Cloud (NextUC) to the Rescue! (A true story…)

Yesterday I received a call from someone I had not spoken with in over a year. One year ago, he had signed up his company for a trial of NextUC’s hosted Lync. The product had just been released and was in the very early beta stage. At that time, there was no Office365 integration for unified messaging, voicemail, or auto attendant, so he decided to discontinue his NextUC service in favor of an on premise Lync and Exchange deployment.

When I spoke to him yesterday, he was in the midst of a crisis involving a near implosion of his Exchange server and a seriously troubled Lync Server. More than once, he had to leave our conversation to take a call relating to his infrastructure “meltdown.” Between interruptions, he told me the up-front cost of his on premise solution was substantial and he had been battling with the hardware ever since.

After explaining his current situation, he asked what NextUC has done in the year since he had tried the product and was thrilled to learn of the full UM integration with Office365 hosted Exchange. Almost immediately, our conversation ended so that he could get his company’s email moved over to Office365 but he assured me he would call back when he was up and running with email.

Sure enough, the phone rang about an hour later and he was ready to set up his NextUC accounts and enable the integration with his new Office365 Exchange Online Plan 2. It only took a few minutes to provision NextUC hosted Lync for his entire organization. With the two products, he now had email, IM with presence, voicemail and unified messaging and even web conferencing with integrated audio and video.

So, in one afternoon, this guy was able to not just replace, but upgrade his entire communications infrastructure with Office365 and NextUC hosted Lync. Wow.

Written by Bob Barnes

Foster City, CA – July 24, 2012: Today, NextUC announced the availability of connection testing for its new and existing customers.  The NextUC Collaboration and Communication product is consumed on the Internet and this testing tool allows customers to anticipate the quality of the experience that should be expected when they go live.

NextUC’s focuses on delivering a complete team collaboration experience including web conferencing(http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/web-conferencing-nextuc/), audio conferencing, chat, presence, video conferencing(http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/video-conferencing/) and telephone service.  The NextUC product can be evaluated, purchased, deployed and consumed by non-technical people within an organization and once deployed provides an amazingly powerful collaboration experience.  The bandwidth connection test is a key addition to the pre-onboarding experience because it can help set realistic expectations about the quality of the overall experience at any specific location.  The connection test can be found here: http://www.nextuc.com/plans-pricing/test-your-connection/.

Typically NextUC customers work in teams that are located in multiple locations of a single company, but many times are in different companies.  NextUC enables team leads to purchase the product for a very low monthly expense, have it up and running in minutes and all without the need to engage IT or Sr Management.  The shift in the experience from the historic expensive, time consuming, distractive and often incomplete solutions to NextUC’s “Business App” experience allows teams to be more productive and collaborative for less money than they are spending today.

“Individual team members can now test their connection independently of IT or Corporate oversight,” says Bob Barnes, EVP of Product Marketing and Sales.  “This frees cycles within the organization and also improves overall satisfaction for users.

About NextUC

NextUC is a cloud-based Microsoft Lync communication product providing enterprise-class voice, messaging, conferencing, presence, chat, collaboration and mobility capabilities.  NextUC streamlines business communication into one unified interface enabling easier and faster communication that improves teams collaboration and productivity. With NextUC clients can replace their phone and conferencing providers and simply use Lync for all of their communication needs. NextUC works on all operating systems including Windows, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry and has a mobile client available for all major mobile platforms. For more information please visit www.nextuc.com

Written by Bob Barnes

Great Connections Made at Microsoft WPC!

Last week, Microsoft held its annual Worldwide Partner Conference to bring together Microsoft leaders and partners from around the world.  NextUC attended the conference and was one of five cloud service providers featured at the WPC Speed Date for the Cloud Event last Tuesday night.  This event, held at a local restaurant and bar, provided a forum for Microsoft partners to meet with the cloud service providers for 10 minute “speed dates” to network and cultivate partner relationships.

At the WPC speed date event, NextUC introduced its new Charter Partner Program specifically designed for Microsoft partners.  The charter program provides Microsoft partners an extended trial period in addition to the generous partner incentives already in place.  Signing up for the NextUC Charter Partner Program also give Microsoft partners access to additional resources when they refer clients to NextUC.

At the speed date event, NextUC had the opportunity to meet with several Microsoft partners including representatives from Gig Werks, The Via Group, Winwire Technologies, EBT Solutions, Team Venti and Enpointe Technologies, to name a few.  Many of these Microsoft partners were Office365 resellers and learned of NextUC’s seamless integration enabling voice and audio conferencing features for Office365’s suite of services.  NextUC combined with Office365 gives customers an end to end business solution including telephony, IM and presence and web, audio and video conferencing from the cloud.

NextUC takes pride in maintaining an extensive partner network and works closely with partners not only to build the relationship with NextUC but to create new opportunities for them through referrals to current NextUC customers.  NextUC users who are seeking complementary services or additional support resources are matched to one of NextUC’s experienced partners.

The WPC Speed Date for the Cloud Event was a great way to facilitate growth in our partner community…and the open bar didn’t hurt either!

Please visit http://www.nextuc.com/partners/charter/ for more information on NextUC’s new Charter Partner Program or call 1-855-300-1452.

Written by Bob Barnes

Collaboration As A Team Optimizer

Successful salespeople are by nature outgoing, entrepreneurial, ambitious, self-reliant and fiercely independent, to name a few.  These are the same qualities that also seem to alienate salespeople, either by chance or by choice, from their team members and colleagues.  Salespeople are the driving force behind a company’s success but companies still need to realize the necessity and value of team collaboration throughout the entire organization.  Salespeople need collaboration tools for enhanced customer interaction but that also allow them to be independent and mobile while staying connected to their organization.

E. Brent Kelly, a Senior Analyst and Partner at Wainhouse Research, outlines three primary contributors to sales force optimization:

• Reducing travel while at the same time increasing the frequency and quality of customer interactions
• Accelerating performance by finding  the right people anytime and anywhere within the organization
• Connecting account managers and salespeople instantly with relevant content independent of the media type (text, talk, video)

Collaboration tools such as web, audio and video conferencing, IM and presence, and unified messaging are the means by which organizations can optimize these three key areas and improve sales performance and the company’s overall success.  It is one thing to implement these tools, but it is another thing to actually have salespeople use them.  Therefore, it is also important for team collaboration tools to support the independence and mobility that characterizes the life of the salesperson.

With all the collaboration solutions flooding today’s market, the challenge is finding a product that can be evaluated, purchased, deployed and consumed by non-technical people within an organization but most importantly, once deployed, provides an amazingly powerful collaboration experience for all users across multiple devices.

We welcome your comments and would like to know what you think is the most important tool for a successful sales force.

Written by Bob Barnes

NextUC Redefining Business Collaboration

Foster City, CA – June 29, 2012: Today, NextUC continued growth with business teams working independently of corporate IT. NextUC is successfully shifting the way collaboration services are evaluated, installed and serviced in ways that enable team leaders to make decisions independently of traditional corporate gatekeepers.

NextUC’s unique focus on delivering a complete team collaboration experience including web conferencing (http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/web-conferencing-nextuc/), audio conferencing, chat, presence, video conferencing (http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/video-conferencing/) and telephone service (http://www.nextuc.com/plans-pricing/) is what is separating NextUC from market leaders like Webex and GoToMeeting. The NextUC product can be evaluated, purchased, deployed and consumed by non-technical people within an organization and once deployed provides an amazingly powerful collaboration experience.

Typically NextUC customers work in teams that are in multiple locations of a single company, but many times are in different companies. Sales leaders, product development leaders and project management team leaders are finding the ability to work independently from the traditional corporate structures empowering and productive. NextUC’s collaboration tools are providing unique opportunities in Sales by creating a collaborative team with customers included which provides a much different dynamic than the traditional sales model. The collaboration experience for product and project management leaders is different, but equally compelling.

“NextUC enables the team leaders to lead and be more productive rather than wait on long and delayed corporate cycles,” says Bob Barnes, EVP of Product Marketing and Sales. “The NextUC solution seems to be resolving many challenges for current Cisco Webex and Citrix GoToMeeting customers.”

The key features that seem to be providing the most value to these clients include rich presence management with chat, telephony, audio conferencing and web conferencing. The NextUC experience also means that these team members do not need to change applications or lose connection with any of the team for any reason because of a complete mobile experience that even ties in remote, traveling or home workers.

About NextUC
NextUC is a cloud-based Microsoft Lync communication product providing enterprise-class voice, messaging, conferencing, presence, chat, collaboration and mobility capabilities. NextUC streamlines business communication into one unified interface enabling easier and faster communication that improves teams collaboration and productivity. With NextUC clients can replace their phone and conferencing providers and simply use Lync for all of their communication needs. NextUC works on all operating systems including Windows, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry and has a mobile client available for all major mobile platforms. For more information please visit www.nextuc.com

Written by Bob Barnes

NextUC Closes Record June With New Highs In Satisfaction, Growth, and Utilization

Foster City, CA – July 10, 2012: Today, NextUC announced the close of June with record growth for Customer Satisfaction, revenue growth and product utilization by its customers.   NextUC has been able to sustain dramatic growth while also increasing customer satisfaction due in large part to their unique approach to productizing the customer collaboration experience.

“Another record month of performance on a wide variety of key performance indicators”, said Bob Barnes, VP of Product Marketing and Sales.  “NextUC must keep performing well, and we are showing sustainable execution on all fronts.”

Revenue rose 20% month over month which is one of the key indicators of overall performance, but the overall success goes much deeper than that.

Telephone usage grew 34%, web conferencing (http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/web-conferencing-nextuc/) usage grew 19%, video conferencing (http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/web-conferencing-nextuc/) grew 14% and the user base grew 13% month over month.  These combined metrics indicate that NextUC has a customer base that is growing and is using the wide variety of unified communications and collaboration service (http://www.nextuc.com).  This is on top of a Net Promoter Score of 30 which is tracking up from the month earlier.

Customers are able to offset current spend on web conferencing and audio conferencing and get the whole unified communications experience at drastic savings(http://www.nextuc.com/plans-pricing).  A significant amount of the monthly growth came from customers leaving Webex and GoToMeeting who were in search of a better collaboration experience while also looking to reduce monthly expense.  NextUC’s instant on product is providing a major shift in the way businesses are acquiring and using unified communications.

There are no contracts required, there is a 60 day evaluation period and customers can leave at any point they feel there is a need.  This marks the beginning of a massive shift in the way business collaboration and communication services are being consumed by businesses.

About NextUC

NextUC is a cloud-based Microsoft Lync communication product providing enterprise-class voice, messaging, conferencing, presence, chat, collaboration and mobility capabilities.  NextUC streamlines business communication into one unified interface enabling easier and faster communication that improves teams collaboration and productivity. With NextUC clients can replace their phone and conferencing providers and simply use Lync for all of their communication needs. NextUC works on all operating systems including Windows, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry and has a mobile client available for all major mobile platforms. For more information please visit www.nextuc.com

Written by Bob Barnes

NextUC Launches Microsoft Charter Partner Program

Foster City, CA – July 9, 2012: Today, NextUC announced the release of its Microsoft Charter Partner program that is focused on providing current registered Microsoft partners with an opportunity to join NextUC’s enhanced partner program.

NextUC’s Charter Partner program provides partners with six months of free service to its partners, as long as certain base qualifications are met.  The program is designed to increase the product offerings in Microsoft Partners portfolio to include voice enabled Microsoft Lync (www.nextuc.com/plans-pricing) that is hosted in the cloud by NextUC.

“NextUC is providing a fantastic opportunity for registered Microsoft Partners to add a cloud based Lync product to their offering suite” said Bob Barnes, VP of Product Marketing and Sales.  “We believe that there are great opportunities to resolve customer challenges in a quick and reliable way uniquely with NextUC.”

The Charter Partner program provides recurring revenue, access to NextUC Sr Mgmt and other unique benefits to a limited number of partners.  The program will be cut off on August 15^th and is limited to the first 100 qualified applicants.

NextUC is attending Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference this week in Toronto.  They are also hosting an event on Tuesday night specifically designed to share information about its cloud Microsoft Lync offering as well as the Charter Partner program.  Please visit the Charter Partner Program page to learn more (www.nextuc.com/partner/charter).

About NextUC

NextUC is a cloud-based Microsoft Lync communication product providing enterprise-class voice, messaging, conferencing, presence, chat, collaboration and mobility capabilities.  NextUC streamlines business communication into one unified interface enabling easier and faster communication that improves teams collaboration and productivity. With NextUC clients can replace their phone and conferencing providers and simply use Lync for all of their communication needs. NextUC works on all operating systems including Windows, iOS, Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry and has a mobile client available for all major mobile platforms. For more information please visit www.nextuc.com

Written by Bob Barnes

It has been 1 year since NextUC launched its hosted Microsoft Lync with voice product and we want to present some highlights from the first year.  The follow are some stats as well as new features and services we have added since NextUC’s launch last July.

• 99.997% uptime since NextUC’s launch in July 2011, with 100.000% uptime in 10 out of 12 months.
• 14 product upgrades and releases which have added features like Call Detail reporting to our customer administration portal, enabled support for Polycom IP desk phones and improved NextUC’s online provisioning system.
• Office365 integration was released in February 2012 and enables full integration of NextUC with Office365 for voicemail, unified messaging, auto-attendant, and more.
• The NextUC Invite feature allows current NextUC subscribers send invites directly to colleagues so they can try hosted Lync for free.
• Support ticketing launched in May 2012 along with a new support and community site.  Customers can now open support tickets for technical and product questions and issues.
• Partner Program enhancements.  NextUC makes it easier than ever for partners to take advantage of NextUC’s competitive compensation program and the recently launched NextUC Partner Matching Program provides customers additional support and account management resources through NextUC’s extensive partner network.
• Live Chat.  In June 2012, NextUC added a live chat feature to the website.
• The NextUC product store lets NextUC customers now purchase Polycom devices right through the NextUC website.

Despite this long list of adds so far, there is still much more to come.  NextUC will continue enhancing its current hosted Lync product with feature adds and provisioning system upgrades. Also look for new NextUC products that focus on improving collaboration and communication among teams separated by distance, company and/or existing platform.

Keep up with NextUC news by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter @NextUC

NextUC Presents Cost-Effective Option to Users

http://unified-communications.tmcnet.com/topics/unified-communications/articles/297379-nextuc-presents-cost-effective-option-users.htm

NextUC claimed that users who employ other Web conferencing products are increasingly adopting its own live collaboration platform. NextUC presents a more cost-effective option along with improved functionality to those who are looking for a more holistic collaboration solution.

NextUC explained that it is a cloud lync based collaboration product that teams of any size can use to improve the way they communicate while also lowering cost. It is stated to be a replacement for the majority of all business communications solutions that companies are using today and reportedly integrates withMicrosoft’s (News  - Alert)Office365 Exchange to create the optimal business communications solution available for knowledge workers, groups or teams of any size.

NextUC stated that its offering can be evaluated, purchased and deployed by non-technical users and can let team leads to purchase the product for a very low monthly expense, have it up and running in minutes. The solution also makes Web meetings, video collaboration, text and voice very easy to use and more powerful by integrating them into the tools professionals use every day including iPads, iPhones, PC’s,Apple (News  - Alert) OSX and Android.

“NextUC enables the team leaders to lead and be more productive rather than wait on long and delayed corporate cycles,” said Bob Barnes, EVP of product marketing and sales. “The NextUC solution seems to be resolving many challenges for current Cisco (News  - Alert) Webex and Citrix GoToMeeting customers”.

With the NextUC platform, communication is enhanced and business teams are provided with an exclusive opportunity to generate more production and make faster decisions. The company added it lets users to try the service for 60 days at no cost, move onto deploy a paid platform with no contracts at the end of the trial period and leave with no penalty at any time.