Business leaders wanting to take their first tentative steps towards the cloud while retaining a hardware presence on site are prime targets for resellers of ShoreTel Connect, a new solution launched to the UK market that offers a single platform with three deployment options and a common user interface.
ShoreTel has mid-market firms in its sights and according to a top industry analyst the launch enables UK resellers to more easily approach businesses with an all-embracing UC&C solution that allows customers to readily migrate to the cloud in their own time or continue with a CPE-only solution.
Rich Costello, Senior Research Analyst at IDC, noted: "The new common platform enables ShoreTel to offer customers what they want - a choice of premises, hosted or hybrid solutions with a consistent user experience across a common software stream. The common platform also makes UC&C easier for channel partners to deploy and support as well as for customers to migrate from one model to another as needed. With its fully integrated solution, ShoreTel eliminates the need for customers and partners to piece together complex solutions from multiple parties."
When ShoreTel had garnered feedback on the business challenges faced by its partner ecosystem the vendor set about creating something special, according to Adrian Hipkiss, VP of EMEA (pictured above), who says the new Connect platform is an industry first and a disruptive channel force. The undertaking was significant. ShoreTel developed four million lines of additional code and employed 300 extra software engineers to create the Connect platform. "With this roll out we're addressing the mediocrity of enterprise communications," claimed Hipkiss. "We've turned the UC industry on its head having invested time and people into creating solutions that deliver flexibility and choice. Our common platform and user interface answers issues such as poor user experience and the lack of integration with CRM apps and back office systems."
ShoreTel's strategy for the UK market is 'growth', emphasised Hipkiss, and in Europe the sweet spot is the mid-market space, 50-5,000 employees. "Occasionally we'll go below for premises deployments, and of course we'll go above," added Hipkiss. "Connect enables our channels to support organisations of all sizes, with on site, virtualised, cloud or hybrid solutions."
The Connect platform and user interface is available to all accredited ShoreTel resellers, and distribution channels that offer value added services will be able to support all aspects of Connect, including design, installation and support.
According to Hipkiss, training is easier and more cost-effective. "Connect is a single common operating platform that was designed to be intuitive and fun to use, so you only need to get trained once and can pass on that training to others," he explained. "The user experience is exactly the same no matter which model is deployed. It's also a simple model for selling: One common platform for UC, three ways of deploying, two methods of consuming."
In closer detail, ShoreTel Connect Onsite is an end-to-end UC solution that customers own, maintain and control. ShoreTel Connect Cloud is a fully hosted and managed end-to-end UCaaS solution. And ShoreTel Connect Hybrid enables Onsite customers to have applications delivered via the cloud. Hybrid apps such as ShoreTel Fax and ShoreTel Scribe (voicemail transcription) are also available.
With hundreds of software developers on the case you would expect Connect to incorporate new features. ShoreTel partners will not be disappointed. Personalised call handling and call routing for both office and mobile devices have been introduced, along with collaboration tools including IM, audio and web conferencing, point-to-point video and desktop sharing. Other new features include integration and collaboration apps for smartphone, tablet and wearable devices, integration with CRM systems, and apps like voicemail to text, emergency notification, integrated call recording and enhanced paging.
ShoreTel's President and CEO Don Joos said: "ShoreTel Connect helps customers determine how and when to move communications to the cloud by offering hybrid options along the way, no matter how many sites or employees. Whether customers prefer to subscribe to a managed cloud service, invest in an on site system or deploy a combination of the two, there is a single UC solution that delivers the same user experience and capabilities to the entire team."
The new ShoreTel Connect client is consistent across the three deployment types. With one click, users can escalate a conversation from an IM to a call to an online meeting, and then to a web desktop share and video. The browser-based app also facilitates collaboration among internal teams and enables external users to engage and collaborate without the need for plug-ins, multiple application windows, passwords or complex set-up.
As part of the ShoreTel Connect roll-out the vendor also introduced a contact centre solution scalable to 1,000 users for ShoreTel Connect Cloud and ShoreTel Connect Onsite. ShoreTel Connect Contact Center introduces multiple interaction channels including inbound and outbound voice (with the ability to incorporate campaign dialling and automated call backs from queue), web chat, web call back requests and email routing.
"The new browser-based interface, called ShoreTel Connect Agent Interaction Center, combines the easy management of multiple contact channels, deep contextual transaction information, agent and service KPI information, supervisor/agent interactions, web chat and agent controls within a single pane," commented Eugenia Corrales, Senior VP of Product.
She noted that the solution provides support for up to 1,000 concurrent agent logins for both cloud and on site deployments, offers real-time and historical reporting including statistics on call centre activity, detailed agent activity and call-by-call details on outbound calls.
Also in the package are enhanced customer self-service capabilities with customisable interactive voice response (IVR) scripting; as well as deep integrations to workforce optimisation and CRM solutions including support for real-time adherence. Corrales added: "The ShoreTel Connect common platform enables partners to deliver a feature-rich cloud contact centre solution that meets the needs of today's multi-channel, multi-site organisations."