I have written a technical, yet practical, guide to using advanced technology in a small business to improve productivity, efficiency and accuracy. In 40 years of running multiple companies, I have used technology extensively to help them become successful. This site covers everything from telephony through to CRM systems that use autonomous AI agents. As an example, our AI receptionist fields over 100 sales calls a month, for less than a dollar.
How to Push a Company Phonebook to Yealink Desk Phones Automatically
How to put your company phonebook on Yealink desk phones automatically, from a remote XML phonebook or a spreadsheet, so callers show by name.
Using the 3CX AI Receptionist to Stop Spam and Sales Calls
How we set up the 3CX AI receptionist to send around 25 sales calls a week to voicemail, the instructions we gave it, and what it costs: under $1 a month.
Do Small Businesses Need Cloud Computing? Why We Run on One £50 a Month Server
We run our CRM, database and over 300 websites on one Fasthosts server costing £594 a year. The same on AWS would be about £4,600. When cloud computing is worth it.
Laravel vs WordPress: Why I Build on a Framework, Not a Plugin Pile
We run a CRM and over 300 websites from one £50 a month server on Laravel, not WordPress. Plugins, speed, cost, and when WordPress is still the right choice.
We Spent £5,000 on Our Own AI Server: What It Does and What We Learned
In 2024 we spent about £5,000 on a Dell tower to run AI in our office. The models were not good enough, RAG stopped mattering, and it found a different job.
Using Two AIs to Check Each Other: How We Draft Leases, Code and Articles
Claude drafts, ChatGPT reviews, Claude revises. How we use two AIs on leases, code and articles, and how it saves us around £3,000 a lease.
Building Our Own CRM in Laravel and PHP: Why We Left FileMaker and What We Learned
Why we left FileMaker and built our own CRM in PHP and Laravel: designing it on paper first, fixing the save button problem, and about £50 a month to run.
How to Push a Company Phonebook to Yealink Desk Phones Automatically
How to put your company phonebook on Yealink desk phones automatically, from a remote XML phonebook or a spreadsheet, so callers show by name.
Why Your Business Phones Don't Show Who's Calling: Locked Handsets Explained
Seeing only a number when the phone rings? Often your provider has locked the handsets. How we found out and got caller names on every phone.
Choosing a SIP Trunk Provider and Getting Memorable Local Numbers
How we chose Telnyx as our SIP trunk, got memorable numbers ending 000 for a dollar each, and what our calls cost: $4.46 for 219 calls in October.
Choosing a Business Phone Provider: What I Tried and What I Chose
I tried Spitfire, RingCentral, bOnline and Voipfone before choosing 3CX with Telnyx. What happened with each, why the handsets were locked, and what I chose.
AI Agents for Small Business Jobs: Reception, Customer Service, Sales and Admin
An AI agent is software that can carry out a task on your behalf, choosing its own steps and using tools you connect it to, such as your inbox, calendar or
Cyber Essentials: What It Is and Whether Your Business Needs It
If a customer has asked for a Cyber Essentials certificate, or you have seen it on a tender form, you may be wondering what it involves and whether it is w