Galdon Data has been selected by Microsoft to be one of very limited number of members of the Unified Communications (UC) Voice Partner Programme (VPP) worldwide and the first in Southern Africa to achieve this status.
This distinction solidifies Galdon Data's expertise in Microsoft's UC solutions including Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007.
Erich Gebhardt, Director Unified Communications and EMEA time zone lead for the Microsoft voice business, congratulates Galdon Data for its appointment as the first UC Voice partner in South Africa. "We are looking forward to a fruitful joint business which will deliver great value to Galdon Data's customers."
The Microsoft UC strategy is to deliver IM/presence/voice and video capabilities for business customers as an integrated part of the Microsoft Office System suite of products, such as Microsoft Office Communication Server 2007 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 with a great user experience in Microsoft Office. This includes Windows mobile users as well as PC, laptop users and Web access.
While Microsoft's UC solutions, including Exchange Server 2007 and Office Communicator 2007, have the ability to revolutionise the way communications take place, it does require a special skill set to implement. This is due to the fact that it ties into existing corporate communications infrastructures which vary significantly from one company to the next.
Galdon Data CEO Garry Ackerman says Galdon Data is dedicated to bringing world-class service to its clients across all areas of collaboration and communication. "The acceptance into this elite unified communications programme demonstrates our commitment to the overall Microsoft UC solution, as well as our ability to embrace, become certified on and deploy leading-edge voice, messaging and collaboration technologies."
Galdon Data is excited to be selected for this programme as it confirms both its internal commitment to Microsoft technologies as well as its Exchange 2007 and Office Communications Server 2007 services capabilities for clients.
"Unified communications has a unique ability to drastically improve the way we do business and the commitment that Galdon Data has shown by becoming the first UC Voice Ready partner in South Africa is testimony to this," says Danie Gordon, Unified Communications Product Solutions Manager for Microsoft South Africa.
"Microsoft unified communications technologies use the power of software to deliver complete communications - messaging, voice and video - across the applications and devices that people use every day. Integrating the experiences you associate with the telephone including phone calls, voice mail, conferencing, and the work you do on a computer - documents, spreadsheets, instant messaging, e-mail and calendars - has the power to fundamentally change the way people work," says Ackerman.
According to the Gartner report "Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications, 2007", Gartner expects many barriers to slowly be resolved and that, in 2008, UC will enter an early mainstream adoption phase globally. According to the report, Microsoft is a leader in UC. It states:
* Microsoft is a strong company with an ecosystem of partners that can deliver value-added products, professional services and wide distribution.
* The company has strategic partnerships in specific areas, such as live voice, and IP and PBX add credibility in these technology and service areas.
* Parts of Microsoft's UC portfolio are very mature (for instance, e-mail), and the overall portfolio is quite complete, with partnerships in weaker areas. The newer parts of the portfolio likely will get wide exposure throughout 2008 and will mature rapidly as a result.
* An established base of desktop applications and experience in graphical user interface design will assist in making complex communication applications easier to use.
* Enterprises looking into UC, particularly those with Microsoft applications already in place, should understand the Microsoft portfolio because it represents a new paradigm for communication by a market leader. Microsoft's solution is comprehensive but is also the basis for a range of partner offerings.
"I believe unified communications will transform business in the coming decade in the same way e-mail changed the business landscape in the 1990s. When phone services become software, are managed by a server, and are delivered to desktop applications, many interesting things happen," he adds.
Ackerman says unified communications is the productivity tool of the next decade. "As organisations become more virtual, distributed and global, communication between customers and employees becomes both essential and mission-critical. The test of an organisation's agility will be the ability to get the right information into the hands of the right people at the right time to enable a timely decision. Unified communications is the platform to enable that agility."
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Galdon Data is an information technology (IT) services company providing solutions for business process automation and unified communications. This encompasses information capture, business information delivery, convergence and document solutions using the Microsoft, Captaris and Autonomy (Cardiff) range of products. Galdon Data has been a Microsoft partner since 1998.
We are accredited as a Certified Microsoft Gold Partner and we hold competencies for information worker, data management and unified communication and collaboration. As an AmVia Platinum Partner, the company is in the enviable position of being the largest CallXpress (Unified Messaging) and RightFax (business information delivery like fax, e-mail and Web) service company, with the largest service market share, in Southern Africa. Many of those clients are serviced through our business partners. Galdon Data's experience extends beyond the implementation and/or support of 400 unified messaging (voice and/or fax) sites. Our experience with unified messaging and auto-attendants implementation extends since 2000.
Galdon Data takes pride in its highly skilled team of Microsoft Solution specialists that focus on assisting customers to understand various Microsoft technologies and advise them as to which technologies best suit their business requirements. These services range from business productivity infrastructure optimisation workshops, consulting around business requirements and business analysis. These areas of customer engagement are key in helping us understand our customers better. Our expertise in Microsoft solution design, development and implementation allow us to tailor solutions around individual customer environments.
Galdon Data is a company boasting 40 highly skilled and certified staff members, with national representation in Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. Galdon Data is also a black empowered company with shareholding from Abnoba. For more information, visit www.galdon.co.za.
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