Categories: Unified Communications

UNIVERGE BLUE CLOUD SERVICES Celebrates 3 Years of Partnership with Intermedia Cloud Communications

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

UNIVERGE BLUE’s all-in-one platform enables companies to communicate, collaborate and connect from anywhere at anytime

NEC is thrilled to celebrate the third anniversary of the successful launch of UNIVERGE BLUE CLOUD SERVICES and our partnership with Intermedia. Launched on May 20, 2020, UNIVERGE BLUE has been providing simple, scalable, and customizable solutions for customers to easily manage business communications and collaboration among employees during a time of great change to how many businesses operate.

UNIVERGE BLUE BRINGS EMPLOYEES TOGETHER FROM ANYWHERE, ANYTIME

UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT combines your phone system, chat, video, screen sharing, file management and conference calling into a seamless experience that fits with your business size, needs, and work style. UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE provides a leading Contact Center Software as a Service solution (CCaaS) combining the most robust suite of features with carrier-grade reliability and world-class deployment and support services. And UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT BRIDGE enables inbound and outbound calling via desktop and mobile apps, plus includes an integrated suite of collaboration services including team chat, video conferencing, and secure file sync/sharing.

In addition to the core solutions that have formed the foundation of UNIVERGE BLUE’s success, several new products have also been launched in the past 12 months. UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT ROOMS is an exciting new video conference room solution that allows employees to easily reserve a conference room and simultaneously schedule a video conference for both in-office and remote workers. CONNECT ROOMS is fully integrated with UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT and comes FREE with any supported CONNECT license. More recently, NEC introduced UNIVERGE BLUE ARCHIVE. ARCHIVE provides an essential service for any business that needs to preserve its communications for compliance with various legal and industry requirements. With ARCHIVE, businesses can easily search their UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT calls, chats and SMS conversations to retrieve critical information the moment its needed.

UNVERIGE BLUE also introduced several exciting new features and functionality to existing products. UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT introduced Company Messaging, which allows businesses to send and receive rich text (SMS) and picture messages (MMS) to and from the main business or toll-free phone number to enhance customer interactions. CONNECT also unveiled the Service Adoption Dashboard, a free feature included in existing CONNECT licenses that allows administrators to see how often team members are actively using Voice, Chat, Meetings, and Desktop and Mobile Apps.

UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE also launched several exciting new features to maintain its status as a leading CCaaS solution. ENGAGE Evaluator uses artificial intelligence (AI) to identify, review, evaluate, and provide feedback on the conversations with the greatest business impact. ENGAGE Interaction Analytics allows for the ability to transcribe full conversations and voicemails and uses AI to automatically identify important conversations and notify managers/supervisors to help ensure high quality customer service.

NEC EMBRACES THE POWER OF CHOICE WITH CLOUD CASH

NEC firmly believes in the Power of Choice and the impact it can have on our channel partners’ bottom line. NEC channel partners get to choose whether they want to sell on-premise solutions, cloud solutions, or both! They also get to choose their preferred ownership model so they can retain as much – or as little – contact they have with their customers. And now, with the new CLOUD CASH program, partners can also choose how they get paid on each deal. This one-of-a-kind program helps channel partners alleviate any potential gaps in revenue by letting them determine whether they want to get one lump sum upfront or ongoing monthly recurring revenue (MRR) on each deal they sell.

It’s been another successful year for NEC and UNIVERGE BLUE. UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT AND ENGAGE saw tremendous growth with double the number of customers deployed, while also bringing onboard numerous new UNIVERGE BLUE partners. None of this is possible without our outstanding employees and every growing channel partner network. It’s been an incredible journey, but the best is still to come!

Not currently an NEC Channel Partner? Join our Channel Partner program today, and learn all about how the Power of Choice can drive your business forward.

Ensure Data Security and Compliance with UNIVERGE BLUE ARCHIVE

Posted by Adam Uthe on Posted in Cloud, Security, Unified Communications Tagged , , ,

FIND THE INFORMATION YOU NEED, THE MOMENT YOU NEED IT

Do you and your organization spend too much time searching for information from your day-to-day business communications? Whether the information is needed to improve productivity, maintain compliance, or assist HR and/or Legal investigations, it’s critical that organizations can find what they’re looking for as soon as possible – and without compromising on information security. That’s why NEC is excited to introduce UNIVERGE BLUE ARCHIVE, a data retention solution available to UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT customers that makes it fast and easy to find important communications the moment they’re needed. It automatically preserves, protects, and provides search and retrieval of critical business communications, including chat, short message service (SMS), phone calls, voicemails, and more.

UNIVERGE BLUE ARCHIVE

Evaluate Employee Productivity Levels
UNIVERGE BLUE ARCHIVE addresses important productivity challenges for almost any business. Sales teams, customer support and most other business functions generate communications that are essential to retracing important decisions or ensuring you have a more complete view of customer interactions. This helps improve the performance of internal customer-facing teams, while also providing a better overall customer experience. ARCHIVE also secures access to internal communications and protects from accidental or malicious deletion that may occur during transitions, leaves of absence, and other significant organizational changes.

Total Compliance For Any Industry
Every organization has a minimal level of compliance it needs to maintain, whether its industry-specific or general protection and privacy requirements. ARCHIVE makes it easy to preserve, identify and retrieve relevant interactions to support compliance with regulatory and internal governance retention requirements. ARCHIVE supports healthcare (HIPAA, CMS), financial services (BSA, SEC, FINRA, MiFID II) and legal industry retention periods and policies, data residency (US, Canada, UK), privacy (GDPR), data integrity, and security requirements.

Protect Your Organization – And Your Employees
Legal teams can also save time by utilizing ARCHIVE to streamline their review processes when conducting investigations or preparing for future litigation. ARCHIVE makes it faster and easier than ever for Human Resource teams to investigate and resolve potential workplace harassment and misconduct that takes place on the organization’s communications and collaboration platform(s).

Designed to support a wide range of organizations, UNIVERGE BLUE ARCHIVE provides a simple, cost-effective, powerful service for preserving and quickly locating relevant communications. Never have to worry about losing important communications again with UNIVERGE BLUE ARCHIVE. To learn more, visit https://www.univergeblue.com/cloud-services/archive/.

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.