March 2009 Archives

AudioCodes has been working closely with Avaya for a number of years and as part of our exhibition at VoiceCon Orlando next week, I've invited Bruce Mazza, Director of Branch Solutions at Avaya to present during our AudioCodes / ScanSource Solutions Theater.  Avaya's Branch Office solution leverages SIP to connect remote branch offices to regional offices, which reduces operating costs for banks, insurance, retail and government customers that frequently have dispersed remote offices.

AP :Where would someone learn more about the Avaya Branch Office solution?    

BM: We'll have information at both the Avaya and AudioCodes booths with live demonstrations that can be seen by attendees.

Bruce's presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31st at 2:00 PM EDT in the AudioCodes / ScanSource Solutions Theater within booth #931.

Did I mention that by attending you can win one of 14 iPod Touch PM3 players that we are giving away?

Another interesting presenter and topic that I am looking forward to at the AudioCodes / ScanSource Solutions Theater at VoiceCon Orlando is Rick Q. Chin from Interactive Intelligence.  AudioCodes has been working with Interactive Intelligence since the very earliest days of their Customer Interaction Center, one of the premier SIP-based contact center solutions on the market.

AP: Rick, what's the title/topic of your presentation? 

RC: The presentation I'll be bringing is 'Improving the Customer Experience with CIC' and it discusses how to help companies win and keep customers

AP: How does Interactive Intelligence CIC help enterprises in this difficult economy? 

RC: Increases efficiency, effectiveness, and utilization of resources, improves customer service and increases customer satisfaction, provides lower operating and ownership costs

AP: Is there an opportunity for Value Added Resellers (VARs) that would be at the event to leverage with your solution? 

RC: Absolutely, Yes they would get a lot from my presentation.

 AP: What about the Interactive Intelligence strategy is different from before the economy went sour? 

RC: Focusing on communicating the value and high ROI of our completely line of applications, unique truly all-in-one product, and the higher productivity and effectiveness it provides vs. higher ownership and overhead and piecemeal solutions from the competitors.

AP: Who would get the most out of listening to your presentation? 

RC: A range of executives, Call Center Managers, Disaster Recovery Officers would get the most from the presentation, but we hope others will stop by to hear about improving customer care.

AP: Where would someone learn more about your solution?

RC: They can visit www.inin.com or give us a call at 800-267-1364

Rick's presentation is scheduled for Wednesday, April 1st at 2:30 EDT in the AudioCodes / ScanSource Solutions Theater in Booth #931.  Stop by and you could win an iPod Touch!
 

I'm very much looking forward to the upcoming Solutions Theater and iPod Give-away we are hosting at VoiceCon later this month.  As part of this series of presentations on SIP applications, we'll be joined by Bill Miller, Vice President of Product Management for Digium.  Bill brings a wealth of experience and knowledge on both IP-PBX solutions and open source to the stage.  Bill was kind enough to share with me some thoughts on his upcoming session: 

AP: Thanks again for presenting in the upcoming Solutions Theater at VoiceCon.  Can you give us a sneak peek at the topic of your presentation?

BM: My session is titled "Open Source Alternatives in a down economy"

AP: Please share with us how Digium|Asterisk and open source solutions help enterprises in this difficult economy?

BM: The business case for open source and open source based solutions is compelling for both business and technical reasons. We will explore why the momentum is not just building daily, but there are proven solutions, case studies and growing list of enterprise class solutions.

AP: How can Value Added Resellers (VARS) best leverage Digium|Asterisk?

BM: VARs are adopting alternatives to traditional telecom solutions at alarming rates. The ability to leverage experience already gained from traditional telephony solutions, the new emerging models provides new channels of revenues, new pipelines of opportunities and many alternatives to build custom telephony solutions to grow faster than the market. price conscious users want to kick the tires and understand open source today.

AP: Who would get the most out of listening to your presentation?

BM: Resellers and enterprises or all sizes

AP: Bill, where would someone learn more about your Digium Open Source solutions?

BM: The Digium booth is #1328 here at VoiceCon and our web site is www.digium.com. To learn more about the open source asterisk project, visit www.asterisk.org.

Bill's presentation is scheduled for Tuesday, March 31st at 4:00 PM EDT in booth #931 - see you there and good luck winning the iPod Touch!

 As noted in yesterday's post about VoiceCon, our opening speaker in the AudioCodes / ScanSource Solutions Theater will be Joel Maloff, Vice President of Marketing for BandTel.  BandTel is a pure SIP Trunking service provider that utilizes AudioCodes gateways to connect their services to end-customer TDM PBXs or other equipment.  Joel was kind enough to spend a few minutes with me yesterday, providing a preview of what to expect in his presentation at VoiceCon.

AP: Can you share with us the title and topic of your presentation?

JM: Sure, the title is 'SIP Trunking - Ready for Prime Time '

AP: How does SIP Trunking help enterprises in this difficult economy?

JM: SIP trunking has two immediate benefits for enterprises, especially in light of economic conditions. The first is the ability to broaden an enterprise's reach via the use of remote local telephone numbers. For example, an enterprise that is forced to consolidate and close down physical locations can retain those telephone numbers and have them ring into one or more centralized facilities. In this way, local identification is retained, operations are consolidated, and costs can be dramatically reduced. In addition, new locations can be opened throughout North America and internationally with those calls received by an enterprise call center. The second benefit is the ability to reduce reliance on dedicated telephone circuits for voice and reduce the cost of incoming and outgoing telephone calls. This includes both domestic and international. Our research indicates that savings of 25% to 70% of the annual telecommunications budget is achievable. In difficult economic times, those savings go directly to the bottom line and can be reused to the benefit of the business.

AP: How will value added resellers (VARs) benefit from reselling SIP Trunking from BandTel?

JM: BandTel offers a percentage of monthly recurring revenues brought to us for the life of the service. As long as the customer remains with BandTel, our partners will receive the benefit of their efforts.

AP: What about the BandTel strategy is different from before the economy went sour?

JM: Our strategy has not changed. We believe that businesses want to do more for their operating expenditures, and to find new ways of serving their markets. What has changed is the mindset of our customers. They are no longer content to pay high prices to traditional communications carriers without considering new and different ways to accomplish the same results for less money.

AP: Who would get the most out of attending your presentation?

JM: Anyone who is responsible for finding ways to lower communications costs without sacrificing value will find the presentation valuable. This includes information technology and telecommunications staff organizations, financial personnel responsible for scrutinizing budgets, and value-added resellers seeking an additional profit center to the benefit of their customers and clients.


AP: Where would someone learn more about your solution?

JM: BandTel's website - www.bandtel.com - offers a wealth of information including white papers, FAQs, and case studies.

Joel's presentation is scheduled in the AudioCodes / ScanSource Solutions Theater in Booth #931 at 4:00 PM EDT on Monday, March 30th.  

Want a really good shot at winning a free iPod Touch?  If you are headed to VoiceCon in Orlando later this month, you should definitely read on...

AudioCodes has joined forces with ScanSource Communications at this upcoming VoiceCon in Orlando and as part of the exhibition, we are hosting a "Solutions Theater and Pavilion" in our expanded booth #931.  We are thrilled to have pulled together 14 industry leaders that will deliver a series of presentations that focus on SIP-based applications that help end users and VARs deal with this difficult economy.  

Now for the really cool part: After each presentation, AudioCodes and ScanSource Communications is giving away an iPod Touch to one of the lucky audience members.  (Rules for the drawing will be posted in the booth)

Time	Presenter	Topic
4:00 PM	BandTel Joel Maloff Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing	SIP Trunking
4:30 PM	CTI2 Erez Marom	Unified Communications

Time	Presenter	Topic
1:30 PM	AudioCodes Alan Percy Director, Market Development	IP Communications - An Opportunity in a Down Economy?
2:00 PM	Avaya Bruce Mazza	Branch Office Solutions
2:30 PM	The VIA Group Jeff Stillings	Microsoft Office Communicator 2007
3:00 PM	Genesys Charles Lee      Sr. Product Marketing Manager	Empowering enterprise-wide customer service
3:30 PM	Atlantic Communications Michael Light	Hosted Solutions (Cosmocom)
4:00 PM	Digium Bill Miller VP Product Management	Asterisk Open Source Solutions

Time	Presenter	Topic
1:30 PM	Brian Cuppett ScanSource Comm.	ScanSource Communications
2:00 PM	Strategic Products and Services (SPS) Mike Taylor, CTO	Avaya Branch Office Solutions
2:30 PM	Interactive Intelligence Rick Q. Chin Manager, Solutions Marketing	Improving the Customer Experience with CIC
3:00 PM	EUS Networks Robert Campozano CEO	Asterisk Solutions on Mediant 1000 OSN
3:30 PM	Sagem-Interstar TBA	Enterprise Fax Solutions
4:00 PM	Enabling Technology Steve Bruno	Deploying Microsoft Office Communicator

See you in Orlando!