Posted by Steve Schwartz on Mon, Apr 26, 2010
We are pleased to announce that implement.com has been invited to present at the 2010 Microsoft Hosting Summit. Our presentation is on Hosted Unified Communications and Unified Messaging, and how to go to market with Hosted Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 (OCS) and Microsoft Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging. Our presentation is part of the invite only portion of the conference for Microsoft's most successful hosting partners.
This is a nice acknowledgment of our thought leadership in the Hosted Unified Communications industry in general, and of our deep expertise with Hosted OCS 2007 specifically.
We are uniquely qualified to deliver this presentation for a couple of reasons:
First, we have been focused on how to deliver hosted Microsoft Exchange and Office Communications Server for as long as these products and markets have existed, Exchange since about 1999, and OCS (with it's first iteration as Live Communications Server) since 2006. In the nascent world of cloud computing, that makes us pioneers.
Second, we actually deliver the service! When we started our hosting operation in 2006, Chinook Hosting, we intentionally started it to deliver Hosted Unified Communications, including Hosted Unified Messaging. We were a little early. However, that early entry allowed us to amass key experience on how to deliver Hosted Unified Communications. It wasn't easy, but it paid off for us when we launched at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 the very first Hosted Unified Messaging offering based on Microsoft Exchange 2007 Unified Messaging.
This was truly ahead of it's time, but as cloud computing emerges in 2010, hosted communications services will be one of the key areas of focus for the successful service provider.
implement.com is already acknowledged and continuing to move forward as one of the thought leaders for the Microsoft hosted solutions ecosystem and this presentation is a validation point that makes us think we are on the right track in Hosted Unified Communications.
Posted by Steve Schwartz on Wed, Dec 09, 2009
As a small-to-midsized business (SMB) innovator, you're increasi
ngly concerned with your company's resource outlay. You may have embraced managed hosting, but your IT staff is still juggling the logistics of real-time communication services like e-mail, SMS, MMS, RSS, IM, social media, web conferencing, CRM, and call management along with applications like CRM and document collaboration portals.
As SMB decision makers evaluate their bottom line, many are discovering that managing IT complexity internally is devouring time, resources and money they can't feasibly spare. Read on to find out why deploying applications internally may be an unnecessary distraction for your business - and why you need a next-generation, business class provider of hosted communications and applications.
Out with the Old
Historically speaking, communications and applications have been mission-critical functions for SMBs. Because of this, it has made sense to keep its management "in the family." Concerns about information security, crisis administration and cost effectiveness prevented many businesses from pursuing managed services for communications and application platforms. Times have changed, though, and many SMB innovators are finding that the right solution can save them money-and accelerate their path to success.
In with the New
Today's buzz word is Cloud Computing but what we are talking about here is Business Hosting. The cloud computing available today is closely aligned with outsourcing custom applications to a hosted provider, and being able to very quickly leverage additional computing capacity for running applications that includes servers (usually virtualized), applications services (hosting the app), database services, and storage. When we talk about business hosting we are referring to the communications and applications mentioned above like email, voice, and instant messaging. These aren't the apps you get from cloud computing vendor, these are available from companies providing business hosting.
If you're caught in the great outsourcing debate and trying to learn how cloud and/or business hosting can provide solutions, we urge you to ask yourself these questions:
- Is the management of internal IT interfering with the pursuit of my core business objectives?
- How old is the technology I'm depending on to run my business? Does the thought of upgrading it make you apprehensive?
- Is my staff regularly distracted by routine communications tasks?
- How much am I paying for individual communications solutions like web-conferencing, e-mail, IM, PBX etc? How much for business applications like CRM?
- How could a fully-integrated, unified communications platform simplify the administration of my company's email, calendar, IM, CRM, blogging and hosting functions?
- Does my staff have the necessary expertise and resources to support our company's growth requirements in the current market?
At implement, we realize that your time, manpower and financial resources are valuable-and limited. That's why we think you'll appreciate our simplified, integrated alternative to piecemeal communications and applications. It's time to refocus your energy. Give us a call today for a personalized, unified communications and business applications consultation-and discover why you can't afford to be in the business of hosting these apps on your own.
Over the next several blogs, we'll be debunking a variety of internal Business Hosting myths, including the following:
- Communications and applications are foundational to our company, and therefore they're just too important to outsource.
- By outsourcing any of my company'scommunications platforms, I'm surrendering control of those functions.
- Money is tight. I just can't afford to outsource communications and applications to a business hosting provider.
- Only large firms outsource their communications and applications. We're not big enough to worry about it.
So, what about you: Do you need Cloud Computing yet, or are you more concerned about leveraging business hosting for Hosted IT and Communication Services? We'd like to hear your thoughts.