This article first appeared on Best in UC.

Every business is looking for ways to save a buck these days. For small and mid-sized businesses that haven’t yet made the leap, it may be time to embrace voice over IP (VoIP).

Why abandon your existing phone system? Easy:

• You will save money, not just now but into the future.
• You will simplify future phone maintenance, lowering costs of ownership.
• Your employees will be more productive.

But before you can realize these incredible cost savings and productivity enhancements, you need two things: an IP phone system and a VoIP service provider. Today, we’ll talk about the characteristics of a good VoIP service provider. First, let’s explore the basics of VoIP.

Traditional telephone networks are inherently inefficient. Because they were designed specifically for voice traffic, circuit-switched phone networks require a channel for each individual phone – even when it’s not in use. As a result, the network’s bandwidth is not being well-utilized.

In contrast, VoIP relies on a combined network for both voice and data communications. Internet Protocol (IP) integrates voice traffic into the company’s network, and bandwidth can be managed more effectively.

Some companies now specialize in providing VoIP service specifically for businesses. Choosing the right provider is key, since network problems can lead to poor call quality or – worse – phone network downtime. Before you buy, make sure you learn about the following:

• Quality of service. Businesses need business-class voice quality. This means there should not be disruptions such as jitter or echoes, much less dropped calls. Ensure that voice traffic receives a higher priority than other data on the network.
• Call rates. Here is where the rubber meets the road with VoIP. Shop the various calling plans for the best rates. By choosing the right provider, you can customize your phone service to create major savings. For example, some VoIP calling plans offer free international calls, free calls to certain countries and other money-saving options.
• Scalability. Look for a service provider that can grow with your business, easily adding and removing phone lines without hassles and penalties. Portability may be important for your company as well.
• Toll-free and local phone numbers. A growing number of VoIP providers allow clients to set up custom phone numbers. For example, you might have a local phone number in Chicago that rings your office in Los Angeles. You also need the ability to set up 800 numbers in the future.
• Customer support. Don’t assume that a VoIP provider has reliable customer service that is always available. Make sure there is real-time, 24×7 customer service available from real people. Test them by e-mailing or calling in the middle of the night or at peak business hours.
• Security and backup. It’s critical that your VoIP service provider has built-in redundancy and high-level security. Ask the company to explain its disaster plan.

Every business wants to improve productivity.

It might take a big transformation of processes, people or technology to create a dramatic productivity gain. But for companies that want a quick, inexpensive boost to their bottom line, there are small, simple improvements you can make right now.

Many of these productivity gains are facilitated by a unified communications system, while others could also be realized with a combination of alternative technologies. No matter your technology choice, however, asking your workforce to adopt new habits could make your office a more productive – and pleasant – place to work.

1. Instant messaging. This wonderful technology has gotten a bad rap over the last several years. Instant messaging can be a time-waster if employees abuse it to conduct personal conversations with people outside – or inside – your company. On the flip side, instant messaging can save a great deal of time, while also improving customer service. For example, employees can ask and answer quick questions without taking the time to call or email. Team members on a client call can provide one another with information – without the customer hearing every detail. Want to limit IM to employees? Use a messaging  solution that is folded into your unified communications solution.
2. Presence information. If you’ve used IM, you’ve seen an example of presence information. A colored dot next to the person’s name indicates whether they are online or offline. For those online, it shows if they are available, away or busy. On some VoIP phone systems, such as ShoreTel, similar presence information is available for both office and mobile phones. See a colleague is on the phone? Avoid making that call and send a text or IM. Need to transfer a customer to talk to someone else? Check the phone directory and find someone who is available – right now.
3. A directory that works. Many companies still rely on paper phone lists that show employees’ extensions. Others have an online version. In both cases, information quickly becomes out of date. With a unified communications solution, directory information is automatically updated as phone extensions are added or deleted. With some systems, such as the ShoreTel IP 655 phone, users can type in the first few letters of the first or last name to quickly find in-house contacts. Again, time and money are saved, both in administration and use.
4. Integrated mobile devices. When smartphones and other mobile devices are integrated with a company’s unified communications solution, mobile users carry quick access with them. From their mobile handset, users can reach their colleagues by dialing an extension. They can make and receive calls from their company phone number. Plus, they can transfer calls and look up contacts in the company directory. A good example of this technology is ShoreTel Mobility’s RoamAnywhere Client, which extends unified communications applications to a wide range of mobile handsets including BlackBerry, iPhone and Nokia.

A long-time player in the digital key system and hybrid PBX market, Toshiba has announced a new IP based system called IPedge.

The system is based on a Linux server and comes in three flavors: small, medium and large. The company claims to incorporate several applications into the Linux server, but then goes on to enumerate several apps that require additional servers such as call center, mobility and audio/web conferencing. Even unified communications, which is considered table stakes these days, is an option that does not come standard with the system.

Although the system is an all IP design, it can be networked to the legacy Strata CIX system if you want to install another system for digital phones. Analog capability is provided via a separate analog gateway. More stuff to manage?

It is frustrating that a new IP-based system is configured and sold the same old way key systems were sold decades ago. The IPedge comes in three different sizes, requiring forklift upgrades to move from a 20-seat system to a 200-seat switch to a 1,000-seat PBX. For a decade, other companies such as ShoreTel have provided seamless growth using modular appliances, negating the need to throw away components along the way.

Although Toshiba provides a way to network the systems together via SIP, you still end up with many individual systems strapped together, as opposed to a single system image managing multiple elements and sites. We have seen manufacturers consolidating more and more functionality into systems and eliminating stacks of servers, yet this “new” system will require four servers just for the functionality announced at the outset. To achieve redundancy, you need double that number.

There are, however, some bright spots in the announcement. These include Fixed Mobile Convergence for those with highly mobile workforces or buildings with poor cell coverage, conferencing that does not demand a desktop client or clumsy plug-in, and integrated voicemail, which eliminates at least one additional server.

It is curious that Toshiba would not incorporate many of the best features of a pure IP PBX into a new system developed from a clean sheet of paper. Their dealers have waited a long time for a more competitive product offering. Although the IPedge provides some of the capabilities customers have desired, the company missed the opportunity to bring a truly innovative system to market. Although they are a $60 billion technology behemoth, selling everything from laptops to TVs, that does not necessarily translate into a best-of-breed IP PBX.

This blog first appeared on Best in UC.

How can a business prospect, a client or other important person track you down? And how much effort is required on their part?

These questions are the impetus behind unified communications (UC). UC promises to make communications better, faster and cheaper.

Many potential UC customers push back at this idea. They like their mobile phone. Their email works just fine. So why jump to UC, which means learning a new way to communicate? For the answer, consider this example.

Years ago, an employee who joined a new company was typically given their own phone. They were issued a business card. The information on it was simple:

Bob Smith

Computer specialist

ABC Company

123 Main Street

Anytown, Texas 77777

234-5678, ext. 9

As time passed, a fax number was added to the card. Then, sometime in the 1990s or the first decade of the 2000s, an email address made an appearance as well.

Contrast that simple card with a business card or email signature you might see today:

Bob Smith – BSEE, MBA,CCXX, etc.

Complex Address, Inc., LLC

Working to Complicate Your IT Objectives

Ofc. 201-555-1212, Direct: 201-999-9999 Mbl. 202-987-6543

GOOGLE VOICE 234-987-6543

Fax 201-555-9870

AOL IM : bsmith10I Skype: bobbys

Microsoft IM: bobsmith

Folllow me on Facebook: bebopbob

Find me on Twittter: bob@smith

Not included are the various other social networking sites like Linked-In, Plaxco and more. Just how do you best reach this person, and how busy will they be checking the 17 avenues they have given the world to reach them? Will they have time for you ?

The promise of unified communications is to simplify all these communications methodologies, as well as provide a key component: presence. Presence tells the world (or at least your defined world) your identity and your current availability. The technologies have existed for some time. The key is utilizing them to make it simple for the individual to manage his connectivity and presence, and for the world at large to interact with him.

So how do you get from that complex business card above to a simple, easy-to-use UC solution? Over time, we’ve developed this formula:

• Start with a well-designed network infrastructure that can handle your bandwidth and grow with your needs.
• Ensure a solid security system and policy is in place.
• Install apps that are built around your business processes. This includes a well-designed UC solution that encompasses voice, video, messaging and collaboration.
• Train the team on administration and use of the system.

Following these four steps, you can transform your confusing email signature into something more understandable for others – and more easily managed by you.

This blog originally appeared on Best in UC.

There exists a running debate on the merits of an open standard corporate phone system. On one side are open source software offerings such as Asterisk. Battling against these more open formats are packaged, proprietary systems from major vendors such as ShoreTel, Avaya and Cisco.

Each approach has merit, and the buyer must decide between them by weighing the pros and cons for their particular situation. Surprisingly, size and scale often are not the determining factors. We have seen both open source and proprietary systems scale to many thousands of endpoints. And we have seen great successes and spectacular failures at both ends of the scale.

Westron has provided turnkey IP telephony and unified communications solutions to our clients for more than a decade. We started with the Cisco (formerly Celsius) platform and moving on to provide solutions from EADS Telecom (formerly Intecom, now Aastra), Nortel (was AT&T, then Lucent, now Avaya), and finally settling on the ShoreTel (still ShoreTel!) platform for most of our
client base.

On our journey, we have explored not only the technical solutions our clients required, but also the human engineering and varied degrees of support the systems required. Our business volume with ShoreTel saw a dramatic uptick in 2004, when John Combs became CEO of the San Jose-based company, and Joe Vitalone took over the role of vice president of sales for the Americas.

Both of these industry veterans helped Westron develop a laser-like focus on customer satisfaction, and our customer sat scores today hover in the 99% positive range as measured by a neutral third-party company. This has helped us grow our company at a brisk pace, increasing sales and profits far ahead of many of our competitors. And this passion for delighted customers has spilled over into all technology areas we support: network, wireless, video, mobility and IP telephony.

The standardization offered by ShoreTel and other vendors allows a consistent user experience, as well as a loyal and vocal end-customer base. With a semi-proprietary approach, we and the client are in control of:

• the types of endpoint devices attached to the system
• how training is conducted and maintained
• standards of use for all employees
• how software integration at the endpoints is rolled out and supported
• security, encryption, problem resolution, and speedy on-boarding of new personnel

I won’t argue that all of these items (which are measured in customer satisfaction surveys) cannot be attained with open source systems. We have found, however, that staffing and associated costs required to maintain, operate and support the users is consistently less with a purpose designed
system. In a word, it’s simpler.

Ah, that word: simple. Marketing flack is peppered with terms like “user-friendly,” “ease of use,”
“standard,” “out of the box,” and other platitudes. In reality, advanced technology is, well, advanced. As a result, it often confuses folks, rather than delivering the promised spectacular improvements in productivity, employee happiness, customer satisfaction, blood pressure, and executive pride.

There is a reason Apple succeeds: simplicity. Most of the open source implementations I have seen have been based on the premise that there are hundreds of IP phone endpoints available at a wide range of price points. The argument goes like this: “Wouldn’t it be great if we were not beholden to some multi-million (billion) dollar corporation that will dictate what type of phone we put on the desk?”

Well, the fact is, most folks do not care what phone is on the desk as long as it works! And that they can do cool stuff like transfer and conference without the ubiquitous tag line, “If (and when) I disconnect you, Junior’s direct number is BR549.”

Now, we have seen great implementations of open source VoIP in some specific environments. Examples are higher education and K-12 schools. With the proper standards in place, a very lean IT and telephony team can roll out and support thousands of endpoints in this type of deployment.

As a taxpayer, I applaud thrifty IT folks at the schools. Most of the end users are not heavy phone users, and you can employ students to do much of the grunt work on an internship or work/study basis. Since the nature of the organization is non-profit, the sense of urgency to install, repair, and maintain 100% uptime does not seem to be at the same level as in a financial institution or air traffic control center, for example. And the use of multiple endpoints, servers, applications and equipment is legitimately used as a learning experience by the institutions. Some of our best engineers have come from this type of learning process.

That said, each organization has to measure what is most important to them, and make sure they have an ergonomic fit with both the technology platform and the business partner that will make that technology successful in their organization. Just remember, it is hard to top simple.

Buying a unified communications (UC) system can be incredibly confusing. But what if you could simply plug some variables into a piece of software and suddenly be comparing apples to apples?

You can, with the ShoreTel Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) tool.

TCO calculations include costs that may not turn up in initial budgets or statements of work, but may still have a significant impact on future business operations. Because of this, the solution with the lowest up-front purchase price ultimately may not have the lowest TCO. In fact, according to ShoreTel, up-front costs represent only 25 percent of TCO.

Based on third-party data, the TCO tool computes a UC system’s costs based on your company’s specific configuration requirements. And yes, the tool is accurate. It has been validated by third-party, independent industry experts. Variables you can feed into the tool include:

• Hardware replacement
• Training
• Support
• Software upgrades
• Moves, adds and changes
• System management
• Energy consumption
• Network and long distance charges
• Up-front capital
• Implementation costs

Once the TCO tool has been configured for your specific circumstances, you can calculate and compare the TCO of multiple UC systems over several years. Comparisons can be made between ShoreTel, Mitel, Avaya, Microsoft, Cisco and TDM.

The tool creates cash flow projections for each solution, including assessments of key financial ratios such as payback period, return on investment, internal rate of return and net present value.

ShoreTel is betting that its unique architecture will help it come out on top of these calculations for most potential customers. With its simple approach to UC, ShoreTel typically offers lower costs for network upgrades, implementation, training, maintenance, system management, long distance charges and energy consumption.

For small customers with under 100 phones, the percentage difference may not be large. But once a company reaches 300 phones or more, the TCO for ShoreTel is clearly superior. Consider an analysis of a company with 1,500 users over 10 years. It shows that ShoreTel has a payback period of 16 months, compared to 46 months for Cisco. The net present value for ShoreTel was $13.378 million for ShoreTel, compared to just over $8 million for Mitel and about $7 million for Avaya.

Still skeptical? ShoreTel offers a guarantee that is unmatched in the industry. The company guarantees the lowest TCO, so you can be confident you are purchasing the right UC solution for your business. If the ShoreTel TCO Tool and/or additional independent data determine that ShoreTel’s TCO is higher than a competing solution, ShoreTel will lower its price to beat the competition.

This blog first appeared on Best in UC.

Your potential integrator is walking slowly through his presentation. He shows a slide with logos of his clients. He flips to another page that lists capabilities. Finally, he flashes you the awards.

It’s tempting to ignore those medals that boast excellence. After all, can’t any integrator find a way to win some kind of award from a friendly association or desperate equipment manufacturer?

That may be so. But in some cases, awards really do matter.

Consider this example from our industry. Among small and mid-sized businesses, ShoreTel is a vendor of choice that manufactures unified communications solutions. ShoreTel does not sell these systems directly, instead relying on a network of integrators to install them for customers.

Each year, ShoreTel presents 10 of its integrators with the Circle of Excellence Award. These partners are chosen based on two factors:

• Revenue success, meaning that the integrator is installing a significant number of ShoreTel systems
• Customer satisfaction of 90 percent or better, as measured by an independent third party

This provides a prime example of when an award is an excellent indicator of vendor quality. First, ShoreTel ensures that these vendors are working at a high volume, demonstrating they have extensive experience installing its solutions. Then, it uses an objective organization to determine customer satisfaction levels.

In fact, ShoreTel’s customer satisfaction scores are particularly challenging to keep at an elevated level. Customers rate their happiness on a scale of 1 to 4. While a rating of 4 is 100 percent, a 3 is only 75 percent. It takes only one or two mostly satisfied customers who rate the integrator with a 3 to quickly bring their rating down to a number under the required 90 percent threshold.

In addition to awards, vendor certifications are an often-ignored sales point that can be a good indicator of integrator success. For example, we ensure that our technicians and engineers earn the highest certifications offered by our key partners. Rather than relying on team members with general telecommunications experience, we provide our customers with ShoreTel Certified Installers and ShoreTel Certified Engineers.

How can you decide whether awards and certifications matter? In short, awards and certifications are important when they affect how your implementation and ongoing support will be performed. To help you choose a high-quality integrator, ask these questions when you are shopping around:

• Have you earned any recognition or awards from this UC manufacturer (ShoreTel, Avaya, Cisco, etc.)?
• What specific qualifications does the manufacturer use when handing out these awards? Is it based on revenue alone, or does service quality come into play as well?
• What is your customer satisfaction number, and how did you arrive at that number? Was it determined by an independent third party?
• Does your team have certifications for this manufacturer’s products, or just general industry experience?

This blog first appeared on Best in UC.

“Don’t touch that wire! It might void your warranty.”

That’s just one of the many understandable fears businesses have about their phone systems. When a problem comes up or the system goes down, the options are rarely attractive. You can delve into the issue yourself in hopes of saving money, but rarely have enough information to diagnose and solve the problem. Or, you can call in your integrator and pray for quick service.

As an integrator, we are always happy to provide fast, reliable maintenance to our customers. After all, that’s part of how we make a living.

But we also recognize that many customers prefer to take a do-it-yourself approach, when possible. Thanks to ShoreTel, DIY phone maintenance is a reality for many of our clients.

ShoreTel Director offers a single, centralized view of the phone system via a Web browser. This is the same interface that our clients use to manage features like voicemail, automated attendant, adding and dropping lines, and more. ShoreTel Director also provides proactive maintenance. In a single screen, Director provides a view of the entire phone system, including indicators of any problem areas. When a critical issue arises, Director will even automatically email one or more administrators of the phone system.

Director sends a heartbeat out to every device on the network. If a signal is not received back, that device is taken out of service and a notification is immediately sent to the administrator. At the same time, traffic that would have gone to that device is re-routed to an available resource. This built-in redundancy prevents downtime while the administrator fixes the problem.

As a result, clients can see, diagnose and fix service issues without ever picking up a phone to call us. In fact, they can solve phone outages before anyone else in the office has had time to notice – or complain. Internally, this creates customer satisfaction levels that are sky-high.

In addition, ShoreTel’s System Monitor provides even more in-depth network monitoring. System Monitor provides daily, weekly, monthly and yearly information. It can localize errors and even expose the likely cause of these aberrations. It then makes suggestions for correcting the problems.

System Monitor sends out a Daily Network Weather Report, which shows the status of the network and helps prioritize daily administrator activities. Finally, ShoreTel System Monitor collects utilization and error information across the network to identify potential problems that may impact VoIP call quality.

With these tools, clients have more choices. By diagnosing the problem in real-time, they can determine what repairs are needed and understand any service costs in advance. Plus, they will know which repairs they can make themselves, and when they need to call in an expert. This time-saver and budget-saver is a ShoreTel advantage, and one our customers love.

This blog first appeared on Best in UC.

Your company is probably being over-billed for phone service.

Unfortunately, most phone carriers send out long, complex and hard-to-understand bills. Companies simply write a check, hoping that the charges were accurate. But chances are, they paid too much.

We hear the stories from our clients all the time. They discover problems on their phone bills, only to discover that bogus charges have gone on for years. If someone discovers a questionable line item and calls the phone company for an explanation, they end up frustrated and sitting on hold.

Let me give you an example. We are moving a legacy customer onto our hosted platform. In the process, we discovered that they have been billed for services they shut off years ago. It has been incredibly difficult and time-consuming for them to sort out the bills. Plus, this small company has paid a couple hundred dollars extra every month – for services never used!

Unfortunately, learning to read and understand a phone bill has become a necessary evil. Assign one person in your company to read through the bill, line by line, and determine which services your company is actually using. That same person should check the bill every month for inconsistencies. The Federal Communications Commission provides a basic primer on how to read and understand a phone bill that may be useful.

Keep an eye out for common instances of overbilling. Here are some examples:

• Phone and data lines that should have been disconnected – but were not. These might include modem lines and data circuits.
• Companies are charged for outbound long distance on inbound-only lines.
• Hackers use the company’s phone system after hours or break into the 800 line to re-route long distance calls.
• Services are double-billed, literally showing up twice on the same invoice.
• Long distance services are not charged at the agreed-upon rate.

Not ready to take on the phone company by yourself? Several consulting firms specialize in phone bill auditing. Many of these agree to work on a contingency basis, meaning they are paid only if they uncover savings on your phone bills. Not surprisingly, phone bill audits for large companies have actually netted hundreds of thousands of dollars in refunds for past over-billing and contract violation.

Whether you choose an outside auditor or in-house personnel to monitor your phone bills, put a strategy in place today. The time spent will more than pay for itself.

Can an office phone be revolutionary? Now, the answer to that question is a definite “yes.” ShoreTel has released its IP Phone 655, which boasts a large backlit touchscreen and advanced speakerphone capabilities. The design includes the same user-friendly features that many consumers already enjoy on their mobile smartphones.

Check out our video, where I demonstrate how easy it is to improve productivity with the ShoreTel IP Phone 655.