Rogers Communications is expanding its Unison unified communications offerings for business, aiming now at medium and enterprise-sized companies.
Initially launched in July with service for those only working for small businesses and using only smart phones for communications, the cableco said Wednesday it now is offering services for employees using a wider range of devices.
“When we look at the way our larger enterprise customers are working and some of their challenges, many are looking at how they can transform the way they work, to be more effective, to drive productivity, to have better customer engagement,” said Matthew Leppanen, general manager for unified communications. “They’ve already invested heavily in mobile technology, so what we’re able to do is leverage that investment to the fullest, as well as modernize their technology.”
The new use cases announced are for
- “hybrid” users, those with a smartphone as well as an IP telephone or softphone, They want one phone number and one voicemail, Leppanen said, but need more than one device. “Think about power users — management and executives on a lot of calls and want to be able to easily use any device that’s convenient to them and seamlessly move a call from one device to another;
- office users with a hosted/cloud PBX with a softphone from a laptop or fixed IP handset. “They would require a data connection, either private data or over the Internet.” They are relatively stationary at work, although may be mobile using the softphone — but not a smartphone.
The first use case, announced in July, was for those who only use a mobile device for communications, and includes ‘find-me/follow me’, voice mail to email, extension dialing, be part of a hunt group (incoming calls can be routed between team members until they’re answered) ,and be part of a corporate directory. This is aimed at users who don’t need data or apps. “It’s resonated in every market we serve wireless in,” said Leppanen.
“One reason they would not choose a similar service from a competing company is the fact that we’re the only company that has done the integration into the mobile network, allowing them to go fully mobile or enable their mobile workers to be more productive without wasting money at their desks with fixed solutions,” he added. “All the other options are fixed-base solutions.”
The mobile-only service is $15 a month per user, on top of a corporate Rogers Share Everything business plan. Other Unison pricing is more complicated and depends on the size of the business, its needs, and whether the mobile-only option is being used or the hybrid model or fixed solution.