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How do You Clearly Define Success in a Mobile Future?

March 28, 2012 in BroadSoft, BroadTouch, Mobile, Unified Communication | by Scott Hoffpauir | Leave a comment

Mobile is big.  Old news.  We also know the climb towards faster networks, more devices, their associated connections, and data usage has and will lead to mobile device management complications.  After the need for a ubiquitous enterprise and consumer user experience took center stage in Barcelona, it is clear demand for a redefined service provider solution, one that includes both mobile and core communications services, will remain far beyond Mobile World Congress 2012.  While predicting the mobile landscape may be a tall task for any analyst, we believe providers offering a core communications applications platform and supporting a rich set of applications for mobile network operators will best capitalize on any future communication need, mobile or otherwise.

As the only vendor in the industry singularly focused on developing core communications applications for delivery over IP networks, BroadSoft has a history of helping service providers bring to market innovative offers in a highly diverse and competitive market.  For more than a decade BroadSoft has aligned communication services with changing consumer behavior leveraging a broad and growing range of communication services and devices.  Leading into and beyond 2012’s MWC was and is of course, no exception.  For example, we believe three recent innovative service offerings will help to ensure BroadSoft mobile network operators continue to differentiate offerings and meet a redefined mobile landscape:

• The Commercial Availability of BroadTouch™ Business Communicator: enables service providers to transform the way individuals communicate by bringing together voice, video, instant messaging and presence on a single interface that spans a user’s mobile devices and platforms, including Windows, Mac, iOS and Android.

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When You Need More than a Machine – the Hosted Call Center Solution

January 18, 2012 in Call Center, hosted telephony, Mobile, Telecommuting, Unified Communication, Video Communications | Tags: Call Center, call center solution, hosted UC | by Paul Adams | Leave a comment

Artificial Intelligence, The Terminator, Post-Humanism, Bionic Limbs, Singularity…As the power of technology continues to surpass human ability in new and rapid ways, our fascination and often fear of machines ask us to question the boundaries of human interaction and the artificial.  While predictions and theory vary and even contradict one another, there seems to be a consensus on a need for balance.  We see this need often today; whether it is a customer caught in a calling queue or a caller sent to a desktop voicemail over a live mobile human.   When it comes to a business’s call center offering, the quest for balance takes front-line.

Service providers must answer the call for an innovative solution to the growing struggle between human response and mechanical communication.  As an integral piece of any business’s customer service offering, we believe the move toward hosted call centers offers the flexibility, functionality and visibility required to move end-customers quickly to a live voice without wasting time or resources.  Today, service providers leverage hosted communication services to boost human communication through productivity features and on-going application integration, all while minimizing human and environmental risk with automatic maintenance and business continuity.

More and more, we see the end-customer seeking an intuitive call center solution that allows optimal, live customer service while taking advantage of hosted unified communication technology. Micah Solomon, entrepreneur and customer systems innovator, writes for Fast Company on the growing need for live support as organizations place more services in the hands of technology:

Online customers are literally invisible to you (and you to them), so it’s easy to shortchange them emotionally…This lack of visual and tactile presence makes it even more crucial to create a sense of personal, human-to-human connection.

Following such demand, BroadSoft’s own BroadWorks® Call Center application recently released new enhancements allowing service providers the scalability to extend their hosted call center offering into enterprises with higher call volumes and more complex reporting requirements.  Taking full advantage of the benefits of a hosted solution, such as low-upfront cost and scalability, the BroadWorks® Call Center application opens new revenue streams from premise-based platforms.

To explore the benefits of hosted call center solutions, read on bit.ly/broadsoftcallcenter or request a sales representative contact you.

BroadSoft’s Vision for a Spectacular New Year

January 5, 2012 in BroadCloud, BroadSoft, BroadTouch, Mobile, Unified Communication, Xcelerate, Xtended | Tags: Broadband, cloud, end user, go-to-market, Mobile, New Year, unified communications | by Michael Tessler | Leave a comment

This New Year BroadSoft celebrates over 13 years of a singular focus developing the most advanced communications applications software for IP networks.  As BroadSoft continues to develop and deploy a robust set of communication services, our community, and the market at large, prospers from the path of rapid growth and innovation.  Stepping foot into another year of change and growth, we would like to share our view of five major changing market dynamics alongside our vision for BroadSoft in 2012.

• #1 – We will innovative and deliver solutions that leverage the growing abundance of mobile broadband.

Quality broadband is a key enabler for real time communication in the cloud.  As we rapidly move from a world of scarce to abundant broadband, those in the market have the opportunity to build completely new value propositions surrounding visual communications and collaboration. While such movement will spur emerging industry players, BroadSoft will meet this challenge by continuing our innovative product development.  In the New Year, BroadSoft Service providers customers will have the opportunity to leverage the explosive growth of 4G and LTE deployments to fundamentally change the way we communicate. 

• #2 – We will introduce new, quick and easy to deploy, cloud services that deliver our unified communications solutions

Cloud services have evolved from simply placing enterprise applications in the cloud to true multi-tenant applications with open APIs.  For instance, the highest levels of security and management have allowed enterprises to customize and integrate services into their operating environment.  The growing adoption of cloud services by the enterprise has powered a growth in specialty cloud applications and a deprecation of cost in cloud deployments – two trends we expect to see continue through the New Year.  BroadSoft has harnessed the power of the cloud to rapidly deploy and innovate our BroadCloud implementations.  In 2012, BroadSoft Service providers will leverage value-added solutions resulting from BroadSoft’s continued investment in these applications and their open APIs, as well the integration of BroadSoft’s real time communications services into other applications.

• #3 – We will super-charge our go-to-market program

Go-to-market programs in 2012 will focus on the new end user – the end user who wants to decide how, when, and where to communicate.  Individuals now expect a variety of optimized and integrated communications options, and they are focused on simplicity and efficiency.  BroadSoft’s go-to-market program, along with continued innovation and offerings in UC services, will focus on how people desire to communicate. Whether the real-time services include new innovations in video calling, chat, collaboration and conferencing, as well as non-real-time services such as email and social networking, 2012 service providers will bring to market and package an optimal experience around the user who expects more than just voice. 

• #4 – We will provide an industry leading consumer mobile solution that is scalable, reliable and is easy to operate

Some estimates assume that by 2020 there will be 50 billion connected devices.  The proliferation of smart devices brings subsequent connections to our global networks and the utilization of operating systems with open application development environments, such as iOS and Android.  In such an environment, we believe the most successful services, such as Apple iTunes, Blackberry email and the Skype service, combine an intuitive user experience with powerful cloud applications.  BroadSoft Service provider customers in the New Year will capture the power and proliferation of these devices through an intuitive user experience, specifically through leading user interface solutions.  By bringing the power of the cloud onto these devices, a focus on the end user will help make each experience personal. 

• #5 – We will continue to enhance our unified communications solution with an increased focus on the end user

Why do so many of us have to pick up our phones to send a text message when we are working on our laptops? Why must we use special devices for video calling? Why must we dial into retrieve voice mail? Users in the New Year will not only want, but expect, a unified experience across all of their real-time communication services. As an industry, we have been developing the standards and technology that supports a powerful shift in integrated communication services.  So what does this look like?

• Users install applications on their many devices and these devices then register with their cloud communication services.
• These applications ensure a seamless experience across the devices, so that users can establish service from that device.
• The applications provide access to a full range of services including video calling, conferencing, voice mail, text messaging, collaboration, chat and presence.

Service providers in the New Year have the unique opportunity to bring together a rich set of real-time communications services along with the power of social networks, providing a true unified communications experience. Service providers who can take advantage of seamless services will capture this market, while end users will benefit from the freedom to use the right device at the right time for work or pleasure.

To achieve our five objectives, BroadSoft’s community can plan on leveraging our robust set of communication services, including:

• BroadWorks
• BroadCloud
• BroadTouch
• Xtended &
• Xcelerate

In the New Year and beyond, these elements will continue to evolve and provide our community the tools to be successful and deliver even greater value to our customers.  Combined with BroadSoft’s leading services, we believe the industry trends support our vision for BroadSoft and sets up the environment for us all to be successful for many years to come.  BroadSoft would like to thank you for joining us the past 13 years and we look forward to enjoying a very spectacular New Year with you!

Unveiling a New User Experience

November 21, 2011 in BroadCloud, BroadSoft, BroadTouch, Unified Communication | Tags: BroadCloud, BroadTouch, unified communications, user experience, user interface | by Scott Hoffpauir | Leave a comment

Our community is noticing a growing trend.  A user’s ability to interact through the most convenient device interface, whether the interface is on a laptop computer, smartphone or tablet, in our view determines the success of a communications service.  At BroadSoft, we are dedicated to ensuring our service provider customers take to market a ubiquitous user experience across the growing variety of communication devices.  To deliver on this goal, BroadSoft’s newest product line, BroadTouch™, brings together the power of BroadWorks® and BroadCloud™ and places them in the hands of end-users.

BroadTouch provides easy-to-use interfaces to access unified communications (UC) services across a users’ preferred communications device.  In addition to our newly enhanced call center agent and supervisor clients, BroadTouch also includes the Business Communicator.  Leveraging a single interface over both mobile and desktop platforms, the Business Communicator brings together voice, video and instant messaging and presence for a superior user experience.  At our annual users’ conference, BroadSoft Connections, we were excited to introduce the Business Communicator — you can see a quick demonstration from our show floor here:

Please feel free to share the demo: bit.ly/broadtouchdemo and look for more BroadTouch enhancements in the coming months.

Innovation Calls Strong This Fall

November 11, 2011 in BroadSoft, Connections, Unified Communication | Tags: IM&P, IMS, innovation, UC Unified Communications, Video conferencing, web collaboration | by Michael Tessler | 1 comment

Over the last two months, those of us at BroadSoft have been witness to a flurry of activity.  With our continued focus on end-user needs, BroadSoft announced the completion of two acquisitions and a number of new additions to our unified communications services designed to ensure our service provider customers remain at the forefront of hosted communications services offerings.

Our newest services include:

• BroadWorks® BusinessLink - A fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) solution for SIP trunking that extends the features of a PBX to a mobile device, such as extension dialing, attendant console and call recording, without the need for a user to upgrade their handset or download a mobile client.
• BroadCloud™ Instant Messaging & Presence - A federated service across BroadWorks-enabled service provider networks that allows users to chat individually and in groups. This service integrates a subscriber’s desk and mobile phone status, allowing users to know if their colleagues are on the phone, in a meeting or away.*

• BroadWorks Meet-Me Audio Conferencing - A high-definition (HD), scalable and reliable conferencing application, that delivers a superior sound quality experience, supports hundreds of users on a single conference session and offers both reservation-less and scheduled conferencing capabilities.
• BroadCloud Text Messaging - Enables users to send or receive text messages using a fixed-line, work or home number, through an easy-to-use application on iPhone, iPad and Android devices. Text messages sent from the application will appear as messages originating from a user’s work or home phone number; giving users a single number for both voice and text.** (North America only)
• BroadCloud Web Collaboration - BroadCloud Web Collaboration offers service providers a cost-effective, feature-rich web collaboration service that tightly integrates with their UC capabilities, extending their brand value, increasing customer loyalty and reducing churn.  By leveraging web-based service management tools, service providers can efficiently provision and bill UC services.

We continue to extend our UC capabilities to ensure end-users can communicate using the service that best meets their situation, whether voice, text messaging or conferencing, keeping them connected from anywhere.

* Commercially available December 2011
** Commercially available November 2011

The 2011 Connections Report

October 27, 2011 in BroadSoft, Connections, Unified Communication | by Leslie Ferry | Leave a comment

BroadSoft Connections 2011 took place in the heart of the Arizona Sonoran Desert this October at the JW Marriott Desert Ridge Resort.  Following eight invitation-only BroadSoft Connections executive users’ conferences, there were high expectations for 2011 to crush it as the largest attended event to-date and as the “premier service provider event in the industry”(Polycom).

Attendance Records:

Last year, BroadSoft Connections 2010 attracted more than half of BroadSoft’s 450 global customers.  This year, the conference continued its track record of growth, with early statistics indicating over 935 attendees, from over 30 countries, service providers individuals, sponsors and partners, network equipment providers, web developers and IP device manufacturers.

The Agenda in Action:

Each year, BroadSoft has attempted to fit even more industry leaders, emerging technologies and ideas into roughly three days and one space.  How it played out this year:

• Educational Insight:  We believe BroadSoft Connections has earned a reputation for attracting the leading innovators in the industry.  Led by BroadSoft’s own thought-leaders, 2011’s session breakouts worked through strategies to crush key solution provisions, technical services, and go-to-market strategy.  Showcasing the expected all-star cast of entrepreneurs, the agenda also included insight from BroadSoft leadership, a keynote from Gary Hamel, author of The Ultimate Competitive Advantage, as well as a Locknote presented by Guy Kawasaki, entitled Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds and Actions. 
• Showcase Technologies:   Attendees had access to a dynamic Solution Showcase demonstrating the newest offerings from over 60 exhibitors.  Customers and partners released first-ever services and initiatives and reported them live via the Connection’s news room and through the 2011 Connections LinkedIn group (registered attendees only).  Events such as IP:Live and the Industry Experience Pavilion catered demonstrations to specific business needs on in-demand niche offerings.
• Fun & Networking:  BroadSoft Connections has become famous for sneaking memorable activities into the traditional conference agenda.  2011’s events included: a networking pool party, trap and skeet shooting, mountain bike riding, while also drawing inspiration from global cultures to offer attendees impressive social events, cuisine and entertainment.

How We Will Keep Crushing It!

BroadSoft leaves the event optimistic both our returning and new attendees have come away with a renewed and focused vision on the key trends and insight invaluable to sustaining momentum along with the platforms and services needed to do so.

Finally, thank you for all those who attended!  We look forward to seeing you again next year.

More Than Just Apps: Capturing the Demand for an App Lifestyle

September 23, 2011 in Xtended | by Shirish Andhare | Leave a comment

Consumers have readily adopted hosted applications for unified communication.  We believe a mobile application marketplace is no longer considered a fad, but a must-have platform for providing marketing and services to, not only “on-the-go” individuals, but the majority of consumers[1].  Moving forward from Web 2.0, we believe enterprises have likewise begun to acknowledge the importance of flexibility, speed of innovation, and availability of niche hosted services[2].  From the announcement of Amazon’s App Store, Force.com, and the addition of many others, the “buzz” has been centered on the inevitable adoption of hosted enterprise applications[3].

CIO.com’s Todd R. Weiss aptly names his new blog “Deciphering Enterprise Apps”.  Rather than covering confirmed application adoption trends, Weiss seeks to examine “the successes, the failures, the trials and the experiences” of “installing, configuring, running and maintaining the critical applications that run your enterprises”.  The critical question then, it seems to us, is not whether services offer to and use hosted applications for both businesses and consumers, but how best to do so.

As one of the first to offer custom hosted application services through the BroadSoft Xtended^TM program, BroadSoft’s customers have leveraged a competi