Skype

We have implemented Skype into Move Administer.

“Skype? What is it?” I hear you ask.

Well Skype is free Voice over Internet telePhony (VoIP) that just works!
With a microphone and speakers you can call any other Skype ID completely free of charge, no matter where they are in the world!

But Skype have taken this step even further too! Not content with allowing you to talk they have also built into their software ‘MSN Messenger’ style chatting as well as file transfer, making it an ideal solution for providing Support these days. And with more and more Pocket PC’s now supporting Skype, this could mean that telephone calls via Skype to mobiles could be free in the future.

The things I like about Skype are not only the services I list below, but that fact that I can be anywhere in the world and still be contacted, and be able to contact others. And when I say I can be anywhere, I can also be logged in at several locations, so when you call me all locations will ring, which means both Richard and I can be logged in under the same Skype ID.

And there’s more!!!

Skype has invented 3 other services; SkypeOut, SkypeIn and Skype Voicemail.

SkypeOut:
SkypeOut is where you setup an account with Skype and purchase SkypeOut credit, which then allows you to make calls to any telephone number in the world! How would you like to call friends, family and even trade colleagues in America for .012p a minute, yes you read write, no typo, and that includes mobiles! And it doesn’t matter where you are calling from, only where you are calling to!

For a full listing of SkypeOut rates click here.

I have used this for some time now to stay in touch with friends in Canada and the sound quality is second to none, and all this for a little over 1p a minute!

A SkypeOut account is free, but you are required to purchase credit, and from as little as €10!

SkypeIn:
With SkypeIn you can purchase your own regular telephone number, that when dialled calls your Skype ID! So if your friends, family and colleagues who aren’t using Skype want to call you by dialling a regular number you can still receive the call in Skype. And this is the best bit, no matter where you are!

And should you be catching some surf then the Skype Voicemail which comes with your SkypeIn account will kick in!

We purchased an 0208 SkypeIn telephone number, which we will be providing to our supported customers, so no matter were we are we are always contactable.

A SkypeIn subscription costs €30 for 12 months.

Skype Voicemail:
Not only can you receive voicemail when you’re busy or offline, but you can send voicemail messages to anyone on Skype too! So when you cant or don’t have the time to pick up the phone Skype Voicemail does it all for you.

A Skype Voicemail subscription costs €15 for 12 months, but please note that Skype Voicemail comes with SkypeIn.

So how does all this affect Move Administer?

Well, for starters, once you have Skype installed you can call our Support simply by selecting Skype Support from the Help menu of Move Administer, and remember it’s FREE!

We have also introduced Skype fields into Corporate and Agent contacts, where you can either type in the contact’s Skype ID or if they don’t have one but you have a SkypeOut account then their telephone number!

Just imagine the amount of money you can save by contacting customers and fellow trade colleagues based all over the world. We see great savings for those providing international moving services for keeping in touch with Agents on the other side of the big pond.

So why not try it for yourself by clicking on the banner below, and as a test you can then Skype AdministerSoftware or SlimBoyWynn (don’t ask!)

At the time of writing this there has been over 145 million downloads of Skype!!!

The Written (Or Typed) Word

Correspondence in Move Administer comes in three forms, Letter, Email and SMS.

A history of correspondence is also fully maintained, and correspondence can also be done on mass using our Query Wizard (more on this subject soon).

All correspondence can be created from a blank canvass or you can import from a Master set of Templates.

Here’s a brief summary of the features of each form:

Letters:

You now have full access to all fonts available on your PC, allowing you to change font sizes, colours and styles (bold, italic and underline). You can also left/right/center/block justify text, set up tab stops and even insert bullet points, you can even get a print preview!
While it’s not as complex as Microsoft’s Word, I am confident that it will more than accommodate your needs. Plus, you can always load your letter into Word at the press of a button anyway.

Full Spell Checking and Mail Merge are available too. You’ll find the spell checking feature in many other sections of Move Administer also. Mail Merge current hosts a database of over 450 tokens to choose from, but I’m sure this will increase to over 500 soon! And, you can create your own tokens too!

Email:

At this moment in time Emails will be plain text, but I may look into adding HTML formatting in the future.

As with letters, full Spell Checking and Mail Merging are also available. Attachments are currently not supported but again I will look into adding this in the future.

In order to use the Email feature of Move Administer you will need an Internet connection and an email account.

SMS:

Plain text which can be sent to any mobile phone, but unfortunately due to the size limitations, 160 characters, no Mail Merging will be possible.

In order to use the SMS feature of Move Administer you will need an Internet connection, an email account and an account setup with Boom-SMS (sms.boom-sms.co.uk).