talkbase Blog

High availability is crucial in the modern business environment. If you aren't on hand to communicate with your customers, then the chances are that they'll take their interest, and their business elsewhere. Attendant solutions can help you to make the most out of your unified collaboration services, but it's important to ensure that you stay online as often as possible if you want to get the most out of your system.

In my last blog I described the opportunities through the changeover to UCC. But what does UCC stand for exactly? The first two letters “UC” stand for Unified Communications, in other words for the merging of different technologies. So whoever opts for a UC solution will make use of the full range of features of UC software to cover the entire spectrum of means of communication such as voice, text or video. The UC solution also includes collaboration tools, which is why we use the term UCC (Unified Communications and Collaboration) solutions. These collaboration tools are intended to supplement the UC solution and simplify collaboration in teams and companies. In this blog I will explain to you how to use the main tools efficiently.

Over the next few years IP telephony will replace conventional telephone technology (also known as Time Division Multiplex, TDM for short) across much of Europe. In Switzerland, the changeover is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2017. In discussions with partners and customers, I have found that this is mostly seen as an opportunity. The changeover, and the use of UCC in particular, opens up new possibilities and applications which were unthinkable up to now with conventional TDM technology. They not only change telephony but offer a great deal besides. We could exaggerate slightly and say that this is perhaps even a minor reformation of the way in which we communicate. In this blog article I would like to go into a little more detail about the opportunities offered by the use of UCC.

The year 2016 is slowly coming to an end. A great deal has happened this year, particularly in the field of Unified Communications. Unified Communications (UC) is gaining ground, is replacing conventional telephony systems and is changing the way in which we are communicating and working. This is mainly in conjunction with the collaboration tools, which complement the UC system perfectly and, to name only one example, change mobile working completely. Thanks to today's means of communication, geographical distances between the individual team members are no longer an obstacle. Irrespective of whether everyone is working in one office or part of the team in a home office, Unified Communications & Collaboration (UCC) offer the perfect tools for teams which are distributed over several locations, whether via the display of the presence status, desktop sharing options or even starting ad hoc video conferences. Unified Communications & Collaboration offer all these features for everyday work.

Following on from recent blogs in which we primarily addressed topics relating to Unified Communication, today's blog is dedicated to the topic of software licensing. Software is now available for all conceivable requirements and applications. But in addition to requirements to be met by the software, customers should also think about how they wish to acquire the software. For as most people already know, there are basically two different acquisition methods:

• perpetual licensing (purchase), i.e. the customer buys the software or
• subscription licensing (leasing), i.e. the customer leases the software.

This blog explains what exactly the differences are and the advantages and disadvantages of the two models. For you must have already wondered whether the increasing number of subscription models on offer really offer additional advantages over perpetual licensing or not.

The digital age has an ever increasing impact on the way in which we communicate with each other. In view of this, our penultimate blog discussed the requirements to be met by a modern attendant solution. Yet before a new attendant solution can be commissioned at all, companies have to think about how this will be implemented. As you certainly all know, two scenarios in particular are under discussion in this connection: should the Unified Communication solution be obtained from the cloud or should it be operated on the company infrastructure? In the case of UC from the cloud, experts refer to UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) or also Hosted UC, i.e. the UC service is taken from the cloud. If, on the other hand, a company uses its own servers for implementation, it has opted for an on-premises solution.

Web Real-Time Communication, also known under the term WebRTC, is an Open Source project which was launched over five years ago. The open standard enables real-time communication via audio, video, chat and file sharing within Web applications or mobile apps on iOS and Android. This technology can undoubtedly be considered the pioneering communication technology. For if you Google "WebRTC", you will get numerous hits on the project and the opportunities offered by these new ways of communicating, which are possible with the use of WebRTC. But why is WebRTC such a hot topic at the moment? And how can it change everyday business communication in the future?

Many companies are using Office 365 with Enterprise Voice. This also provides Skype for Business and all UCC features. There is, however, a snag with this solution from Microsoft known as "Cloud PBX": the functions can only be used within the company. But employees also want to reach external contacts and be reachable for them, as they are used to from the existing PBX telephone system. This is not automatically possible for Skype for Business, which is integrated in Office365, as it does not have access to the PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network). However, only access to the PSTN enables Skype4Business users to call any telephone numbers worldwide. 

Is the replacement of the existing telephone system within your SME an issue? That's when it is essential for you to think about your future communications strategy and familiarize yourself with the latest technologies.

This is often underestimated in SMEs, due to their manageable organization. It is therefore all the more important that you opt for a contemporary UC solution, and also for connected systems, such as the switchboard. Thanks to a state-of-the-art UC solution for your communications and the related increased professionalism of call handling, both your staff and external callers will appreciate this decision.

Throughout Europe and beyond, service providers are switching off their ISDN networks and migrating their customers over to VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). The first service providers have already made the switch, including Slovakia and Macedonia. Most have made their plans public, including Swisscom (2017), Deutsche Telekom (2018), Orange (2020) and BT (2025). In future, fixed network, internet and TV, and all related services will operate via the Internet Protocol. There are a number of points to observe with regard to the changeover to VoIP.

Make use of the time now to already think about how your company can benefit the most from the upcoming changeover. For VoIP offers you a host of Unified Communication (UC) solutions which you can select according to your needs.