Hosted Unified Communications
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InTechnology offers a hosted unified communications service that integrates telephony with Microsoft Office applications, improving real-time collaboration through features like instant messaging, video calling, and desktop sharing. This service enhances workplace efficiency by reducing reliance on emails and face-to-face meetings, resulting in significant time and cost savings. A free 30-day trial is available, and the service is charged on a per-user, per-month basis, allowing flexibility and ease of implementation.
Hosted Unified Communications
- 1. Hosted Unified CommUniCations BUsiness in ReaL-time
- 2. WHat is Unified CommUniCations? Ever had issues getting hold of someone? Fed up of voicemail tennis? imagine always knowing that someone is available before you call them. no more ringing an empty desk, or having their colleague pick up only to tell you that they’re away; no more fruitless voicemails or requests to pass on a message. Imagine getting a response to your query in seconds rather than waiting hours for a reply to your email. Or imagine simply being able to work with colleagues across different offices, just as easily as if you were sat next to them: effective real-time collaboration through live document sharing, Instant Messaging (IM) group chats and video conferencing. InTechnology’s Hosted Unified Communications gives you normal communications, just better: fewer delays, faster responses, more efficient working. inteCHnoLogy Hosted oCs InTechnology’s managed telephony service just got better InTechnology has integrated its managed telephony system, Unity IP Voice, with Microsoft’s Hosted Office Communications Server 2007 R2 – the first UK provider to do this. We are proud to offer our customers the option of a fully hosted telephony service that is integrated with their Microsoft® desktop environment. To a user this means their phone system is now part of their desktop. From applications such as Microsoft CRM, they can see if contacts are available to speak, or from Microsoft Outlook® they can click-to-dial someone directly from an email. By ‘unifying’ the different ways your users already communicate, they can work more efficiently and reduce duplication of effort. In addition, communicating gets a lot simpler – staff can switch between voice, IM, video calling, conferencing, and desktop sharing at the click of a button without needing to start new applications.
- 3. BUsiness in ReaL-time Customer Feedback Hosted oCs has significantly improved their day-to-day working. For example, the Video Calling feature is now being used by some Hosted OCS users as their primary tool for communication with colleagues across Europe and the UK. Regular video conferences are held to discuss issues amongst colleagues simultaneously. Being able to see the person has given an enriched call experience. Desktop Sharing has also proven to be very popular. Some customers regularly share documents on their screen with colleagues during a conference, so they can talk through it in real-time and any questions or queries can be flagged up there and then. When they need to amend something, they just hand over control of the screen to another colleague and the document is edited. The amount of time saved by working in this way has been significant, in addition to the time saved by not needing to meet face-to-face. The savings in travel and communications have been a pleasant surprise. Hosted OCS has reduced the need for travel and associated costs, and because all calls, conferencing and messaging run across the existing corporate network, there is no charge to anywhere in the world. Even getting the service up and running was easy. As a hosted service there were no investment costs and no hassle to implement the service; once the user accounts have been created, it’s ready to go. for your free 30 day Hosted oCs trial please register at www.intechnology.com/hosteduc or contact your intechnology account manager. or for more information contact us on: 0800 983 2522 email: hosteduc@intechnology.com
- 4. Key featURes Presence You can now see the availability of everyone in your organisation, and even the availability of your customers and suppliers if they allow. Presence is also integrated with your Unity IP Voice phone system so you can see if someone is on the phone. Click to dial Instead of looking up someone’s phone number, just click the phone icon next to their name in Office Communicator, Outlook, CRM or SharePoint, and the Unity IP Voice system will connect you. instant messaging Microsoft’s corporate Instant Messaging (IM) is like email but - unlike email - you usually get a response in seconds rather than hours. This is because IM is designed for quick questions and users tend to respond as soon as the IM message window pops up on their screen. Microsoft IM is also logged in Microsoft Outlook so you have a secure record of any conversation.
- 5. Video Calling Using either your laptop’s webcam or an external USB camera, you can now upgrade an IM chat or phone call to a high quality video call with a single click. Microsoft OCS automatically adjusts the video call depending on how much bandwidth you have available, so it works even on slower links. desktop sharing With a single click, you can now work on any document with colleagues in other offices by showing them your screen instead of you having to describe it. With another click, you can also give them the ability to make changes directly to your document. Conferencing One of the most powerful features within Microsoft OCS is the ability to hold multi-way ad hoc conferences. You can start off with a simple IM group chat, then escalate to an audio conference with a click, or even a full-blown video conference. For more formal meetings, you can use the built-in Microsoft Live Meeting capability.
- 6. faQs My organisation already uses Unity IP Voice. What do I need to do to integrate my existing phone system with InTechnology’s Hosted OCS service? Integrating your existing Unity IP Voice system with our Hosted OCS service is straightforward. There are three steps: 1. Provide InTechnology with the names of the Unity IP Voice users who need OCS integration. 2. Install Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2 software on their desktops. This software will be provided to you by InTechnology and installation takes only a few minutes. 3. Configure the Microsoft Office Communicator client with the user’s email address, password, and the address of the InTechnology OCS server. Note that this can be automated if you use Microsoft Group Policy. How is the InTechnology Hosted OCS service charged for? Charging is on a per user, per month basis. We provide you with access to a web portal so that you can add, remove, upgrade or downgrade OCS user accounts without needing to contact InTechnology. We then invoice you each month on the number of active OCS accounts for that month (subject to any minimum commitment you may have agreed with InTechnology). What are the benefits of a hosted OCS solution compared with an in-house OCS deployment? The main benefits of a hosted OCS service are: 1. Speed of deployment. We can get you up and running in a couple of days, not weeks or possibly months. 2. Flexibility. You only pay for exactly what you use each month, rather than buying Microsoft licences upfront. Many customers have purchased OCS licences but have never deployed them; with the InTechnology service, you only pay for OCS users that are actually deployed. 3. Low risk. Not sure if OCS is for you? You can try out the InTechnology service with a small pilot group before deciding to proceed to a full roll-out. There is no server to buy, no software to purchase, or expensive consultants to pay to design and install it. Can you integrate Unity IP Voice with my existing in-house Microsoft OCS system? No. Unity IP Voice is only integrated with InTechnology’s Hosted OCS service and cannot currently be integrated with a premise-based OCS system. How much bandwidth do I need to use video calling and video conferencing? A video call requires a minimum of 50kb/s per stream. Microsoft OCS uses a rate adaptive codec which means it will adjust the bandwidth depending on the network speed. A high quality VGA call, for example, will use 600kb/s if the network is fast enough. Will InTechnology’s Hosted OCS service integrate with my existing Microsoft Exchange system? Yes, the service integrates with Microsoft Outlook rather than Microsoft Exchange. We recommend Outlook 2007 for full integration, although Outlook 2003 is still supported by Microsoft. Can I try it out before deciding to buy it? Yes, you can try the Hosted OCS service free of charge for 30 days. Please contact InTechnology or your Account Manager for details. www.intechnology.com