Sunday, 10 February 2008

Software As A Service

Multibook is a Software As A Service (SAAS) package, we run your system on our servers while all you have on your PC is a link your system. This enables Vilmor to perform system and database management (backups etc) automatically so you don't have to worry about managing your system. Because your system runs on our servers you can access it for any pc with a internet connection. You can check from home, if you have multiple salons you can manage each salon from a central point. If for any reason your PC at the salon fails you can replace it with a laptop or you PC from home and carry on without any loss of data.
Posted by mike at 11:19 AM in General Background
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Friday, 28 December 2007

Promotions

One of the most useful elements of Multibook is the ability to send out promotional text messages and emails. So if you have a new promotion and want to let everybody know then this is the way to do it.

By using the %FIRSTNAME% and %SURNAME% parameters your customers will receive their own customised version even if you have sent the message to 200 people.

Customer groups can also be used to speed up the process even further. So by grouping all your customers than have their hair coloured you can just send the message to the "Coloured Hair" group.

If you need any help on sending promotional texts or emails please contact support.
Posted by jason at 7:56 AM in Mulitbook Lite
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Monday, 17 December 2007

Changing Your Web Address

By default your Multibook account comes with its own web address. This will start off being something generic eg mbl0123. You can however change this to something like www.mysalon.co.uk. To do this all you have to do is to contact support and supply the address that you would like to change it to. Providing the address is not already being used then we can buy the address on your behalf. The cost is approx £10 for 2 years. So if you ever wanted your own web name and didn't know how - this is your chance.
Posted by jason at 2:13 PM in Mulitbook Lite
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Customer Requesting Appointments

If you haven't already then let your customers know the address of your website. This will have been emailed to you when you signed up to Multibook Lite. By giving your customers your website you will achieve two useful aims. 1. It will allow your customers to request appointments via the internet. This will save time for you answering the phone whilst you are busy and allow you to make the appointment when you are not. 2. It will provide an address for your customers to pass onto their friends and family - hopefully giving you more business in the future. Don't forget for a small fee you can change your web address to something more user friendly eg www.mysalon.co.uk.
Posted by default at 1:37 PM in Mulitbook Lite
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Sunday, 16 December 2007

Software As A Service

A recent revolution in the IT industry has been the onset of Software as a Service (SAAS). SAAS allows small businesses to use complex software hosted by service providers without having to worry about the software or hardware themselves. Using services in this way is usually considerably cheaper than running similar software yourself as the service provider is sharing the large cost amongst a number of customers. SAAS is coming to the fore in many ways. Google the search engine giant is taking on Microsoft by offering office type products as a service instead of a software package. With Google you can now create documents and spreadsheets through a web browser without the need to install any software. As a salon owner you can now take advantage of the SAAS world. Online booking systems are now available allowing you to run your own appointment system entirely with a web browser. The software runs on service providers systems which you and your customers access via a web site. There are many benefits that SAAS has over traditional software packages. Typically you will find that you require less hardware, less in house expertise is required and ultimately lower initial and ongoing costs. If you are thinking of investing in any new systems take a look at SAAS to see what it can do for you.
Posted by default at 1:40 PM in Internet Connections
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Sunday, 9 December 2007

How does my broadband connect to my ISP

The physical side of connecting is by Local Loop Unbundling (LLU), this supports ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line). The first link in the chain is the copper wires from your home/office/shop to the BT or Kingston (in Hull) network. A splitter (micro filter) is used to combine the high frequncies used by your modem (modulator/demodulator) signals and you low frequency voice signals. In the UK BT and Kingston provide the copper cable link between the telephone exchange and the customers premises. BT and Kingston make these links available to other companies by the use of LLU technologies. The companies (operators) have a number of methods to hook into the copper cable links (local network) to provide it’s services. The first method is internal to the exchange and has two favours: a) A room in the exchange (a hostel) b) A bespoke arrangement (for none standard requirements). In both of these methods the copper wires from the customers premises runs to a PCP (Primary Connection Point), these PCP’s are the green boxes at the side of the road. From the PCP a pair of cables runs to the telephone exchange and into MDF (Main Distribution Frame) an then onto the internal exchange equipment. From the MDF (internal) cables go to a HDF (Handover Distribution Frame) which makes the cables available to the (external) operators. The second method is Distant Location. In this method the customer to MDF route is the same but the HDF is located in a different location to the exchange (either a building or roadside green cabinet) so the cables are external. The third method is Line Sharing. Under EU regulations BT and Kingston have to offer Operators line sharing (also known as shared access). At the MDF a splitter is used to separate the frequencies used for voice from the higher frequency services. This allows BT (or Kingston) to provide voice while another supplier provides data/internet services. The fourth method is Sub-Loop Unbundling. This is where the Operator (or BT/Kingston for their own services) at the (or more likely alongside) the PCP. High speed fibre optic cables are run directly to the PCP as copper cables can only carry very high bandwidth services (e.g. VDSL) for a short distance
Posted by default at 11:30 AM in Internet Connections
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