to use, gives small and medium-sized companies a cost-effective way to managing its business needs.


It provides all customers with a business in a box solution, which helps organizations become more efficient and effective. It is developed by the community so there is no predefined product roadmap. Developments and future requirements are driven by the customers.


Furthermore, web-based software like BT BizBox is part of a revolution that’s transforming business. Agile software lets business and consumers have better access when applications sit on distant Web servers and run on standard browsers, eliminating the hassle of installing software or moving data when switching computers.


BT BizBox is a web-based system, so it can be used anywhere in the world. End users can log into the application anywhere they have access to an Internet connection and it is simple to use. Software as a service is growing due to the access of the applications, the ease of use and the low cost.



October 24, 2007 | Filed Under BTBizBox Updates, Web 2.0 | Leave a Comment 

Screenshots of the new look BT BizBox

Hi,
For those of you who have not open your accounts yet, I thought I would give you a insight into the new interface pages we have been talking about on this blog and the BT BizBox forum.

Firstly, the new look Overview, previously the dashboard. The Overview provides you with a view of your business at a glance. You can see meetings scheduled, tasks due, outstanding invoices and any notes.


Figure 1 Overview

Secondly, the new look calendar, you can see from this meetings, tasks and if there are any holidays among your employees.


Figure 2 Calendar

Finally, a screen shot of the Today view, clicking on Today allows you to see all the meetings, tasks and holiday on that given day.


Figure 3 Today view

As you will see, these new designs are clear and simple to use. We are continuing to design the remaining pages of the BT BizBox application and look to roll them live next week.

We are capturing all feedback, whether you are a BT BizBox user or not on our forum.

If you like the look of these pages and feel their functionality may benefit you and haven’t registered for an account, please sign up for a free at http:www.btbizbox.com

Thanks

Sarah

October 19, 2007 | Filed Under BTBizBox Updates | Leave a Comment 

New interface

Hi,
The rollout of the new pages was successful last night.

The new look dashboard, calendar, “today” and header are now live.

At BT BizBox we are extremely happy with the new look, however more importantly what do you the community think? do they meet your needs? are they easy to use?

Let us know what you think, we are looking to finish the rest of the pages early next week. Once they are completed we will be looking to update all our help and support collateral to reflect the changes.

Thanks
Sarah

October 18, 2007 | Filed Under BTBizBox Updates | Leave a Comment 

Software as a Service - your views?

An interesting story last week with the announcement of McDonalds offering free WiFi in all of its 1,200 restaurants makes us think, will SaaS take the world by storm?

SaaS is one of the most popular phases used at the moment in the IT world. Is SaaS just a new phase for ASP? The SaaS solutions that are on the market at the moment are split into two categories, those which are hosted locally on a clients site and those which are web based.
The web based solutions are often being developed by smaller companies on open source technology.
BT BizBox is a great example of a web based SaaS solution, which is allowing the integration into other applications on the market to provide the end user with a customised solution. Currently BT BizBox has integrated BT’s web21 functionality of click to call and click to SMS, there are plans to integrate many more.

So, will the launch of free WiFi support the web based SaaS solutions for traveling business people? It gives them access to their offices anywhere and an opportunity to stay competitive while they travel. There is no reason for delaying activities until tomorrow with the combination of web based SaaS solutions and WiFi access Smiley

I would be really interested in hear your thoughts and views on SaaS either here or on our forums.

Thanks
Sarah

October 16, 2007 | Filed Under BTBizBox Updates | Leave a Comment 

New Look BT BizBox

Hi,
Good news! we have been testing today the new pages for the dashboard, calendar, header and “today”. We will continue our testing tomorrow and the plan is to rollout to live tomorrow night, the 17th, the new look BT BizBox - very exciting :)

If there are any changes to our plans, I will let you know.

I look forward to all your comments on Thursday.

Thanks
Sarah

October 16, 2007 | Filed Under BTBizBox Updates | 1 Comment 

New user interface

Hi,
As promised I just want to give an update on where we are with the new user interface.

We have now completed the build for the new dashboard and header, the plan is to roll this live early this week.

Work is in progress on the new calendar, we are also hoping that we will be able to roll this live by the end of the week also.

So a busy week ahead, we also need your feedback on the new look as it is important to us that it meets your needs, let us know in our forums

Thanks

Sarah

October 13, 2007 | Filed Under BTBizBox Updates | Leave a Comment 

This week at BT BizBox

Hi,
A quick update for you on what we are working on this week.

We are continuing to build the financial specification, at this stage we do not have any screenshots to show you, however don’t panic, as soon as they are available, they will be posted :)

The other exciting area is the new user interface, which we showed you a sneak preview of last week. We are in the final build stages for the dashboard and header and are hoping to roll them into live early next week. Once this has been completed, we will continue to build the style into the other pages of the application.

So, busy times at BT BizBox.

Let us know what you think.

Thanks
Sarah

October 3, 2007 | Filed Under BTBizBox Updates | Leave a Comment