by Jeff Spisak

You may have noticed that CallFire has recently changed its user interface. This was only the first step along the way as we implement new and exciting innovations in our application.

This first enhancement involves the main Campaign Dashboard page. Formerly, all inbound campaigns, including call forwarding numbers, were listed on the Campaign Dashboard. These have been moved exclusively to the My Numbers page (accessible by clicking the Numbers link in the top menu).

by Kimberly Kohatsu Citibank announced yesterday that it's closing its call center in Albuquerque. This cost-cutting measure could have been devastating for the area, already hard-hit by unemployment. But the move to homesourcing means that 700 employees can keep their pay and benefits the same, while continuing to answer Citibank's calls. It's unfortunate that 50 people will be laid off, but considering the alternative, it's a smart move by Citi. Consider these additional benefits: • The average US call center employee commutes 24 miles a day.

by Natalia Klishina

Towards the end of 2010, CallFire was invited to try out the beta of Promoted Twitter. I had originally written a blog article explaining the service and reviewing it. Unfortunately, this article has been removed due to Twitter's informing us that "during the beta rollout of [their] Promoted Products services, advertisers can't blog about their experiences using the products."

Yesterday, the CallFire team sponsored Twiistup 8, LA's largest tech event. We met so many great people, heard inspiring presentations, and were proud to be among other Los Angeles startups making exciting things happen. As our newest team member Daniel said, "It's incredible—Everyone here has a good idea."

by Jeff Spisak

Call forwarding: you love it. So much so you've bought a forwarding number from CallFire: 555.123.4567. Now you want to use it, so you have it set up to forward to your business number, let's say that is 444.123.4567. Everyone knows that you can add identifying tags to this on the My Numbers page, but what about the campaign dashboard? When you navigate to that page, all you see are the two numbers sans tags, as in our example below.  Can't we make that more readable?

by Jeff Spisak

So you've run a campaign and everything went swimmingly. Now you are ready to extract your data and review your findings. There's just one problem: Excel pulls all your particular data and lumps it all in the same column. Isn't there a way to make it more readable?

by Jeff Spisak

So you're all ready to import your numbers into CallFire when you notice, to your horror, that the area codes and the phone numbers are in different columns! Do you have to copy and paste the entire list by hand? Isn't there another way? Take heart: there is indeed! Just grab your Excel workbook and follow along with us.

by Kimberly Kohatsu

Not everyone realizes that there is a recently unveiled toll-free area code, 855, available.

An 855 phone number works exactly like any 800 number (800, 877, 866, 888). The benefit, however, is because these numbers are brand new, you can be assured no other business has ever owned or used this number in the past. Your business won't get any calls intended for a previous owner, which can sometimes happen when numbers get recycled.

by Kimberly Kohatsu

In my capacity as CallFire's Director of Marketing, I am trying not only to market CallFire as a brand, but to help our clients, most of whom are small business owners, market themselves.

by Kimberly Kohatsu CallFire is proud to sponsor Twiistup, LA's biggest technology event. Twiistup 8 will take place February 9 and 10 at the Skirball Cultural Center.