AVST has just unveiled a new product line, the AVST CX-S. CX-S is the perfect solution for SMB’s looking for enterprise-class UC solutions. Not only is it delivered on the industry’s most interoperable platform, it’s jam-packed with feature rich mobility solutions. And, to add icing on the cake, it’s available at an incredibly low price. When we sat down to design the CX-S, we first asked customers what they were looking for. Their feedback was extremely important on the design of this new product line.

The CX-S solution comes standard with all of the best technology AVST has to offer including:

• AVST Mobile Client for iPhone and Android
• Unified Messaging
• Personal Assistant (Speech and DTMF)
• Speech
• Single Number Reach
• Mobile Number Protection
• Web PhoneManager
• Voicemail
• Automated Attendant (Speech and DTMF)
• Message Notification
• Single IP Integration
• English, NA Spanish, and Canadian French Pre-installed Voice Prompts

All CX-S software is pre-installed on a Dell server and comes packaged with a three year “bumper to bumper” hardware warranty. We’ve also included 3 years of XpressCare.

View this one minute video for more information.

We’re delighted with the CX-S addition to our AVST Unified Communications solutions family and we are confident you will be as well.

Here’s a quick overview:

• New Messaging and Navigation
• New AVST Corporate Overview
• How AVST Resolves Key Business Challenges
• Focused Solutions – UC-Interoperability, UC-Voice, UC-Mobile, UC-Business Process

We encourage you to take a tour and tell us what you think.

Mobility is definitely a hot topic in today’s IT market. Just look at some of these statistics:

• 32% of US employees are mobile workers
• There has been a 61% increase of mobile workers from 2005 to 2009 If the current trend continues, by 2016 the US mobile workers will have grown to 4.9 million
• Enterprise mobility is the biggest single trend across tech industry investment and innovation, even outpacing the cloud computing trend
• Apple has reported a record number of iPhones and iPad sales in the second quarter of 2011, powering revenues of $28.6 billion
• 47% off all adults go online remotely

One of the key factors that started this trend and continues to move it forward is the smartphone. We recently conducted a webinar titled, Getting the Most out of Your Smartphone . Here we outlined our mobile applications that are available on Blackberries, Androids and iPhones and gave step-by-step instructions on how they work. We also discussed mobility trends and where it may be headed in the future.

Check out other ways to keep up with these mobile trends and become more productive, efficient and available on the go.

What were the key factors that led Aims to choose CallXpress out of the many other solutions available? First, with an Octel telephone user interface emulation, CallXpress makes upgrading any system seamless for all end users. According to Aims’ Telecommunications Manager, Deb Martinez, “One of the main selling points for CallXpress was the fact that I did not have to retrain our users on a new system, and, thanks to AVST’s Octel TUI emulation, there was no retraining at all – it was an extremely smooth process for our faculty and staff. This was by far the easiest conversion I have ever made.”

Secondly, CallXpress is also a leader in speech capabilities. Aims is currently using the speech-driven directory which has reduced their inbound call traffic by 30 percent! In addition, CallXpress offers a unified messaging solution that is best-in-class. Unifying their messaging has greatly increased productivity and efficiency.

Lastly, CallXpress supports a mixed telephony environment made up of Avaya IP and digital systems across six locations. CallXpress enabled Aims to centralize administrative functions while also helping to protect against critical network failures.

AVST’s CallXpress has been deployed by more than 1,000 educational institutions. With all this experience and productivity features one could say that AVST is the “guru” of upgrading legacy voicemail systems to next generation UC solutions. So, let us help you aim your communications goals in the right direction by upgrading to CallXpress today. Read more about Aims transition to CallXpress here.

Compliance

Existing Federal and State regulations regarding the retention and storage of electronic information means that it is critical to pay close attention to corporate compliance issues when considering the various UM solution architectures.

AVST’s Recommendation: Consult with your corporate compliance officer or legal counsel to ensure you pick the UM architecture that best meets your organization’s compliance requirements.

Confidentiality

Preventing the external distribution of confidential corporate voice, e-mail and fax messages is, in many cases, as critical a consideration as compliance when evaluating UM solutions.

AVST’s Recommendation: Thoroughly understand your organization’s requirements for protecting the confidentiality of corporate data to ensure you select the correct UM architecture for your business.

Configuration

Selecting a UM solution that has the architectural flexibility to future proof your investment is another critical consideration. Do you want to store your messages on the email server or not? AVST uniquely offers four different architectural options in its Unified Messaging solution to ensure your organization has the maximum deployment flexibility today and, just as importantly, the ability to change the configuration of your UM solution, on a per user basis.

AVST’s Recommendation: Attend an AVST webinar on Unified Messaging to ensure that you fully understand the implications of deploying every different UM architecture.

Capability

Understanding the capabilities of each Unified Messaging solution you are evaluating is another critical consideration. What are the features and flexibility of the solution? Does it meet the requirements of your users that will be accessing the solution via the desktop, web, phone and/or mobile device? Can you deploy different feature sets for different users?

AVST’s Recommendation: Click here for the Unified Messaging checklist to ensure that the Unified Messaging solutions you are evaluating have the features and flexibility your organization demands.

Cost

Understanding the total cost of ownership (TCO) for each Unified Messaging solution you are evaluating is another key consideration. Some questions to consider (and quantify) are:

Do I have to buy licenses for all employees in my organization?

How much will it cost me to add additional users in the future?

How much is the annual maintenance?

What additional hardware and software is required to deploy?

Do I need to upgrade or replace my groupware solution to get UM?

Will the UM solution integrate with my existing and future telephony infrastructure?

How much additional cost is involved if I decide to switch groupware solutions in the future?

How much will it cost to implement the UM solution?

AVST’s Recommendation: Develop a clear set of pricing, configuration and support guidelines and apply it to each UM solution you are evaluating. Consider a five year TCO timeframe to ensure that you have the whole picture.

So, when you’re deciding on a UM solution for your organization, remember the five C’s: compliance, confidentiality, configuration, capability and cost. Happy hunting!

Amerisure

As discussed in recent blog posts, AVST’s interoperability and investment protection are exactly what customers need, especially since major legacy voicemail systems are fast approaching their end of manufacturing support by this summer. Lori Wodrich, Voice Communication Analyst for Amerisure, noted that, “Amerisure differentiates itself on our exceptional customer service; in order to maintain this level of service our employees must be able to respond to anything, from anywhere and at a moment’s notice.  CallXpress has greatly increased the mobility and efficiency of our workforce through unified messaging.  Our employees rapidly embraced the unified messaging functionality in CallXpress and reported they hope to never go back to the old way of conducting business. Unified messaging has spoiled them!”

Amerisure also learned that with AVST, it’s about choice. Most messaging providers require customers to store all their messages on a voicemail or email server and if there is a change in the future, it can be expensive. With AVST you can do a combination of both and if you decide to change in the future, no additional costs will be incurred. That means a lot to our customers.

Not only does AVST excel in flexibility, it can also offer a seamless Private Cloud solution for enterprises. “CallXpress 8 provides us with the perfect private cloud architecture, including survivability,” continued Wodrich.  “The ability to have a centralized server at our main site and remote survivable Call Servers across four of our other offices provides us with a highly resilient communications platform. Because this architecture has been so successful, our intent is to migrate other locations as well.”

While we’re on the subject of upgrading infrastructures, be sure to check out our webinar next week entitled, “Beyond Voicemail- Preparing for the Future.” Learn how AVST is helping companies keep up to date today and into the future.

We encourage you to read more about Amerisure’s experience with moving to CallXpress.

How will we transform your communications?  Contact us today and find out!

In the present IT world, cloud seems to be the “secret word of the day” that gets a lot attention because people recognize how important it is to their IT strategy. There is so much talk about what it is, what the benefits are, when it will be available and who will use it. When cloud is mentioned the general reaction is: I don’t understand exactly how it works or when our enterprise will deploy it – but I want it! Tom Bittman of Gartner said, “I continue to talk with clients who understand the concept of private cloud computing, they think they know it when they see it, but they can’t quite explain it in words.”

Chris Preimesberger of eWEEK.com defined the two types of cloud; public and private. “Cloud, or utility, computing serves up computing power, data storage or applications from one data center location over a grid to thousands or millions of users on a subscription basis. This general kind of cloud — for example, services provided online by Amazon EC2, Google Apps, and Salesforce.com — is known as a “public” cloud, because any business or individual can subscribe. Private cloud computing is a different take on the mainstream version, in that smaller, cloudlike IT systems within a firewall offer similar services, but to a closed internal network. This network may include corporate or division offices…”These smaller cloudlike IT systems are owned by enterprises and are known as “Corporate Cloud.”

AVST is right there in the mix. In fact, we have hundreds of large enterprises already deployed on Private Cloud, participating in all the benefits it offers. CallXpress 8 provides them with the perfect architecture for Private Cloud. Companies are able to manage CallXpress services within a corporate firewall and network that are dedicated to their organization. With the CallXpress platform, customers have a highly available solution with Neverfail™ and survivable Call Servers within their private cloud that assures security and disaster recovery. Customers can also implement virtualization through VMware® vSphere™ 4.There are many benefits to Private Cloud including; centralizing applications within a datacenter, providing remote survivability and having peace of mind knowing your network is secure. Private Cloud is definitely a must for enterprises and companies alike.

So next time you hear “the secret word of the day” remember that the real secret is- AVST can move your company to Private Cloud today! We have hundreds of deployments and all the capabilities available to make it a smooth and easy transition. Now is the time to move to Private Cloud. Once you do, you’ll wonder how you ever managed without it.

First, let’s talk about investment. Many first generation voicemail systems (such as Octel® Aria, Octel Serenade® VMX, Nortel® Meridian Mail, Avaya® INTUITY™ Audix® and Siemens Phonemail) have reached or will reach their End of Support  this summer, as defined by their manufacturers. Most solutions require a full PBX replacement strategy to upgrade these systems. However, with AVST’s unsurpassed interoperability instead of replacing your PBX you can extend its useful life. We’re committed to providing a product that has the ability to work with your existing systems. In this way customers are able to have all the “productivity” applications CallXpress 8.11 provides such as; Unified Messaging, personal assistant, speech driven automated attendant, notification, single number, mobility and virtualization, just to name a few.

Secondly, the AVST Investment Protection Program protects your infrastructure by offering the broadest telephony interoperability of any enterprise class solution, allowing you the flexibility of maintaining all your current telephony systems.  This means you can replace your messaging system now to start realizing the benefits of Unified Communications without having to replace all your PBXs.

Upgrade today! As part of the program, AVST is offering a limited-time, future proof incentive to customers who want to enhance their communications infrastructure with CallXpress. These incentives include:

Stimulus Package Pricing
CallXpress offers stimulus package pricing including advanced call processing and voicemail functionality, plus 50 unified messaging and personal assistant user licenses.

Free alternate Telephone User Interface (TUI)
Select from a variety of TUIs that mimic popular first generation voicemail systems to minimize re-training.

Free on-line administrative training course
Administrators can quickly learn to configure and maintain their CallXpress system in this self-paced web training course.

Future Proofing Guarantee
Unique lifetime Future Proofing Guarantee provides, with certain limited exceptions, an IP or TDM software integration at no additional charge when a customer is ready to transition to one of the many industry-leading IP and TDM telephony solutions that AVST supports.

Can you think of any reason not to upgrade? We can’t either.

At Enterprise Connect, AVST will be presenting a full lineup of sessions that address key issues for enterprises worldwide – including the variety of ways in which companies can drive mobility, transform business productivity and modernize voice communications.

In AVST’s all-new, theatre-style booth we will be presenting live sessions that will focus on five key areas:

1. Migrating Voice Infrastructure and Legacy Applications
2. Delivering Deployment Flexibility from CPE to Private Cloud and Cloud-Based UC Solutions
3. Mobilizing Workforces to Increase Business Agility
4. Utilizing Federated Presence for Real Time Communication
5. Improving Business Processes

Check out one of our newest videos and learn why AVST has the best in-class approach to UC applications; helping you cultivate a greater, more efficient level of communications in your company.

“This is an exciting time for AVST, as we are continuing to round out our industry-leading lineup of products that transition customers to Unified Communications at their own pace,” said Denny Michael, AVST Vice President of Marketing.  “Formerly VoiceCon, this annual event has consistently provided us with the opportunity for one-on-one time with our valued customers and partners to share ideas, business strategies, programs and solutions – and the tradition will continue as Enterprise Connect. We look forward to sharing with them our educational sessions that address the central themes of improving overall business communications.”

We can’t wait to see you there! Ciao for now!

Modernize Your Voice Infrastructure Today
Thursday, January 20, 2011 at 10:00 AM Pacific (GMT -08:00) – click to register

How to Ensure Continuous Uptime
Thursday, February 3, 2011 at 10:00 AM Pacific (GMT -08:00) – click to register

Getting the Most Out of Your Smartphone
Thursday, February 17, 2011 at 10:00 AM Pacific (GMT -08:00) – click to register

Are You Frozen in Your Decision about Unified Messaging?
Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 10:00 AM Pacific (GMT -08:00) – click to register

Is Interoperability the “New Black” for UC?
Thursday, March 17, 2011 at 10:00 AM Pacific (GMT -08:00) – click to register

Plus, receive a free industry report “Evaluating Unified Messaging Solutions” from industry analyst Blair Pleasant, President and Principal Analyst at COMMfusion LLC and a co-founder of UCStrategies.com. This report is valued at $995 and provides insight into 17 of the leading Unified Messaging providers.