Categories: Cloud

Do What’s Best For YOUR Business – Not Someone Else’s

Posted by Adam Uthe on Posted in Cloud, Contact Center, Unified Communications Tagged

For the second time in less than 10 years, Avaya has filed for bankruptcy. Regardless of how it came to be, this announcement raises serious questions about what the future holds for their customers, channel partners, technology vendors, and other key stakeholders. Now is the critical time to consider what’s best for your business moving forward.

Fortunately, NEC has over 120 years of experience navigating technological innovations and delivering exceptional communications experiences. Our capability to leverage decades of research has enabled us to remain an ICT leader and bring immense value to both our channel partners and customers.

As an NEC Channel Partner, YOU Get to Decide

At NEC, we recognize that we can’t be successful if our partners aren’t successful – and that means having a positive impact on your bottom line. NEC offers three different channel partner models with various levels of customer ownership and revenue sharing so that you can decide what makes the most sense for your business. You also get to decide whether you want to focus on selling on-premises, cloud, or hybrid solutions, as well as whether you want to get paid upfront or in monthly recurring revenue (MRR). The Power of Choice lets you control your pricing and keep your own branding while maintaining the relationship with your customers. Whatever approach works best for your business, you decide, we support.

NEC Customers Also Benefit from the Power of Choice

The fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to influence how we work and connect for years to come. Some businesses will return to the office in full force, while others will stay remote or adopt some form of hybrid work. There is no one-size-fits-all solution and that’s exactly why NEC offers a flexible, future-proof business communications experience. Whether you need on-premises phone systems, cloud communications for employee collaboration, a contact center software solution to keep your customers happy (or all of the above!), NEC offers a variety of solutions so you can create the best possible implementation for your business.

Bottom line: Don’t Let Avaya Control What Happens to the Future of Your Business

You can’t control what Avaya does moving forward. But you can continue to evaluate whether you’re making the best possible decisions for your business. NEC knows what it takes to change and evolve with the technological curve while maintaining a healthy, sustainable business model – for our business as well as our channel partners and customers.

If you’re interested in learning more about how NEC can help your business, visit https://www.necam.com/ContactUs/ for more information.

Contact Us Today

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Fill out the form, and we will get back with you.

What’s New With UNIVERGE BLUE

Posted by Adam Uthe on Posted in Cloud, Contact Center, Unified Communications Tagged , ,

With 2023 in full swing, now is a great time to catch up on the latest news and updates from UNIVERGE BLUE. Whether you’re looking for new and improved data to maximize your employees’ productivity, working to improve upon your company’s hybrid work dynamic with more powerful meeting tools, or just getting started on migrating your business communications to the cloud, UNIVERGE BLUE has something to get you excited!

Maximize Employee Productivity with the UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT Service Adoption Dashboard

There’s no way around it: you need your employees to be engaged to perform at a high level. A Gallup Employee Engagement survey found that companies with engaged employees outperform their competition by 147%. But how do you know if your employees are engaged in the first place? The new UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT Service Adoption Dashboard provides summary-level data for the activation and usage rates of CONNECT services currently deployed by your business. This dashboard allows admins and team leaders to:

  • Uncover meaningful user adoption and engagement insights for specific services
  • Save time with a quick and informative overview of data sets to identify opportunities for improved productivity
  • View and act on user trends

And best of all: the CONNECT Service Adoption Dashboard is already included in all North American subscriptions for no additional cost!

To learn more about how to access the dashboard’s data, view the Demo Video here

Keep Your Hybrid Employees Connected with UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT ROOMS

Hybrid work models are here to stay – even if there is no “one size fits all” solution. Accenture’s “Future of Work” survey found that 36% of workers were fully onsite in 2022 – despite 83% of workers in the same study in 2021 expressing a preference for a hybrid work model. Accenture also found that companies utilizing an omni-connected work culture – including empowering people through technology – saw a 7.4% increase in revenue.

In other words: companies still need to focus on solutions that strike a good balance between working onsite and remotely.

UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT ROOMS is a video conference room solution that allows for CONNECT MEET video conferencing to be seamlessly added to any conference room with existing, off-the-shelf hardware. With CONNECT ROOMS, employees can easily:

  • Reserve a conference room and simultaneously schedule a video conference for both in-office and remote workers.
  • Start an ad-hoc meeting in a conference room and invite others who are remote or in office.
  • Join a meeting from a conference room or remotely without host authorization.

And, CONNECT ROOMS is FREE with any supported CONNECT license through March 31, 2023. For more details about how CONNECT ROOMS works, read our FAQ resource.

Your BRIDGE to the Cloud Starts With UNIVERGE BLUE

If your business is still considering a hybrid work model and how best to support the actual transition, UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT BRIDGE may be the perfect solution. With CONNECT BRIDGE, you can extend your NEC phone system investment with cloud-based voice via desktop and mobile apps creating a seamless all-in-one unified communications experience.

And from now until March 31, 2023, you can receive a “FREE PHONE” for each qualifying UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT BRIDGE user license purchased with a new UNIVERGE SV9100E or SV9500 phone system. Combining a SV9100E or SV9500 phone system with CONNECT BRIDGE offers:

  • Cloud-based desktop and mobile apps to enable collaboration in the office, at home, or anywhere in between.
  • Productivity tools your business needs – including team chat, video conferencing, secure file sync/share, and inbound and outbound calling.
  • 100+ enterprise-grade features, five nine’s (99.999%) reliability, and support for both VoIP or traditional TDM or a combination of both.

Click here for more information about this limited time offer.

Contact Us Today

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Fill out the form, and we will get back with you.

What is UNIVERGE BLUE CLOUD CASH?

Posted by Josh Loinette on Posted in Cloud, Contact Center, Unified Communications Tagged , ,

Your business and customers’ needs have changed significantly over the last few years. Working in a traditional office gave way to fully remote working to the current mix of on-site and remote working. Customers now expect businesses to communicate on their terms. Chat, phone, email, and SMS are now necessary tools and with great change comes great opportunity. NEC UNIVERGE BLUE CLOUD CASH helps our Channel Partners navigate the changing landscape, as businesses shift towards selling both on-premise and cloud services.

WHAT IS NEC UNIVERGE BLUE CLOUD CASH?

NEC UNIVERGE BLUE CLOUD CASH is a one-of-a-kind new program to help you, our Channel Partners, get paid upfront for selling cloud services and solutions, just as you would for selling on-premises hardware. NEC will pay you upfront commissions plus SPIFFs for qualified sales with term agreements. Now you can offer your customers the benefits of cloud AND get paid upfront – just like hardware.

HOW DOES UNIVERGE BLUE CLOUD CASH WORK?

With traditional On-Prem sales, the revenue is upfront and allows you to sustain your business until your next big sale. With selling Cloud Services, the revenue is split up in monthly increments which means no one-time influx of cash. By leveraging this NEW Program, NEC Financial Services will help alleviate this revenue gap so that you can sustain your revenue streams while transitioning from selling on-prem to cloud. And the best part is: you get to decide which deals you want to get paid upfront for.

HOW DOES IT BENEFIT MY BUSINESS?

This new CLOUD CASH Program allows you to focus on selling cloud while enabling you to maintain your revenue stream…just like when you sell hardware. Now you can afford the transition to monthly recurring revenue that comes with selling cloud, without being dependent on hardware in the interim. The Program provides you with the flexibility to choose the deals that you want to get paid upfront on.

CAN I STILL EARN PROMOTIONAL SPIFFS

Yes! Currently, all promotional SPIFFs are still applicable and available to you, whether or not one of your customers is participating in the Program.

HOW DO I ENROLL?

UNIVERGE BLUE Channel Partners who sell under either the Agency* Model or the Revenue Share Model are eligible for the program. Each Channel Partner must be approved by NEC Financial Services for participation in the Program. The first step, which is a one-time event, is to request participation in the Program via email to UnivergePartner@NECLease.com.

* NOTE: Sub-Agents who sell under a Master Agent, also known as a Technology Solutions Distributor, do not currently qualify for this program.

HOW DO I BECOME AN NEC UNIVERGE BLUE CHANNEL PARTNER?

Visit the UNIVERGE BLUE website to learn more about how to join the NEC UNIVERGE BLUE Channel Partner Program.

Contact Us Today

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Fill out the form, and we will get back with you.

How Forerunner Technologies has Tackled Customer Issues using UNIVERGE BLUE

Posted by Joe Perc on Posted in Cloud, Contact Center, Healthcare, Hospitality, Servers and Storage, Unified Communications Tagged , , , , ,

NEC UNIVERGE BLUE Channel Partner Forerunner Technologies weighs in on the value of using UNIVERGE BLUE to help customers transition to a modern workplace.

The partnership between Forerunner Technologies and NEC dates back many years, but it has taken on a new dynamic in recent times. NEC’s UNIVERGE BLUE offers Forerunner Technologies a powerful solution for its clients as they navigate the challenges of a rapidly evolving business environment.

UNIVERGE BLUE is an easy-to-use, cloud-based communications platform that helps businesses manage communications and collaboration between employees. For Forerunner Technologies, the UNIVERGE BLUE platform creates a number of promising opportunities, allowing communications consultants to offer robust solutions to some of their customers’ biggest challenges.

The move to a hybrid workplace

With COVID-19 disrupting the corporate world, many companies were forced to adopt a hybrid workplace. Instead of every employee working on-premises, people were suddenly splitting time between working from home and being in the office. Thanks to UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT, Forerunner Technologies was able to provide a solution for all its customers struggling with this new way of working. It allowed them to retain seamless communication and connectivity throughout their enterprises without letting the transition disrupt productivity.

As the restrictions have eased off, Forerunner Technologies identified that there is still an appetite for hybrid working in the modern world. A lot of their customers are keen to hire talent that either works remotely or semi-remotely. UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT provides the perfect platform to make this easier than ever.

Letting workers adopt their preferred technologies

The new generation of workers has specific demands when it comes to the technologies they want to use at work. Some of them want to use their mobile device to work, others a tablet, and some still prefer their laptop. Thanks to UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT, Forerunner has been able to provide a platform that lets its customers’ employees adopt their preferred technologies.

Individuals are now able to work in a way that suits them the best. As a result, this translates into more productivity for companies. According to UC Today, 75% of Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) users experienced heightened productivity. There’s no doubt in the mind of Forerunner Technologies that this is thanks to the flexibility that a system like UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT provides.

LECs are no longer mandated to maintain copper services

The local exchange carriers (LECs) are no longer mandated by the FCC to maintain copper services. This has caused a huge disruption! Forerunner Technologies has seen many of its customers receive short notice periods from LECs stating that certain services will be terminated. Likewise, many service providers have hiked up the prices of legacy telephone lines to egregious amounts. As a result, the only solution is to switch these services to hosted solutions. More decision-makers at top companies are looking for platforms like UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT to help them navigate this transition.

UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT has allowed Forerunner to provide monthly subscription packages that help clients gain control of their bills and clearly understand how much everything costs. When Forerunner can save money providing this service, it will ultimately mean that the service can be sold to customers at a more affordable price point.

Overall, Forerunner has seen savings between 15-35% for most customers. UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT has also given them an easy way to allow customers to pay for what they need.

Forerunner Technologies is thrilled with its partnership with NEC. This cloud-based system has transformed the services it can provide for customers as a premier national communications consultant for enterprises and SMBs. In a world driven by the concept of hybrid working, UNIVERGE BLUE Cloud Services is allowing Forerunner to give customers a steppingstone toward a cloud-based work environment. This helps customers offer better working environments for employees, catering to their specific needs. It opens up the talent pool and lets them grow as companies.

UNIVERGE BLUE offers a product that delivers a better all-around experience for everyone. Customers enjoy monthly savings while also receiving a better way of communicating and staying connected.

For more information on NEC’s UNIVERGE BLUE and its capabilities for your business, visit the UNIVERGE BLUE website.

10 Strategic Smart Enterprise Drivers for 2023

Posted by Josh Loinette on Posted in Cloud, Contact Center, Enterprise, Healthcare, Hospitality, Servers and Storage, Unified Communications Tagged , , ,

Businesses are currently weighing the impact of rapidly changing economic conditions, as well as disruptions in supply chains, and energy sourcing. Digital Transformation is recreating business models, changing the way customers and employees interact and altering entire industries. Making sense of such disruptive changes has never been so important in order to transform smartly instead of being left behind.

As an Information and Communications Technology (ICT) leader with over 120 years of expertise and experience, NEC is sharing its views on leading and emerging trends and technologies to help your Smart Enterprise anchor its strategic investments. Explore NEC’s Top 10 Strategic Drivers and discover how to navigate through the developments to simplify your organization, realize workforce efficiencies, deliver superior customer services, and gain a competitive advantage.

Digital Transformation
Digital Transformation is key for enterprises to enrich their operations with innovative solutions that optimize business practices, drive workforce engagement, and create a competitive edge. Digital adoption and automation are key to operational excellence and indispensable for organizations to survive. Equipment, functions and processes becoming more and more software driven, makes them more responsive to changing requirements.

Ubiquitous Connectedness
Organizations are capitalizing on mobility solutions that enable employees to work from just about anywhere, at any given time, whether on-site, at home, between appointments, or while traveling. Technology ensures they remain fully integrated with their organizations, colleagues and customers. Work/life balance is enriched by the power of the smart-phone, serving both business and private communications.

Smart, Collaborative Workspaces
The traditional office is shrinking and working from home is fully accepted. With hybrid work being the new normal workstyle, tools that support a flexible, open and agile way of working, like Unified Communications & Collaboration (UC&C), are a mandatory part of running a successful business. Remote workers need to feel engaged and included in company culture. At the same time, Smart enterprises must adopt workplace management solutions that create environments for maximizing not only employee productivity and well-being, but also workplace safety and efficiency as some workers return to the office. Automated reservation and touchless check-in allow both workers and visitors to quickly and safely use office space as often as needed.

Driving Engagement
Companies are pushing hard to deliver connected Customer Experiences (CX) across media, channels, processes, and departments – making contact easy and pleasant, lowering thresholds, presenting options most relevant to the customer, and ensuring swift response to queries. Smart enterprises reinvent their customer engagement models to deliver customers a distinctive, personalized experience and ensure a long-lasting relationship.

The Return Of Cost Consciousness
Until recently businesses were predominantly focused on post-pandemic growth. Now, cost reduction and optimization will play a more prominent role in decision making in 2023. Rising interest rates and volatile labor, materials, and energy prices are forcing enterprises to revisit their balance sheets and cut costs by optimizing out of pocket spendings such as IT infrastructure and office space. Businesses that adopt pay-per-use and flexible models will be able to reduce upfront costs and pay only for what is currently needed, while also giving themselves the flexibility for future expansion. Customers will benefit from easier financial management and predictable overall monthly costs. Smart enterprises will embrace the cost-effectiveness and flexibility of month-to-month contracts with the flexibility to scale up or down as needed.

Cloud-Centric Optimization
Cloud computing has revolutionized IT and software delivery. Applications running in the cloud make it incredibly easy for users to signup, access, and draw on solutions available on demand and within minutes. Cloud-based deployments consequently adopt new functionality much faster and more easily than their on-premises counterparts, with new applications driving rapid innovation.

Securing The Data-Driven Enterprise
The power of capturing, processing, and analyzing data offers tremendous opportunities to drive better business intelligence, product development, and customer service. Real-time business processes and workflows also require swift retrieval of data at the moment of need. As data sets grow, storage solutions need to become more flexible and scalable as organizations find it increasingly complex to store, protect, and manage all collected information.

Business Resilience And Continuity
Today’s enterprises depend on reliable access to applications, information, and people to persistently operate smartly and compete effectively. This requires a robust communications and IT infrastructure capable of providing always-on availability that can also self-heal should potential service disruptions occur. Navigating these disruptions calls for a more holistic and proactive strategy with respect to sourcing and securing resources across a variety of key areas.

Extended Reality
Analytics tools have historically been focused on descriptive outcomes, but now their applications are shifting towards predicting future events and behavior and recommending how to react to outcomes. In 2023, AI tools will become widely available through cloud platforms and open-source software. Businesses will ramp up their usage to streamline efficiency for the organization and achieve new levels of engagement, drawing on elements such as emotion recognition and behavior analysis.

Smart, Sustainable Society
Important steps are being made towards building smarter societies – where information and communications technologies ensure energy efficiency, sustainable economic development, safety and security, along with wise management of natural resources. Connected processes and collaboration will save time and reduce costs, scope, and impact of physical travel and transportation. Digital technologies will support the incorporation of circular economy principles into businesses and society, facilitating the redesign of products and value chains.

By embracing Digital Transformation and enabling advanced approaches to how Communications and IT services are delivered and managed, NEC provides new ways for Smart Enterprises to thrive and grow.

To learn more, visit https://www.necam.com/.

Contact Us Today

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Fill out the form, and we will get back with you.