Voicemail a problem? Say hello to Hullo
IF you work in a financial institution, your employer is obliged to record all your mobile calls, texts and instant messages. Even your personal calls, your compliance officer will argue, are covered by the FSA regulations.
So why not give the nosy jobsworth something to think about as he snoops on your private life? Get creative with your messaging!
Download some clever messaging apps for your smart phone. A search in the Marketplace portal, for example, uncovers a free app called Hullomail.
Hullomail was designed to improve on the dreadful default voice messaging service that most mobiles use. It takes forever to listen to the backlog of messages on one’s mobile, especially if your contacts leave long rambling dictations which never speed up until they blurt out the contact number at the end. Using Hullomail, you get the message recorded and forwarded to your phone and your desktop PC.
This makes message management much quicker and more convenient. Even if you lose your mobile, you can still pick up your messages on your computer. It might even make your personal messages pass under the radar of your nosy compliance officer. You can record messages and send them to friends too. These sound files might even be a way to escape his attention.
And if someone’s making bothersome calls, you can publish the recordings of them on the web. The Facebook link makes it really easy. (I once exposed a death threat-making telecoms boss this way.)
Hullomail also lets you personalise your greeting for every caller. This is great for managing both your customers and your personal life. In fact, your smart phone can play a different message for everyone in your contacts book. Make sure you record a really ripe one for the compliance jobsworth at your work.
Nick Booth edits www.mobbed-online.com