Partner Program Perks

NextUC is focusing efforts on improving and expanding its partner program. The program is based entirely on referrals and is flexible, allowing partners to customize the relationship with the clients they bring to NextUC. In addition to monthly commissions, NextUC actually drives new business to partners through its partner matching programs.
 
NextUC’s free 60 day trial and easy on provisioning create a unique revenue opportunity for partners in the very early stages of customer engagement to get revenue. And it’s easy to get clients started on the trial because there is no payment information required and therefore no risk. NextUC does not collect any payment until after the trial has concluded, but partners can provide account setup and management services as well as support and training to clients before, during and of course after the trial concludes and they convert to paying customers.
 
In addition to commissions for monthly recurring service charges from referrals, NextUC provides ways to actually drive new business to partners. Once partners get their initial referral, they are eligible for NextUC’s partner matching program whereby NextUC actually refers current and prospective clients to partners for support, training, and account administration, even for consulting or other services offered by the partners.
 
Upcoming enhancements

This week NextUC launched its partner training series covering topics ranging from sales and marketing strategies to technical trainings on NextUC’s administrative portal and Office365 integration setup and configuration. Each session also includes one on one Q & A with our support and development team. Starting next month, NextUC will launch a partner newsletter with information on new and upcoming feature releases as well valuable marketing tools and tips.
The goal of NextUC’s partner program is to form long term relationships that benefit our partners, NextUC but ultimately (and most importantly) NextUC customers.
For additional information on NextUC’s partner program or to apply to be a partner, please visit our website at https://nextuc.com/partners.

NextUC Launches Partner Training Program

Foster City, CA – August 29, 2012: Today, NextUC announced the kickoff of their Partner Training Program (http://www.nextuc.com/partners/).  The program is designed to provide everything a partner needs to successfully go to market with NextUC.  The training program will have multiple sessions per month, each session will last approximately 30 minutes and each session will cover different aspects of the program.

NextUC did extensive interviews with its partners to tailor the program and trainings to their needs.   One key piece of feedback was the need to have multiple short sessions that covered different parts of the program rather than long sessions that cover a wider array of information.

“NextUC’s goal is to provide a very responsive partner program to build a vibrant partner ecosystem.” said Bob Barnes, VP of Product Marketing and Sales.  “We want to drive business  to partners as well as provide a great compensation program for partners who refer business to NextUC.”

NextUC continues to provide the best value for business teams looking for a complete communication and collaboration product.  A full premium user costs $21 per month and provides web meetings (http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/web-conferencing-nextuc/), video conferencing (http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/video-conferencing/), telephone calling, unified messaging, chat, presence and mobility services.

The upcoming partner trainings cover Office 365 integration, a program overview, go to market support as well as other key requirements for a successful partner relationship.  More information on NextUC and the Referral Partner Program can be found at www.nextuc.com/partners.

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.

NextUC Hosted Microsoft Lync New Features Announcement

Foster City, CA – August 24, 2012: Today, NextUC announced that the release of five customer facing product enhancements.  The enhancements include telephone number porting, individual telephone number choosing, support for multiple telephone numbers for an individual user, company DID inventory and updates to international dialing features.  These features drive some key experiences for Cloud Lync with Voice (http://www.nextuc.com).

Business teams can now work in a more planned way with the ability to have a predefined pool of numbers to pull from as they grow.  This allows customers to port over blocks of telephone numbers or select a predefined pool when onboarding to keep employees in the same number range.

NextUC can also now seamlessly allow teams and companies to move from their existing telephone systems with the ability to support multiple numbers per DID.  This feature allows an individual to have their old telephone number live on their Lync client and also have a live working new number on their Lync client while the business telephone number porting is in process.  Once the old number has moved over to NextUC, it will seamlessly ring on the Lync client minimizing any potential downtime during the complicated process.

“NextUC is providing a fantastic way for businesses to get out of their old antiquated telephone systems” said Bob Barnes, VP of Product Marketing and Sales.  “We have a long history in the industry and understand how to provide the tools and experiences necessary to drive a great business communication experience.”

NextUC continues to provide the best value for business teams looking for a complete communication and collaboration product.  A full premium user costs $21 per month and provides web meetings (http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/web-conferencing-nextuc/), video conferencing, telephone calling, unified messaging, chat, presence and mobility services (http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/lync-mobile/).

NextUC has quickly established itself as the go-to solution for businesses looking for Hosted Lync with telephone service.  The latest enhancements further define why NextUC is the best option for business teams to go for the best full collaboration experience in the market.

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.

Successful Virtual Teams Take More than Technology

Remote teams, either partially or entirely, are becoming more common.  This trend is likely due to the availability of communication and collaboration tools that allow team members to stay connected. Whether these teams are comprised of members from one organization or multiple, collaborative tools facilitate effective interaction among dispersed members.

So at least logistically, remote teams are possible, but that does not necessarily make them successful.    Beyond leveraging the right technology, the following are some best practices for a successful virtual team.

High Visibility

Team members separated by time and/or distance need to maintain visibility in terms of their schedule and availability so they can be accessible to teammates when necessary.

Frequent Phone Communication

Instant messaging and email are great tools, but there is no substitute for voice communication when it comes to staying connected without face to face interaction.  Video calling and conferencing is an added bonus and will enhance the benefits of voice communication even further.

Keep Up with Updates

It is not as easy for remote team members to walk to the office next door and check in on a colleague, or for the entire team to sit down for daily or weekly update meetings.  It is therefore important for virtual teams to be keep “in the loop” with frequent and relevant updates.  Contributions to a project or objective need to be shared among all team members so everyone has the most current information available.

Set Clear Goals

Establishing tangible goals is important for remote teams to stay on track.  Whether daily, weekly or monthly, goals set by remote team managers and/or team members maintains productivity and reinforces a sense of accomplishment and gratification when those goals are reached.

So, not only do remote teams require advanced collaboration tools but also the right type of management and team member dynamics if they are going to be successful.

NextUC Microsoft Charter Partner Program Has Ended

Foster City, CA – August 15, 2012: Today, NextUC announced that the NextUC Charter Microsoft Partner Program is officially closed.  The program has stopped taking new partners as of August 15^th, and all of the related benefits will cease being offered to new general partners.  NextUC will, however, continue the availability of its standard partner program indefinitely for its voice enabled Cloud Microsoft Lync product (http://www.nextuc.com).

NextUC’s Charter Partner program provided partners with six months of free service to its partners, as long as certain base qualifications were met.  NextUC’s standard partner program maintains the ability for organizations with complementary business models to build recurring revenue streams from referred users.

“NextUC is providing a fantastic opportunity for companies to add a cloud based Lync product to their offering suite” said Bob Barnes, VP of Product Marketing and Sales.  “We believe our partner program provides great opportunities to resolve customer challenges in a quick and reliable way uniquely with NextUC.”

NextUC continues to provide the best value for business teams looking for a complete communication and collaboration product.  A full premium user costs $21 per month and provides web meetings, video conferencing, telephone calling, unified messaging, chat, presence and mobility services.

NextUC has found fantastic partnership opportunities with Office 365 partners.  The joint NextUC, Office 365 and partner offering to customers has created a very compelling win/win/win situation for Customer, Partner and NextUC.

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’s Lync Product Now Has Telephone Number Porting

Foster City, CA – August 14, 2012: Today, NextUC announced the release of telephone number porting for its customers on its Cloud Lync product.  This service allows customers to move existing telephone numbers from other service providers like AT&T, Verizon and others to NextUC to retain historic relationships associated to those telephone numbers.

“Telephone number porting is a key element for our product in our customer’s eyes”, said Bob Barnes, VP of Product Marketing and Sales.  “This single feature allows businesses to move more freely to our service without any restrictions.”

The incumbent carrier is legally bound to assist in the move of telephone numbers from their network to other networks based on the Telecommunications Act of 1996.  One of the key features of this act was the assignment of ownership of telephone numbers to the customer and not any single carrier.

NextUC’s Lync product takes another big step forward with this service addition.  Businesses can now take advantage of all of the market leading Lync (www.nextuc.com) based team collaboration tools like Web Conferencing (http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/web-conferencing-nextuc/), Audio Conferencing, Presence Management, Chat, Integrated Mobile (http://www.nextuc.com/why-nextuc/lync-mobile/) experiences and more, and keep the historic telephone numbers their customers and partners are used to.

NextUC believes in changing the relationship dynamic for services they deliver.  The customer deserves better than they have historically been delivered.  Better pricing, better leverage, better service; and NextUC is up to the challenge.  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’s Lync Is The Best Of Microsoft Unified Communications

Microsoft Unified Communications is a broadly used term that different organizations use to get momentum in the market.  Most analysts tend to pick Microsoft or Cisco as the leaders in product development in the Unified Communications space.  What is NextUC’s role in all of this?

NextUC enables Microsoft Unified Communications (http://lync.microsoft.com/en-us/Pages/unified-communications.aspx)for teams that need to move quickly and with the best products.  NextUC allows customers to evaluate the product in full production for 60 days before asking customers to pay.  NextUC does not ask you to commit to long term contracts and only charges $21 per month for full access.  Best of all, the entire Microsoft unified communications (http://www.nextuc.com) experience can be up and running with working telephone numbers in minutes.

The goal of communications and collaboration is to allow people to work together as a unit or a team.  Some people in companies don’t need to work as a member of a team and frankly don’t benefit working with other people in groups at all.  The goal of unified messaging is really improving team collaboration and communication.  The big companies want to push entire organizations to adopt a single source platform that maintains the status quo in the market place.

NextUC can be consumed by the whole company or by individuals that have an immediate need.  It provides everything a company or team needs to work fast, communicate well and drive better production.

NextUC makes unified communications a real solution for any organization.  All employees, remote, home, desk workers… all working as a unit to produce more for the company.  The keys that clearly differentiate NextUC from other options are making the price low enough to keep it viable for anyone and making it simple enough to work for anyone.  Voice, video, web meetings, mobile, integrated presence and more… all up and working for FREE in 5 minutes.  What are you waiting for?

Written by Bob Barnes

Local Number Portability (LNP): What You Need to Know (and your current provider isn’t telling you)

Cloud services make transitioning from one solution to another extremely easy for businesses.  But what if it is your phone system you want to move to the cloud or move to a different cloud VoIP provider.   One of the biggest concerns associated with switching telephone providers is fear of not being able to keep your current telephone numbers.  After all, the business cards have already been printed!

The good news is that you do not have worry about keeping your phone number, thanks to the FCC’s Local Number Portability (LNP) rules.  Provided you are not changing your geographic location, the FCC declares you have the right to bring your local telephone numbers to the provider of your choice, whether wireless, wireline or even hosted VoIP.

The FCC’s LNP regulations are not well known which is not surprising, because the last thing your telephone company wants to tell you is that you are free to go elsewhere and take your number with you.   Here are some facts you need to know about number portability.

1. An old provider CANNOT refuse to port your telephone numbers, once you have requested service from the new provider.  This is true even if you have an unpaid balance with your old provider.
2. Simple number porting takes less than 1 business day.  As of 2011, FCC rules mandate that for simple number porting, which is porting of a single number or numbers that do not require and significant configuration changes, cannot take more than 1 business day. Before 2011, telephone providers could take up to 4 days to port a customer’s numbers.
3. The new provider initiates the porting process at the customer’s request and is required to provide information such as the telephone number, zip code, current account number, etc.  The new provider may charge a fee for the costs associated with porting (one-time cost) and/or maintaining portability of the numbers (monthly fee).

For more information on keeping your telephone number when switching phone providers, click here to visit the FCC website.

As always, we would like to hear from you so leave a comment below…

NextUC Microsoft Charter Partner Program Closing On August 15^th, 2012

Foster City, CA – August 9, 2012: Today, NextUC announced impending close of the NextUC Charter Microsoft Partner Program.  The program will stop taking new partners on August 15^th, and all of the related benefits will cease being offered to new general partners.  NextUC will, however, continue the availability of its standard partner program indefinitely.

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.

The Charter Partner Program has created significant momentum within the Office 365 partner community.  The joint offering to customers has created a very compelling win/win/win situation for Custommer, Partner and NextUC.  Unfortunately the limited number of partner slots is almost full, so NextUC has set August 15^th, 2012 as the last day for new Charter Partner Registrations.

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

NextUC Begins Planning for Lync 2013 – Wave 15

Foster City, CA – August 8, 2012: Today, NextUC announced the kickoff of their Lync 2013 product release cycle.  Existing customers will be upgraded to the new platform when it is released in the future.  Planning and eventual rollout of a major upgrade like Lync 2013 generally takes several months and NextUC is dependent on third parties successful execution before its product can be released to its clients.

“NextUC provides a holistic collaboration product for its customers”, said Bob Barnes, VP of Product Marketing and Sales.  “Major upgrades are a key part of the product relationship and we are excited to begin the planning process.”

NextUC clients will still have access to a five minute turnup process with the new version of Lync 2013.  The key to this experience is NextUC’s significant software development work that automates the historically long and painful process that other providers still require their customers to live through.  NextUC automates, scales and improves the entire customer experience so that variables are removed and consistently high quality results are delivered.

NextUC has created a living website page to keep current and future customers updated on the progress of the Lync 2013 / WAVE 15 release (http://www.nextuc.com/lync-simple-terms/lync-2013-wave-15/).  This page will be continuously updated and will contain a combination of Microsoft related information as well as NextUC specific work updates related to the Lync 2013 release.

NextUC believes in changing the relationship dynamic for services they deliver.  The customer deserves better than they have historically been delivered from the communications and collaboration industry.  Better pricing, better leverage, better service; and NextUC is up to the challenge.  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.