What is the Secret to Personal Productivity?
Whether you are a small business owner or an employee at a large corporation, productivity brings about success and expansion. However, productivity doesn't come easily- everybody has "those days" with constant distractions making concentrating a difficult task. Many websites promise quick fixes to keep you productive, but shouldn't there be a better way to get out of that rut?
According to this interesting BNET article, author Steve Tobak encourages you to forget what you've previously learned about productivity! Productivity, he says, is personal and different for everyone. In The Real Secret to Personal Productivity, Tobak writes a list of ways to increase your personal productivity, making you and your company more successful!
In addition to implementing these personal productivity tips, Aptela's Find Me List will ensure that important calls are never missed. All calls are logged to keep an accounting of who you've spoken with and when. Aptela's hosted PBX service increases your personal productivity as well as placing your small business on even footing with the Fortune 500. 
What methods do you use to increase your personal productivity?
Posted in: on Jul 22, 2011
Vote for Aptela as a Small Business Influencer!
This past week, the 2011 Small Business Influencer award nominees were announced- including Aptela! The award was produced by Small Business Trends and Small Biz Technology in order to honor companies, organizations, and people who have had the most influence on the North American small business market.
Aptela was nominated for the SMB Influencer award due to our intense focus on building premier phone service for small businesses. Our solution offers small businesses the features, functionality and quality of service previously available only to large enterprises. Because of our solution, small businesses benefit from the opportunity to compete with larger corporations. Since launching our v5 calling platform, Aptela has received numerous other awards and enjoyed explosive growth over the past few months.
Please vote for Aptela for the 2011 Small Business Influencer award by clicking here! Voting is quick and easy, and allowed daily through August 9th!
How has Aptela's service influenced your small business lately? We'd love to hear your comments below!
Click here to learn more about Aptela's v5 platform and awards.
Posted in: on Jul 18, 2011
How Aptela Can Help You Enjoy July 4th Without Losing Business Opportunities
With the holiday weekend rapidly approaching, the marketing department at Aptela wants to give you a few tips on how to have the best food and the best business this 4th of July! While this weekend is all about celebrating with great food and great company, many of Aptela's customers also realize the importance of staying connected to their business.
One of our favorite traditions on July 4th is to make a delicious fruit tart. Surprise your guests (or customers!) this weekend with this healthy and mouth-watering dessert. Following below is the recipe from Paula Deen of the Food Network:
Ingredients
Crust:
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened and sliced
Filling:
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping:
• Fresh strawberries, kiwi slices, blueberries, raspberries
Glaze:
• 1 (6-ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate, thawed
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• Whipped cream, for garnish
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
For the crust: In a food processor, combine the confectioners' sugar, flour, and butter, and process until the mixture forms a ball. With your fingers, press the dough into a 12-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, taking care to push the crust into the indentations in the sides. Pat until the crust is even. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until very lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
For the filling and topping: Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together until smooth. Spread over the cooled crust. Cut the strawberries into 1/4-inch slices and arrange around the edge of the crust. For the next circle, use kiwi slices. Add another circle of strawberries, filling in any spaces with blueberries. Cluster the raspberries in the center of the tart.
For the glaze: Combine the limeade, cornstarch, lime juice, and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until clear and thick, about 2 minutes. Let cool. With a pastry brush, glaze the entire tart. You will not use all of the glaze. Keep the tart in the refrigerator. Remove about 15 minutes before serving. Slice into 8 wedges and serve with a dollop of whipped cream.
Between mouthfuls of this delectable dessert, many small business owners will need to stay connected to work during the long weekend. With Aptela's advanced features and functionality, staying connected to your business while out of the office has never been easier! Listed below are three key apps and features that will be useful to you during various July 4th parties and festivities:
• Aptela Mobile App: The Aptela mobile portal is available from any mobile device with data and web browsing services enabled. This App is perfect for business owners on-the-go this holiday weekend! Whether you're vacationing or just busy, Aptela Mobile allows you to act as if you were still in the office- even though you're not! On your phone or device, open the web browser and enter http://m.aptela.com, then enter your Client ID, username, and password. Click login.
o Voicemails: You will be able to see all new voicemails in a list and click the play icon to play voicemails. Click "call voicemail" to call into the voicemail system and listen to all voicemails at once. In addition, you can click on a phone number to then return the call.
o Find Me List: You will be able to view your find me list and click on a number in the list to enable or disable it.
o Company Phonebook: You will be able to view your company phone book to look up extension numbers. Then click on an extension to initiate a call.
• Find Me/Follow Me (Personal Locator): While you're out of the office this weekend, forward calls to one or more other phone numbers to ensure you never miss a call. You can ring multiple numbers simultaneously or in a user-defined sequence.
• Voicemail to Text Integration: Offered through Aptela's partnership with Line1 Communications, you can now quickly and easily have your voicemails transcribed to text and sent right to your email or mobile device. This will allow you to easily and discreetly check work messages without missing out on the party!
In addition to using Aptela's phones and services this weekend, community marketing is also an important tactic to maximize during a popular holiday like July 4th. Many towns will have parades, fireworks, and fairs to celebrate the festivities. These community gatherings are perfect for small business owners to attend: you can bring your family for a day of fun and games while still promoting your business! Whether you do something small like hand out business cards and wear a company shirt, or something larger like setting up a tent with free giveaways, you're sure to stay in a festive mood while doing what is best for your business!
What is your favorite recipe or tradition for July 4th? Comment Below!
Posted in: on Jun 30, 2011
Simplify Communications with the Aptela Desktop Application
We are excited to announce the release of our Desktop Application, an integrated call-control and screen-pop client. You can currently download the Aptela Desktop App here! We like to make our customer's business communications as easy and streamlined as possible, and the Desktop App helps us do just that.
Free for Aptela customers, this tool offers a more efficient method for small businesses to manage communications. Highlights include:
- Take your phone extension with you, anywhere
- View inbound call alerts and Caller ID
- Hold, transfer, forward live calls with one click
- See availability of team members with Team Presence
- Call team members with one click
- Play new voicemail or view new faxes with one click
- And much more!
To read the full press release and learn about all the productivity-saving features the Aptela Desktop App has to offer, click here. To download the Aptela Desktop App Data Sheet, please click here.
View voicemails, recent calls, active calls and call history.
View user presence (who is on the phone).
Posted in: Small Business, VOIP on Jun 22, 2011
Aptela on Facebook
Did you know that Aptela has a Facebook page? It's a great resource where Aptela Facebook Fans can get the latest news and updates from Aptela, feature tips, customer/fan conversation, VoIP and tech news and participate in polls.
It's also a one stop shop for some of Aptela's feature videos, case studies, photos of our application and of Aptela as a company (we have some fun spirit day photos!).Customers and non-customers alike are encouraged to "like" Aptela's page and join in the conversation. Check out our page here and see below for a screen shot!
If Facebook isn't your cup of tea, we also have a Twitter presence. Look up @aptela and Follow us to stay up-to-date on everything Aptela-related, and sometimes VoIP, phone service or even mobile/tech.
Posted in: on May 20, 2011
