UC

Unified Communications ROI Doesn’t Happen By Magic

I read an article recently that talked about the promise of cost savings with unified communications and that the ROI (return on investment) doesn't always pan out the way it does in the marketing brochure. I think the argument put...

Surviving Swine Flu Outbreak with UC

The United States government is warning schools and businesses to be prepared for a Swine Flu epidemic this Fall. VoIP and unified communications can be a critical component of business continuity...

UC Cuts Costs by 78% for Ohio Township

What happens when you're a large (the largest in the state) township in Ohio with an archaic, outdated communications infrastructure? In this economy, and in the state of Ohio in particular, money is not exactly flowing freely for IT projects. As I have mentioned repeatedly here though- an...

The Rising Risk of Toll Fraud

Toll fraud is not new. Toll fraud has existed in some form, more or less, since telecom providers have charged customers for placing calls. But, just as technology and the computer / Internet revolution have streamlined productivity and helped people to work more efficiently, it provides the same...

Windows Mobile 6.5 a Tad Underwhelming To Some

I have used some form of Windows Mobile phone for almost 4 years. During that time, I did flirt briefly with the iPhone- trading my AT&T Tilt with my wife for her iPhone for a few months. The iPhone had a coolness factor and some 'gee-whiz' bells and whistles, but I really missed having my...

SIP Trunking: The Key to Maximizing UC Benefits

VoIP and unified communications each have a lot of promise in and of themselves. They each deliver innovative tools that allow businesses to operate more effectively and efficiently. As the Executive Summary of this presentation states though, deploying UC is not without...

Using the Cloud to Accelerate UC Deployment

I will start by simply quoting from the presentation and letting it speak for itself:

Unified communications (UC) has been the main focus of the VoIP industry over the last few years. And over the last twelve months or so cloud computing has become a big driver of enterprise software....

Microsoft Pulls the Plug on Response Point

A couple of years ago Microsoft created an innovative team with the goal of thinking outside of the normal corporate bureaucracy of Microsoft and coming up with a communications system for SMB's (small and medium businesses). The result was the Response Point system. Response Point was a...

University Campuses Deploy Secure Unified Communications

In many respects comanies have it easy. Not that organizations don't struggle as well to keep systems as homogenous as possible, but some for some entities- such as college and university campuses- it is virtually impossible. Universities want to be connected and provide cutting edge services for...

Helping Customers Define Business Value

Microsoft has developed a tool, actually a collection of files including a customer questionnaire, the Excel-based Business Value Tool itself, and other supporting documentation, to help UC and voice partners explore and accelerate customer opportunities. It can be used to identify business...