UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 Tech Professionals - Essential Insights for - SAP Digital Interconnect
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UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 Essential Insights for Tech Professionals HEADLINE SPONSOR |
PUBLISHER’S FOREWORD
Get Ready for intelligent voice to video, instant-messaging
and more. Companies that are unable to
Ambient embrace the latest strategies for interactivity
won’t be able to thrive in the new world. Now
Communications is the time to evolve, or risk falling behind.
Fortunately, many organisations have already
received this message loud and clear.
Demand for cloud-delivered communication
and collaboration services are on the rise.
Rob Scott | Publisher The threats and changes of COVID-19 will
The workplace will never
rob.scott@uctoday.com turn the cloud-invested minority into the Looking to the future.
UC Today majority in very little time. Businesses around be the same.
the globe have been forced to test the We had a fantastic response at UC Today to our
benefits of the cloud for themselves, and The arrival of new collaborations between debut virtual expo and conference. UC Summit
they see first-hand just how valuable this business leaders, sensational disruptive 2021 will be returning in January 2021.
environment can be. products, and updated technology combined
with the growing remote and globalised However, if you can’t wait until then for more
There’s no turning back. Everywhere we workforce has changed the business landscape updates from myself and the team, then you’re
For the last couple of years, the look, employees and business leaders for good. in luck. In the countdown to the new year, we’ll
UC market has been evolving are adapting to this new digital world. It be hosting exclusive events on our new virtual
will be difficult to close the door on such a Video-first communications and collaboration
at a phenomenal speed. successful new route to productivity. Aside options are rapidly emerging as the only option
venue, designed to keep you informed in a more
immersive way.
from the rising demand for cloud and “aaS” for successful interaction in this new landscape.
technologies, we’re also seeing an increase I hope you enjoy this year’s Market Guide.
in collaboration between major players in the At the same time, CCaaS with remote Remember to watch this space for more updates
That’s something that has remained true as we agile workers, AI-powered analytics, and
step into the new decade and 2020. industry. Massive partnerships, such as the and insights from the world of UC, Collaboration
ones between Avaya and RingCentral, have omnichannel opportunities, is delivering the and CX technology.
changed the scope of what’s possible in the kind of amazing experiences that customers
Everywhere we look, “as a service,” concepts are have been demanding for years.
gaining steam. Easily accessible new technology communications space.
is opening the door to incredible opportunities In this new environment, businesses need to be
in everything from customer experience to user Additionally, leaders like Microsoft and
Cisco are leaving their rivalries behind and ready and willing to adapt. This means being Chris Porter | Commercial Director
productivity. open to new opportunities, wherever they chris.porter@uctoday.com
working more closely together to serve the
needs of various customers. Slack and Cisco emerge. For instance, connecting everyone
A new communication stack can now both provide their own form of – including frontline workers will be a critical Ian Taylor | Editor
for a new decade. interoperability with Microsoft Teams. concern for many leading companies. 5G and ian.taylor@uctoday.com
better mobility will help to keep us all aligned
Ambient communications represent the wherever we are. News Desk
Elsewhere, M&A strategies continue, with
data-driven approach to crucial business newsdesk@uctoday.com
brands like 8x8 acquiring their own CPaaS
conversations. We’re living in a world where business. What’s more, leaders like Slack 5G will also help to enhance more
game-changing technology in the form of Job Enquiries
customers, teams, and users alike all expect more and Zoom have shown us what’s possible
voice-powered smart assistants that respond work@uctoday.com
from the businesses that they’re interacting with. when a forward-thinking collaboration
and communication company enters the to our every need, and VR/AR tech that brings
As we head deeper into this new decade, work public market. Europe is rapidly becoming new realities into customer conversations. Thank you to all our sponsors, advertisers
communication will evolve and accelerate, the new hot space for market roll-ups and and guest speakers.
splitting into various crucial avenues, from consolidation.
2 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 3
THANK YOU TO
ALL OUR SPONSORS
GET INVOLVED
Engage with digital buyers; from IT professionals researching products,
Headline Sponsor to industry professionals trying to stay ahead of the competition.
Unified Communications
Service
UCaaS CPaaS Management
DOWNLOAD MEDIA KIT
4
UCaaS
The Rapid
Adoption of UCaaS
UCaaS, or Unified Communications as a SD-WAN also offers the flexibility and All the while, 5G, and new mobility solutions in Keep up to date with all the
Service, is a solution designed to bring all peace-of-mind of abundant failover opportunities, the UCaaS landscape ensures that businesses
latest news, reviews and
of the varying channels we use to connect delivered through multiple networks. This ensures can allow their team members to connect more
in a single platform. that companies can maintain the kind of first-class efficiently on the go, with high-value video and opinions at UC Today
conversations their customers expect. quality communications from any environment.
Within the cloud, businesses can design a
professional hub where everything from video New technology in the Building a business case NEWS
conferencing to instant messaging can thrive.
According to MarketWatch, the UCaaS industry
UCaaS landscape. for UCaaS.
will reach a value of $79.3 billion by the end of
Over the last year or two, we’ve seen a rapid Unified Communications as a Service delivers all
2024, driven in part by the rapid adoption of the
of the benefits of the cloud to the communication REVIEWS
cloud, as well as the arrival of new solutions like increase of disruptive and innovative technology
in the communication landscape. APIs, SDKs, stack, from flexibility and scalability, with the
AI, and 5G in Unified Communications.
CPaaS, and other solutions mean that it’s easier option to add new functionality whenever you
for businesses to build their own customised choose. DIRECTORY
Paving the way for UCaaS. UCaaS solution, complete with all the latest
innovations in AI, 5G, and even IoT. Companies that need help proving their UCaaS
Over the years, UCaaS and the cloud have stack’s benefits to the rest of their team can even
gained a significant amount of attention as adopt phased migration strategies, which allow
For instance, artificial intelligence in the UCaaS
businesses have begun to strive for a more them to use hybrid communication deployments
landscape opens doors for business leaders to
efficient and cost-effective way to stay connected. while they move from on-premises into the cloud.
drive better decision making in any company.
Nemertes reports that 19.1% of companies
were already using UCaaS for calling and This phased strategy can help to encourage user #UCaaS
communication. This year (2020), the demand is adoption, by giving employees more time to get
expected to increase even further. With AI analytics, organisations used to new technology. At the same time, it
can assess their customers, ensures that business leaders have time to see
Along with a rapid migration to the cloud, we’ll the ROI of a UCaaS solution for themselves.
also likely see more companies embracing the use predictive analytics, and
benefits that SD-WAN technology has to offer even evaluate sentiment in a As companies become more familiar with the
in relation to UCaaS. With SD-WAN capabilities, customer conversation. cloud, they may even decide to expand beyond Learn more
companies can take advantage of active and UCaaS into the CPaaS environment, where they
intelligent monitoring of their communication about UCaaS
can make their communication stack even more
strategies, allowing for greater Quality of customised with no-code and low-code APIs.
It’s also possible to use virtual assistants to aid
Service management. What’s more, there are
agents in delivering better service. Download our
more opportunities within SD-WAN for quick Increasingly, UCaaS and CPaaS or converging FREE Smart Guide
provisioning and deployment. to offer ever-more unique solutions in the age of
personalised business communications.
6 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 7
When staff are more connected to each single solution with a single intuitive interface.
other, teamwork and collaboration across
departments is improved and businesses find Unified communications is about allowing a
they can respond better, and more quickly to their business to aggregate a lot of services into one
customers’ needs. app that doesn’t just work within the business,
but outside it too. As well as vastly improving
The pace of change in the UC market over the internal communications, all those benefits can
last two years has been breathtaking. Analysts extend out to the entire ecosystem of associates,
now predict that by the end of 2020, 90% of suppliers, partners and customers. There’s a key
companies will have deployed some form of UC/ benefit of UC not available with discrete solutions
UCaaS solution – even before the COVID-19 such as stand-alone video conferencing or instant
outbreak began. This astonishing level of growth messaging. In those cases, a contact necessarily
has been driven by digital transformation projects, starts and ends with that channel alone. There is
recognising the need to enable teams to work no option to bring in other channels as they are
more flexibly, the ready availability of underlying required.
technologies in the cloud, and increasing access
to fast, dependable connectivity. With UC, what starts as an audio conference
Working smarter, Embracing Unified
Communications gives staff the The New Business Paradigm.
may subsequently involve video to make a visual
point, then perhaps add screen or document
together.
sharing to demonstrate more detailed plans and
power to reach their full potential, The traditional concept of nine-to-five, diagrams, and then Web conferencing to capture
from anywhere. office-based working in one location is becoming a signature. This kind of consistency is simply not
less relevant every day. Leaning across a partition possible by shuffling between multiple discrete
Improving communications between company or bumping into colleagues at the coffee machine apps. Being wholly device agnostic, UC allows
teams and departments, as well as with external is no longer how office workers stay in touch, the same seamless experience for desktop,
We combine voice, connectivity and mobile partners and customers, has never been more even when in the office. remote and mobile users alike.
services into unified communications to important. In the past, enabling effective team
keep businesses moving forward. collaboration has proven to be a challenge The absence of proximity and immediacy has As working from home becomes the new normal
for many businesses without having the right made preserving the continuity of business for many, it’s important to ensure that the right
You can access our leading edge solutions technology in place. processes and workflows much harder. Hence communications medium is there to fit the user
through our network of specialist partners or the growing need for tools that support seamless function. With unified communications it’s all there
directly from us. Now, as businesses globally envoke business 24-hour working in virtual teams around the from the outset. Everyone involved gets exactly
continuity plans in the wake of the Covid-19 world. what they need to get the job done.
pandemic, Unified communications (UC) is
one solution mobilising teams now required
gamma.co.uk UC meets that need through a combination of
Alan Mackie
to work from home, maintaining effective team audio conferencing, video conferencing, Web
collaboration and supporting continued customer Chief Marketing and
conferencing, instant messaging, presence and
interaction. Product Officer
GET IN TOUCH document sharing. While all of these technologies
have existed in discrete form for some time, UC Gamma
brings them all together for the first time into a
8 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 9
Vonage had a different idea: to own the entire availability for prospects and customers. SSO
communications stack from UC to CC to APIs and also provides consistent identity and access
AI. Introducing Vonage Unified Experience management across the entire operation.
Now, by owning all of the technology, we’ve
completely integrated formerly separate
communications solutions into one powerful
Single intuitive interface.
solution that can create a better customer Vonage Unified Experience seamlessly meshes
experience and greater employee satisfaction. UC solutions, contact centres, CRM and other
integrations—all cloud-based and all accessible
Sure, you can “stitch” together separate UC
in an easy, intuitive interface that works the way
and CC solutions, maybe even a CRM. But a
the user expects it to. The result: reduced training
siloed system can’t compare to a single, proven
time, less frustration, increased efficiency, and a
communications vendor.
consistent, effortless experience.
Vonage Unified Experience future-proofs
businesses by providing sole ownership of the Professional presence and availability.
technology, a clear product roadmap, and a With Vonage Unified Experience, agents can see
When it comes to
single source of customer support. Here are if a back-office user is available for consultation
We all know that in business, for some of the highlights: and check other agents’ availability, making
the most part, more is better. More customer service more effective by using the
communications customers, more positive customer
experiences, more sales, more net
Common call controls.
full skill and expertise of the entire business to
support customer interactions. Users can connect
vendors, less is revenue.
Back-office users and contact centre agents can
take advantage of the same set of common call
via multiple channels—messaging, conference
calls, video meetings, or whatever works best for
better. But there’s one area where less is definitely
controls, making it a snap to answer calls. Your
contact centre agents can interact with your
the situation—enhancing productivity while also
boosting customer satisfaction.
better: the number of communications vendors business in the way that suits them best—through
you have to rely on. According to Forbes, an embedded experience within your CRM; our
businesses normally have so many suppliers Vonage Business Communications Desktop Common directory.
across the enterprise—in larger companies, it application with hide, unhide, and minimised Thanks to a single directory across UC and CC,
Vonage combines unified communications views; or completely standalone. collaboration has never been easier. Vonage
can stretch into the thousands—that they often
and contact centre. Unified Experience provides a single source of
can’t keep track of them, creating unwelcome
complexity and unnecessary costs.But the truth for all employees.
trend today is to simplify. Most communications
Single Sign On (SSO).
vendors only sell and support either Unified Business today demands an easier, more
In today’s world, simple is better. Vonage’s
vonage.com Communications or Contact Centre solutions, not pleasant experience, and SSO provides just that.
vision is to make communications more flexible,
both. And using multiple vendors means multiple By employing a simple login with the click of
intelligent, and personal to help enterprises the
logins, multiple admin portals, multiple support a button, you eliminate users fumbling around
world over stay ahead. And Vonage Unified
GET IN TOUCH needs—to put it simply, a huge hassle. trying to locate multiple login credentials just to
Experience plays an important part in making that
manage even basic tasks. Agents can quickly
vision a reality.
login to the contact centre and control their
10 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 11
Office, which provides screensharing, HD video Another thing we’re really proud of is Kandy Live
whiteboard, group chat, conferencing and Support - which can transition a call centre to a
more on both desktop and mobile clients. Fully fully remote team in less than 30 minutes. Remote
functional licenses are available from select staff can access an enterprise’s contact centre
partners free of charge until June 30, 2020. services from a browser. Best of all, Live Support
can be brought up without help from IT.
For enterprises wanting to use Microsoft Teams
to support remote workers, the key is connecting The third fundamental way we’re helping is by
Teams to the rest of the world using Direct securely connecting Microsoft Teams to the rest
Routing. That requires a Microsoft Certified of the world. With SBC SWe Lite’s three step
Session Border Controller (SBC) like Ribbon’s configuration wizard, Ribbon’s partners can turn
SBC SWe Lite. Through our Work@Home offer, up Teams Direct Routing, link it to your existing
Ribbon’s partners can turn up SBC SWe Lite phone system or service, and connect to SIP
in Azure, connect it to trunks from any carrier trunks in minutes. Because it’s all in the cloud, no
and support any number of remote workers. A site visit is required.
50 session SBC SWe Lite is free for 90 days
to speed an enterprise’s transition to a remote
Secure Ribbon Launches Work@Home,
Facilitating Remote Work for
workforce. Teams is such a powerful
collaboration tool and we’re able
communications Enterprises and Contact Centres. Ribbon’s transition to a fully remote team.
to support Teams Secure Voice
to connect call routing directly
and networking. In recent weeks, Ribbon has launched our
cloud-based Work@Home offer, which delivers
We’re fortunate. We’ve long worked as a
distributed company so working as a fully remote within Teams.
team has not affected the way that we conduct
advanced remote working capabilities to
our business on a day-to-day basis. Our Channel
enterprises and contact centres of any size.
Marketing team collaborates daily with colleagues
Partners, CSPs and Enterprises who are
around the world using Smart Office and
As our Senior Vice President, Cloud Products, interested in these solutions can check out our
Whether it’s our market-leading Session Microsoft Teams.
Sacha Gera said, “In light of the COVID-19 work@home offer at for more information.
Border Controllers, transforming networks pandemic, companies must be empowered to
with Network Function Virtualisation (NFV) shift their operations to alternate locations quickly We’re offering free Smart Office licenses until
or cloud UC, Ribbon has got you covered. How Ribbon technologies support
and efficiently. Our Kandy Communications June 30 and SBC SWe Lite for Teams Direct
work-from-home initiatives.
Platform as a Service (CPaaS)-based solutions Routing is free for 90 days.
enable companies to rapidly meet this need
Ribbon, both directly and through our partners,
seamlessly and cost-effectively.”
ribboncommunications.com is able to help support collaboration and remote
John Macario
working in a number of ways. Firstly, we have
Enterprises that need to switch their operational Senior Vice President,
a unique Unified Communications as a Service
model to an all-remote workforce have access Channel Marketing
GET IN TOUCH (UCaaS) offering that helps enterprises bring files,
to a complete Unified Communications and Ribbon
remote access, call management and more to
Collaboration solution with Ribbon’s Smart
employees wherever they are.
12 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 13
powers our diagnostics platform, VSM, to provide
individual customers with more finetuned control
of their UC and contact centre systems.
More than simply highlighting problems or
potential issues deep down in our customers’
UC environments, we’re able to recommend
adjustments to individual UC and contact
centre systems based on billions of data points
sifted through an ITIL Service Management But when this intelligence is engineered in a
filter and further overlaid on a vast database of format that offers managers an intelligent partner
configuration scenarios. – a virtual engineer – it is immediately catapulted
to a human realm.
It’s the kind of work beyond human capability,
requiring a combination of big data, machine At one level, truly intelligent systems watch, think,
learning, and AI-driven automation. and even act in the background – within rules
and limits set by the managing engineer (a real
The rise of the The central beauty of cloud-based software
services is the one-to-many model
human). That’s a load off the shoulders, allowing
engineers to look up and around, rather than their
virtual engineer.
that connects vendors to a worldwide heads remaining trapped in the weeds.
community of users.
However, when the system taps you on the
When service providers build in the cloud, they shoulder to say, “Hey, look here, because
function like an extended neural network that trouble is brewing”, or responds immediately
channels a backflow of data that tells them who’s when asked: “How are we doing today, what
Big data combined with AI engines is using their services, how they’re being used, and problems did we encounter and how were they
creating a new breed of engineer – the if they perform as they should. fixed?”, you’ve got a real smart partner. Big data,
virtual engineer. UC service management machine learning and AI-driven automation
provider Virsae outlines the possibilities In the same way crowd-sourced ideas drive new In short, our diagnostic platform looks across the is revolutionising the way UC and contact
when data harvested from a worldwide product development, aggregating user data entire base of thousands of UC ecosystems for centre systems are managed. Putting a human
community of UC platform users is applied to generated by a community produces powerful patterns, crunches the data, and then proactively interface on these systems elevates them to
AI-driven automation. insights that can be shared with individual makes recommendations. valued employee status. Imagine that – a virtual
customers to improve their overall service engineer, one that doesn’t need pats on the
experience. However, things take a giant leap forward when head, a Christmas bonus, or staff carpark.
you take all this intelligence and then humanise
virsae.com the user interface. Think digital assistants like
Here at Virsae we’ve staked our future on the
Alexa, Siri, and Cortana. Smart dashboards that Ross Williams
power of this idea – a hive mind of sorts –
help managers more easily monitor, diagnose, Chief Operating Officer
harvesting a skyrocketing volume of data from
GET IN TOUCH and manage infrastructure and applications Virsae
our global community. The mountain of data
critical to customer experience are standard fare
by today’s standards.
14 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 15
GUEST BLOG
The often-
overlooked
characteristic of
UC providers and
their solutions.
Patrick Sullivan
COO & Co-Founder
2600Hz
model, let alone into the platforms they are Agility: it’s not just about
selling. That’s why it can take months, if not This agility is how companies such as 2600Hz
Predictions can be made about years, for new products or features to be
flexibility. are able to quickly pivot and reprioritise the
where the UC market is heading, released even though customers demand
While flexibility is one aspect of agility, it is not
products on their roadmap. When the coronavirus
them — and need them — right now. pandemic started and businesses needed more
what the next big trend will be, synonymous with agility because there are
tools to enable remote work, 2600Hz was able
and what businesses should be Partnering with a UC provider who embraces
other key characteristics of agility that are often
to provide customers with new products and
forgotten. These include being “stable (resilient,
investing in when it comes to their agility and whose platform is also built to
reliable, and efficient) and dynamic (fast, nimble,
additional capabilities in just a few weeks. Not
communication solutions. be agile, can have a profound impact on
and adaptive)” according to McKinsey.
only is the company itself agile, but agility was
business success. built into the foundation of KAZOO, 2600Hz’s
revolutionary UCaaS meets CPaaS platform, from
When the market shifts, the organisations the start.
who can rapidly pivot their internal resources Being able to pivot quickly
However, predictions can only go so far. Business and can easily make changes to their and produce results while When the market shifts and customer demands
needs can change at the drop of a hat — take,
for instance, the exponential increase of remote
platform will outperform their competitors maintaining stability throughout change, it’s easy to tell which UC providers
because they’re able to deliver new and their platforms are agile. They’re the ones
work during the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic products, features, and functionality and can
the organisation is equally as delivering on their customer’s needs in a short
— and business success requires one thing that do so quickly. important as flexibility. amount of time and doing so efficiently while
many UC solution providers and their platforms remaining stable and dynamic.
don’t have: agility. There’s no red tape to navigate or hoops to
jump through in order to change course, and And again, it’s not just about organisational
According to McKinsey, companies that go the organisation is already full of key players agility — UC platforms themselves must be built
agile are 50 percent likelier to outperform their who embrace team cohesiveness and will to be agile so that they remain stable while
competitors financially. Yet, agility is not top proudly rise to the occasion. new features, functionality, and capabilities are
of mind for most UC providers because it’s a
added quickly and efficiently, resulting in a fast
principle that was not built into their business
time to market.
16 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 17
CPaaS entered the market as one of the biggest CPaaS also enables providers to differentiate
disruptions to business communications solutions themselves in the market because it delivers
since gaining widespread visibility in 2015. benefits including increased authentication,
scalability, and flexibility over traditional UC
Since then, the CPaaS market has exploded and solutions.
is expected to continue gaining popularity and
adoption. By 2022, it is expected to grow to an Service Providers can utilise APIs and integrations
unprecedented $10.9 billion according to IDC to create customised solutions for the specific
as end users demand flexible and customisable industries or niches they target, such as hotels,
communication solutions — one of the key construction, retail, etc. which is proving to be a
advantages of CPaaS. game-changer.
CPaaS is gaining massive traction, and for good
reason. It delivers a newfound level of flexibility
through APIs as businesses look to integrate
Selecting a niche, focusing
more than just voice, text, and video capabilities on research, marketing, and
into their products. support for specific industries
The ultimate UCaaS and CPaaS for
Enhanced CX. By leveraging CPaaS, Service Providers can
will help Service Providers win
those customers’ trust and
UCaaS meets
extend their offering to any capable device and
add to their ability to serve customers more create a “stickiness” that can’t
Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS)
be outbid by cost.
CPaaS technology
holistically.
has been top of mind for many Service Providers
over the past few years due to demand from
built to scale. end users to have one platform that provides
the primary communication tools they need on These custom solutions can’t be easily replaced
by mainstream competitors because they won’t
a day to day basis. However, UCaaS products
can leave something to be desired by most end have the custom capabilities that are helping end
users as additional features and functionality, users work more efficiently, be more productive,
Enabling you to offer an unparalleled such as automations and CRM integrations, are and provide a superior customer experience.
communication experience while evolving becoming necessary tools for everyday work and With CPaaS, you’re selling a solution, not just a
your next generation service offering and productivity. product.
winning more business.
End users are now looking for one platform that
can do it all rather than piecing together multiple Alisa Bartash
2600hz.com systems to get everything they need. That’s why Head of Marketing
there have been a number of recent acquisitions 2600Hz
in the UC space, and the market is heading
GET IN TOUCH toward UCaaS and CPaaS (Communications
Platform as a Service) integration.
18 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 19In order to successfully achieve this, they require leverage to remain productive and reachable
a fully mobile, effective, ubiquitous, and easy- while working from safe, external locations.
to-use technology that guarantees the integrity Once the period of crisis is over and things
and security of everyone’s data or personal return to normal, the time for analysis will begin.
information. To accommodate these requirements A lessons-learned phase will be crucial for not
Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise’s cloud-based only governmental institutions but also individual
communications platform, RainbowTM, is available organisations to identify what went well, what
to offer businesses a means of productively and went wrong , and how they can better prepare
securely offering working remotely capabilities for future events of this magnitude. Alcatel-Lucent
through real-time messaging, high definition Rainbow can help and support your business
audio and video calls (group or peer-to-peer), during both times of crisis and normality by
easy screen sharing, and large file transfers (with facilitating flexibility and safeguarding productivity.
built-in antivirus software).
Available on any device (web, mobile, desktop
or tablet) and with no additional hardware
or software installations required, new users
Ensure business Like all businesses operating in
times of crisis (natural disasters,
can seamlessly get started today by creating
accounts in seconds. What’s more, pre-assigned
continuity
company administrators can autonomously
geo-political events, health scares, manage users, disable certain features (i.e. file
etc.) the safety and well-being of
with online
sharing), and access key usage statistics to
employees is paramount. ensure that Rainbow is used in the correct way
throughout the organisation. Find out more.
collaboration In such unfortunate and unplanned situations,
Alcatel-Lucent RainbowTM
ALE Rainbow has been recognised by
tools.
small, mid and large-size enterprises may be Gartner as one of the best UCaaS platforms
forced to close offices, to restrict travel, or to Connecting everything in 2019 and is the first
mandate home-working en masse to help reduce that matters. non-US vendor to be included in the
the extent to which their workforce is exposed to Gartner Magic Quadrant. Our platform
potential risk. To conclude, in crisis situations such as the one is also ISO27001 and HDS certified and
Keep your business up and running in we are facing with the rapid outbreak of the compliant. Find out more.
With the recent outbreak of the Coronavirus, Coronavirus, business that have never previously
times of crisis.
many of us have either been impacted directly explored or permitted remote-working find
or indirectly in both personal or professional themselves struggling to adapt to the changes in
al-enterprise.com contexts. Across industries, enterprises operating working conditions. Kotch Matteo
during these worrying times have made ALE Solutions
substantial efforts to help preserve safety by In order to overcome these new challenges and Marketing Manager
GET IN TOUCH introducing new ways of working, such as remote maintain continuity, operational changes need
working, to help safeguard business continuity to be made such as introducing multidisciplinary
and mitigate employee exposure. collaboration technologies that employees can
20 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 21All of this means that enterprises are looking UC platforms such as Microsoft Teams. We
for a collaboration-led approach, bringing support cloud, on-premises or hybrid models,
voice, video, document sharing and application seamlessly integrate with multiple PBX platforms
integration together to drive tangible productivity and connect Microsoft Teams to any network
improvements. provider via Direct Routing. With AudioCodes
Live for Microsoft Teams we can also do this as
fully managed service to make the transition
2. Working from home is the even easier. To explore this with one of our UC
new normal. consultants, click here.
The challenging events of 2020 have changed
how we view working practices forever. The
Work from Home | AudioCodes can help
enterprise rush to implement homeworking will
enterprises quickly and sustainably deploy
shift to longer term, sustainable strategies to
homeworking. Our SBCs deliver the simple,
secure business continuity, support employees’
secure and high-quality voice connectivity that is
flexible working demands (and help retain
essential for enterprise quality collaboration for
top talent), reduce real estate costs, increase
knowledge workers and contact centre agents
productivity and reduce CO2 emissions. Working
working from home. Learn more here.
Collaboration Three trends driving enterprise from home will increasingly become the new
norm for knowledge workers, contact centre
unified communications in 2020.
and productivity
agents and customer service functions. Meeting Outcomes | Meeting outcomes are not
just about the conferencing device. AudioCodes
Unified communications is now standard rather RX suite provides a selection of ultra-high
driving than aspirational for enterprises looking to
improve business continuity, collaboration
3. Meeting experience and outcomes
more important than ever.
quality voice and video conferencing options,
optimised for different sized meeting rooms and
enterprise UC. and productivity. Several key trends are
accelerating this in 2020:
Meetings remain a key part of enterprise life.
Consistent with other trends, meeting participants
powered by expert partners such as Dolby. Our
management applications enable IT teams to
can be located anywhere - in the meeting room, manage meeting room devices as an integral part
working from home or on the move. Enterprises of their UC deployment. And, to drive successful
1. The collaborative enterprise. have to consider the quality of the meeting meeting outcomes, AudioCodes Meeting Insights
AudioCodes is a leading vendor of Enterprise communications is evolving from experience for ALL participants in terms of uses state of the art Voice.AI technology to
advanced voice networking and media traditional PBXs to collaborative UC platforms. voice, video, content sharing and easy access to capture and organise all meeting generated
processing solutions for the digital meeting notes and actions to deliver productive content and actions from in-room and remote
workplace. Why? Firstly, the service providers’ drive to all-IP outcomes. participants. For more information, click here.
networks. Secondly, Microsoft’s increasing focus
audiocodes.com on enterprise UC, with Microsoft Teams becoming AudioCodes provides solutions and services to
the ideal collaboration platform for businesses help enterprises successfully benefit from these Andy Elliot
using Office 365. And thirdly, the emergence of trends. VP Marketing EMEA
innovative, new providers into the enterprise UC AudioCodes
GET IN TOUCH
market, such as Zoom.
Migrate to Microsoft Teams | AudioCodes can
help enterprises seamlessly migrate to new
22 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 23Every digital service provider offering Unified Ensuring reliable, secure
Communications-as-a-Service (UCaaS),
Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS)
communications.
and Communications-as-a-Service (CaaS) wants
The internet is the de facto communications
to carve a slice of this growing market as a result.
channel for businesses. But it is also subject
And it’s working.
to security loopholes, which means it’s vital to
use advanced encryption methods to secure
Businesses of all shapes and sizes are shifting
communications channels. Communications-
their communications needs to the cloud for
as-a-Service providers, like BICS, provide
increased agility and growth, and to enable
assured security encryption at all layers of the
workflows they couldn’t before. Flexibility is the
communication stack, delivering privacy and data
new name of the game. But meeting demands of
integrity.
businesses today depends on having a partner
that can make it easy to tap into the global
communications landscape. APIs to automate and scale.
Businesses want to be able to focus on the task
Global reach, local numbers.
Simplifying
at hand, and that extends to communications.
UCaaS, CPaaS and beyond: What
Whatever that need may be, APIs are needed to
role does a global communications The steady rise in cloud adoption means that
business
help drive the efficiencies that businesses expect
virtual numbers now sit in the middle of unified
enabler play? communications and collaboration strategies
from the cloud, while also ensuring seamless
integration with the entire cloud suite.
communications. Business infrastructure looks very different in
2020 to the decade before it. Static hardware is
of businesses that have a global presence or
support remote workers or disparate teams.
Whether it’s real-time number ordering,
out, cloud solutions are in, and communications is provisioning, routing or more, a Communications-
By partnering with a global communications
a bigger driver than ever before. It’s said that 36% as-a-Service provider like BICS delivers the
enabler with the expertise and relationships to
of IT budgets will be eaten up by communications API access needed by businesses to integrate
deliver on this need around the world, businesses
Virtual phone numbers for this year, led largely by digital transformation and
can ensure they don’t fall foul of complex
communications in their business workflows
global businesses. globalisation efforts happening across practically and unified communications platforms. With no
regulatory environments that differ from one
every sector, and the fact that migrating to the need for manual intervention, advanced APIs
country to the next.
cloud is now much easier. bring a level of automation for any business
communications platform or workflow that can
This approach ensures that virtual numbers are
The advantages of cloud-based communications drive future scale and efficiencies.
fully compliant with local regulations and lawful
are well known to the industry. It’s appeal to
intercept requirements, while meeting safety
businesses as the ultimate cocktail of enhancing
bics.com operations, boosting productivity, driving
regulations for making emergency calls via the
target country’s short code. Divya Ghai Wakankar
efficiencies and reducing costs makes its value Head of Innovation &
impossible to ignore. Product Management
GET IN TOUCH
BICS
24 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 25EDITORIAL
How has the market evolved in the that they’ll need communication and collaboration
tools that can blend the in-office, and off-premise
last 12 Months? environments. “UC services will need to allow for
more rich and engaging experiences wherever
Jeff noted that if you look at the Cisco cloud
you are. Employees will need tools that allow
collaboration strategy over the last few years,
them to take their digital spaces with them.”
the most significant challenge has been from a
“calling focused” landscape, to something that’s
more platform-led. “We’re covering everything
from cloud contact centres to collaboration, Boslem also told us that as
now. It’s not just communication via phone call the workplace continues to
anymore.” digitise and evolve, it also opens
As companies are searching for new ways to
the door for additional tools,
maintain productivity and support their team like artificial intelligence and
members in all environments, Boslem and his cognitive collaboration.
team are committed to delivering the kind of
new collaborative experiences that businesses
rely on. “The rapid increase in demand for cloud
technology this year has challenged companies Companies are beginning to see what’s truly
and customers to find new ways of connecting.” possible with the flexibility and scalability of the
Jeff also pointed out that the current marketplace cloud.
The
is multi-generational, and every generation has
Market leaders in communication different preferences for communication. “As Is Video an Opportunity Today?
and collaboration services, Cisco, the environment and generations change, your
communication are constantly rolling out new
tools and solutions to inspire and
communication strategy is going to continue to
evolve.”
Video has been one of the leading buzzwords in
the video environment lately, and Jeff told us that
evolution: UC empower their customers.
What’s leading Cisco’s UC
there had been a growing demand for this kind of
communication in recent months. Cisco sees this
with Cisco. In recent years, Cisco has made a significant innovation strategy?
is as a fantastic opportunity not just for vendors,
but service providers.
effort to help move companies towards the
cloud, with compelling new as-a-service Boslem told me that Cisco is seeing an increasing “Cisco’s Webex platform can offer technologies
offerings in everything from UC to Contact demand for flexibility and disruption in the like cloud calling, meetings and collaboration,
Centre technology. communication landscape. People want to be but there’s also room for service providers and
The Cisco journey in the cloud.
able to communicate through the platforms they partners to get involved and deliver their own
We spoke to Jeff Boslem, the Regional Director choose, and access more information within their innovations in this space. I look forward to seeing
of EMEAR Cloud & Hosted collaboration, to get conversations. “One of the biggest trends we’re what they come up with in the future.”
his insights on how the UC market is changing seeing right now is the rising demand for working
from home. The need for the cloud has been
Jeff Boslem
from Cisco’s perspective.
enhanced.”
cisco.com
Regional Director of Cloud
Here’s what Jeff told us about the rapidly
& Hosted Collaboration Jeff noted that in the future, there will be a Written by Rob Scott | UC Today
evolving cloud landscape.
Cisco for EMEAR time when companies can return to the office,
however, people won’t want to go back to the
traditional office experience forever. That means
26 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 27a demonstration that used AI to improve web Then, the update team can (proactively, in some
conference or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) cases) communicate the issue to customers
conversations. Low-quality network paths can and create a fix quickly. UC tech, endpoints and
make having a voice conversation untenable, collaboration methods all will take advantage
causing voices to drop out and creating of troubleshooting solutions like this soon,
conversational gaps. Their demo showed how employing AI to identify, flag and correct any
AI can use its learned knowledge (the result of workflow problems faster.
listening to and analysing real speakers) to see
the “holes” and guess how it can fill in any gaps If Windows can scale AI across hundreds of
by subbing in voice bits in real time. AI, in other millions of users and use it to process and learn
words, can make up for a bad connection, low from data so quickly, think of how AI can be used
bandwidth or a connection being interrupted within a single enterprise to boost employees’
constantly, keeping a voice conversation going UC experience.
and ensuring a more seamless experience.
Of course, it’s important to remember that any
Another interesting development that has implementation of AI should be done with a
potential in the UC space is using AI to higher purpose in mind. Ask yourself where
The leader in Artificial Intelligence in UC: Current
applications and future potential.
troubleshoot. Microsoft now uses AI and machine
learning to catch problems early while pushing
you see the most value in creating a better
understanding of a situation (internal or for
secure solutions
out updates. end customers) by using an intelligent system.
How can you employ AI to find and/or analyse
In the unified communications (UC) space,
for our less than
information within your data that you might
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is being used to enhance
not already know? Think of a target or goal
user experience and make human workflows The AI tells Microsoft which
secure world.
you may already have or want and use AI as a
easier. For example, some collaboration platforms
can dynamically add someone to a coworking
devices are likely to have a good steppingstone to get there.
environment because they were mentioned on update experience, allowing
As technology improves, and as humans become
a call, while other platforms enable real-time those devices to update early. more comfortable working with “machines”
translations and accurate transcriptions.
that help them make smarter decisions, we
Even more Crestron technology now meets can expect AI applications in the UC space to
And it doesn’t end there. UC offers plenty of
the strict security requirements of the U.S. If the AI model indicates there might be an issue, skyrocket. The potential is almost limitless.
areas where predictive learning can enhance
military and government agencies. the team can adjust and prevent potentially
productivity and help people overcome the little
bumps in their workflow. affected devices from being offered the update
until the issue is resolved by (human) developers. Joe Sarrasin
crestron.com At Microsoft Ignite 2019 — Microsoft’s annual If devices that already updated have an issue, the Unified Communications
gathering for IT professionals and technologists AI quickly identifies and alerts the update team. Strategy Director
end of 2019 — a couple of use cases were Crestron
GET IN TOUCH revealed that are relevant to AI’s entry into UC
and how it might affect IT professionals, including
28 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 29INDUSTRY EVENTS
Visit our Events Page for upcoming global events
in the UC, Collaboration and CX Industries.
uctoday.com/events VIEW EVENTSand SIP captures, which are key to most case correlated by any search string (i.e., call-id:1234),
investigations. Due to their size, this data is often across many servers, laid out on a single timeline,
left on production servers. as a call transaction. Traditional grepping does
not work for events of different lengths.
2. In order to investigate an issue raised by a
customer, operations teams have to access and 3. Give L1 - L3 professionals a UI to search and
download log data from many production servers visualise calls. Do not make your engineers
or search them from multiple systems, so they can spend hours piecing together text to get to a call
be sent to the right team to investigate. transaction that an L1 person can see in 5 minutes
with the right UI.
3. Even with data in hand, deciphering it is an
expert-level exercise. This involves cleaning, Real-time communications is one of the hardest
merging, and searching the data as raw text. It services to provide over the internet. There are
may start with the application engineering team, too many moving parts, each of which creates
get passed to the audio team, and then to the too much data. Any hiccup in operations causes
network team before identifying the root cause. an immediate impact on customer satisfaction,
which is why quality of service is the biggest
Unified data Why Unified Communications is
one of, if not the, most laborious
These technical challenges cause significant
business impact. Slow response times, case
differentiator between UC providers: because it’s
hard and it matters.
for unified
backlogs, and failed investigations. Customer
services to provide over the experience suffers. CSAT and NPS scores go UC providers, usage was multiplying even
internet?
communications.
down. Cost of Revenue goes up. Nobody wins. before Covid-19. As the primary driver of your
customer satisfaction and NPS scores, it’s now
For Unified Communications (UC) providers, UC service delivery for a more important than ever to ensure that your
rapid subscriber growth and ever-increasing service delivery team is able to efficiently assist
expectations from end-users are making it harder
post-COVID world.
customers in a time of need.
We help UC providers bring together voice, than ever to deliver high-quality services. The
UC providers can improve service delivery even
media, and application data for quicker question for UC service delivery teams is; how to
amidst this rapid adoption period caused by
case resolution and improved customer improve service delivery while usage is growing
COVID-19. Three main things drastically simplify Alex Munk
satisfaction. fast?
the process and speed up case resolution. Co-founder & CEO
You can learn more about our solution through UC systems present several unique challenges Dashbase
1. Collect and consolidate UC logs continuously
our website or by contacting us directly. that lead directly to negative customer
from production environments, no matter the data
satisfaction.
volume. Cut out the step of asking operations
dashbase.io personnel to find and download the right part of
1. UC Systems generate an enormous amount
the right log file(s) from production servers.
of data compared to other industries. PBX’s,
media servers, SBC’s, proxies, billing servers,
GET IN TOUCH and custom applications all write verbose logs
2. Give engineers a single UI to search all logs as
events. Enable engineers to search for log events
32 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 33CPaaS
Exploring the
Possibilities of CPaaS
Communication Platform as a Service CPaaS vendors are constantly adding more include scalable SIP trunking, virtual numbers, Keep up to date with all the
solutions or “CPaaS”, gives companies channels to their platforms, from WhatsApp and instant dencentralised call centres, masked
latest news, reviews and
an opportunity to implement real-time Facebook Messenger, to text messaging and Rich numbers, and so much more. The possibilities are
communication capabilities like voice and Communication Services (RCS). practically endless. opinions at UC Today
video, with their existing workflows.
All of these programmable features can
Using innovative APIs and SDKs, organisations With CPaaS, companies can be implemented into every aspect of the
NEWS
can add simple click-to-call functionality into communication stack, whether your company is
virtually any aspect of their existing technology
even take their strategy for focusing on text, video, or voice communication.
stack. For many enterprises, CPaaS represents customer experience to the next That ensures that wherever your customers are,
the ultimate way to design a true custom level, with the programmable you can follow with the kind of conversational REVIEWS
communication solution. contact centre. experiences that they’re looking for.
As companies from all backgrounds continue to Stepping into CPaaS. DIRECTORY
adopt the cloud infrastructure to take advantage This contact centre environment gives your
of digital services and tools, they’re better business absolute control over the experience As companies continue to recognise the need
placed than ever to leverage CPaaS for access delivered to your audience, with management for for customisable solutions in a world where
to everything from AI and chatbots, to video everything from agent routing to reporting. experience is the most crucial differentiator
conferencing. around, CPaaS is growing rapidly in popularity.
Communication made
Creating the ultimate However, just like any other technology in the
programmable. communication landscape, businesses will
communication experience, #CPaaS
need to ensure that they have a strategy in
with CPaaS. At the heart of the CPaaS environment is the place to protect themselves and track down the
flexible ability to make your communications more right solutions. APIs need to be approved and
Perhaps one of the biggest advantages that advanced, flexible, and programmable than ever encrypted with the right security, ensuring that
CPaaS has to offer, is that it allows companies to before. Companies can use APIs and SDKs to your information isn’t easy to access on the cloud.
create an incredible omnichannel communication add programmable SMS into their environments,
environment. With CPaaS, you can go beyond the including automated text messages that are Companies in search of agility will need to
basics of voice and email in your company and sent to customers to remind them of upcoming Learn more
ensure that their CPaaS solutions not only
implement everything from social media to video appointments or deals. deliver the flexibility that they need, but the about CPaaS
collaboration to interact with your customers.
support that they’re looking for when it comes to
What’s more, because CPaaS allows you to Programmable Voice and Numbers means authentication, privacy, and safety too.
embed functionality into your existing workflow, that you can access global carrier networks, Download our
everything you need is in the same consistent and numbers that make you appear local, no FREE Smart Guide
pane of glass. matter where you’re calling from. Other features
34 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 35product portfolio to further enhance the user
experience, as well as a culture that puts
customer needs first. These core values unite the
group and enable Enreach to bring real value to
both reseller partners and customers.
Each Enreach company brings unique expertise
and experience to its country market, equipping
the group with in-depth knowledge of what
Centile, another Enreach company, develops
businesses need. This allows tailored products
whitelabel, multi-tenant cloud UC solutions for
and services to be delivered, which add a
fixed and mobile operators, MVNOs, integrators
touch of magic to each contact its users have
and installers and offers full Fixed-Mobile
with customers, partners and employees. With
Convergence to businesses of all sizes. Centile’s
Enreach’s solutions, users can collaborate
award-winning mobile app MOBiiS brings all the
and communicate more effectively and focus
communication and team collaboration features
on getting amazing things done in their daily
from the PBX to the smartphone, making the
business. The Enreach Meetings collaboration
Contact that Effective communication and collaboration company a true mobile-first provider. The FMC
solution, for instance, connects people in different
are key for the success of any business – and solution enables mobile operators to add mobile
locations within seconds, from anywhere and
works wonders.
Enreach helps companies to achieve just that. capabilities to managed service providers,
using any device. Users can talk to each other
hence helping generate added value revenues
via video, send messages, share their screen
throughout the whole chain. By adding Centile’s
The fast-growing European UC group has its and much more – all directly from a web browser
mobile-first proposition, service providers can fuel
own unique stack of innovative UC solutions and without the need to install additional software or
the migration from Cloud PBX to mobile PBX.
complementary services, enabling businesses an app.
to take their communication and teamwork
Fast-growing group with local The combined teams of Swyx, Centile and the
to the next level and work more successfully.
presences in European cloud Headquartered in the Netherlands and with Joined forces extending value. other Enreach companies work together in order
communication markets. sixteen offices across eight countries, Enreach to extend reseller value helping them to address
is one of Europe’s leading UC and telephony One of Enreach’s companies is Swyx, diverse demands and support their customers in
providers and supplies its services to over 2 headquartered in Germany. The UC specialist the best possible way.
Enreach enables businesses to work more
efficiently and brings value to both reseller million users. The group is the parent company of has been developing communication solutions
partners and customers. Voiceworks (NL), Swyx (DE), Centile (FR), ipnordic for medium-sized companies since 1999 and Learn more about how Enreach can help your
(DK), masvoz (ES), Network Telecom (UK), Eazit distributes them exclusively via specialist dealers. business thrive!
(NL) and M Mobility (DK), serving the SME market The value of Swyx’s UC solution lies with its
enreach.com across all verticals through both indirect and flexibility because it is based on software. No
direct sales channels. matter, if a customer wants an in-house, a hybrid Stijn Nijhuis
or cloud solution, Swyx offers powerful features CEO
GET IN TOUCH All Enreach companies share a commitment across all deployment forms and is so adaptable, Enreach
to integrate, develop and expand the in-house that there are endless opportunities for resellers
to customise it to meet their customer’s needs.
36 UC MARKET GUIDE 2020 | ESSENTIAL INSIGHTS FOR TECH PROFESSIONALS uctoday.com 37You can also read
