Unified Communications: Reflections of 2011 and Trends in 2012

Bob Wise, executive vice president of West IP Communications, was recently interviewed by Susan Campbell of TMCnet. Topics of discussion included reflections of 2011 and trends to expect in 2012. The interview gave Bob an opportunity to speak to some of the wonderful successes we’ve achieved over the past 12 months while also giving a look ahead at what we plan to accomplish this year.

Here are some of the highlights from the TMCnet interview:

• West’s acquisition of Smoothstone and POSTcti have greatly extended our service offerings and global reach.
• Partnerships with Microsoft and Cisco have allowed us to advance our unified communications offerings, giving us the flexibility to meet growing customer demand for cloud-based applications. In fact, last year we launched both Microsoft Office 365 and VoiceMaxx CE (based on Cisco HCS platform).
• Awareness of the cloud and the adoption of cloud-based communications and hosted telephony will continue to grow throughout 2012, and we’ll be there to support the demand with an expanded set of services and solutions.

Bob was also recently featured in a Virtual Strategy Magazine article focusing on the growth of cloud-based communications services in 2012. In it, he touches on key drivers for fueling the adoption of cloud services this year, including:

• A shift from job reduction to increased productivity
• Replacement of aging and outdated PBX infrastructure
• Continued evolution of mobile technology and lifestyle

You can read the full TMCnet interview and check out what else Bob has to say in Virtual Strategies. Be sure to let us know if you think Bob's spot on or if you see other trends coming this year.

James Whitemore is senior vice president of sales and marketing at West IP Communications, the team that delivers InterCall’s unified communication services. InterCall and West IP Communications are both a part of West Corporation. James holds a B.A. (Hons) degree in Business from Newcastle University in the U.K. and currently resides in Boulder, CO. In his downtime, James is an avid skier with an enthusiasm for traveling and car collecting.

Five Key Considerations Before Moving to the ‘Cloud’

It seems like everyone is talking about how computing is moving to the cloud – defined as the delivery of computer applications to distributed users from a central location rather than putting software on individual PCs or local servers. 

There is certainly an element of truth to that. Gartner estimates that the cloud market will reach $150-billion by 2013. Among the reasons for this sudden interest in cloud-based computing and communications are the need for collaboration among the increasing number of remote and mobile workers, a desire to improve customer service, and the ever-present goals of improving operational excellence while driving down technology equipment and management costs. To help you decide whether you’re ready to move to the cloud, here are some important elements to consider.

1. Distributed vs. centralized enterprise - The first consideration should be whether your company has a single headquarters location only, or also has multiple branches. If everyone works out of headquarters, and that’s all you plan to have, you may not need a cloud-based solution. But if you have multiple branches in addition to headquarters, or a significant number of your employees spend most of their time out of the office, moving to the cloud simplifies management of communications and applications – which, in turn, improves collaboration between employees.
2. IT staff size and capabilities - The next consideration is the size of your IT staff. In the past few years, many organizations have pared their IT staffs, particularly in maintenance functions. Additionally, while technology has continued to advance at an ever-accelerating pace, very little has been spent on training or upgrading skill sets.
3. Prepare the infrastructure – ditch the public Internet - Once you’ve determined that the cloud is right for your enterprise, it’s important to look at your network infrastructure. Networks at many organizations are often a hodgepodge of carriers and equipment that were built over a period of years. Many times they were based more on expediency than an enterprise-level plan.
4. Be able to prioritize network traffic - With the Internet, all traffic looks the same. Which means if data for the day’s financial report arrives at the same time as last night’s highlights from ESPN, the latter may win out. A fully managed voice/data/video network provides one quality of service (QOS) and routing capability over the entire network. It allows you to prioritize traffic by business case rather than simply on the type of traffic (video, voice, data, etc.) to ensure that business-related data always goes ahead of non-business data.
5. Controlled migration or rip-and-replace? Once the infrastructure is in place, it’s time to start moving applications to the cloud. One of the prevailing myths is that this is an all-or-nothing proposition. In reality, migration to the cloud is a complex proposition, so performing a complete rip-and-replace is a bad business decision fraught with risk.

Ready or not, the future is coming
Your industry is highly competitive, so you can be sure if you’re not looking at cloud solutions and how to speed adoption of the latest technologies, your competitors are.

But there’s no need to go it alone. The right partner, particularly one that offers a fully managed voice/video/data network, can help you migrate to the cloud intelligently and successfully, allowing you to achieve the operational excellence you demand while delivering superior customer service.

This article appeared in Corporate United Quarterly (12/5 issue)

James Whitemore is senior vice president of sales and marketing at West IP Communications, the team that delivers InterCall’s unified communication services. InterCall and West IP Communications are both a part of West Corporation. James holds a B.A. (Hons) degree in Business from Newcastle University in the U.K. and currently resides in Boulder, CO. In his downtime, James is an avid skier with an enthusiasm for traveling and car collecting.

Time to Cut the Cord?

You have to be living in a cave if you aren’t aware of the growing prevalence of smartphones and mobile applications. It seems like every day there’s some new, cool device or solution that makes your life just that much easier. It is one big cycle; the more we consume these ‘conveniences’, the more they are developed, each one better than the last.

My co-worker talked about how consumer trends eventually make their way into the business world, and you can see how our dependence on mobile solutions is transferring to how we work. We’ve become so dependent on being able to communicate with our friends and family through cell phones, texting and social media that we now expect the same thing from our colleagues.

That’s why the results of a recent survey shouldn’t be that surprising. They asked 200 companies in the U.S. and 200 in the UK (IT decision-makers including CXOs, VPs and directors at enterprises of all sizes) about their plans to move to mobile-only communications and their adoption of unified communication services. Their findings showed that companies are making the move faster than expected.

• "25% of enterprise IT decision makers believe desk phones will be replaced by mobile phones within two years, and 82% of enterprises have employees currently using mobile applications for communications and collaboration,
• 44% of enterprises surveyed have at least one-quarter of their workforce operating solely using a mobile phone, and 82% of enterprises have employees using mobile apps for communications and collaboration and
• 30% of enterprises support tablets; 51% support BlackBerry devices, 40% support iPhones and 31% support Android phones."

They also found that "62% are expanding their enterprise's UC capabilities, with instant messaging, web collaboration and videoconferencing identified as the top UC services they seek to support on mobile devices over the next three years." When it comes to video conferencing, the survey showed that more U.S. companies plan to roll out video conferencing in the next year compared to UK companies (72% compared to 56%).

Are you already experiencing these trends in your business? We are finding this among our customers, not just the need to support an on-the-go workforce through mobile conferencing solutions, but also a growing demand for unified communications services. Will your company be next to cut the cord on your landline and put solutions in your hands to make you and your colleagues more accessible?

Jill Huselton is a senior marketing manager at InterCall. She's been in the conferencing industry for nearly 15 years, working in operations, account management and marketing, mainly based in Colorado. Before leaving the Mile-High City, she hiked a 14er, one of her top accomplishments. Now she's traded the mountains for the beach and works from a home office in North Carolina.

We Can Thank Star Trek for This

Many of us across the country are slowly melting in the extreme heat.  One way to beat the heat is to escape for a couple of hours at the movies.  We recently saw the last Harry Potter movie which got me thinking about the “technology” those kids have at their disposal.  They live in a world of wands, owls, apparition and disapparition.  No smartphones or computers are found at Hogwarts.  Such a contrast to the gadgets Star Trek introduced us to years ago –many have become a reality including the “Communicator”.

Every time Captain Kirk talked into his communicator, the person he wanted to talk with immediately responded.  Well we aren’t quite there yet. We still have to initiate a call by dialing and waiting for either a live voice or voicemail answer.  No guarantee that the one we are trying to contact will immediately respond.   However, with IM integration to your BlackBerry you can know in an instant who’s available to meet.

Cisco Connect IM for BlackBerry now delivers instant messaging (IM) and presence to your BlackBerry.  With this free app download you can:

• Access your desktop IM contact list and take action with features such as click to IM, click to call, click to email, and click to text
• Join an instant WebEx meeting from an IM conversation
• Maintain security using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption and by connecting your BlackBerry directly to the Cisco IM infrastructure.

Now for us muggles, magic wands aren’t an option, but what other conferencing gadgets would you like to have to make instant collaboration even easier?

Sarah Murphy is a marketing manager at InterCall. With over ten years of experience in the conferencing industry, Sarah has worked with customers and products that cover all segments of conferencing, including traditional operator attended services, video and online meeting solutions.

Fast Forward: The Communication Evolution

When I originally joined InterCall in August 2009, I was given the company standard cell phone, a Nokia 6700. It’s a pretty basic phone; it comes with a camera and can send texts and make phone calls. For me, it was great because I had a phone that I didn’t have to worry about the bills for!

Fast-forward six months to February 2010 and the decision I made to purchase my first smartphone, a Nokia E63. This phone seemed to do it all; not only did it support picture messaging, but it had push-email, full web browser capabilities and an instant messaging client.

Fast forward another 12 months to February 2011 when I upgraded again to a Google powered HTC Wildfire. This phone does everything that my E63 could, plus I can now have a point-to-point video call, update all my social networks simultaneously and customise my phone to work how I want it to!

So where am I going with this story? Well, in the space of two years, I’ve gone from being excited about having a mobile phone that could take a picture and make a call, to needing a phone that unifies separate applications I use day-to-day into one single device.

We see technology advancing in the consumer world at an incredible pace, and it’s always ahead of the curve of adoption within the workplace. Take the rise of Facebook and Twitter for example. We’re now seeing business-grade alternatives for the workplace from the likes of SalesForce.com's Chatter and Yammer, yet they are three or four years behind the consumer trend.

Looking around the office today, I suddenly realised the sheer amount of smartphones littered around people’s desks had dramatically risen over the last year. Now that the majority of consumers are converting to unified devices (aka smartphones)—up by a staggering  100 milllion additional units in 2011—I believe we’ll see businesses truly start to adopt unified technology in the workplace over the course of the next 18-24 months.

Like cell phones, Unified Communications is constantly evolving as technology and devices develop and become more interoperable. Audio conferencing solutions, web conferencing and video conferencing are integral aspects of Unified Communications, and InterCall is blazing the trail within this segment through the deployment of Unified Desktop.

And just like the move from a Nokia 6700 to the HTC Wildfire, Unified Desktop turns your siloed work station into a multi-channel communication tool that allows organisations to increase productivity through the unification of devices onto one platform. It integrates conferencing and collaboration, messaging and telephony, with an element of presence, into one single, easy-to-use interface.

With all these transformations taking place in our work environments, what tools have you adopted that increase your productivity?

Ashley Davies is the small and medium sized business (SMB) manager in InterCall’s UK and European (EMEA) division and is responsible for managing the suite of services InterCall offers that are specifically designed for SMB customers. Before joining InterCall, Ashley worked as the sales manager for a free publication and studied for a degree in entrepreneurship and small business. In his spare time, Ashley likes to surf and work on his house.

InterCall Announces Integration with Microsoft Lync Online

I’m in New York today for the launch of Microsoft Office 365. Office 365 is a subscription service that combines the familiar Office desktop suite and Outlook (Exchange) with cloud-based versions of collaboration services SharePoint Online and Lync Online. If you want some background information, check out our past blog on Office 365.

If you haven’t heard, InterCall has partnered with Microsoft to offer integrated audio conferencing with Lync Online. I’m especially excited for this launch because of the unique value we bring to Office 365.

Why do I think you should partner with InterCall for Office 365? 

1. Features

• Enable external participants to join meetings
• Connect on multiple devices
• Call scheduling via Outlook®
• Dial-in and dial-out
• Mute/unmute
• Lock/unlock
• End conference
• VoIP/PSTN integration, including mixed recording
• *0 in-call support

But you don’t get to be the world's leading conferencing provider (based on Wainhouse Research in 2010) with features alone.

2. Support

We have a 24/7 global support with certified agents skilled in all aspects of Office 365. We provide tier 1 and 2 support to our customers, as well as pre-sales technical assistance and consultations. Free online and recorded training sessions are included.

3. Expertise

InterCall’s professional services for Office 365 are second to none. We offer custom training and adoption programs. For companies that need more in-depth assistance with deployment of Exchange Online and SharePoint Online, we have professional migration services to help transition, configure and support data and operations from legacy applications to Office 365 solutions.

Add to that the fact that InterCall is a Microsoft Silver Certified Partner and national systems integrator (NSI), plus the multiple certifications we hold, and I think you can see why I’m excited to be a part of this launch.

For more information:
US and Canada or EMEA

Damon Martin is vice president of sales for West UC Solutions, InterCall’s dedicated team of UC specialists. Based in Wichita, Kansas, Damon oversees InterCall’s systems integration and consulting services. When he’s not working with InterCall customers on their UC strategy, Damon enjoys spending time with his family, boating and reading.

Have You Been Bitten by the Green Bug?

Being green is a big deal in my household. Earth day is typically filled with a few events that commemorate the day. How did I become such a tree hugger so to speak? It happened a few years ago when my husband had a stressful job that required him to commute and be away from home more than usual. This meant that household chores such as taking the garbage out fell on me. The garbage bags were heavy and the pizza boxes wouldn’t fit into the dainty garbage can I bought to match the stainless steel appliances. That’s when I had an ingenious plan to set aside the pizza boxes and recycle them.

That is when the green bug bit me. Slowly, I started putting aside everything that was cardboard, then all the plastic bottles and aluminum cans. A mountain of cardboard started to build in my laundry room but it wasn’t a burden as much as a tiny source of pride. The small impact the recycling made inspired me to want to do more. Article after article I began to understand how individuals and even corporations were creating solutions that saved resources and benefited the planet. What could I do to be a part of this movement? I thought long and hard about the many ways that I could change the planet. Recycle, check. What’s next?

At the same time, our country experienced an economic crisis comparable to one my generation had only read about in school. Gas prices were at a high and everyone was looking to save money. Individuals were car pooling to work, companies were laying off and everyone in the country was doing more with less. That’s when it hit me, InterCall can help. There isn’t a need for companies to spend on air fare, hotels and per diems. Conferencing helps people connect globally, and we do this daily.

I feel inspired at the impact InterCall makes in reducing the carbon footprint of thousands of companies worldwide. By conferencing we can reduce the use of precious resources such as gas and even trees. Not only is InterCall changing the way the world collaborates through our audio, video, web, mobile and unified communications solutions, but InterCall is a corporately responsible organization. InterCall has encouraged its employees to get involved in environmentally conscious projects in addition to social organizations such as the Fuller Project and the United Way.

Now I can say that along with my recycling I too am making a positive impact on the planet by helping people connect, collaborate and grow. Have you been bit by the green bug? Set up a meeting and start saving the planet today.

Cynthia Welch is an associate product manager for all things audio here at InterCall. Her primary focus is on the expansion of global transport and meeting the branding needs of our customers. She has been with the InterCall in this capacity for over 6 years. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and daughter as well as traveling.

Celebrate Earth Day with Cloud-Based Unified Communications

Today is Earth Day and it got me thinking about how InterCall helps companies be more earth-friendly.  We have long been the global leader in conferencing, with over 20 billion minutes of conferencing provided last year alone.  That astounding number racks up more than just savings for our customers; it reduces our customers’ carbon footprint by eliminating several TONS of emissions and other pollutants each year. 

There’s no doubt you’ve heard this message before:  audio, video and web conferencing save you money by reducing travel which translates into a green approach for doing business. Rather than airports, taxis, highways and hotels, we’re meeting in telepresence rooms and at desktop video stations, collaborating over conferencing bridges and sharing information on streaming websites. But InterCall can help you become green in more ways than that.

Leveraging over 20 years as a provider of hosted and managed services, InterCall has been strategically building solutions and services that position us as an industry leader in Unified Communications. Our team of experts help companies to select, migrate and deploy cloud-based UC solutions in a fully hosted or hybrid environment. These solutions comprise another important way you can green your business.

So how is the cloud green?

Less Hardware

Because cloud solutions deliver applications, storage and more in a virtual environment via the internet, businesses have a reduced need for on-premise servers. From the source of materials, to their ultimate demise, production of computer hardware has a significant environmental impact. Manufacture of server parts, packaging and transport can all contribute to environmental pollution and waste.  Of course, the need for servers is not completely removed because of the cloud, but their numbers could be significantly reduced.

Less Space

Reduced hardware and servers require smaller building areas. What can you do with a little extra space on your company property? Increase your pervious surface area. Pervious surfaces keep more rain out of storm systems and filters pollutants out of run-off before it drains into rivers, streams, and water tables. Less building area also means an opportunity for more trees, which provide natural cooling of structures and a more pleasant work environment.

Less Energy

Large server rooms have high cooling requirements. Moving your server to the cloud reduces cooling costs, as well as greenhouse gas emissions coming from the cooling system. Likewise, energy bills and pollutants from energy sources are reduced. You can further reduce your carbon footprint by choosing to work with data centers that use cleaner or renewable energy.

I’m excited to be part of a company that is making a large impact on the environment. From conferencing and instant messaging, to IP telephony and more, Unified Communications solutions can have a positive environmental impact. So for all of you out there, continue to telecommute from your home. Use a conference bridge or video call to collaborate with co-workers half-way around the world. And if your company is interested in leveraging cloud-based UC solutions, be sure to reach out to us.

Happy Earth Day!

Rodney Horton is senior director of hosted services for InterCall, the business unit for UCaaS and other hosted UC and collaboration solutions. Rodney spends most of his time providing direction and support to the hosting services area of InterCall by working with internal teams and external customers to develop solutions that will enable companies to save time and money through the adoption of cloud-based UC. When he’s not working with InterCall customers on their UC strategy, Rodney enjoys spending time with his family, traveling and exercising.

One Reason to Look Forward to Summer: Microsoft Office 365

Most of you have heard that Microsoft is moving “to the cloud.” Some of you may be wondering what the cloud is. Simply put, it’s the Internet. Yep, that’s all it is. Sure, you could get more technical and debate the merits of the “public cloud” versus the “private cloud”, but we’re not going to do that here.

The consumer market has embraced the cloud for email (think Yahoo and Hotmail), instant messaging (AIM/AOL, Windows Live Messenger, etc.) and social networking/sharing sites (YouTube, Facebook and Flickr). And on the business front, marketing and sales automation tools are often hosted in the cloud (Salesforce.com and Eloqua to name just a couple).

The business benefits are pretty clear when it comes to this approach: no need to buy or maintain software or hardware, no need to worry about upgrades (you’re always on the latest version!) and no need for dedicated IT staff to manage the solution—they can focus on other, more important issues. Plus, you can access information no matter where you are.

As I mentioned in a recent post, InterCall has been in the cloud for years. Companies have been leveraging our conferencing solutions over our network—safely, securely and reliably—for over 20 years. Bet you didn’t think of us as a cloud provider, did you?

With the launch of Microsoft® Office 365, an upcoming cloud offering expected to be available this summer, InterCall makes yet another leap into the cloud. The solution combines the Office applications you’re already familiar with, like Word, PowerPoint®, Excel® and more, along with Exchange® (Outlook email) Online, SharePoint® Online and Lync™ Online.

Lync, in case you didn’t know, is the next-generation of business productivity, combining instant messaging and PC-based conferencing into a single application. InterCall is partnering with Microsoft to offer a truly integrated audio conferencing solution for Lync Online, resulting in the ability to have callers dial in from traditional PSTN phone lines, as well as giving meeting attendees superior call control and support.

We’re looking forward to the launch this summer, and we‘ll be sharing more information with you as that time gets closer. Be sure to stay tuned!

Rodney Horton is senior director of hosted services for InterCall, the business unit for UCaaS and other hosted UC and collaboration solutions. Rodney spends most of his time providing direction and support to the hosting services area of InterCall by working with internal teams and external customers to develop solutions that will enable companies to save time and money through the adoption of cloud-based UC. When he’s not working with InterCall customers on their UC strategy, Rodney enjoys spending time with his family, traveling and exercising.

We’ll See You in Vegas

You’ve heard all the hype surrounding cloud solutions and Unified Communications. You may not quite understand why everyone is talking about it. Or, it may seem like it’s years away from becoming an affordable and preferred solution.

But in mid-2011, all of this will become a reality when InterCall supports Microsoft in the launch of Office 365. Office 365 is bringing together cloud versions of your most trusted communication tools, offering a unified collaboration experience like never before. It’s going to be BIG. And, it’s predicted to change the way you and I look at communication tools today.  

Through InterCall’s channel program, you have the unique opportunity to be a part of this exciting innovation. Learn how by meeting with InterCall and Microsoft in Vegas next week at the upcoming Channel Partners Conference & Expo —the communications industry's only event exclusively for indirect sales organizations—agents, VARs, systems integrators, interconnects and consultants.

Find out how you can earn high commissions by selling cloud-based solutions that will sell themselves through InterCall’s industry-leading channel program. Stop by InterCall booth #1433 on the show floor or schedule a meeting with us today. Look forward to seeing you there!

Sara Steele is an associate marketing manager at InterCall responsible for various corporate communication initiatives; including social media and channel marketing efforts. Sara began working with InterCall after graduating from the University of Colorado in 2006. In her free time, she enjoys running, skiing, and spending time with family and friends.