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the Free CMSWire NewsletterThere have been some interesting moves in the SMB voice technology market this week with Google making Google Voice freely available and the release of eVocie’s Blackberry App. From a security point of view, research from CDW indicates that many companies are not going secure their data until the very worst happens.
Google Voice Available For All
It’s now more than a year since Google went into beta with Google Voice, but as of this week it is now officially open to everyone (in the US and Canada). The new service adds another tool to the already comprehensive list of tools available to SMBs, this one adding single phone number communication that rings a user's multiple lines, including home, office and cell phones.
Originally available only to people who were invited onto the network it offers a web-based voicemail inbox as well as free calls across the US and Canada, and between the two countries.
While the service is open to all, this will be particularly attractive to SMBs who cannot afford to invest in entire communication infrastrutuctures across all the different elements of their business nor the human resources to have all business points manned by an employee.
In effect, by making this available — no dates yet for outside the US and Canada but it's sure to come — Google has closed the circle of business apps needed by SMBs to carry out most of their business functions for free, or very cheaply, depending on which one of its apps you decide to use.
Chances are that as Microsoft (news, site) and Google battle it out with Web Apps and Google Docs respectively, with this service many SMBs are likely to opt to run with Google if only for the simplicity of having all services and apps coming from the same provider.
There are a couple of problems with Voice. In particular the fact that companies can’t take their existing phone with them to Google Voice, but it’s unlikely that these problems will persist. Check out this video if you're interested in more.
eVoice Releases Blackberry Voice App
And speaking of voice, eVoice has just announced the availability of its new BlackBerry mobile phone app as a free download.
The BlackBerry app enables users to answer and route calls and convert voice mails to text. A brand of technology provider j2 Global Communications, the new app is currently available online as a six-month free trial.
In effect, it does much the same as the Google Voice app, but for Blackberry, enabling mobile workers to route incoming business calls to multiple phone numbers, including cell, home office and home phone. Other features include
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