Throughout the world small, medium and micro enterprises (SMEs) are playing a critical role in generating employment, penetrating new markets and generally expanding economies in creative and innovative ways. However, their growth and financial success is dependent on using the latest communications technologies on offer.
According to a Siemens sponsored global study, research shows that communication barriers and latencies can cost small and medium businesses up to 40% of their productive time, and a unified communications solution could save a company up to 20% of hidden communications costs.
Siemens Enterprise Communications recently announced the availability of its OpenScape Office Unified Communications (UC) application suite, the HiPath 3000, a converged voice system, complete with fully integrated presence-enabled contact center functionality for small to medium sized enterprises. This new technology will help SMEs to improve customer service levels and maintain a competitive edge, and address hidden communications costs in the midst of the global economic crisis.
Says Fred Maurus, head of technology and marketing at Siemens Enterprise Communications: “The scalability of the OpenScape Office UC application has now been increased so that organisations of up to 384 users can access easy to use voice and conferencing services, presence, mobility, voicemail, messaging and contact centre capabilities. This built-in UC functionality extends the value of a call to meet the needs of our customers, providing them with the necessary communications tools that can assist them in reducing costs and providing them with a competitive edge, all of which is incredibly important in today's economic climate.”
Open standards and software-based communications applications such as this offer several benefits to the SME market. Integrated presence allows the company to tackle problems associated with inefficient co-ordination and waiting for information by enabling individuals to easily view co-worker availability for a phone call or an ad-hoc teleconference. Added to this, the company will now have access to call centre functionality, including call routing capability, which allows the SME to deliver accelerated levels of customer service, which reduces the number of customer complaints thus improving customer service dramatically. Finally, the solution also offers mobility features that meet the demands of today's on-the-go workforce by breaking down barriers to collaboration, making it possible for employees to work and collaborate, whether at the office or from a remote location.
“This solution truly democratises unified communications by bringing high-end functionality to a broader range of customers in the SME market. UC is no longer just for large corporates with IP environments. We can now offer a simple and affordable software upgrade and can provide an open, standards-based and cost-effective path to UC,” says Maurus.
A converged communication solution based on open standards provides enterprises with the most options to meet core business demands, operate efficiently and communicate seamlessly.
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