It’s almost two years since the launch of PamFax as a fax sending service that allows anyone with a PC and an Internet connection to send faxes to any fax terminal worldwide at low per page rates. With a simple fax setup and no subscription requirements, PamFax has become a very popular and robust PC-based communications service delivering documents worldwide. They like to call it “no strings attached faxing”. Over time we have seen:

• addition of PamFax inbound numbers in 28 countries
• implementation of Mac support
• participation in McAfee Secure Sites program
• improvements to the PamFax portal that records and reports PamFax activity
• reduced pricing (as well as bringing several countries into the lowest level “Zone 1”)
• overall performance and stability improvements
• a distribution partnership with Fusion Network Services in Japan
• seamless integration of the PamFax portal into FaceBook and Salesforce.com

At the beginning of December PamFax introduced major upgrades to both the server and the thin client resulting in a significant improvement in both the responsiveness of the client and the speed with which faxes could be sent from the PamFax client. While some improvements are visible via the PamFax client, most of them are transparent to the user as they involve changes to the backend infrastructure critical to the PamFax operation.

However, as many businesses have adopted PamFax, a need has arisen for a Business Control  Panel to facilitate faxing within a business operation. Introduced with this latest upgrade, the PamFax Business Control Panel allows a business to use one central PamFax fax-in number company-wide by giving selected and/or all people in the BCP group access to the inbox. Effectively a company or business unit can replace its fax machine (and the associated overhead of ink and paper) with a “cloud-based” fax service that allows any employee to send and view faxes to/from anywhere worldwide.

In a world where one would think that faxes are dying off, the growth and acceptance of PamFax is demonstrating that (i) users want an easy way to send a fax and (ii) there are hard copy document exchange applications, such as in legal activities and real estate, where faxes are still critical to business operations. It is their ongoing increase in usage volumes that has driven Scendix, publishers of PamFax, to put additional resources into improving the overall user faxing experience. As an example, while currently available for Windows and Mac PC’s, expect to see a Linux client in the near future.

Previous Posts:

• PamFax Evolves: Building a World Class Service Offering
• PamFax 2.0: An Obligation-Free On Demand Fax Service on Your PC
• PamFax – Adding Click-to-Fax
• PamFax Receive Skype Certification, Grows Usage
• Mashup Champion PamFax Becomes a Full Fax Sending Solution

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• Three Developers and the Skype Platform Today! (voiceontheweb.biz)
• The Future for 3rd Party Skype Developers: Bloggers Speak Out. (voiceontheweb.biz)

PamConsult launches PamFax 2.0 as an obligation-free hosted fax service that supports sending and receiving faxes worldwide with no capital expenses, no usage contract requirements and lower “per page” costs.

The process of sending and receiving faxes involves:

• a document source: whether physical or a computer file
• physical document scanning
• a cover page
• transmission of the fax (originally over a phone line)
  • often at expensive long distance rates and/or hotel service charges
• receipt of the fax (over a phone line)
• printing the received document
• logging the transmission and archiving the document

In the early 80’s the original fax machines were huge (at least the size of a bulky floor model photocopier), expensive and rare. However, a former medical practitioner customer was impressed that he could fax electrocardiograms to obtain diagnosis assistance with, say, a remote cardiology specialist, providing an initial level of value in time-critical circumstances.

As we moved through the 80’s fax devices became less expensive, more pervasive and somewhat smaller such that they fit on a table top; the biggest issue was finding or installing a nearby fax-dedicated phone line. In 1985 GammaLink introduced the first Fax PC board; a fax modem became common in PC’s throughout the subsequent 15 years. In the early 90’s there were various attempts to develop fax software for PC’s; the most widely remembered program was WinFax, which was sold to Symantec in 1995 and discontinued by Symantec at the end of 2006. But, while WinFax certainly could send and receive faxes, it did not exactly provide the simplest user experience for sending and managing faxes. Over this period several Internet-hosted fax services became available and contributed to the demise of WinFax.

Certainly, with Internet email and various file transfer services the volume of faxes has dropped off. However, they are still essential for (i) convenience of sending and receiving faxes via a dedicated device and (ii) exchanging executed legal documents, real estate papers and other business requirements which are suited to having a hard copy.

In many circumstances recipients still simply like to have a piece of hardcopy paper in their hands. As a result the real challenge for any new service is to offer a simple, easy-to-understand and easy-to-use fax services experience at lower costs yet that take advantage of the Internet’s cloud infrastructure and worldwide accessibility.

Fast forward to late 2007 when Ethernet ports had replaced modems on PC’s; PamConsult launched PamFax 1.0, a fax sending service that significantly simplified sending a fax from your desktop or laptop PC to any fax number worldwide. PamFax 1.0 was solely a Windows application that featured:

• sourcing documents from either a computer file or a scanned image
  • compatible with all recent scanners, including multi-function printers
• five or six steps to send a document:
  • select the document source
  • (optionally) scan in a paper document
  • enter the destination recipient and fax number
  • (optionally) add a cover page
  • pay via Skype Credits or PayPal
  • send the document
• integration with Skype for fax confirmation notification and payment using Skype Credits
• an infrastructure that handled the payment transaction and sent the fax to any destination worldwide
• a Windows printer driver capability
• a minimum cost of ~$0.20/€0.14 per page
• a web-based PamFax portal to report on usage and archive sent faxes

But PamFax 1.0 lacked the ability to receive faxes and was not available for Mac PC’s. Yet PamFax usage has grown constantly; this past weekend PamFax 1.0 downloads passed the 200,000 mark, confirming the demand for easy-to-use fax services available wherever one finds a PC and Internet connection. It sure came in handy when on the road in a hotel room – at a much lower cost and no need to go to the front desk to send a fax.

According to PamConsult CEO Dick Schiferli, 58% of PamFax 1.0 downloads resulted in at least one additional paid page being sent; the average paying customer sends 6.5 pages. Overall month-to-month volume growth is currently running at 10% per month.

Today PamConsult is launching PamFax 2.0, elevating PamFax to a complete send/receive fax service on both Windows and Mac PC’s at lower costs. PamFax 2.0 features:

• Support for both Windows and Mac OSX
• Fax-in numbers available in 27 countries
• A complete redesign incorporating new user interface
• “Per page” pricing reduced by ~40% to $0.12/€0.09 page for on-demand service and $0.08/€0.06 page for volume subscriptions
• Several additional destination countries moved into the lowest cost zone 1.
• No requirement for Skype although Skype integration adds notification and payment options
• Ongoing support for Facebook and Salesforce.com integration
• A Vista sidebar widget

Much like Calliflower which takes a user through the entire conference call business process from invitations to archiving, PamFax 2.0 is a complete service that takes you through the entire fax generation and transmission process from the initial document sourcing requirement through to logging and archiving your fax activity.

The ground rules for pricing include:

• On Demand/Pay-as-You-Go or Prepaid?
• destination country (seven zones covering the world)?
• Fax-in number required?
• currency (select from 15 options)?

While PamFax can be used as an obligation-free “On Demand” service for sending faxes (at €0.09/£0.085/US$0.125 per page to Zone 1 countries) , PamConsult is offering volume bundles that reduce per page costs even further. For receiving faxes a monthly or annual subscription is required for the associated fax-in number.

PamFax Professional, a monthly or annual subscription, includes:

• Fax-in number for the subscription period (select one of 27 countries)
• Unlimited fax reception
• 33% discount on “per page” prices, starting at €0.06/£0.06/US$0.08 to Zone 1 countries
• Monthly: €3,95/£3.75/US$5.50 (subject to fluctuation with exchange rates)
• Annual: €47,40/£45.00/US$66.00 (subject to fluctuation with exchange rates)

PamFax Credit Packs add credits to your account at the €10, €30, €50 (with 5% bonus credit), €100 (10% bonus credit) and higher levels with increasing bonus credits.]

PamFax also offers a “business control panel” from which a business’s administrator can create a group account, assign and manage PamFax credit and track employee fax activity.

I have used PamFax 1.0 successfully on many occasions over the past 18 months and have tested PamFax 2.0 with success on both a MacBook and a Dell Inspiron laptop.

As a next step, address book integration and scheduled sending would be useful features to incorporate into future releases of PamFax.

Bottom line: PamFax 2.0 is another disruptive service within the Skype ecosystem as it eliminates several costs associated with faxing documents:

• country and international long distance charges
• hotel and airport kiosk fax service charges
• charges associated with having a fax-dedicated physical phone line
• cost and overhead of a dedicated fax machine

and results in turning your desktop or laptop PC into a fully featured fax machine. Laptop users have the convenience of being able to take their PamFax-enabled “fax machine” anywhere they may travel and find Internet access. Basically PamFax 2.0 allows you to disconnect your fax-dedicated phone line and to throw away your dedicated fax machine while having fax services available not only at the home office but also on the road.

Give it a try and report on your experience in the Comments.

Update: Alec Saunders: PamFax – no strings attached PC FAX

Previous PamFax posts:

• PamFax: Sending Faxes via Skype
• The Dawn of the Mashup World II: And the European Mashup Competition Winner Is…
• Mashup Champion PamFax Becomes a Full Fax Sending Solution
• PamFax Receive Skype Certification, Grows Usage
• PamFax – Adding Click-to-Fax
• PamFax Update: Lower Rates, Volume Plans and Improved Perfomance

A year ago August IBM‘s Lotus Sametime Division announced the acquisition of Skype Partner Webdialogs to obtain their widely respected Unyte Desktop Sharing collaboration technology. About four months later we learned, from Lou Guercia, Lotus SameTime’s Director of Operations and Strategy, more about Unyte’s integration into the Lotus SameTime offerings. In that post on Lou’s presentation I asked:

Question: with IBM pursuing excellence on a service that comprises voice, video, chat and file transfer in a secure, encrypted environment, and with the stated goals of “working with their partners”, would this not result in a situation where IBM would be licensing Skype technology to provide a comprehensive real time multi-media communications infrastructure?

With announcements this week, including some at IBM’s annual Lotusphere 2009 event in Orlando, FL, it seems like that question is starting to get some answers..

Yesterday IBM announced “A Strong Fourth Quarter, a rarity these days“. ZDNet’s Dennis Howlett, in Can IBM sustain its momentum, goes on the provide some background, pointing out that most of IBM’s growth is occuring in its software division. Certainly IBM sees its Lotus Sametime division as a key to sustaining their momentum. Except it appears that IBM has reorganized their SameTime collaborative services into “a cloud-based porfolio of social networking and collaboration services designed for business” under a new name: LotusLive.

In a press release this past Monday, in conjunction with the annual Lotusphere event, Skype announced:

…. it will integrate Skype™ functionality with LotusLive (www.lotuslive.com), IBM’s new cloud services which are designed to help individuals build communities to work smarter, more effectively and more efficiently across and beyond their own companies. Skype’s voice and video calling will add rich, real-time communications capabilities to LotusLive, making it even easier for enterprises to collaborate in the cloud.

At Lotusphere 2009, IBM demonstrated the new Skype integration into LotusLive Engage, “an integrated suite of tools that combines your network [of contacts] with Web conferencing and collaboration capabilities like file storing and sharing, instant messaging and chart creation.”

Today we interviewed Peter Kalmstrom, Skype’s Program Manager for Toolbars, who had been attending Lotusphere to assist with the demonstrations. Peter made several points:

• This announcement covers only the first step of what will be a series of Skype integrations into the LotusLive offerings.
• The integration into LotusLive Engage is targeted at “businesses looking to collaborate inside and outside the organization to easily expand their networks…” In other words for businesses that need to include, say, sub-contractors, third party consultants, suppliers and buyers within their business operation processes.
• Within a LotusLive Engage contact profile, “Skype” fields have been added such that when a user clicks on a a name to bring up a profile card, the user can launch a Skype conversation and transfer files with a single click.
• The only additional requirement for engaging in a Skype conversation is that the initiating user must have a Skype client open.
• In addition to Skype-to-Skype calls, SkypeOut calls can also be made.
• Where several contact profile cards have been opened, a user can launch a Skype multi-party call
• Due to the nature of LotusLive Engage’s web architecture, the resulting Skype access is cross-platform; it does NOT require that the user have a Skype web (FF or IE) toolbar installed.
• A session can then also launch a Lotus Web Meeting (also known as a Lotus SameTime Unyte meeting).

Sounds like the Lotusphere demonstrations got the brainstorming going between Skype and IBM. In a concluding statement Peter said:

“We are enthusiastic about the partnership with IBM and we see a lot of areas where we can collaborate and help each other improve our services. We met with a series of executives at IBM during Lotusphere and the general feeling was highly positive.”

At the same time IBM announced Salesforce.com and LinkedIn integration into their LotusLive services. Andy at VoIP Watch comments on the competitive “collaboration and communications” space where IBM LotusLive, Microsoft Office Live and Google Apps are the key players.

With the IBM offering, we are seeing one more example of “Skype Everywhere”, in this case, being embedded into an offering that is key to IBM’s future success in delivering cloud-based outsourced business services.

Phil will have some comments on the technical aspects of this integration along with where he feels there are “deeper” integration opportunities.

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OnState’s Virtual PBX incorporates Skype as a contributor to lower cost, yet more productive, small business communications management activities.

A mainstay for communications in any office with at least a few employees is the need to accept incoming calls, determine who is calling, what is their general need and getting the call to the right employee. In the interest of effective and productive customer and supplier relations, calls need an automated way to reach sales personnel, customer care, accounting  or technical support or “the boss”. Preferably this call management should be handled without any human intervention; over the past twenty or more years this has resulted in the evolution of increasingly effective Private Branch Exchange (“PBX”) offerings from telecomm equipment suppliers. And it traditionally required a reasonably demanding capital expense, from $15,000 up.

The basic functions of a PBX include:

• Receiving and answering a call from an external caller
• Offering a menu of options to determine to whom the call should be connected
• Transferring the call in response to answers provided either by entering alphanumeric or dialpad information or by using speech recognition.
• Accepting, recording and managing voice mails if nobody is available to take a call
• Ability to make a subsequent call transfer if deemed necessary

However, IP-based communications technology along with web 2.0 tools provide opportunities for enhancing the PBX to build more productive and effective business processes when it comes to managing relationships with both suppliers and customers. For instance:

• An individual agent portal for overall conversation management
• Intelligent call queuing would permit an “occupied” employee to either put a caller into a queue for answering when available or transfer a caller to another employee with the skills to handle the call
• Chat sessions can be offered as either an alternative or complement to voice conversations
• Building a searchable call archive integrated into an email system such as GMail.
• Making call transfer destinations independent of the recipient’s geographical location, whether “in the office”, at a home office or out “on the road”.
• Reducing and minimizing the costs associated with various PBX services.

Building on its Call Center experience OnState has launched its Virtual PBX which provides all this functionality as well as:

• Receives calls via Skype, SkypeIn as well as Local DID numbers and toll free numbers in over 20 countries
• Call transfer to employees, agents and other designated recipients on their Skype-enabled PC, landline phones or mobile independent of geographical location
• An extension-based agent/employee/representative portal for managing incoming calls, including call waiting notification, queuing and redirection
• Integration into GMail, Zimbra and Salesforce.com

A few weeks ago, OnState CEO Pat Kelly was our guest on a SquawkBox conference call where he provided more details about OnState’s Virtual PBX, including a sharable slide show presentation accessible as a Google document.

Bottom line; for as little as $15 per month per seat and no capital investment, small to medium enterprises and organizations as well can establish an enhanced PBX capability to facilitate both more productive business processes as well as more cost effective communications.

Definitely a business model disrupter.

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New service provides format- and platform-agnostic meeting scheduling and co-ordination across the web.

To date groupware’s ability to perform meeting scheduling and coordination was limited to within an enterprise’s groupware community of users — i.e. – the employees and perhaps closely connected business associates. And everyone had to be using a common calendaring system running under a common operating system. Yet, studies show that over 60% of meetings will involve invitees who are not within this “enterprise cloud”. Half of those “non-cloud” invitees do have a “good” relationship with the enterprise; the other half are those with whom employees would have “sporadic” meetings.

Tungle is an Internet-based service that provides the ability to share availability and manage meeting scheduling across the web. Currently the designated organizer of the meeting (who does not have to be an attendee) must be using Microsoft Outlook; however, the invitees can be running on any platform, whether Windows, Mac or even Blackberry; they simply need a web browser. And they can be using any calendaring application whether Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, Mac’s iCal, or within groupware such as Lotus Notes.

Tungle Contact Management

The Tungle client for meeting organizers has a single-click install as an Outlook plug-in. Upon installation it then searches your Outlook for both Contacts and your availability according to your Outlook Calendar. If it finds other Contacts who also have installed Tungle it marks them with an identifier “T” logo. You may then invite individual contacts to “share” their availability; those are the ones identified with the “T” logo on a solid purple background. Select one of those contacts and you will see in the Calendar screen that contact’s availability.

The other section of the Tungle client comprises a Calendar which initially shows your own availability for the current (5-day or 7-day) week. This Calendar section is where you initiate the coordination of a meeting – selecting contacts, entering a subject and designating the time slots you (or the primary “chair” of the meeting) would have available for potential meeting times. You can also designate whether or not you will be attending the meeting – a feature that is ideal for executive administrators.

Tungle Calendar Mashup

The example on the left shows the sharing of availability across an organizer and three other contacts, shown by the different colors, who are also on Tungle. (Were the organizer not attending the purple slots would go away.) The organizer would then “paint” in blank potential time slots for the proposed meeting. Upon completion of this information, click on the “Create Space” button and another window pops up where you can see a summary of the invitees and proposed time slots and as well as enter more detailed information about the potential meeting such as an agenda. Click on the “Send” button and an email, from the meeting organizer, about the prospective meeting goes out to each invitee, incorporating a link.

Tungle Invite on BlackBerry

The link is to a “Tungle Space” which is a dynamic web page, viewable in any web browser, that shows all the meeting information and allows invitees to select which of the proposed time slots s/he prefers. If the invitee reads the email on a Blackberry, the Tungle Space is reformatted for appropriate display on the Blackberry. Note that, until a final meeting time is set, the Tungle Space is updated with any changes in availability of those who have a Tungle client installed.

There are two ways a final meeting time can be set:

• The organizer can visit the Tungle Space at any time and designate a meeting time regardless whether or not all invitees have responded, or
• Once the last invitee has visited the Tungle Space to select her/his available meeting times, Tungle will then automatically select a meeting time.

Once a meeting time is selected an email goes out to all invitees announcing the meeting time. Those invitees who are also on Tungle will have their Outlook Calendars appropriately populated. But here is one of the key features: the other invitees can click on a link that inserts the meeting time into their respective calendaring program regardless of whether whether they use Google Calendar, iCal, Lotus Notes or any other popular Calendaring program.

In an interview with Tungle CEO Marc Gingras he pointed out:

• ease-of- user was a key design criteria; this is an offering that has been over a year in the development.
• recognizing which Calendar format an invitee had was another major technical challenge
• Tungle will be adding clients for users of Google Calendar and iCal (you can sign up on the website for notification)
• the team is still working on additional features incorporating feedback from the current beta phase.

The entire structure is set up to ensure adequate privacy; only information you agree to share is shared. In fact, as with Skype, while users’ email addresses are registered by Tungle and used to determine who amongst your Contacts is on Tungle, this information is never give out at any point. There is even a double opt-in process for ensuring that you are, in fact, the owner of any email address that you register with Tungle.

Personally I have used Tungle over the past week with great success. It’s simple to install and eliminates lots of non-productive time exchanging emails with various meeting time slot proposals (or even making voice calls to finalize details). . In fact, Tungle appears to be one of those rare productivity applications whose value is quickly appreciated the first time you use it.

Going forward I have suggested API’s that could link Tungle as a front end for hosts organizing VAPPS HiDef Conferencing sessions (or even Skype Conference call sessions); I can also foresee where deeper direct integration into Blackberry Calendar or CRM applications, such as Salesforce.com, would be useful. And it’s ideal for Skylook users who already are archiving their Skype conversations into Outlook. Tungle does have plans for making this an integral web-based “social networking” tool that is “just there” when you have to organize a meeting.

So, if you are an Outlook user, download Tungle here and get organizing!

Tags: Tungle, Marc Gingras, Outlook, Google Calendars, Lotus Notes, iCal

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A major trend in the late 1990′s was the emergence of enterprise grade Customer Relationship Management offerings that not only required IT support but also significant investments in server hardware and business process engineering. However, 1999 saw the launch of a different scenario for CRM, namely a hosted service, Salesforce.com, where even the smallest business could sign up and pay under $100 per user per month with no capital investment required. Today over 35,500 companies have implemented this hosted solution and Salesforce.com is regarded as the pioneer of the “No Software” movement. One could also point out they were the pioneer in the “No Hardware” movement.

Today we are seeing the emergence of several “No Hardware” hosted services including:

• OnState ACD: removing the need for Call Center PBX’s
• Convenos Meeting Center: a virtual boardroom for ongoing enterprise team building
• OnSIP hosted PBX: providing a hosted full service PBX for turning any SIP-based connection into an extension.

Of course common to all these platforms is that the users can also be geographically disbursed worldwide, contributing to the “Green” movement by reducing the need for business travel. And common to all these is that they bring what were previously perceived as large enterprise solutions to the small to medium business market space with a sub-$100 per user monthly subscription cost.

Lost in the buzz of Fall VON two weeks ago was the recent launch of another “No Hardware” service, SightSpeed Business, providing a range of video-based services for the small to medium enterprise. What previously required minimum six figure investments has been replaced by a service that costs under $20 per month per seat with no capital investment beyond user PC’s.

SightSpeed has always had a reputation for high quality video services including video calling, (up to four party) video conferencing and video messaging (or video mail). Building on SightSpeed’s informal adoption by over 30,000 small businesses, Sight Speed Business consolidates its video services for small business by introducing:

• An Administration console for central management of users, including internal directory services as well as coordination of purchasing SightSpeed
• Multi-user licensing
• Full video session recording
• In-call file sharing

The key new software piece here is the Administration Console providing the a business of any size a tool to easily and readily take control of how it deploys, manages and purchases SightSpeed’s video services. All the features of the previously available SightSpeed 6.0, including its Windows/Mac cross platform capability, are included.

Essentials:

• Operating System: Windows 2000/XP/Vista; Mac OS X 10.3.9 or higher
• Video Services: Video Calling (one-to-one), Video Conferencing (up to four participants), Video Messaging (create a video and email it)
• Voice Services: Unlimited (VoIP-based) PC-to-PC calling; Outbound calling to PSTN; Inbound calling via 800 number or local phone number.
• Other features include: In-call file sharing, session recording, unlimited text messaging
• Packages:
  • Single seat: $19.95 per month; $189.95 per year; 5-, 10- and 50-User Packs
  • Free 30 day trial
  • Includes 500 minutes of Outbound U.S. or Canada calling

SightSpeed has developed a customer base associated with their video messaging strengths. Having found a market niche in the SMB space, SightSpeed Business opens up new video communications (and productivity) opportunities for this market segment; it provides the tools for easy implementation across the business’s operating space with no capital expenditure. The challenge for small business is to determine where video communications can be incorporated into their ongoing business processes.

With Skype’s expanding video capabilities and the increasing general awareness of video overall as a real time conversations tool, we should be seeing additional interesting video-based services going into 2008.

More information here.

Tags: SightSpeed, SightSpeed Business, video services, video calling, video messaging, video conferencing

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A post a few days ago, The Dawn of the Mashup World: Part Ia: What is a Mashup, generated a heated discussion on the Skype Mashup Group Chat. Also a few comments. Glad to get some feedback onto Skype Journal; thanks Don and Thomas. (And congratulations to Don Kennedy for having MyToGo selected by ProgrammableWeb.com as August’s Best New Mashup.)

Having monitored the discussion and been involved as a judge in the Skype Mashup competition, my criteria for a mashup are:

1. An solution to a user or business problem that
2. Marries two or more otherwise independent technology platforms or technology services and
3. Makes use of both the technology craftsperson’s unique toolkit mix and his/her experience
4. To satisfy an otherwise unfulfilled user or business process need.

In the course of this exercise I took the opportunity to ask a few developers what they used for delivering their solution. For instance, the iotum team combined the Facebook API’s, Ruby on Rails, the Active MQ framework and an interface to the conference bridge to create their Free Conference Call mashup for Facebook.

In judging the Skype mashup contest I also learned a lot about the wide experience range of mashup developers. Many have excellent experience and development process skills while others forgot some basics such as testing their install and registration procedures and/or their software in a user environment. Some looked at the business or user need while others failed to realize that the world does not need another social networking platform. Ideally mashups are an opportunity to leverage the large user base of a Skype, eBay or Facebook! in meeting an unfulfilled niche user need.

The PamConsult team created PamFax to solve the problem of providing a very simple process (especially relative to the somewhat cumbersome WinFax) of using the Internet to easily fax an MS Office document anywhere worldwide. The primary Skype feature here has nothing to do with voice; they used the Skype Extras publishing platform not only to install the application but also as a transaction processor for collecting revenues for the service using Skype credits. Skype Chat is used to send notifications re a fax’s delivery. In addition they developed a web-based portal to manage and archive your use of the service. The application can be launched from the Skype Extras menu or from within MS Excel or MS Word. A link to Google Maps will also show roughly where the fax is being sent (to within an Area Code).

PamConsult married the Google Maps API’s, Microsoft Office COM objects and a backend fax API with their long term experience using the Skype API’s. They started a year ago this summer with development of specifications; coding commenced in January with an initial version available in May. After a beta testing program in July, PamFax was released as a Skype Extra in the second week of August.

In the course of this process their CTO attended the Skype Developer Conference in Boston in June where there were several sessions on the Skype Extras program, including one on the Skype Extras publishing platform. And it was developed during a period when PamConsult was also developing and releasing new versions of Pamela, Skype for Salesforce.com and some eBay utilities.

Perhaps the most amazing aspect to me was the simplicity of the process. For years I fought with WinFax to have a means to send faxes from a PC (although many new Internet technologies have in the interim reduced the need for faxing). As an initial test I sent myself a fax via PamFax and was somewhat surprised that (i) I had completed the process in so few steps and (ii) I did not need the overhead of installing a printer driver to make it work. Find or create the document, insert the fax number, select a cover page and enter any cover page message, arrange payment and the fax is delivered. Serves a niche need within a small mashup application marrying multiple technology platforms. From the PamFax website:

Simple to use:

• Fully integrated with Skype
• User friendly wizard makes sending a fax a breeze
• Send faxes from Word/Excel 2003/2007
• Easy payment with your Skype Credit
• No upfront payments, no subscriptions, no additional cost, no registration

That last line is one example of why mashups can be so readily accepted; it’s there when you need it but you have no ongoing commitment to use it with any regularity.

Well, last night at the Skype Developer Evening in Prague, Czech Republic, PamFax received the award as the best European Skype mashup. In a Skype chat interview this morning with Dick Schiferli, Founder and CEO of PamConsult, he stated:

“We are very excited to be the winner with PamFax. Using PamFax to fax with Skype is a great solution because you can pay with your Skype credit. And its very easy to use. We enjoy working with Skype and plan to further expand our solution suite.”

You can download PamFax via the Skype Extras [Tools | Do More | Get Extras | Business], the Skype Extras website and also at the PamFax website. Give it a try; the first fax sent is on Pamela.

Tags: Skype, PamFax, PamConsult, Skype Extras, Pamela, Skype for Salesforce.com, PamBot, Skype Developer Program, iotum, mashups, Skype Mashup Competition, Dick Schiferli

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Salesforce.com has been an ongoing web application success story over the past few years. Securely accessing an individual enterprise’s customer database on-demand from the web and promoted largely through viral customer adoption, I have encountered many enterprises who have come to rely on Salesforce.com as their primary Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. It is a classic in terms of how it allows businesses of all sizes to manage their customer database without the hassles of dealing with IT management while adopting to the individual enterprise’s business rules and building a secure archive of the enterprise’s sales and support activities. From their own company website:

Why? Perhaps it’s because we deliver integrated, completely customizable enterprise applications for companies of all sizes. Or maybe it’s because Salesforce is so easy to learn and use, and thanks to the power of the on-demand Apex platform, it can be up and running in weeks or days—not the months or years required by traditional client/server CRM software. Or it could be the unprecedented speed with which our customers see real, tangible ROI. Or maybe it’s because of our 100-percent dedication to the success of our customers.

Today Skype and Salesforce.com issued a press release announcing:

“the availability of a new version of Skype for Salesforce via salesforce.com’s AppExchange. Skype for Salesforce provides seamless Skype integration into Salesforce on-demand CRM applications and aims to improve workforce productivity and to streamline customer and partner communication.”

Skype for Salesforce enables real time customer conversations via:

• Skype-to-Skype and Skype-to-SkypeOut voice calls; the latter optionally using Skype Unlimited Calling within North America or Skype Pro in Europe and Asia
• Receiving calls via SkypeIn
• Embedding Skype presence indicators into Salesforce
• Text chat with customers and prospects using Skype IM
• Conference calls for up to ten participants involving any combination of Skype and non-Skype users.

Skype for Salesforce was developed by Skype Partner PamConsult, the publishers of the very popular Pamela personal digital assistant for Skype. Extracting from the Salesforce.com AppExchange description:

Skype for Salesforce offers you full Skype functionality in your Salesforce screen. You will see the online status of your Skype contacts, you will be able to call them with one click and also receive calls. For received calls with caller ID, Salesforce automatically retrieves the record of that person so you are prepared when you take the call.

You may also import your Skype contact list. This allows for easy Skype calling from Salesforce.

Conference calls are also supported and allow you to easily, directly from Salesforce, start a conference call with a few clicks.

and concludes with

We also plan to release a (commercial) Premium version with added functionality like call recording, call transfer,

With Salesforce.com’s over 646,000 subscribers at over 29,800 companies, Skype for Salesforce represents one more viral step towards building Skype adoption, especially in the SMB market. More to follow after interviews with some of the principals involved.

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