Five essential benefits driving UC adoption by SMBs

Companies of all sizes are increasingly

being challenged to beat tight

operational schedules and meet

customer demands — all while walking

that tightrope of diminishing IT budgets

and limited staffing resources. As much

as technology has advanced in the last

few decades, there are still only 24

hours in a day.

That’s where Unified Communications (UC) comes into play.

What is

Unified Communications?Unified Communications (UC) allows an organization to

seamlessly integrate, or unify, its typical business processes

with both real-time communications (such as instant messaging/

chat, presence information, telephony/VoIP, call control, and video

conferencing) and non real-time communications (such as unified

messaging — integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax).

It is often assumedthat UC is a

single product

UC is actually made up of a set of products that provides a

consistent, unified user interface and user experience across multiple

devices and media types. In its broadest sense UC can encompass

all forms of communications that are exchanged via the TCP/IP network.

Do more with less — with a solution that is easily managed

*Incorporate mobility to connect the

growing mobile and remote workforce

*Substantial savings on overall operating costs

*Significant uplift in customer service capabilities

*Move beyond basic functionality

Five essential benefits drivingUC adoption by SMBs

1Particularly important to smaller businesses is the ability to

implement any technology that provides enhanced functionality

while also being both affordable and relatively simple to manage.

As expected, smaller organizations typically have fewer or more

limited resources, from budgets to staffing, and a technology, as

is the case with a UC solution, is especially appealing if it enables

the organization to operate as a bigger business, but without

the same costs. UC is increasingly recognized as a technology

that allows SMBs to take advantage of proven increases in

productivity and functionality while realizing significant savings.

Do more with less — with asolution that is easily managed.

“SMB buyers require simplicity and intuitive use in their UC solutions.

Simplicity requirements extend through multiple stages (or touchpoints)

of the UC acquisition — from initial consideration

through ongoing maintenance and management

of the UC environment. SMBs will favor working

with providers (typically via their channel partners)

that can demonstrate the solutions’ ease of use

early on in the sales cycle. Full-featured UC

functionality can be positioned, but solutions that require complex

integrations will be less favored than solutions that can easily be

deployed with a minimal cutover time.”*

*Gartner, Marketscope Report Magic Quadrant for Corporate Telephony, 9/15/11Written by: Jay Lassman, Steve Blood, Geoff Johnson

Industry analyst, Gartner, points out inGartner Marketscope Report:Magic Quadrant for Corporate Telephony...

Digium, ShoreTel and Microsoft are positioned in the Visionaries

Quadrant of Gartner, Inc.’s 2011 Magic Quadrant for

Corporate Telephony report.)

2An office is just about anywhere you need it to be, today,

and it is increasingly important for remote and mobile workers to

access the same phone system features, whether working form

a desktop or a mobile device. By implementing a UC solution,

it makes it easy to stay connected to customers and prospects,

from any location, from any device. It also provides flexibility in

managing off-site employees, using features like presence and

conferencing, and having additional monitoring capabilities.

Implementing a

UC solution makes

it easy to stay

connected to

customers and

prospects, from

any location,

from any device.

Incorporate mobility to connect the growing mobile and remote workforce

Important elementsof a mobility feature in aUC solution include:

* fixed mobile convergence and find me/follow me call capabilities

* mobile applications for iPhone, Blackberry and Android

* having access to company directories from any device

* the ability to make calls from your mobile device as if it is from your office extension

* the capability to transfer and record calls from your mobile phone to another number or extension too.

* Look for UC solutions that offer this as an included basic feature; you should not have to pay extra for the capability.

3One of the greatest benefits of implementing the right UC

solution is taking advantage of the cost savings it provides.

This includes both savings on the initial cost of the system, as

well as savings on the long-term costs that lead to a good

Return on Investment (ROI). To achieve the greatest opportunities

for savings, it’s important to understand how to accurately

compare vendor quotes. It’s easy to look at multiple quotes from

UC vendors and assume that the final cost quoted includes the

same parameters. But not all UC solutions are created equal,

and not all UC vendors can offer the same cost savings.

Another way to help SMBs achieve cost savings is to consider

using a hosted solution which provides UC features in the cloud.

Substantial savingson overall operating costs.

SMBs need to be aware of key differences

in quotes that can add thousands of dollars

to the cost of implementing UC solutions —

both in near-term and long-term costs, and in

both hard and soft costs. For example, many

vendors offer a quote for base features, but the

business-critical features that an SMB needs,

and the the features that make UC so useful

— like mobility and third-party integration,

require an additional fee. Licensing fees also

often drive up costs, as well as maintenance

and upgrade costs, down the road.

To get a trueapples-to-apples comparison...

4Significant uplift incustomer service capabilities

The right UC solution should be more than a phone system,

it should be a better communications system that provides

improved operational efficiency. A quality UC solution allows

SMBs to serve customers more effectively using features such as

call queues and IVRs, for example. SMBs should be able to use a

UC solution to know more about every incoming call, in order to

route each call appropriately, ensuring there are no more missed

calls or lack of visibility.

Jobbers Warehouse Supply (JPW) is a leader in the automotive

aftermarket. This established SMB needed a UC system that would

allow them to prioritize incoming calls from their customer base.

The UC solution that JPW selected offered an intuitive, user-friendly

web interface that allows the operator to drag-and-drop calls while

chatting online with co-workers, conferring over calls, reciprocating

requests, and assigning instructions.

JPW was able to get an integrated customizable database software using

SugarCRM, with two inbound call queues. The customer service agent

simply clicks a selection box next to the customer name in SugarCRM to

set a “preferred”, “general”, or “new customer” status, which determines

into which of the queues the calls are routed. General callers move into

the non-priority cue and remain on hold while preferred status callers

move into the priority cue and take precedence.

“At JPW, 80 percent of ourrevenues come from 20

percent of our clients, and werequired a solution that would

facilitate priority treatmentfor that reigning minority.”

Tom Marks,CEO, JPW

FOR EXAMPLE:

Jobbers Warehouse Supply

5Too often, SMBs evaluate new technologies based on

whether or not the system can meet the organization’s

current needs — in reference to both basic features included

with the technology and in reference to the current size and

structure of the business. That type of decision can cost an SMB

thousands of dollars in future upgrade costs. “Future expansion,”

may not mean something as extensive as expanding physical

locations; it could be as simple as adding or moving an employee.

The right UC solution allows SMBs a flexible system that provides

extended functionality and that will grow with the business.

Move beyond basic functionality

When evaluating UC solutions, consider systems that can:

* Easily accommodate future growth/operations needs of the business, without an additional, heavy investment down the road

* Systems that include detailed reporting options that provide business-critical information about business operations and customer needs

* Ability to integrate with third-party business applications,

such as CRM, for a better user experience

ConclusionThe adoption of UC solutions by SMBs is being driven

by far more than a current trend in the marketplace.

UC is a business communications solution that meets

critical business needs for organizations of all sizes.

UC can be a competitive advantage for businesses

that need a single system to manage multiple tools and

platforms. UC allows businesses to be more productive,

enhance customer service capabilities, and offer

substantial near- and long-term cost savings.

In an effort to provide a similar solution accessible to everyone, Digium offers Switchvox — a full Unified Communicationssolution, built on the power of Asterisk.

Switchvox is a business phone system specifically

developed for small- and mid-sized businesses

and organizations that want the power of the open

source Asterisk solution, but without the need for

custom development skills for installation. The

advanced features, ease-of-use, and simple out-of-

the-box setup make Switchvox an ideal solution for

organizations with limited technical staff.

A full-featured UC solution, fueled by the innovation

of open source technology and open standards,

Switchvox allows users to integrate their phone

system with their existing networks and get all of

the advanced features they need at a price they can

afford. Most importantly, by using Asterisk open

source software as the foundation for Switchvox,

Digium is able to provide a communications system

with superior capabilities for a fraction of the cost of

proprietary systems.

Digium’s Switchvox solution delivers UC features

everywhere you need it: on-site, in the cloud, and

with mobile.

Switchvox®. Digium’s Powerful UC Solution

Digium®. We’re changing the way businesses communicate.Want more informationon Switchvox? Take a virtual tour ofthis powerful UnifiedCommunications platform:www.digium.com/switchvox

Contact us — we’re here to help.Talk with a Switchvox specialist: 1 877 344 48611 256 428 6271sales@digium.com

Founded in 1999, Digium is the creator and primary developer of Asterisk, the industry’s first open source telephony platform. More than one million customers in 125 countries have deployed Asterisk-based systems. Digium is committed to ending the days of expensive, proprietary telecom. The Switchvox family of Unified Communications solutions is built on Asterisk and is designed to provide enterprise class features at affordable prices for small and medium businesses.

The award-winning line of Switchvox IP PBX phone systems provides more than a phone system — it delivers a Unified Communications platform that integrates multiple features that increase productivity and lower monthly communication costs. It’s the affordable solution with a proven return on investment for businesseswith 10 to 400 users.

Learn more at digium.com/switchvox

Copyright © 2013 Digium, Inc. All rights reserved. Digium, Asterisk and Switchvox are trademarks of Digium, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.