Articles Business Communications – Top Applications 2010, Emerging Trends A look back at the business telephony market over 2010 provides insights into 2011 and reveals a heavy focus on end user experiences that improve worker productivity and make collaboration simpler and more efficient. Smartphones and tablet devices have taken center stage as these consumer devices continue to make their way into the business environment, becoming the devices of choice for today’s dispersed and mobile workers who require access to their communications at all times and from any location.... Read more... Articles Telecom Manufacturers Adopt Virtualization Technology The growing server virtualization market was a key topic at this spring’s VoiceCon Orlando 2010 (now Enterprise Connect) with a number of communications systems manufacturers highlighting their virtualized telephony solutions. This important advancement means that real-time voice applications can run side-by-side with non-voice applications on a single server. Fewer servers in the data center results in numerous benefits in terms of capital, operational and energy savings. In simplified terms, virtualization technology, which has been on the market for a few years now, is a layer of software that decouples.... Read more... Articles Business Communications – Employee Mobility a Top Priority A look back at business applications in 2009 from leading business telephony manufacturers reveals that top applications continue to address business continuity with capabilities that facilitate collaboration and the ability to reach others quickly and efficiently. And, employee mobility is in the forefront..... Read more... Articles Business Media Phones – What’s New? At the recent VoiceCon Orlando 2009 event, leading communications vendors showcased their newest software, systems, devices and applications for the business communications market. A number of vendors, including Avaya, Grandstream, Mitel, Nortel, Polycom and TANDBERG, to name a few, debuted new multimedia phones that integrate a telephone with video and/or Internet content and even access to popular social media applications.... Read more... Articles Selecting the Right Videoconferencing System(s) There are many forms of collaboration and different tools available for use in the workforce. A variety of collaboration services are also being utilized including audioconferencing services, webconferencing services and videoconferencing services. Videoconferencing systems, however, provide the highest level of collaboration in the workplace, with many different applications and potential user benefits. This report will provide you with an introduction to and overview of the various videoconferencing system offerings—what they are, how they work, key features and capabilities to look for when selecting a system (and a vendor), and how to... Read more... Articles Small Business Telephony Systems Dominate in 2008 More than two-thirds of new telephony system introductions in 2008 targeted small or mid-sized businesses (SMBs) or branch offices of larger organizations that have fewer than 750 employees. A significant number of these SMB systems – nearly 70% - address very small businesses, those with under 100 employees... Read more... Articles Video Conferencing and Telepresence: Face-to-Face, Across the Miles Analysts and industry insiders agree that in today’s global and distributed business environment, video conferencing provides a viable alternative to travel and an effective means of facilitating communication among colleagues and customers. The current terminology used to describe the video conferencing market, however, is not as clear. The traditional category of video conferencing has broadened to include newer technologies such as telepresence which enables a life-like meeting experience - participants feel they are actually sitting at the same table and communicating face-to-face... Read more... Articles The Complete IP PBX for SMBs Telecommunications manufacturers continued to focus on the Small and Mid-size Business (SMB) telephony market throughout 2007. Database and analyst group, TelecomTactics, a division of The Telecom Intelligence Group at Access Intelligence, finds that about 60% of new telephony system introductions in 2007 targeted small businesses or branch offices of larger organizations that have fewer than 250 employees. This represents an upward shift from 2006 (about 50% in 2006), but is more in line with previous years... Read more... Articles A New Wave of Unified Communications Software from Microsoft Microsoft aims to put “people at the center” with its unified communications and Voice over IP (VoIP) software that promises to revolutionize the way people communicate. Touted as a milestone for Microsoft and for the entire communications industry, the Microsoft offerings announced in October 2007 further the transformation toward software-based communications from a traditional PBX telephony model. Microsoft identifies some major trends that are enabling this transformation, including hardware performance improvements, advances in technology and the global and mobile nature.... Read more... Articles Contact Center: New Applications Address Excellence in Customer Service A look at new applications introduced throughout 2006 reveals that leading telecommunications vendors were focused on the contact center environment. Database publisher and analyst group TelecomTactics finds that new solutions for the contact center topped the list of newly-announced applications, followed by mobility, unified messaging and new collaboration solutions such as video telephony and conferencing. Vendors are keenly aware of the exploding contact center market... Read more... Articles Hospitality: The Guest Experience A focus on the “guest experience,” particularly in high-end hotels, has brought about a significant transformation in hospitality solution offerings from leading telecommunications vendors. Today’s travelers are seeking all the amenities and functionality of their home or office when choosing a hotel. Telecom vendors that once offered straightforward add-on software packages with popular hospitality features now bundle together a comprehensive, tailored solution that includes leading-edge technology often from third party partners. High Speed Internet Access, wireless coverage, video conferencing and new guest room technology... Read more... Articles TelecomTactics Survey 2006: Telecom Manufacturers Round Out System Portfolios A look back at business telephony system introductions in 2006 indicates that leading telecommunications manufacturers are rounding out their telephony system portfolios and focusing on growing businesses. Very small offices, mid-size enterprises and larger businesses with multiple sites all intend to grow and profit, and thus, require a telephony system that will continue to meet their needs in both capacity and functionality. New systems in 2006 address businesses ... Read more... Articles Telecom Manufacturers Shift Focus to Growing SMBs A number of leading telephone system manufacturers are addressing capacity and migration needs of growing businesses by adding new, larger platforms to existing families of business telephony systems. Distributed work environments with branch offices and remote workers continue to be the workplace trend, and leading manufacturers are responding with telephony systems for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs). However, database publisher and analyst group TelecomTactics has detected a shift in focus... Read more... Articles North American Telephone System Manufacturers Go Global North American telephone system manufacturers are increasingly offering telephony systems outside of North America in other world regions—Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the Caribbean and Latin America (CALA) and Asia Pacific (APAC). Database publisher and analyst group TelecomTactics, part of The Telecom Intelligence Group at Access Intelligence, finds that approximately 70 percent of telephony platforms... Read more... Articles Leading Edge Applications Address the Mobile and Distributed Workplace A recent TelecomTactics survey finds “highest” interest in the following leading-edge telecommunications applications: Unified Messaging/Unified Communications, Teleworker, Mobility/Wireless (PBX functionality on a wireless phone) and Voice over IP (VoIP) Security. Among those surveyed by TelecomTactics were resellers of telecom equipment and applications who indicate that these applications are high on the lists of their customers looking to purchase new telephony systems. The survey included over 28 application areas, and survey respondents were asked to rank these according to interest level. Read more... Articles Recapping The 2005 Market For Small Business Systems Leading manufacturers continue to target smaller businesses with new telephony platforms and applications, while system introductions of larger platforms decline. Database publisher and analyst group TelecomTactics, part of The Telecom Intelligence Group at Access Intelligence, finds that nearly 80 percent of the new enterprise telephony systems introduced in 2005 in the North American market were designed for small- or mid-sized businesses (SMBs) or branch offices of larger businesses that require fewer than 250 stations (up from between 60 percent and 70 percent in recent years). Further, half of these small systems are designed to accommodate businesses with fewer than 125 employees Read more... Articles What to Watch Today, businesses can choose from a wide variety of IP Telephones. Leading telecommunications manufacturers continue to round out their IP phone portfolios, offering a range of choices from cost-effective entry-level, cordless and mid-range phones to more advanced models for executives and “power” users. By transmitting voice over a company’s data network, IP telephones can reduce costs and easily extend office telephone features to a remote location such as a home or branch office. Corporate directory access, call history logging, IP call recording, large pixel-based displays, color touch-screens and Web access are among the many popular IP telephone features available today. Read more... Anytime, Anywhere: Trends in the U.S. Messaging Market Leading telecommunications manufacturers in the U.S. market continue to introduce advanced messaging features, including speech recognition, text-to-speech, conversation record, e-mail integration and networking to help businesses increase productivity and improve customer service. While distribution lists, dial by name and broadcast are among popular messaging features available for some time, newer features address a growing mobile workplace and a focus on “24/7” availability that keeps workers connected to customers and colleagues at all times. Read more... IP PBXs: Pure IP and Converged System Introductions on the Rise Telephone equipment manufacturers are responding as business customers seek to migrate to IP-based telephony solutions. Introductions of Pure IP and Converged Systems are on the rise. TelecomTactics research finds that Pure IP Systems (packet switching only) and Converged Systems (circuit and packet switching) represent a combined 70% of new system introductions in 2004 compared to only 35% in 2000. Traditional telephone systems that can be IP-enabled or those with no support for Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) are on the decline. Read more... About Us / Contact Us Referral Program Subscription Options Terms and Conditions