Microsoft has certainly shone a bright light on Unified Communications, but UC is by no means a new phenomenon introduced by Bill Gates (News - Alert). By combining the features of various communications methods — email, voice mail, fax, IM, telephony ­— into a single service, unified communications helps users manage all of their communications more effectively, regardless of whether they work in the office, at home, or on the road.

                       

Despite the varied benefits of IP-based communications systems — from business efficiency to cost savings — many businesses are not quite ready to completely rip out their existing analog systems. Particularly in the SBC space, a large number would much prefer trying out a new solution before undergoing a complete migration. 

 

It makes sense; Intelliverse (News - Alert) understands that. Which is why it has developed its standalone UC solution for the SMB market. Intelliverse’s ONEcall solution has been developed for the SMB space, in general, it is a particularly useful alternative for those businesses looking to supplement their existing analog solutions for the time being.

 

Intelliverse’s ONEcall is a customizable solution with four levels of service — messaging, voice & fax to email, One Number, and all three combined. By allowing customers to choose the components of UC they would like to deploy, Intelliverse allows a migration to all-IP communications at any pace that fits its customers’ needs and budgets. However, regardless of how many of the pieces they choose, the solution will inevitably give customers the appearance of being a larger business.

 

Born of Intelliverse’s hosted PBX solution, ONEcall is designed to allow more customers to benefit from different pieces of the complete solution, without having to invest is the pieces they don’t need (i.e., those that want some of the benefits of UC without having to switch to a VoIP system yet). Thus far, response has been resoundingly positive.

 

“Customers are responding to our new standalone services; just since introducing the solution privately to our existing customers last quarter, we have already put 2,000 users on the service,” said Kevin M. Moran (News - Alert), president and CEO of Intelliverse.

 

With ONEcall, users are able to automate features that previously were time consuming and tedious, like sending messages to groups both small and large. Users are also to transform their email systems into a unified mail service, collecting and sending not only emails, but also voice mails and faxes as email attachments. And the find me/follow me feature lets users enter as many as six numbers into their ONEcall system that can ring simultaneously or in concert to locate a user — or callers can be sent directly to voice mail.

 

At its surface, Intelliverse may not appear to be providing anything different from other UC providers — not that any of them are. But, what Intelliverse says makes its service stand apart is the ability to pick and choose features as needed — customers need not deploy the entire solution.

 

Again, this is particularly beneficial for SMBs not yet in a position to switch completely to VoIP, but who want to be able to gain the benefits of UC to enhance their communications system. With Intelliverse, they are able to access their communications tools, which helps them more effectively manage their entire work day.