Managed Services Monthly

Fax-to-Email Service Now Offered Nationwide

Appia has expanded fax-to-email service to provide nationwide coverage.

With this service, faxes are delivered to an email inbox. “The service is ideal for remote workers and people who travel because they can receive faxes anywhere they are able to access email,” said Jason Ulm, Vice President of Sales.

Fax-to-email service cuts costs as well. There is no need to invest in a fax machine to receive faxes. Printing only the documents needed saves on paper and toner, and electronic archiving makes it easy to retrieve them when needed.

Free Virtual Suggestion Box Service

SpeakFreely is a service that gives companies and organizations a simple way to do what traditional suggestion boxes do. SpeakFreely is perfect for any company or organization, but especially those whose people work in different locations or who are often on the road. Users can send a SpeakFreely message from anywhere and at any time. Best of all, SpeakFreely is free for Appia customers.

To learn more about SpeakFreely, visit www.SpeakFreely.biz.

New Connectivity Option for Customers with Softphones

Appia has developed a new connectivity option for customers who use softphones.

Traditionally, to use a softphone required organizations to set up virtual private networks (VPN). Appia customers are now able to use softphones without doing so.

“This gives many of our customers an opportunity to enjoy the benefits of softphones without having to invest in the equipment to set up and maintain their own VPNs,” said Victor von Schlegell, Appia’s President.

For more details please contact your Appia Regional Manager or email info(at)appiaservices.com.

Customer Profile

By eliminating the costs of calling within the company and reducing long distance charges, American Mattress saves 40 percent on its overall voice communications costs. IT Manager Andy Merges noted, “Free calls between stores save us a huge amount right there. At this rate of savings, the Appia solution will pay for itself in less than two years.”

Read the complete case study here.

FYI: Have you noticed an increase in bounced emails in your inbox?

Recently, there have been several particularly heavy days of “backscatter.” Backscatter refers to bounced messages that come from spam that was bounced by some remote site. It may come from someone forging your email address as the original sender, or if a machine in your network was exploited. But mostly it is just the result of simple forgery.

The net result in either case is that you are flooded with bounced messages from all over the world, from email that was sent to unknown email accounts or recognized as spam before it was accepted. The problem is further exacerbated because most filters don’t bounce the message; they send a bounce message, which spam gateways see as legitimate bounces and don’t classify them as spam.

Backscatter is the result of a major design flaw in the SMTP protocol. This flaw allows anyone to say that they are anyone else when sending email. There have been a number of attempts to fix this, such as Sender Policy Framework, but they are mostly ineffective. So unfortunately there is not much you can do about it – except hope that it will go away.

Do Not Call for Mobile Phones

An email has been circulating that warns that mobile phones numbers will be released to telemarketing companies on a given date, and that if your number is not registered you will receive telemarketing calls.

The Federal Trade Commission states that consumers should not be concerned that their mobile phone numbers will be released to telemarketers, and that it is not necessary to register mobile phone numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry.

Should you wish to register your mobile phone number just to be on the safe side, you may do so at www.donotcall.gov.

Click to learn more at the Federal Trade Commission website.

Appia Contacts

To learn more about Appia’s products and services, and how they can benefit your organization, please contact your Appia Regional Manager.

Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa
Frank Beltrano
877-277-4297
frank(at)appiaservices.com

Michigan and Northern Indiana
Dan Swain
574-707-7788
dan(at)appiaservices.com

Central Indiana and Ohio
Steve Battiato
317-806-2170
steve(at)appiaservices.com

Boston and the Northeast
Rich Pellichero
508-570-4958
rpellichero(at)appiaservices.com

New York and California
Jason Ulm
317-715-9507
jason(at)appiaservices.com