Digital dictation solutions' supplier nFlow has implemented the nFlow Digital Dictation System (DDS) at two leading professional accountancy firms: PKF LLP and Scott-Moncrieff of Scotland.

The deployment of DDS is benefiting fee-earners, secretaries and administrators with much lower transcription and document turnaround time, increased support when working offsite from client offices, better management and control, increased client confidentiality and improved disaster recovery.

nFlow claims to see a greater demand for digital dictation solutions in the accountancy sector due to the need for increased support of staff at client sites, greater business efficiency, delivery of superior customer service and reduced operational costs.

nFlow DDS is a work-flow based solution that includes microphone and headphone-based hardware, and offers an intuitive Microsoft Outlook-style interface. The solution can be deployed in both, Terminal Services or Citrix environments and utilises the industry standard Microsoft SQL Server. It also supports a wide range of mobile devices including BlackBerry and Windows Mobile.

Any service or technology that shakes up the status quo is bound to have its own set of critics and VoIP phone systems are no exception. There are enough doubters around who question whether businesses can indeed depend on a VoIP phone system. The primary cause for doubt? That such a phone system is entirely dependent on the Internet, and if the Internet connection goes down, there is no phone system to talk about. Can a business really afford such a risk?

Certainly not, but the question in many ways is representative of the "half-empty, half-full" syndrome. How does one really want to view it? Negatively, and saying that the risks are simply too much to use a VoIP phone system, or positively, saying that there is some dependence on the Internet, but Internet connectivity is continuously improving worldwide and therefore, the reliability of a VoIP service is bound to improve as well? Are traditional phone systems have absolutely no downtime? Are they immune to occasional breakdowns? If not, and we have accepted that, there is no reason why a VoIP phone system cannot gain that same acceptance.

Research and Markets is making available a new market research report entitled "Conservatories: UK", which reviews the UK market for conservatories for the 5 year period until 2005 and also looks forward to the market demand for the period until 2010.

According to a release announcing the availability of the report, "the market for conservatories is segmented by type of design, by type of frame material, by type of roofing material, by surface area, by sector, by type of installation, by frame colour and by type of vertical glazing. Included in this report is a chapter analysing factors affecting demand and a chapter on distribution. The industry structure is also analysed and includes 16 company profiles."

The 16 conservatory companies featured in the report are: Amdega, Anglian Group, BAC, Bowater Home Improvements Group, The Burnden Group, Cestrum Conservatory Systems, CDW Products (formerly Caradon Doors and Windows), Deceuninck Group, Epwin Group, Everest, Planet PVC Group, Planet Tradeline, Speedframe PVCU Windows, Rehau, Shepley Window Systems Company, Ultraframe Group, Veka and Weatherseal Holdings.

Is Direct Mail becoming less effective for marketers? The answer seems to be a yes and that people's tolerance of direct mail is on the wane, at least based on a recent study of UK consumers as part of the CCB fast.MAP Marketing-GAP Research and reported on TMC.net. The number of people not opening direct mail has reportedly increased by one percentage point from 13% last year to 14% this year.

The reason is not hard to fathom-- consumers are bombarded by an overload of marketing messages everywhere they turn to. The advent of more digital marketing media such as the Internet and mobile phones has raised question marks on most traditional marketing methods; direct mail is no exception.

Direct mail marketers and service companies would do well to understand the implications of this study and take the necessary steps to ensure that their marketing message doesn't go straight from the mail box to the trash box.

More data from the study here.

For those running home offices, running to the post office to attend to postal matters can be quite a drain on time, while also potentially having an opportunity cost owing to missed business calls during those visits.

Home franking systems are thus a good option for  such businesses and help save these business owners both time and money, says business writer Isla Campbell in a syndicated article.  Some of the advantages of franking machine systems that she lists in her article are:

• Considerable savings in time: franking machine users don't have to stand in


• Savings in money: More efficient than stamps, which can lead to wastage of hundreds of pounds per year. Moreover, the accurate weighing of the mail with the electronic weighing scales of the franking machines reduces any extra payments.


• Take advantage of discounts from Royal Mail for franking machine users


• Greater marketing/branding opportunity, with the ability to frank company name /logo on all outgoing mails


• Ability to do bulk/large mailings with a franking machine.

See the full article by Isla here.