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.

Sometimes it seems as if there is only Skype for Business. Skype for Business here, Skype for Business there, Skype for Business everywhere. But what do the other applications actually do? But do they even exist? Of course, they do. Take Cisco, for example, which has for some time been prominently marketing its equivalent to Microsoft Teams: Cisco Spark. Heard of it?

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.

Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) combines all types of corporate communication and information in one single environment, thus enhancing business processes. UCC provides an integrated communication platform that enables employees to communicate more easily and collaborate more efficiently.

Session Initiation Protocol – SIP for short – is a modern communication protocol which is currently widely used in audio and video communications. What is special about it and how does it work?

Analog telephony

Not too long ago, telephony was only analog. This required switching though a cable connection from the caller to the person called, which was maintained until the end of the call. Voice data was transmitted in both directions via this connection using analog technology, and signaling for call setup, call tones and ring tones and call termination was carried out with what at that time were relatively sophisticated methods. However, a separate connection was required for each call.

To ensure the successful introduction of a new solution for Unified Communications and Collaboration (UCC) in the company, top management should define a uniform UC strategy beforehand. UCC systems usually consist of several components from different providers. The seamless integration of all existing communication services in the company ensures smooth and intuitive communication and cooperation. UCC can only be used to its full potential with a custom-fit strategy. The lack of a coherent UCC strategy runs the risk that the new applications will tend to increase complexity for end users and IT administrators instead of simplifying cooperation.

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.

Are you still using a conventional desktop phone at your workplace which is connected to a conventional telephone outlet? Hardly likely. You are also probably already working with a modern IP set or even a so-called soft client. For a huge technological change is taking place, where pure telephone networks are disappearing and instead, telephony is being shifted to the computer network. This change also calls for a new technology for audio communication, which has become known as Voice over IP. This article sheds light on the key aspects of this modern technology.

It's December and Christmas is just around the corner. But business never sleeps. And nor does your company's telephone system. For it always has to be "on duty". Whereas most employees take time off over the holiday season, it's business as usual in some places.

It depends on the industry. Say, industry A closes for the holiday season, industry B reduces operations but still has to be reachable by phone and industry C has to stay open for business. But let's have a closer look at the individual situations using examples.

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.