The wiki-powered business website Bizwiki.com announced its American version went fully live today. Bizwiki was launched as an Alpha in the USA in December 2008, promising to change the way local search works by enabling its users to build up the most detailed and up-to-date index of business in the United States.

The new fully live version features over 5,000 categories of business, and in contrast to traditional Yellow Pages websites invites business owners and representatives to add and improve their companies’ records with everything from contact details to prices and opening hours, completely free of charge.

“We are also launching new functionality today that allows the site’s users to ‘Watch’ any business, receiving an email notifying them of any additions and edits,” said Bizwiki co-founder Matt Aird. “This is useful for anyone who is interested in following changes, but is primarily designed to empower people to get involved in claiming their own businesses and ensuring the information the public sees stays as accurate and relevant as possible.”

Creating a ‘Watchlist’ of businesses on Bizwiki is free. Representatives are invited to sign up with Bizwiki.com and look up the companies they are interested in, then simply click ‘Watch this business’ to receive notification of any changes to the record. They are also able to add more information and details to records while doing so.

“We’ve tried to take ideas and concepts from some of the most successful user-created websites in the world, such as Wikipedia and the Open Directory Project, and improve them to where the ‘anyone can edit’ principles of a wiki can be used in a business-environment,” continued Matt Aird. “The biggest single difference is probably that our site is built in a consistently structured format, allowing us to rapidly scale-up the amount of information and also give our users an easy way to search the site.”

The Bizwiki difference:

• It’s free – Unlike many established publishers that charge for inclusion, Bizwiki is free to search, free to edit and free for companies to list on.
• It’s editable – The ‘anyone-can-edit’ approach is a challenge to the frequently out-of-date records in conventional printed Business Directories.
• It’s a wiki – The wiki approach allows far more depth of information about each business to be compiled than anything conventionally available.
• It’s structured – Bizwiki is built using structured data, allowing reusability of information, bulk updates from chambers of commerce or webspiders, and an easy search experience for users.

Bizwiki was built by industry-veterans with years of business directory and meta-search experience behind them, including Keith Hinde, Matt Aird, Craig Sefton and Arthur Jenkins who between them have helped develop directory and search products for Infospace, local directory publisher Thomson Directories, TradePage and Webcrawler.

Visit www.bizwiki.com to add or edit your company or create a Watchlist of businesses.

Appia Communications believes it is. The provider of managed communication and networking services reports that its customers are increasingly deploying “virtual” call centers — in which agents are located at home or in small offices — rather than traditional centralized call centers.

“The ability to locate agents and supervisors anywhere results in significant savings in operating expenses,” said Victor von Schlegell, Appia’s president. “The most obvious savings are in office rent and in commuting time and costs, but there are both hard and soft advantages to the flexibility decentralization provides. It enables call center managers to hire the best people, regardless of where they are physically located, and makes it easier to schedule resources to meet time-of-day and day-of-week peaks and valleys.”

Von Schlegell noted that this flexibility is one of the natural advantages of a managed service.

“One of the reasons our customers are able to move in this direction is that they use a managed approach to their call center technology,” von Schlegell said. “By hosting that technology ‘in the cloud,’ it doesn’t matter where the agents and supervisors are located, as long as they have a reliable connection to the Internet.”

But von Schlegell warns against deploying a dispersed staff without robust internal communication capabilities.

“The challenge of decentralization is to keep everyone on the same page, which can be a serious problem without the right tools,” von Schlegell said. “With Appia’s managed call center service, remote workers have access to exactly the same real-time statistics, reporting and communication tools as office employees.”

For more information about Appia, including its full suite of communication and networking solutions, special call center offers, customer case studies and more, please visit http://www.appiaservices.com or call 877-277-4297.

About Appia Communications

Appia Communications is a leading provider of managed communication and networking services, with a focus on small and midsize companies and organizations. Appia’s solutions help customers minimize capital investments, reduce costs, enhance employee productivity, improve customer care, and compete more effectively against much larger enterprises.

Headquartered in Traverse City, Michigan, Appia serves markets nationwide, with operations in Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia and St. Louis.

Appia has been recognized as one of America’s fastest-growing private companies (Inc., 2007, 2008 and 2009); one of the fastest-growing solution providers in the technology industry (CRN, 2009); and one of the top five managed service providers in the world (MSPmentor, 2008-09).

For more information, please visit http://www.appiaservices.com or call 877-277-4297

Popfax.com, the leading global provider of Internet fax services, is happy to announce a set of tools and features than shall increase Popfax customers’ productivity:

1.Cover page – a feature to personalize user’s faxes with their company logo and address. The feature is available for all users and the rate per page is the same as for regular fax pages.

2.Fax mail merge – an option to fax customized documents to hundreds of destinations. Customer’s documents can include as many merge-fields of information as they want, allowing them to create individually personalized faxes, and to automate repetitive document production tasks.

3.OCR fax indexing – all incoming Internet faxes are now provided as indexable PDF files. This means that customers can search for any content in their fax files using any document management system.

4.Registered fax – a feature that consists in sending an electronic document by fax where both the content is certified and the delivery to the recipient is guaranteed. It serves the purpose of creating legal evidence that unalterable information has been shared between the sender and the receiver of the registered fax.

5.Popcompanion – a desktop application that runs minimized and in the background for sending and receiving faxes through http://www.popfax.com API. It is another window to the customer’s Popfax.com account and it is designed to run on Linux, OSX and Windows.

6.Popfax – printer driver – the driver that prints documents edited from within any desktop application to any fax worldwide, and that is now compatible with Windows 7.

About Popfax.com:

Popfax.com is a leading global provider of Internet fax services. It allows end-users to send and receive faxes using a web interface, an e-mail client, a desktop client or a printer driver which can be installed on a computer desktop. /> Integrated to front or back office applications, it allows the carrying out of transactional tasks via fax.

The service is edited by the French incorporated company POPESCO founded by Vladimir Popesco, and has been commercialized, based on a “software as a service” business model, since 2006. It is both a solution for individual professionals (SMEs and SoHos) and for corporate customers who use this outsourced solution to meet their faxing needs. It can either replace fax server equipment, be used as a mobile fax fleet, or fit into a transactional application. /> Additional information is available at http://www.popfax.com

About Popesco

Reliable and cost-effective Internet fax service provided by global leader Popfax.com. Simply receive and send Internet fax worldwide using your Popfax.com online account or any email client. Free Trial!

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The National Hispanic Entrepreneurs’ Organization (www.nheo.org), today announced the ten chosen ambassadors who will be representing the organization as part of its new Ambassador Program.

As part of NHEO’s effort to expand on the existing pool of Hispanic entrepreneurs and elevate current entrepreneurs, the chosen ambassadors will, among other things, serve as a liaison between NHEO and their local communities, participate in public speaking and host discussion groups. The ambassadors represent several states throughout the country and will specifically focus on leadership development and the importance of community involvement. The chosen ambassadors include:

Mauricio Leyva – Washington, DC

Christopher Valdez – Tucson, AZ

David Vargas – Charlotte, NC

Richard Purcell – Charlotte, NC

Josilu Carbonel – Alexandria, VA

Victor Esparza – San Bernardino, CA

Francisco Roliz – New Haven CT

Ever Ruiz – Madison, NJ

Diana Rodriguez – Agiss San Diego, CA

Agustin Velasquez – Charlotte, NC

The ambassadors were chosen by the NHEO selection committee based on their leadership potential; ethical fiber; communication and interpersonal skills; track record of results; teamwork abilities; drive and motivation; careers progression and career goals; and how they fit within NHEO culture.

NHEO’s Ambassador Program will further the organization’s goal of tackling challenges such as cultural barriers, lack of economic resources and role models, and prejudice. Though Hispanics represent approximately 13 percent (13%) of the population, only five percent (5%) of businesses are owned by them. NHEO recognizes that Hispanics will play a key role in the country’s economic development as minorities are projected to become the majority by 2050, and therefore, the success of Hispanic entrepreneurship benefits the U.S. economy as a whole.

“The United States needs a sustainable approach to regaining economic growth,” said Founder Juan Pablo Giometti. “Our plan is to build a competent, successful Hispanic entrepreneurial community and I am honored to have these outstanding individuals on board to help us achieve this goal. Our ambassadors represent the best of the best in their communities and without a doubt help foster further success for upcoming entrepreneurs.”

Ambassadors will represent NHEO and its initiatives for a period of ten months, becoming the point person in their respective communities. They will be responsible for providing direct feedback to NHEO and enlist others to support NHEO projects and events.

About National Hispanic Entrepreneurs’ Organization

National Hispanic Entrepreneurs’ Organization (NHEO), headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., was founded to empower Hispanic entrepreneurs, who are underrepresented in America. NHEO provides the know-how, networking, and mentoring resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, programs and web-based resources. NHEO has recent partnerships with Microsoft and PR Newswire, and since launching in 2009 the organization has helped entrepreneurs, service partners, investors, researchers and public policy makers in diverse industries and at all stages of development. For more information, please visit www.nheo.org or call 704-909-7945.

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GrowCo Factoring & Financial, a company that offers creative financing solutions to help growing small businesses meet their cash flow needs, has announced the launch of a new program designed to facilitate the factoring process for new clients. A company accepted under the new “Light Documentation Program” can borrow up to $100,000 monthly against unpaid invoices.

Invoice factoring, receivable factoring and purchase order financing are becoming increasingly popular sources of alternative funding now that the credit market has dried up and business lending has effectively come to a halt.

“Times are tough,” says Roger Snyder, managing director of GrowCo and commercial lending veteran. “Many businesses rely on a credit line from a bank or credit union to cover fundamental operating expenses like payroll, rent, supplies and more. Suddenly, and often without warning, the credit line is capped or pulled altogether.” According to the National Small Business Association, 38% of small businesses reported a decrease in their lines of credit or credit card limits in the first half of 2009.

“Losing credit can be devastating to a small business,” Snyder explains. “You may be turning a profit, landing new deals, and doing everything right. But the bottom line is that banks have scaled back drastically on commercial lending.”

GrowCo’s program is aimed at helping businesses quickly and easily secure financing to make ends meet. Applications can be processed in 24 hours, and funding is typically completed within 3-5 days. Although the program was created to simplify the factoring process for first time applicants, businesses who have engaged in factoring before are also encouraged to apply.

“What makes our program unique,” Snyder asserts, “is how easy it is to get started. Applications can be completed over the phone in a matter of minutes. We only need to ask you a few questions about your business, how it’s structured and who your clients are. Depending on the type of financing you are seeking, we may request copies of your invoices or purchase orders for verification.”

Businesses in virtually every industry are eligible for financing of up to $100,000 monthly under GrowCo’s new program. “We have a solution for everybody,” promises Snyder. “We empathize with today’s business owners and the difficulties they face.”

If your business is experiencing cash flow difficulties and needs a reliable source of working capital, factoring could be your best option. GrowCo’s new “Light Documentation Program” offers a streamlined application process that puts fast, secure financing within reach.

CustomerGauge, provider of a hosted software solution for automatically surveying customers and calculating Net Promoter® Score, today announced a new tool designed for small and medium enterprises. The new tool, “CustomerGauge b2b Edition”, allows companies to survey their customers or channel partners using the enterprise-standard Net Promoter Score, quickly, easily and at a breakthrough cost.

In response to the recent trend of companies announcing a Net Promoter Score without qualifications, the new CustomerGauge tool features a Net Promoter Score “Document of Record” listing the relevant information. This document acts as a certificate, and can be published internally within the organisation, or displayed online publicly to support press releases and act as a benchmark.

“We have been collecting company scores on press releases for our Net Promoter News site for over a year,” says Adam Dorrell, Managing Director, CustomerGauge “and we have seen a wide variety reporting methodology, using different scales or with no sample size detail. To help the growing Net Promoter community, we have developed a Document of Record, which lists the relevant information in a certificate format. Using this certificate will allow companies to establish a new credibility with their Net Promoter Score reporting”.

CustomerGauge b2b Edition also features HTML branded emailing with reminders, surveying in multiple languages, a real-time dashboard, advanced reporting showing scores for customer companies and individuals, segmented scoring and classification of “voice of the customer” comments. It also includes many features found on high-end systems – for example, results for separate divisions can be rolled up on to a single dashboard for internal comparison.

CustomerGauge b2b Edition is available immediately. Clients can be surveying within a few days, with results usually with 24 hours. System pricing starts at €3900 (approx US $5490), including three month subscription.

CustomerGauge
For product details and online demo, please contact info@customergauge.com.

About CustomerGauge

CustomerGauge measures loyalty and collects feedback to help companies to understand customer sentiment, centered around the Net Promoter Score standard. It is optimized for e-commerce and can be rapidly deployed anywhere in an organization, without investment in capital equipment or IT assistance. Customers include Philips, Canon and CMC Markets. The company is based in Amsterdam, NL.

About the Net Promoter Score:

Net Promoter® is both a loyalty metric and a discipline for using customer feedback to fuel profitable growth in businesses. Developed by Satmetrix, Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld, the concept was first popularized through Reichheld’s book The Ultimate Question, and has since been embraced by leading companies worldwide as the standard for measuring and improving customer loyalty. Details: www.netpromoter.com *Net Promoter, NPS, and Net Promoter Score are trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company, and Fred Reichheld.

LeadMaster, a leading provider Sales Lead Management, Lead Tracking, Online CRM tools and Sales Automation solutions announces that a new solution that provides powerful, easy-to-use website tracking tools, lead generation and web visitor analysis.

The new service provides sales and marketing teams using Lead-Extreme with the ability to easily identify website visitors, even when they have not filled out a landing page form. It’s like having “Caller ID.” Lead-Extreme provides the visitor’s domain name, business address, phone number, email and web address. It can be configured to send an alert when a specific company is visiting your website. With this solution, LeadMaster provides lead management from the time they first visit a website all the way through the entire sales cycle.

Lead-Extreme is a natural extension of the LeadMaster offering. By providing website and landing page visitor information, customers have a powerful tool to track and convert web visitors. Using incorporated automation rules, qualified leads will be automatically forwarded to customers’ sales reps’ emails for follow-up. Thus the system’s automatic analysis and distribution of lead information provides both the sales leads and the management of those leads. There is also a multi-tiered lead management distribution system where leads can be passed to sales partners either automatically or to an inside sales team for further qualification. With Lead-Extreme’s real-time web analytics incorporated into the LeadMaster solution this additional functionality will provide superior tracking activity for PPC programs, banner ads and online advertising, as well.

“LeadMaster wants their customers to know more about their online visitors. The more people know about their online marketing programs, the better they’ll be able to optimize their efforts,” said Russell King, LeadMaster CEO. “LeadMaster’s CRM solution is helping customers optimize their front office operations, including SEO (Search Engine Optimization). We have always had a vision for our LeadMaster system to capture leads from every source and with the Lead-Extreme solution we have accomplished our goal.”

About LeadMaster

LeadMaster, the leaders in sales and lead management, deliver lead-centric sales force automation with a built-in product catalog, computer telephony integration, custom forms, quote generator and multiple levels of access for easy direct/channel sales and lead management. The entry-level solution also includes marketing automation with easy landing page integration, web-to-lead capture/distribution, drip marketing, lead nurturing, automated emails and campaign management. Founded in 1998, LeadMaster has thousands of users around the globe, from the world’s largest high tech, insurance and financial firms to mortgage, manufacturing and call center companies.

For more information, please visit the LeadMaster at http://www.LeadMaster.com and http://blog.LeadMaster.com or follow us on Twitter http://twitter.com/TheLeadMaster

LeadMaster, Inc. All rights reserved. The product names used in this press release are for identification purposes only. All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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