Unified Communications

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  • Insight Now Offers 8x8 Cloud Solutions - UCStrategies

    UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS - Google News
    24 May 2013 | 6:49 am
    Insight Now Offers 8x8 Cloud SolutionsUCStrategiesInsight Enterprises, Inc. has expanded the offerings of its InsightCloud Solutions Center with the addition of 8x8 cloud communications solutions. With 8x8 cloud communications services now made available to Insight clients, they can then subscribe to

  • ProfitBricks: Where InfiniBand Meets Cloud 2.0

    Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com
    22 May 2013 | 6:46 am
    In a recent meeting with William Toll and Pete Johnson of ProfitBricks, the pair were ecstatic to explain how their company has developed public cloud 2.0 – in other words this is not your father’s cloud. Now you might be thinking cloud is cloud is cloud – especially when it comes to the public variety but the company thinks differently and they make a compelling case as to why their solution is far better. Part of the reason is structural – using InfiniBand – a switched fabric communications link which can transfer data 40-80x faster than traditional solutions,…

  • WebRTC Screen Sharing Using Openfire

    VoIP & Gadgets Blog
    14 May 2013 | 10:58 am
    I've written about WebRTC screen sharing, but today I came across another WebRTC screen sharing solution leveraging Openfire and using WebSockets and JingleNodes (XMPP) plugins. If you're not familiar with Openfire, it's a real time collaboration (RTC) server licensed under the Open Source Apache License. It uses the only widely adopted open protocol for instant messaging, XMPP (also called Jabber).Code as simple as this allows you to share any video device, whether it's your webcam or your screen: navigator.webkitGetUserMedia(     video:mandatory: chromeMediaSource: 'screen',…

  • Mobile Tech Finds Wine in No Time with New OCR Integration into Vivino App

    Comunicano
    Danielle Ross
    23 May 2013 | 9:31 am
    Scan Success Rate of 86 Percent Now Achieved for 13M Wine Labels in Growing Vivino Database  Copenhagen, Denmark (May 23, 2013) — Vivino, the highest ranked wine app in the U.S. App Store, has integrated new Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to improve the service’s overall match rate. One year ago, 48 percent of wine labels were successfully matched. Today, that match rate increased to 86 percent due to the improved OCR technology. Vivino is the wine app for wine lovers and offers an easy way to discover, rate and share wines tasted. Users simply snap a photo of a wine…

  • More sources say Intel Atom to power Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3

    GigaOM
    Kevin C. Tofel
    25 May 2013 | 1:17 pm
    Intel has scored a mobile win with Samsung and will power at least one Galaxy tablet in the near future says VentureBeat. The site’s sources on Saturday confirmed our own reports from earlier this week when benchmarks of an Intel-powered Galaxy Tab appeared online. There could be several tablet variants from Samsung and others could use Samsung’s own chip. Even if Intel powers just one Android tablet made by Samsung, it would be big for the Intel Atom team. Since debuting the Atom chip five years ago, it has typically been used in low-end PCs such as netbooks. Over the past year,…
 
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    Communications and Technology Blog - Tehrani.com

  • ProfitBricks: Where InfiniBand Meets Cloud 2.0

    22 May 2013 | 6:46 am
    In a recent meeting with William Toll and Pete Johnson of ProfitBricks, the pair were ecstatic to explain how their company has developed public cloud 2.0 – in other words this is not your father’s cloud. Now you might be thinking cloud is cloud is cloud – especially when it comes to the public variety but the company thinks differently and they make a compelling case as to why their solution is far better. Part of the reason is structural – using InfiniBand – a switched fabric communications link which can transfer data 40-80x faster than traditional solutions,…

  • Emerging Threats Combats a Million Plus Pieces of New Malware a Week

    17 May 2013 | 2:58 pm
    There are 250,000 plus new pieces of malware being produced each day equating to one piece per person in the US in just over three and a half years. The question is, what do you do with this onslaught of algorithms which are written with malicious intent in mind? One company, Emerging Threats thinks they can help with part of the equation… Identification of the sites which are compromised. I recently met with the company at Interop in Las Vegas to learn about their IP and domain intelligence solutions ETPro Ruleset for IDS/IPS and IQRisk Suite for IDS/IPS, Firewalls, SIEMs and DNS. The…

  • NFV-Based Software Telcos Need OSS/BSS Interoperability

    17 May 2013 | 12:16 pm
    One of the goals of ETSI NFV is to allow new entrants to provide solutions to carriers based on software instead of hardware. CSPs hope they can take advantage of the same network efficiencies they see in their data centers in their core networks. In this brave new world of software, there will be lots of opportunity and challenges as well. For example how do OSS/BSS systems manage new services provided by new entrants? Of course incumbent players will be in the game as well and we can expect more interoperability of systems in the near future. This will become a necessity as carriers will…

  • SysAid's Lifshitz: The Cloud Will Dominate ITSM Market

    16 May 2013 | 2:01 pm
    Cloud computing has really become a household word with mainstream media outlets running stories on television about the growth in the space as recently as today. In the tech world, we are no stranger to this move as it has been taking place steadily for over a decade but with an extremely accelerated pace these last few years. The IT service management market is no exception and one vendor in the space, SysAid has made an aggressive prediction about the intersection of cloud and ITSM. SysAid’s Founder and Chairman, Israel Lifshitz says his company is leading the push to cloud-based…

  • Avaya Takes Networking Lead in SPB

    15 May 2013 | 4:19 pm
    At Interop Las Vegas 2013 Avaya was demonstrating their real-world Shortest Path Bridging (SPB) solutions and while interoperating with Spirent, HP and Alcatel-Lucent. Many of you will remember when Avaya was actually the enterprise division of Lucent before the company spun off just over twelve years ago. Randy Cross the company’s director of PLM discussed how there is a rapid move to software in the networking market and SPB is an evolution of MPLS allowing services to be created dynamically on the server where the applications reside or on the switches nearest the users. This is one…
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    VoIP & Gadgets Blog

  • WebRTC Screen Sharing Using Openfire

    14 May 2013 | 10:58 am
    I've written about WebRTC screen sharing, but today I came across another WebRTC screen sharing solution leveraging Openfire and using WebSockets and JingleNodes (XMPP) plugins. If you're not familiar with Openfire, it's a real time collaboration (RTC) server licensed under the Open Source Apache License. It uses the only widely adopted open protocol for instant messaging, XMPP (also called Jabber).Code as simple as this allows you to share any video device, whether it's your webcam or your screen: navigator.webkitGetUserMedia(     video:mandatory: chromeMediaSource: 'screen',…

  • Logitech Wireless Headset H820e Review

    9 May 2013 | 2:54 pm
    The Logitech Wireless Headset H820e targets the UC space nicely, sporting an amazing 300 foot wireless range, call indicator LED to let co-workers know you're on the phone, and wideband audio. The H820e is available in mono and dual versions and I took the dual version for a spin.After initially charging up the headset I made a test call using Skype. After putting on the headset the first thing I noticed was how well this headset seems to block out ambient noise. They did a good job with the speaker padding and it's also worth mentioning they were kind enough to put padding on the underside…

  • Nokia Lumia 928 Camera Shootout Against Galaxy S III & iPhone 5

    8 May 2013 | 7:29 am
    Nokia put up some comparison footage from the PureView 8.7MP camera of the Nokia's Lumia 928, which is rumored to be the Verizon version of the popular AT&T Nokia Lumia 920. The video shows how it compares against the iPhone 5 and Samsung’s Galaxy S III when capturing video on a New York roller coaster. The results show the 928's superior color saturation, sharper focus and fewer overexposures from bright light sources than the competition. You can see how well the optical image stabilization works in the Lumia 920 by checking out this article and video.The website also confirms…

  • SIP Trunking - What You Don't Know Could Cost You!

    30 Apr 2013 | 7:25 am
    SIP trunking is one of the best ways for businesses to save money on telecom costs, but it's not without its pitfalls, including: not all SIP trunking providers are created equal, latency / QoS issues, SLAs, and more. If you are the decision maker trusting your critical business phone calls it's perhaps easier to choose an expensive PRI over SIP trunks because you know it will work. It's like the old adage "No one ever got fired for buying IBM", which was later adopter by Cisco. The fear of choosing a SIP trunk, even if it saves hundreds of dollars may be too much for a decision maker to put…

  • Vonage Mobile Adds Video Calls

    18 Apr 2013 | 8:48 am
    After 12 years as a voice-only business, Vonage is finally making its first foray into video conferencing with the announcement of free video calling for Vonage Mobile. The app now features voice & video calling, texting, photo sharing, and location sharing. Vonage Mobile video calling works over both Wi-Fi and 3G/4G and on Apple iOS and Android platforms. Features include the ability to toggle back-and-forth between video and voice, flip camera views and mute your call. The app also features limited time free calling to U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Tags: 35, 4g, android,…
 
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    Comunicano

  • Mobile Tech Finds Wine in No Time with New OCR Integration into Vivino App

    Danielle Ross
    23 May 2013 | 9:31 am
    Scan Success Rate of 86 Percent Now Achieved for 13M Wine Labels in Growing Vivino Database  Copenhagen, Denmark (May 23, 2013) — Vivino, the highest ranked wine app in the U.S. App Store, has integrated new Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology to improve the service’s overall match rate. One year ago, 48 percent of wine labels were successfully matched. Today, that match rate increased to 86 percent due to the improved OCR technology. Vivino is the wine app for wine lovers and offers an easy way to discover, rate and share wines tasted. Users simply snap a photo of a wine…

  • Phone.com Named Finalist For the Garden State Entrepreneur Excellence Award

    Danielle Ross
    21 May 2013 | 1:50 pm
    NEWARK, N.J. – May 20, 2013 - Phone.com, a cloud-based phone company focused on small businesses and entrepreneurs, was named a finalist for the Garden State Entrepreneur Excellence Award. This is the first year the award has been given. The New Jersey Chapter of Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO) and The Star-Ledger and NJ.com have partnered to create the first annual Garden State Entrepreneur Excellence Award to honor New Jersey-based companies that exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit of the state. The award allows area entrepreneurs the chance to be recognized by highlighting their…

  • Truphone First to Offer Shared International Mobile Plans for Business

    Adrianne Buchta
    20 May 2013 | 9:05 pm
    International Minutes, Messages and Megabytes All in One Rate Bundle Las Vegas  – May 21, 2013 – Truphone today became the first mobile operator to offer shared international mobile service plans for data, text and voice.  The plans allow businesses with employees based abroad and with employees traveling internationally to share local minutes, messages and megabytes from a single bundle when in the ‘Truphone Zone.’    Business customers will enjoy shared mobile usage at home in the USA and feel at home in Australia, Hong Kong, the Netherlands and the United…

  • Infographic: Adaptxt® Keyboard App for Android Can Save Legal Professionals Nearly $1,000 with Industry-Specific Dictionary

    Danielle Ross
    20 May 2013 | 6:00 am
    SAN JOSE, Calif. (May 20, 2013) — When legal professionals must manually enter specialized words on their Android smartphones or tablets, the wasted productivity can be close to $1,000 per person. KeyPoint Technologies’ Adaptxt smart keyboard app eliminates that waste by providing 35 industry-specific dictionaries, a selection that no other stock keyboard or keyboard app can match. For each industry, KeyPoint works with top linguists to handcraft specialized dictionaries, eliminating the need for Adaptxt users to create their own custom dictionaries for their professions and avoiding the…

  • iotum Announces Acquisition of Freeconference.Com to Expand Its Web-based Audio Conferencing Services

    Danielle Ross
    15 May 2013 | 8:23 am
    TORONTO, May 15, 2013 – iotum, operator of the popular and versatile teleconferencing service Calliflower.com for small business, today announced it is expanding with the acquisition of California-based Global Conference Partners, provider of FreeConference.com and associated teleconferencing services.  Jason Martin, president and CEO, said iotum is acquiring all of the assets of Global Conference Partners, a portfolio company of American Capital, Ltd. (NASDAQ: ACAS).  In addition to FreeConference.com, the transaction includes InstantConference.com, GlobalConference.com and…
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    GigaOM

  • More sources say Intel Atom to power Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3

    Kevin C. Tofel
    25 May 2013 | 1:17 pm
    Intel has scored a mobile win with Samsung and will power at least one Galaxy tablet in the near future says VentureBeat. The site’s sources on Saturday confirmed our own reports from earlier this week when benchmarks of an Intel-powered Galaxy Tab appeared online. There could be several tablet variants from Samsung and others could use Samsung’s own chip. Even if Intel powers just one Android tablet made by Samsung, it would be big for the Intel Atom team. Since debuting the Atom chip five years ago, it has typically been used in low-end PCs such as netbooks. Over the past year,…

  • Who needs investors! Why many startups should bootstrap instead

    Andrew Gazdecki, Guest Contributor
    25 May 2013 | 12:00 pm
    With 500 Startups Accelerator’s new class introduction video and its notorious chant, you can’t help but wonder if the current system for funding startups is really the best route to building lasting companies. Some even believe that the funding-centric mindset of startups in Silicon Valley is toxic. I couldn’t agree more. Which is why, other than some modest help, we opted to not pursue investors for our company and go it alone instead. I’m convinced that for a lot of startups (though certainly not all) choosing to bootstrap instead of  searching out VC money is…

  • It’s a trap! Publishers crave an alternative to Google’s adtech “Death Star”

    Rags Gupta, Guest Contributor
    25 May 2013 | 10:30 am
    “We’d like an end-to-end solution that isn’t Google.” That’s one of the more candid lines I’ve heard in the past several months since I’ve been on the front lines in adtech. The plea came from someone at a major European video publisher after being asked about their adtech vision and requirements. It put into stark relief the dilemma that publishers now face. The world of adtech has become increasingly complex and hard to navigate. The parts of the value chain rendered by the (in)famous Lumascape have been increasingly atomized: There’s ad serving, data/DMP, SSPs,…

  • How to create your own audiobooks

    Geoffrey Goetz
    25 May 2013 | 9:00 am
    There are many reasons you may want to create your own audiobook: Perhaps you are the author of your own book and want a version of your book spoken in your own words. You can even create an audio only version of a favorite family story spoken by the person that lived through the event and pass it down from one generation to the next.  For me it was a chance to capture my children’s voices while reading their favorite stories and nursery rhymes (for personal use, not for reselling of course).  Now when they grow up, they can play them back to their own children. Whatever your…

  • Vine, hip-hop and the future of video sharing: old rap songs and new copyright rules

    Jeff John Roberts
    25 May 2013 | 8:00 am
    What does video tool Vine have in common with iconic rappers like the Beastie Boys and the Notorious BIG? More than you think. Like hip-hop, Vine is way to sample and collect culture — and it may have to run the same legal gambit that rappers did a decade ago. If you haven’t tried it, Vine is a tool to make looping, six-second video clips and post them on social media or a website. The company, which is owned by Twitter, launched in January and its videos have already become a part of the Tribeca Film Festival, the U.S. Senate and major marketing campaigns. A new video mash-up…
 
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    IP Carrier

  • Disruptive Internet Access

    Gary Kim
    24 May 2013 | 4:51 pm
    Internet service providers many places in the world must operate disruptively, simply because they cannot afford to invest as much as has been the case in the tier one service provider business and also typically must operate at challenging levels as well. That means creating services at vastly lower costs, faster than possible in the past, and sometimes designing networks that operate very differently from networks traditionally built to provide communications services, as well as operating at far lower costs. None of that is to deride the role mobile service providers are likely to play as…

  • Price, Not Availability, is 100-Mbps Problem

    Gary Kim
    23 May 2013 | 3:50 pm
    The real problem with very high speed (100 Mbps or higher) Internet access in the United States is the cost, not the availability, one might argue. Some 82 percent of U.S. homes can buy Internet access of speeds of at least 100 Mbps, from a cable operator. About 18 percent of homes can buy fiber to home services Vectored DSLmight allow many telcos to offer 50 Mbps to 100 Mbps, even if fiber is not pulled all the way to the home. At least 235 U.S. service providers offer services at 50 Mbps or more, 136 offer 100 Mbps or more and 64 offer gigabit speeds. Most of the 100 Mbps and gigabit…

  • Gigabit Access Availability Grew 300% from 2010 to 2012

    Gary Kim
    23 May 2013 | 11:52 am
    The availability of 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps Internet access services grew the fastest, from 2010 to 2012, according to a new study by the  National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Though growing from a low base, availability of 1-Gbps services grew nearly 300 percent between 2010 and 2012. Availability fo 100 Mbps services grew even more: 448 percent between 2010 and 2012. Availability of 50 Mbps services grew 160 percent between 2010 and 2012. Services operating at 25 Mbps, arguably the speeds most consumers tend to buy, grew about 57 percent, in terms of…

  • If You Want High Take Rates for High Speed Access, Price Matters

    Gary Kim
    23 May 2013 | 5:03 am
    Price matters, Verizon has found. By making it easy for consumers to upgrade FiOS Quantum high speed access services to 50 Mbps for an incremental $10 or $20 a month, Verizon is seeing a "huge take rate," said Fran Shammo, Verizon Communications CFO. "With the tools that we have with FiOS and delivering messages to our consumers on the TV or on their broadband connection, that they have the ability to just click and upgrade to 50 megabits for an extra $10, we are seeing a huge take rate on that click," Shammo said. To be sure, Verizon often has very good reasons for wanting customers to…

  • Top Countries for Mobile Payments Potential

    Gary Kim
    22 May 2013 | 12:55 pm
    Singapore, Canada, the United States, Kenya, South Korea, Japan and the United Kingdom are among the countries where mobile payments are poised to get traction, according to Business Insider The index measures the ability to completely replace use of credit and debit cards with mobile devices. But each of the countries ranks high in terms of readiness for different reasons. Access is where Singapore shines. It  has 100 percent mobile coverage, while 70 percent of the nation’s residents have internet access and 68 percent own a mobile phone. Canada, according to MasterCard, has the best…
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    Mark Collier's VoIP/UC Security Blog

  • Massive Scan of the Internet for SIP Servers

    voipsecurityblog
    23 May 2013 | 9:58 pm
    Here is a link to a presentation for an analysis of a recent, massive scan of the entire IPV4 address range for SIP servers: https://www.usenix.org/conference/lisa12/analysis-internet-wide-stealth-scan-botnet So what is the motive of the individual/group doing the scanning? It could be a lot of things, but there is a good chance the scanner was looking for SIP servers to use to freely originate calls into the network for a variety of attacks, including voice SPAM, voice phishing, Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS), and possibly toll fraud (inbound calls that hairpin out to premium numbers). I…

  • Small Business Hit with $600,000 of Dial Through Fraud

    voipsecurityblog
    20 May 2013 | 1:50 pm
    A small business, a Remax realtor, was hit with $600,000 of Dial Through Fraud (DTF). I included an article below: http://www.missourinet.com/2013/05/16/remax-office-owner-hit-by-phone-fraud-600000-bill/ The article does not give any details about the attack, but I bet the attacker exploited the victim's PBX and then generated a ton of inbound calls, which hair pinned out to premium numbers. I discussed this attack method in an April 12th post. Again, DTF/Toll Fraud is still a big issue - attackers set up premium numbers and then generate traffic to the numbers, through this hairpin…

  • Lots of Press on Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS)

    voipsecurityblog
    17 Apr 2013 | 7:08 am
     There has been a ton of press lately about Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS). There are real attacks occuring against 911 centers and financial contact centers. The targets are getting flooded with malicious calls that prevent legitmate users from accessing critical emergency or financial services. I will provide posts about the actual attacks and methods of attack mitigation. Interestingly, I am wrapping up a chapter on the new Hacking Exposed: VoIP and UC on this exact topic. For now, here is a list of recent articles: nakedSecurity Krebs on Security VoIPSA Threatpost TMC CSO Online…

  • Dial Through Fraud (DTF)/Toll Fraud Attack Using Robocalls

    voipsecurityblog
    12 Apr 2013 | 6:20 am
    Here is a video describing a Dial Through Fraud (DTF) attack. DTF is a form of toll fraud, there the attacker dials into a compromised PBX, gains dial tone, and then dials a new destination, usually an international number. They "hairpin" though the PBX. The destination is often a premium number and the attacker is using the compromised PBX as a way of generating traffic and revenue. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p017fb0c This attack is interesting because it shows how inbound call or robocall generation can be used for DTF and toll fraud. First someone compromises an IP PBX so…

  • SecureLogix White Paper on Telephony Denial of Service (TDoS)

    voipsecurityblog
    11 Apr 2013 | 7:55 pm
    Here is a brief white paper by SecureLogix on Telephony Denial of Servie (TDoS). Check it out. Download TDoS_paper_4-11-13
 
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    UCStrategies Blog | UCStrategies Blog

  • WebRTC -Calls Still Take “Two-to-Tango,” Regardless Of The Network Connection

    Art Rosenberg
    23 May 2013 | 9:37 am
    Real-time, synchronous communications i.e., voice and video conversations, require the communicating parties to be “available” and connected. This also means that when a contact initiator exercises a “click-to-call” action from any form of “contextual” informational data (directory, message, document, etc.), that doesn’t guarantee the recipient will necessarily be able to talk. This is becoming even more of a problem as people become more mobile, and  their current situation determines how they can communicate at the moment. That has always been the…

  • Mobile Customer Services Opportunities Discussed At UC Summit 2013

    Art Rosenberg
    9 May 2013 | 5:06 pm
    This year’s UC Summit, which took place last week, was well received by the invited audience of VARs, SIs, and Consultants. Some of the details have been reported in various venues, but the overall consensus was that there was “a lot of value-add meat on the UC bones.” This year, the UC Summit devoted a special session to UC in the contact center, with Blair Pleasant, Don Van Doren, and myself presenting our views on new value-add opportunities for channel partners and independent consultants to generate new revenues from clients. My particular focus was on the impact of multi-modal…

  • Multi-modal Messaging Will Dominate Mobile Communications

    Art Rosenberg
    27 Apr 2013 | 1:21 pm
    As wired telephony becomes subsumed by IP-based, mobile unified communications (UC), we are seeing a big increase in messaging communications. That includes person-to-person contacts, automated notifications from business applications, and community-based posting of “social messaging.” What is most important, however, is that all modes of messaging contact are becoming “unified” and must support both sender and recipient functional needs. This change will be particularly welcomed in business communications, where the limitations of PSTN telephony and voicemail did not allow end users…

  • Mobile UC Hits The Contact Center

    Art Rosenberg
    12 Apr 2013 | 10:14 am
    Although there has been a concerted effort by technology vendors to highlight the productivity benefits of UC for internal users through collaborative, person-to-person real-time contacts, I have always viewed the potential of Mobile UC as being of even more value when applied to customer services and contact center applications. This perspective will be presented at the upcoming UC Summit 2013, April 28-May 1, in La Jolla, CA, where I will be joining my colleagues, Blair Pleasant and Don Van Doren, in talking about the new opportunities for VARs, SIs, and Consultants in implementing UC for…

  • Interactive Intelligence Rolling Out New “All-In-One” Customer Services

    Art Rosenberg
    2 Apr 2013 | 10:33 am
    I’ve been writing about my perspective of UC and contact centers for a long time, and those of you who’ve been following my articles will note that I describe contact center applications as becoming high-value applications that are benefiting from consumer BYOD, UC-enablement, and “cloud” services. Customer services used to be locked in together in different technology platforms that were difficult to integrate. As a result, only big organizations could afford to invest and support implementing all the pieces involved with legacy telephony call centers. Because, of contact center…
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    Unified-View

  • ShoreTel Joins Mobile UC At The Desktop

    6 May 2013 | 2:20 pm
    By Art Rosenberg, The Unified-View/ UC Strategies ExpertWhether you like it or not, all your employees are consumers too, and they are all going to be carrying around their own personal smartphones at work. They may also be carrying tablets in place of bulky laptops to access “cloud”- based applications when on the go. The issue now is, - how can that fact of life be accepted to improve multi-modal business communications while also minimizing communication costs.The need for flexibility in business communications has always been driven primarily by end user mobility. Legacy desktop…

  • UC Opportunities For VARs, SIs, Consultants at UC Summit

    11 Apr 2013 | 4:17 pm
    April 11 2013By Art Rosenberg, The Unified-View/ UC Strategies ExpertAs I highlighted in my recent post, UC is becoming a key factor in next generation contact centers that must now support mobile consumers. This direction was reinforced at the very successful Enterprise Connect show, where Voxeo, an innovative provider of self-service application development technology, was judged “Best of Show.”  While person-to-person business communications are still important, there are huge benefits to be realized from the fact that consumers are rapidly becoming both mobile and multi-modal,…

  • “Unified Customer Services” For Digital And Mobile Consumers

    4 Apr 2013 | 8:54 am
    By Art Rosenberg, The Unified-View/ UC Strategies ExpertWe are finally seeing unified communications (UC) finally taking over customer interactions. This means that every size organization, in every type of market segment, must be prepared to support consumers/customers with the flexibility of UC for all types of interactions. What is bringing new impetus to this shift in business communications are three key factors:·        Mobile consumer devices - Multi-modal mobile devices, like smartphones and tablets, have expanded convenient and fast direct consumer…

  • Moving To Mobile Customer Service

    27 Feb 2013 | 12:27 pm
    By Art Rosenberg, The Unified-View/ UC Strategies ExpertCustomer service is changing dramatically as consumers become more mobile and have greater direct access to online information and services. Organizations, both large enterprises and small businesses, will all be affected by the impact of multi-modal smartphones and tablets on traditional telephone-based interactions.As confirmed in many recent market studies, mobile customers are now expecting:·        More access to mobile online self-services ·        Pro-active…

  • Telework Dumped By New Yahoo CEO

    25 Feb 2013 | 5:28 pm
    Copyright (C) Unified-View, All Rights Reserved.I admit I was very surprised to read about Yahoo's new CEO, Marisssa Mayer, stopping employee's from working away from the office because it doesn't support good "collaboration." Like around the water cooler or at lunch, etc.?Read comments about this at:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/25/richard-branson-yahoo-marissa-mayer_n_2759243.html This story reminds me of a similar experience that I had in the early days of developing online time-sharing services for the ARPAnet, a precursor of the Internet and the World Wide Web. One of the…
 
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    UCStrategies.com Articles Feed

  • Insight Now Offers 8x8 Cloud Solutions

    UCStrategies Staff
    24 May 2013 | 6:40 am
    Insight Enterprises, Inc. has expanded the offerings of its InsightCloud Solutions Center with the addition of 8x8 cloud communications solutions.

  • Hyper-V from Dell with Windows Server 2012 Support for OpenStack

    UCStrategies Staff
    24 May 2013 | 6:35 am
    Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V will now be made available by Dell, who intend to use this as a hypervisor choice for the OpenStack cloud platform.

  • Ooma Expands Ooma Office with Small Business Phone System

    UCStrategies Staff
    24 May 2013 | 6:21 am
    Following the departure of Microsoft Response Point in 2009/ 2010 and the diminishing presence of Cisco small business phone systems, there has been a gap in meeting the demands of telecommunications in small business. Ooma is stepping up to fill this gap. Its new product, Ooma Office, offers an unlimited number of calls in the U.S. and Canada for $19.99 per month.

  • Agentless Contact Center Solutions

    Dave Michels
    23 May 2013 | 11:22 am
    What comes to mind with the term “customer self-service?” If you are currently thinking about “press 1 for this” or “press 2 for that,” it is time to rethink self-service. The modern IVR, like all aspects of UC, is multi-modal.

  • dinManage From dinCloud Streamlines Cloud Migration

    UCStrategies Staff
    23 May 2013 | 7:10 am
    A new cloud management platform called dinManage is now available through Los Angeles, California-based dinCloud, a cloud transformation company which assists organizations in moving their IT infrastructure to the cloud.
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    Plum Voice

  • The State of Social Media

    Lisa Marquez
    22 May 2013 | 2:46 pm
    Employers & Social Media Most employers are checking out potential hires’ social media profiles on sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Some companies even monitor their current employees’ online presence. The legality of this is for debate in several states, with legislation being proposed that would restrict or prohibit employers from requesting access to current or potential employees’ social media accounts. But according to the Wall Street Journal’s blog, employers have a whole new set of possible concerns to address when it comes to social media and networking sites. A new…

  • Social Media Updates

    Lisa Marquez
    22 May 2013 | 2:31 pm
    Many of us spend our days thinking about, writing about, discussing and using social media in its various permutations. The technology has undeniably become a critical element of both our personal and professional lives. But how do you keep up with the rapid and ever-changing landscape? What are Facebook’s most current privacy offering? What social network is growing most rapidly in the U.S.? Below are some of the most interesting current events and tidbits from the world of social media. Fluctuating Demographics Yesterday, Pew Research Center released the results of a study documenting how…

  • Flying High

    Lisa Marquez
    17 May 2013 | 9:48 am
    Soliciting consumer feedback is a critical practice for any business or organization, regardless of the industry in which they operate. Key elements of branding include understanding how you are perceived by the people you are trying to reach, what parts of your strategy succeed, and which could use improvement. Even the world’s airports are not exempt from this type of visitor input. The annual World Airport Awards survey travelers from 160 countries about their levels of passenger satisfaction as it relates to airports. There are 12 categories including the best domestic airport, the…

  • The Opposite of Customer Service

    Lisa Marquez
    15 May 2013 | 1:46 pm
    The story of Amy’s Baking Company Bakery Boutique, a restaurant located in Scottsdale, AZ, has taken the internet by storm and offers an excellent opportunity to reflect on behaviors that shouldn’t ever be a part of a company’s social media strategy. A short summary for anyone who hasn’t yet read about the incident: The restaurant was recently featured on the season finale of Kitchen Nightmares, a show helmed by Gordon Ramsey. Controversy erupted after Ramsey declared the restaurant’s situation unfixable. According to the Daily Beast: “the couple was so difficult that even the…

  • Is the Customer Always Right?

    Lisa Marquez
    10 May 2013 | 8:33 am
    Potentially one of the most popular business mottos of all time, the idea that the ‘customer is always right’ was popularized by department store retailers like Harry Selfridge and Marshall Field around the turn of the 20th century.  Since then, it has become a philosophy ingrained in our notion of customer service and satisfaction, but does this slogan hold true in any and all circumstances? On his blog Value Creator Brian Vellmure considers this very question.  Often we categorize our interactions with clients as “customer relationships.”  Per Vellmure: “As in any relationship,…
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    NFC World

  • NFC lamp post information service to launch in Tokyo

    Rian Boden
    24 May 2013 | 5:38 am
    One of the busiest commercial locations in Tokyo is to be equipped with an NFC-based information and advertising service. Internet advertising and social gaming company CyberAgent, in partnership with Shibuya Television and technology provider Toppan...Read the rest of NFC lamp post information service to launch in Tokyo at NFC World.

  • MC and Visa certify Dragonfly SIM

    Karl Dyer
    23 May 2013 | 8:06 am
    Oberthur Technologies' Dragonfly NFC SIM has received certification from MasterCard and Visa. The Dragonfly, which includes an "NFC Turbo Engine" hardware accelerator designed to shorten transaction times, is being tested by Thailand's largest mobile network...Read the rest of MC and Visa certify Dragonfly SIM at NFC World.

  • Samsung promotes NFC with Robbie Williams taxi cab competition

    Rian Boden
    22 May 2013 | 9:19 am
    Samsung has launched a campaign to give Robbie Williams fans the chance to meet the star by simply tapping NFC tags located in black cabs in three UK cities. For the campaign, run by VeriFone...Read the rest of Samsung promotes NFC with Robbie Williams taxi cab competition at NFC World.

  • Yebhi.com launches NFC and QR virtual stores in Indian coffee shops

    Rian Boden
    22 May 2013 | 8:22 am
    "With the virtual store, we are taking online shopping to the next level by touching base with our customers and allowing them to shop from anywhere, anytime," says the online fashion and lifestyle portal's Nikhil Rungta. Read the rest of Yebhi.com launches NFC and QR virtual stores in Indian coffee shops at NFC World.

  • Milan airport installs 50,000 NFC tags

    Karl Dyer
    22 May 2013 | 7:23 am
    Malpensa Airport in Milan, Italy, has installed a new maintenance system that uses NFC phones and a network of 50,000 NFC and RFID tags attached to equipment and systems around the airport — including fire...Read the rest of Milan airport installs 50,000 NFC tags at NFC World.
 
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    RingCentral Connect

  • Friday Five: 5 Surefire Ways to Boost Facebook Engagement

    Meaghan Edelstein
    24 May 2013 | 7:52 am
    Have you noticed a significant drop in engagement on your Facebook Page? If the answer is “Yes”, you’re not alone. With a simple Google search, you’ll find a lot of chatter around this very topic. There are several possibilities for the engagement decline: an increase in platform competition, a drop in Facebook users, a decline [...]The post Friday Five: 5 Surefire Ways to Boost Facebook Engagement appeared first on RingCentral Connect.

  • The Power of a Custom Voicemail Greeting: Giving Callers Another Chance to Reach You

    Divine Cabalfin
    23 May 2013 | 11:02 am
    “Press 9 for the Directory, 0 for the Operator, 7 for Customer Service or leave a message after the beep. ” That could be your custom voicemail greeting. Such a greeting can give your callers another chance to reach your staff, instead of being sent straight to voicemail when their calls go unanswered. In this [...]The post The Power of a Custom Voicemail Greeting: Giving Callers Another Chance to Reach You appeared first on RingCentral Connect.

  • What’s Compelling About Cloud Phone Service? Cost, Mobility, Flexibility Top the List

    Curtis Peterson
    22 May 2013 | 5:57 am
    Businesses are fed up with old-school on-premise phone systems’ limitations. But cloud phone services offer features that on-prem systems can’t – at attractive prices, to boot. RingCentral recently worked with Dimensional Research, an independent research firm, to poll about 300 corporate IT decision-makers. Among the survey respondents who are using a private branch exchange (PBX) [...]The post What’s Compelling About Cloud Phone Service? Cost, Mobility, Flexibility Top the List appeared first on RingCentral Connect.

  • The New RingCentral Support Center: Messages and Notifications for Users

    Ben Foster
    21 May 2013 | 9:47 am
    RingCentral provides notification options for faxes, fax transmission results, voicemails and more. Do you know how to configure notification settings the way you want? It’s easy to access message and notification settings at the user level. Once you’ve logged in to your RingCentral account, simply hover over Settings and select “My Settings”. You’ll see a [...]The post The New RingCentral Support Center: Messages and Notifications for Users appeared first on RingCentral Connect.

  • Cheat Sheet: The New RingCentral Softphone

    Ben Foster
    20 May 2013 | 11:18 am
    RingCentral introduced a revamped softphone late last year – it’s available as a free download to all RingCentral customers. (Note: you must be on the latest RingCentral platform to download the new softphone.) What does the new softphone do, and how has it been improved? Read on to find out! What’s the softphone for? The [...]The post Cheat Sheet: The New RingCentral Softphone appeared first on RingCentral Connect.
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    Aspect Blogs

  • Customer Service Lessons from a “Kitchen Nightmare”

    Tim Dreyer
    24 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    While Scottsdale, Ariz. was the site of many conversations at ACE this week about improving customer experiences, it also happened to be “ground zero” for the social media fallout that occurred after the airing of an episode of Kitchen Nightmares. Amy’s Baking Company, a small bistro with almost 100,000 Likes on Facebook, unwittingly served up a series of textbook examples showing how not to handle customer service issues. Kitchen Nightmares is a reality show that attempts to help turn the tide for struggling restaurant owners with guidance from renowned chef Gordon Ramsey, and for the…

  • Optimizing Your Back Office Performance

    Spence Mallder
    20 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    While often unseen by customers, the back office plays a crucial role in your business operations. The phrase “back office” originated from the placement of people who are fulfilling administrative tasks – way in the back, sight unseen. However, in today’s society where the customer controls the conversation and many issues are directly impacted by what happens in the back office, the traditional back office setup cannot be business as usual. Without the confidence that your back office can execute your mission, your front office is making promises that you can’t fulfill. And that…

  • When Good Data Goes Bad

    David Harper
    17 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    I have had a few interesting customer conversations as of late regarding data and data quality – and by data quality, I am not referring to free-text columns that would benefit from DQS, but rather data that is just WRONG.  I don’t think any employee, consultant, architect and so on ever goes into a project thinking “boy, I wonder how badly I can mess up this dataset,” but the sad reality is that far too often BI solutions produce less than accurate information.  I was meeting with a customer just a short time ago that had spent TWO years on a BI “adventure,” and in the…

  • Discover how to Maximize Your Unified IP Solution at ACE

    Christine OBrien
    15 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    Your customers now have you in the palms of their hands, at any time of the day, on any day of the year. Single channel communications that became multichannel are now omni-channel. Customers are now leading the charge in creating conversations that drive the relationship revolution. Companies today must be prepared to adapt and respond to the demands of today’s customers — or risk losing them forever. During ACE 2013, we’ll be talking about solutions your company can use to engage and interact with customers on all fronts. Unsure how to approach mobile? Attend our session,…

  • ERP, CRM and BPM vs. Business Process Optimization

    Alton Harewood
    13 May 2013 | 5:00 am
    When I speak to customers about business process optimization many have the initial reaction of, “isn’t this part of ERP or CRM?” or, “how does this differ from BPM?” They may be surprised to learn that these technologies are not synonymous. To explain, let’s talk for a moment about the high-level definitions and general use of ERP, CRM and BPM. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) provides a software framework for managing a company’s resources, orders, or other throughput requirements. ERP systems normally come with a preset number of capabilities and rules. Most ERP systems…
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