CallFire

Want DIDs in the Las Vegas area? CallFire’s pleased to announce new DIDs available in the Las Vegas, NV area. In addition to party-town Nevada, we have additional numbers available in the Northern California and Utah areas. Just login into your CallFire account, from the campaigns menu choose “create Inbound campaign” and follow the prompts to see the list of available DIDs.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 6, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — 8×8, Inc. (Nasdaq:EGHT), provider of Internet Protocol (IP) communications solutions for business and residential users, today announced it is providing voice trunking services to cloud telephony solution provider CallFire. CallFire began offering its hosted power-dialing services to small business, call center and enterprise customers over 8×8’s established VoIP network last week.

The agreement between the two companies links 8×8’s enterprise-class SIP trunking service together with CallFire’s cloud telephony platform, currently in use by over 14,000 businesses.

“CallFire and 8×8 are collaborating in order to stay at the forefront of innovation in cloud telephony services,” said CallFire CEO & Co-founder Dinesh Ravishanker. “8×8 has become a critical component of our relentless commitment to increasing voice quality for our customers. We are pleased to say that 8×8’s service quality has been exceptional. Our solutions are not only complementary, but together create a best-of-class service for SMBs and the enterprise.”

Initially a customer of CallFire, 8×8 noted that CallFire’s voice quality could benefit from 8×8’s superior VoIP network. By powering a substantial portion of CallFire’s underlying VoIP network, 8×8 was able to combine its enterprise quality VoIP with CallFire’s innovative Hosted Power Dialing platform, and now uses CallFire’s broadcast services exclusively in its call centers.

“We experienced the features and benefits of the CallFire solution firsthand in our own outbound call center and can attest to the simplicity, affordability and effectiveness of this valuable sales, marketing and customer service tool,” said 8×8 Chairman & CEO Bryan Martin. “8×8 is very pleased to bring a better business voice network to CallFire to provide reliable, high quality digital voice service for CallFire’s cloud telephony solutions. In addition to being a valuable partner, CallFire is also now a valuable customer.”

About 8×8, Inc.

8×8, Inc. (Nasdaq:EGHT) offers voice, video and mobile communications solutions for business and residential customers. These solutions leverage existing broadband Internet connections and cellular networks to deliver advanced features and digital quality phone service at a fraction of the cost of legacy, copper wire alternatives. Businesses of any size, configuration or geographic location can benefit from the cost, performance and operational advantages of VoIP technology. All 8×8 communications solutions carry little or no upfront investment, no maintenance or upgrade fees and no change in user behavior. For additional information, visit www.8×8.com.

About CallFire:

CallFire is an industry leader in cloud telephony services that makes using VoIP simple. CallFire specializes in providing high-availability systems, beautiful user interfaces, furious developer support, and unparalleled customer care. Our products include hosted power dialing for agents, voice broadcast, toll free numbers, call tracking analytics and voice APIs. Our tools help developers, carriers & publishers build useful telephony applications. CallFire is located in Downtown Los Angeles and is comprised of a friendly group of intellectuals with aspirations to revolutionize how companies do business.

CONTACT: 8x8, Inc.
         Joan Citelli
         (408) 687-4320
         jcitelli@8x8.com

         CallFire.com
         Rebecca Siegel
         (213) 221-2218
         becky@callfire.com

[originally published by globenewswire.com]

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What’s all the Homesourcing buzz about?  Isn’t that what CallFire has been doing for years?

Homesourcing is a hot buzzword that is strongly associated with the growing Virtual Call Center market.  In short, homesourcers will hire, or move existing agents, to their homes.  This allows agents to work from the comfort of home while allowing administrators the ability to monitor and control an agent’s call volume.

We hope CallFire had something to do with this growing trend.   And most importantly, CallFire is a green solution for call centers with too many commuters.

CallFire’s Homesourcing features
* Support 1 to 500 agents, with NO hardware or software.
* Set up your Virtual Call Center and begin dialing in minutes!
* Prices start at only 3.5 cents per minute, per line.
* Use your agent’s home internet connection, PC & telephone.!
* Easy to use interfaces make tracking statistics quick and simple.
* Monitor agent productivity and listen to calls remotely.

Free “DIY Homesourcing Webinar” signup: https://www.callfire.com/dialer/usersignup.do
Learn More: http://www.callfire.com/dialer/cm/info/products_and_services.html
To speak with a CallFire representative, please call 877.897.FIRE

Let me highlight a hidden feature of CallFire: Sound Files Conversion!

CallFire supports many sound files. You can upload MP3 and varying formats of WAV. The preferred format is still WAV at 16bit 8khz mono. But if you send us an MP3 or a different format of WAV, we’ll convert it automatically.

When you are at the sound page, simply upload your file and we’ll process it for you. We hope this is another valuable feature that makes your campaign faster!

In order to use CallFire legally, some customers (specifically, opt-in telemarketers) may need to obtain a SAN (Subscription Account Number) from the Federal Trade Commission. Here’s how.

TO REGISTER FOR A SUBSCRIPTION ACCOUNT NUMBER (SAN):

1. Click here:  https://telemarketing.donotcall.gov/profile/create.aspx
2. Complete all information with RED asterisks *.
3. Click – Organization Function- must check TM/SP (TM/telemarketer) with Independent Access
4. Click on “Submit” box at bottom of page.
5. Click on “Create Profile” box at bottom of page.
6. Click on “Certify” box at bottom of page.
7. PRINT THIS PAGE OF I.D.’s AND PASSWORDS FOR YOUR RECORDS.
8. Click on “Subscribe and Pay” box (you only need to pay if you select more than 5 area codes to prospect in)
9. Enter your 5 free selected area codes in which you will be prospecting
10. PRINT THIS PAGE OF SAN AND AREA CODES!

For help selecting appropriate area codes to dial, please refer to: http://www.nanpa.com.
Happy dialing!  ~DR

Most CallFire.com users are not required to access the National Do Not Call Registry, and thus may access CallFire.com as an Exempt Organization, if one or more of the following is true:

1. Your organization is not subject to either the FTC’s or the FCC’s jurisdiction. For example, a non-profit charitable organization may be an Exempt Organization, assuming, of course, that it is truly a non-profit. Entities that have been granted tax exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code are not necessarily Exempt Organizations for purposes of the National Do Not Call Registry. See, e.g., FTC v. National Consumer Council, Inc., and FTC v. Debt Management Foundation Services, Inc. There, the FTC successfully challenged the status of a purported nonprofit organization whose role in fact was simply to generate leads for other firms which then charged consumers thousands of dollars in fees for their services.
2. Your organization does not engage in any “telemarketing” or “telephone solicitation” activities, as defined by the FTC and FCC, respectively. For example, survey calls and political polling calls are not covered by the definition of “telemarketing” or “telephone solicitations.” An organization that places ONLY these types of calls may be an Exempt Organization.
3. Your organization qualifies for one or more of the specific exemptions contained in the FTC’s and FCC’s rules, such as:
   a. you only call to solicit charitable contributions; or
   b. you only call consumers with whom you have an established business relationship; or
   c. you only call consumers from whom you have received written permission to call; or
   d. you only make business-to-business calls.

If you are a for-profit telemarketer, you are NOT an Exempt Organization.

Whether your organization is exempt is a decision that requires an understanding of the FTC’s and FCC’s requirements, as well as your specific business practices. Therefore, whether you should subscribe as an Exempt Organization is a decision you must make. In making this decision, you may wish to consult with an attorney.

You may wish to consider the following materials when deciding whether to subscribe to the National Do Not Call Registry as an Exempt Organization:

• The FTC Act at 15 U.S.C. §§ 41-58 and related case law.
• The Communications Act at 47 U.S.C. §§ 151-757 and related case law.
• The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) at 47 USC §227 and related case law.
• The Telemarketing and Consumer Fraud Abuse Prevention Act at 15 U.S.C. §§ 6101-6108.
• The Do Not Call Implementation Act at P.L.108-10, 117 Stat. 557, and related case law.
• The Telemarketing Sales Rule at 16 C.F.R. § 310 and related Agency statements and case law.
• The FCC’s rules implementing the TCPA at 47 C.F.R. § 64.1200 and related Agency statements.

Press-1 campaigns have been around for a while. Why would our Press-1 campaigns be any different? Because we add a Voice 2.0 twist, of course.

Earlier this year, CallFire released its Voice Broadcast user interface for small to medium enterprises. CallFire is the fastest, easiest way to price-effectively create Press 1 outbound campaigns. CallFire empowers small businesses (previously unable to deploy telephony applications due to expense constraints) to now easily connect warm leads to a sales force, LIVE.

Use CallFire.com today to easily create Press 1 campaigns using our Press 1 API, please visit: http://www.callfire.com/dialer/cm/info/voice_broadcast_api.html. To try out a Press-1 campaign for your business, sign up here.

Cheers, DR

The Direct Marketing Association conference held in Chicago was quite a learning experience for the CallFire attendees. To our amazement, many marketing executives had not used (nor were familiar with) Voice 2.0 Teleservices, Voice Broadcast or Virtual Call Center functionality!

To our delight, no Voice 2.0 Teleservices companies attended DMA. In addition, very few Virtual Call Center & Voice Broadcast competitors emerged as strongly we did. Our salespeople took time to understand the business of the attendees and offered expert advice on how to most effectively utilize our services. *Patting ourselves on the back*

CallFire is revolutionizing the way Teleservices work – and very few C-level executives understand how this can affect your bottom line. With a little creativity and business acumen, businesses can add value to their internal processes & client relationships - with minimal investment. While at DMA I met a very interesting individual by the name of David Dalka from Chicago – a well known blogger. We struck up a great conversation about the future of telephony and how the world of advertising & user application design will change dramatically – due to companies like CallFire. He gets it. Check out David’s blog here: http://www.daviddalka.com/createvalue/

Thanks to everyone that helped make CallFire’s venture to DMA a success! On a side note, here are a few photos I took from the CallFire booth @ DMA in Chicago, 2007:

CallFire.com @ DMA, Chicago 2007:

DMA Chicago welcome booth (Left). CallFire volunteers & employees (Right).

Finished CallFire booth (Left). Intern, Reena Mohan & DMA IPod winner! (Right).

Cheers, DR

We’ve lagged behind on our DMA coverage and as the one who championed the cause for blogging about it, I’ll take the blame for it. As the first of many DMA updates, let me first congratulate our iPod winners. Some of them could make it in time to the booth to pick up their prizes. The rest, we’ll be mailing it out to you soon!