Sound-Connect.com Blog

Cisco aims to blunt the power of Microsoft-Skype merger

2012-02-17T11:59:00.000-08:00

Cisco's plea to make Skype video conferencing protocols public is at least in part a defensive move to protect Cisco's dominance in video as it faces the potentially formidable blending of Skype with Microsoft's unified communication platform, Lync. Click here to read the full article.

Leveraging the Power of Video Conferencing for Business

2012-02-15T08:41:00.000-08:00

White Paper: Best Practices for Supporting Collaboration in the 21st Century

The Secret to Closing More Deals

2012-02-15T08:07:00.000-08:00

This article by Angela Leavitt discusses our crocodile brain or "croc brain" and how the characteristics and functions relate to successful sales practices.

Tips - Mobile Friendly Audio Conferencing

2012-02-13T13:33:00.000-08:00

All of us have at one point in our careers had to host a meeting with attendees on the road or join a meeting while on the road. Whether it is in a busy terminal waiting for a flight or on your way to the office, multi-tasking can be challenging. Simple joining the meeting from your mobile phone can be a challenge if the invite is not formatted correctly for your mobile phone. I am guilty of frantically searching for a pen and paper to jot down the conference code. My mobile phone dials the access number with no problems, but it all falls apart once the conference code menu prompt enters the picture.

To make your meeting more effective, easy to join, and ensure all your participants join on time, take a few extra minutes to make sure your calendar invite is formatted in a mobile friendly manner. Since iPhone and Blackberry are the majority, I have provided an example of how to format for each. With this simple format, your mobile participants can now join the call & enter the access code with a single click.

iPhone participants, click here: 1-800-204-6655;6555244

Blackberry participants, click here: 1-800-204-6655x6555244

Now, take this a step further and download the Outlook plug-in so all your meeting invites include the mobile friendly format.

For the road warrior joining a conference call (I hope your host send you a mobile friendly invite… if not, forward them this post), here are a few tips to make for a smooth call:

Mute is king – Whether you use the mute on the phone or the keypad command mute for the conference bridge, have your hand ready on the mute button or keypad. Avoid the awkward pause followed by the “Sorry, I had you on mute.” Also, be ready to mute if background disturbances arise. You never know when the next announcement is coming while you are waiting in the terminal to board your flight.

Do not disturb - Put the “do not disturb” sign on the door when attending or hosting a call in a hotel room.

Keep a record – Never take notes while driving, instead record your calls using the keypad command or ask your meeting host to record the call for you so you can go back and capture important elements of the conference.

Full disclosure - Provide full disclosure that you are on the road. This will set the expectation that something unexpected may happen and allow you to RELAX!

To read more tips, visit us on the SoundConnect Blog, where you can find this article and so much more!

Gartner Magic Quadrant for Web Conferencing

2012-02-09T12:02:00.000-08:00

SoundConnect Web Conferencing offering leads the Magic Quadrant

Gartner evaluated the industry leading web conferencing services on delivery models, features, deployment options, and ability to execute. Of the 12 web conferencing services evaluated, SoundConnect sells and supports 6. Of the 7 rated as Leaders with high Ability to Execute, SoundConnect sells and supports 4 - Cisco, Microsoft, Adobe, & IBM.

Is UCaaS Ready for Prime Time

2012-01-27T09:39:00.000-08:00

Is UCaaS ready for prime time? Based on this report if you are an SMB company with below 1000 employees you are a key customer. In 2011, the companies making the list have demonstrated that they have the ability to support up to 3000 employees.

The buzz about UC is the same as it was about VOIP. You have to save money, be more efficient, be always connected, multitasking, and have a solution that’s simple and easy to use.

This list has the applications specialists, communications service providers, and technology vendors. They all have different routes to get to the same end point. This is just the 3^rd Magic Quandrant for UCaaS by Gartner and as it matures we will see significant offerings, global availability and of course new players.

The report is good reading and will provide you with an overview of the service, who the best players are and the outlook going forward.

The UC space in general provides more opportunities for companies with limited IT resources, distributed locations, and dynamic environments the ability to dial-in the exact solution to meet their needs. For the service providers and sales agents, the offering presents a tremendous opportunity to assist clients with their requirements and improve the clients operational efficiencies and communications.

SoundConnect offers cloud services today. While our core services remain collaboration products and tools to enhance meetings, we are expanding our offering based on strong strategic partnerships to create an end to end solution so customers have one place to go to manage all their communications.

Posted by Tom Sullivan, President of SoundConnect. Tom is a collaboration and conferencing industry veteran with over 17 years of experience. SoundConnect is a service provider and industry leader in the Unified Communications space. Through strategic partnerships, consultancy experience, and subject matter experts, SoundConnect assists clients with the development, deployment, and support of their UC strategy.

Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications as a Service

2012-01-27T09:33:00.000-08:00

This is the view from Gartner Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications 2011. From our prospective, companies evaluating UC direction and Office365/Lync are getting the highest level of attention. To be clear, Gartner is monitoring the temperature of the market and the surveys have identified a significant event. As for the competitors, we believe the initial reactions are under way within the markets in terms of product development, marketing, and sales. The high customer consideration rate equates to a positive for all competitors with a significant advantage to the competitor that can provide the necessary attention to pre- and post-sales administrative and end user support.

Posted by Tom Sullivan, President of SoundConnect. Tom is a collaboration and conferencing industry veteran with over 17 years of experience. SoundConnect is a service provider and industry leader in the Unified Communications space. Through strategic partnerships, consultancy experience, and subject matter experts, SoundConnect assists clients with the development, deployment, and support of their UC strategy.

Lessons from Joe Paterno

2012-01-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

Joseph Vincent “Joe” Paterno will most likely be remembered for his tenure and number of wins as the head coach of Penn State football and, possibly, the circumstances of his departure from the program. I hope that he is remembered for his lifetime dedication to his family and his core beliefs.

Although I was born, raised, and remain to this day an Ohio State football, I have always had a great respect for Joe Paterno. I use the excuse that they didn’t join the Big Ten until 1990 to justify my kindness toward another team. His family adores him, his former players think of him as a father, the student body treats him like a God, and the Penn State alum keep Joe Paterno mini-statues on their mantels. And his quotes could fill the walls of an auditorium and be featured on the all so familiar motivational poster of an eagling soaring … “Believe deep down in your heart that your’re destined to do great things”… “It’s the name on the front of the jersey that matters most, not the one on the back.”… “Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won’t taste good.”.

As I reflect on Joe Paterno’s legacy, I am gently reminded of ways to improve the lives of the people around me and SoundConnect. I resolve to place family ahead of all other things, emphasis that team is far more important than the individual, stress that all things should be done with honor, and remind all that persistent hard work will enable you to do great things.

“Besides pride, loyalty, discipline, heart, and mind, confidence is the key to all the locks.”

~ Joe Paterno: 1926-2012

Husband, Father, & Grandfather

Posted by Shaun Chambers. Shaun Chambers is Founder & CEO of SoundConnect LLC.

SoundConnect Partner Kick-Off Webinar

2012-01-23T07:47:00.000-08:00

WEBINAR - JANUARY 24TH AT 12 PM ET - Join Tom Sullivan, President of SoundConnect, and Beth Peters, Channel Program Manager, for the first of the 2012 Partner Webinar Series. Gain market/industry insight, how to increase your conferencing & collaboration revenue, tips for opening more doors, and get to know the SoundConnect experts. Click HERE to register for the webinar.

Sharepoint in Office 365 - The Good, The Bad, The Brilliant, and The Ugly

2012-01-23T07:40:00.000-08:00

3 Tips for Managing a Virtual Work Force

2012-01-17T08:44:00.000-08:00

According to the Right Management Study, 3 out of 4 companies currently employee virtualworkers in some form. Although the increasingly virtual workforce has led to increased adoption of technology such as unified messaging, web conferencing, video conferencing, and audio conferencing, management still faces many challenges to effectively support and communicate with virtual employees.

As a business owner with virtual employees who also provides web conferencing, audio conferencing, and video conferencing services, I can attest first hand to the challenges of growing and managing a business with virtual employees. On the plus side, the ability to recruit and hire from a much larger pool of candidates brings a higher level of experience and talent to a business. On the negative side, supporting virtual teams, creating the desired corporate culture, and developing the personal relationships remains the top challenges. Technology such as web conferencing, when implemented correctly with adequate training, is a great tool to meet several of these challenges, but does not address all of the challenges.

Through experience, advice from outside consultants, and feedback from our employees, I have created the “Top 3 Tips for Managing a Virtual Work Force” that I believe will provide general guidance whether you are at the early stages of developing a virtual work force or in the midst of addressing challenges with the virtual work force in place. Or at least learn from some of our mistakes.

The Top 3:

#1 Recruit & Select / Job Match - As with any work force, a bad hire will cost you time and money. We all need the right employee doing the right job with everyone contributing to the higher level organization goals … each person is in the correct seat on the bus. This becomes ever more critical when recruiting and selecting candidates for virtual employment. SoundConnect relies heavily on Brett Henyon with Henyon Consulting for assistance with candidate evaluations, job match evaluation, and overall guidance on the process. Establish a process for recruiting, selecting, and evaluating current employee job matches in addition to identifying the type of roles that are appropriate for a virtual employee (administrative work, computer programming and customer service for example).

#2 Implement Tools to Support Collaboration - Select the right technology to fit your requirements, train and re-train employees, and monitor the utilization of the technology. According to a study by Forrester Consulting, more than 70% of respondents in their study said that having an understanding or proficiency in collaboration technologies are a must for employment consideration. But overall, only between 7 and 43 percent of respondents plan to invest in specific collaboration tools, demonstrating a gap between expectation and action. A failure to empower employees with the tools to efficiency do their jobs will result in high turnover which rolls into lost time and money. Basic web conferencing services allow for collaboration on documents and presentation of materials in team meetings. More advanced web conferencing services allow for high quality video conferencing.

#3 In Person Meeting - Virtual work force teams and organizations can accomplish a great deal remotely via web conferencing, video conferencing and audio conferencing. However, nothing can take the place of in person meetings with the entire team or organization. We host a quarterly and annual meeting at our headquarters in Charleston, SC. Since launching the scheduled meetings, we have realized a significant increase in employee interaction across many levels and an increase in overall job satisfaction.

Gather data, analisy the data, create your plan, track & receive feedback, review results, adjust the plan, and repeat. Best of luck!

Shaun Chambers is the Founder and CEO of SoundConnect. For more information on SoundConnect, visit them online at http://www.sound-connect.com/.

Leveraging Your Customer Base

2012-01-09T09:50:00.000-08:00

As we begin the new year, the successful Master Agents, Independent Partners, and VAR/Interconnects are tweaking their sales & marketing strategies to achieve their revenue goals. In our recent discussions with our channel partners and industry experts, we have found that web conferencing services are a critical component of the 2012 strategy or there is a strong desire to incorporate web conferencing into to 2012 strategy. In late 2011, we re-engaged with one of our inactive channel partners and challenged the partner to create 3 new opportunities from their top 10 customers. The plan was very simple, required a very low investment of time, and was easy to track. The result? We have closed 2 opportunities resulting in $3,200 per month of new commission for the partner!!

What is holding you back? What are you doing today to sabotage higher commission income?

1. I don’t have to time to sell another product or service

2. My customers don’t use conferencing

3. I don’t know enough about the services to sell

As demonstrated by the partner example above, it takes very little time to contact your top customers to inquire about how you can assist them with increasing sales through web conferencing, drive more leads through webinars, improve communications, and drive overall operational efficiencies. Your customers are using web conferencing or they are interested in the service, but speaking with your competitor. According to Synergy Research, the market for Web conferencing equipment shot up 21 percent between the third quarters of 2010 and 2011, and SaaS-based systems accounted for 83 percent of the revenue. You do not need to be a subject matter expert to sell web conferencing services. You do need to understand the business challenges of your customer, your customers industry, and their goals. Our team will handle the technical details.

Master Agents --- Challenge your sub-agents to create a simple & focused plan to generate more commission from existing customers. We call that the low hanging fruit!!

Independent Partners --- Get us involved!! Start today with introductions to your top customers and prospects.

VARS/Interconnects --- You likely have a competitive premise based solution. Expand your offering and relationship with your customers by addressing their large webinar needs for sales/marketing, employee training, and all-hands corporate meetings.

The bottom line is you are (1) Leaving large commission dollars on the table and (2) leaving the door open for your competition to build a relationship with your customer. Take us up on our offer to avoid both by introducing SoundConnect to your customer to drive more commission for you and to expand the customer relationship.

http://www.channelpartnersonline.com/news/2011/12/demand-for-saas-based-web-conferencing-soars.aspx

http://www.mytanews.com/2012/01/should-you-invite-a-conferencing-sales-pro-to-scrub-your-customer-base-for-conferencing-sales-opport.html

Is Event Streaming For You?

2011-08-19T10:57:00.000-07:00

Is Event Streaming For You?

In the last decade, businesses have slowly adopted audio, Web, and video communications tools due to the varying availability of broadband connectivity. However, the increasing influence of the millennial generation1 in the workforce has forced a paradigm shift in the way technology is used in workplaces around the world. Business users want to be able to view and interact with each other at any time, from any device, and any location. The interactive dynamics of streaming events are able to meet the business needs of the millennial generation and will transform business operations for companies around the

world in ways that weren’t possible until now.

Source: Frost & Sullivan, “Expanding Reach Through Steaming Solutions”.

What is Event Streaming

Event Streaming, commonly referred to as webcast or webcasting, is a media presentation distributed over the Internet to many simultaneous viewers. The primary distinction between a Webcast and Event Streaming is Event Streaming provides enhanced viewer experiences through additionally functionality and incorporates features such as live chat, polling, and Q&A. Event Streaming often uses professional video capture rather than standard HD-web camera used with webcasting.

Why Use Event Streaming

1. Extend reach

2. Reduce travel expenses

3. Replacement for Webcasting & Operator Assisted Conference Call

4. Revenue generation

5. Improve communication

Applications for Event Streaming - Types of Events

1. Marketing Webinars

2. Investor Relations

3. Training & Development

4. Town Hall Events / Public Announcements

5. Human Resources

6. Risk Management/Crisis Management

What to look for in an Event Streaming provider

1. Customer Support & Event Management Expertise

2. Operating System & Browser Compatibility

3. Interface – Look & Feel, Branding Options

4. Live Event Features – Polling, Q&A, Chat,

5. Online Registration Service

6. Post-event Tests and Surveys

7. Archived & Hosted Event Recordings

8. Optional Features – Present bio window, slide notes, hyperlinks, text ticker

In summary, Event Streaming is a low cost option that can impact the bottom line, generate new customers and revenue, and improve corporate communication. Regardless of the industry, organizations must stay current with the expectations of their employees and clients. Emails, recorded video announcements, conference calls and similar technology are powerful tools for day to day activities and communication but do not delivery the impact of Event Streaming.

The ROI of Telepresence

2011-08-10T08:08:00.000-07:00

This is a link to an excerpt from "Telepresence Options Magazine" posted on ConferencingNews.com. Full It is a great source of high level information on the impact of the economic and policital conditions on telepresence/video conferencing market. There is similar impact on the audio and web conferencing market that is driven by time/cost of air travel, oil prices, and corporate evaluation of employee productivity.

SoundConnect Releases Web Meeting 2.0

2011-08-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Web Meeting 2.0 upgrades are truly an upgrade. Web Meeting development was based on user feedback and was created to provide powerful features within an interface that was user friendly to the web conferencing novice and simple for the participants to join with no downloads.

The August 8th upgrade includes:

Upgraded video, with picture-in-picture added. The active talker feature is still availalbe and rated one of the top features by users
Upgraded screen sharing that now supports multiple monitors for the host, partial screen views, shared annotation and not taking
A fully integrated toolbar plug-in for Microsoft Office Outlook(R) for one-click meeting start, scheduling and management
Universal support for Mac(R) users
International audio conference dial-out feature
Simplified recording for web and audio

The new features combined with the already user friendly product makes Web Meeting a must see for the existing web conferencing power users and those evaluating how to incorprate web conferencing into their business. At $29.00 / month for unlimited web conferencing with toll & toll free audio conferencing add-on bundles, the price point allows organizations of all sizes the opportunity to improve communications, enhance the remote sales presentation, and drive project collaboration.

Purchasing Decision

2011-08-08T09:14:00.000-07:00

Features, price, style, ease of use, scalability, and reliability are all high on the list of why we purchase items for our business. In today’s high tech and highly competitive market, many of the software and hardware options are eerily similar. The consumer market does stray from this reality either. What’s the difference between one grocery store brand milk and another grocery store brand milk? I am the furthest from a dairy farmer, but I’m still pretty sure a cow is a cow is a cow. Now for the tie in to the heading… if features, price, ease of use, etc. are the same, why do we purchase from one person, organization, or store over the other?

Marketing firms and marketing departments spend countless hours analyzing data with the hopes of predicting consumer behavior. For our business of selling audio and web conferencing, I like to simplify the purchasing decision. I personally believe that people buy from people they like. Maybe they like that the sales representative provided the detailed proposal they asked for (he/she listened to me & understands my needs), maybe the sales representative was referred by a friend or business acquaintance (recommendations take the unknown out of the decision making), or maybe the sales representative shares common interests with the customer.

Perhaps I have over simplified, but who purchases anything from someone that they dislike, someone that has shown a lack of respect, someone that has offended them? So, if you do not purchase from someone you dislike, then you must purchase from someone you like. For the purchaser, I have a few key points for the buying decision:

· Consider all factors, but don’t over think it to the point you harm your business by delaying the purchase

· Trust your gut feeling; it is usually an accurate indicator to gauge which person/organization is going to be a valuable business partner for your business

· Be wary of the hard close; confident and high value people/organizations do not need to apply pressure in order to gain new clients.

· Is this an on-going business partnership or a one-time transaction? Increase the weight applied to the price for one-time transactions. Do the opposite for on-going services.

· Will you the person you are meeting with support your account or will you be supported by a caller center? If will you be supported by the call center, ask to make several unscheduled and unsupervised test calls. I recommend this over reference calls (you won’t get a bad reference).

For the sales representative, I ask that (1) you do what you say you are going to do when you say you are going to do it and (2) you ask me for referrals at the appropriate time. The first point will build trust and confidence. The second point will ensure you realize that the project at hand may be the lead to many referrals and demand your full attention and support.

Above all, enjoy the process. Whenever I need to make a personal or business purchasing decision or engage a potential audio and web conferencing customer, I learn something new and often meet new people. If you surround yourself and your business with knowledgeable, subject matter experts that are available to you at a low or no cost, you will improve the culture for your employees and have a competitive advantage over your competition. Happy purchasing!!

Shaun Chambers is the founder and CEO of SoundConnect LLC. SoundConnect provides audio, web, and video conferencing services for the SMB market with a focus on customer management & service reliability. For more information on SoundConnect, visit www.sound-connect.com.

Industry Acquisition

2011-08-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

PE Firm acquires conferencing provider... http://www.conferencingnews.com/news/38587

Sound-Connect Blog 080111

2011-08-01T10:01:00.001-07:00

Sound-Connect Blog 080111