Aspect Launches Unified Communications Services Practice

Aspect, a unified communications and contact center software and services provider, today announced it is launching a new professional services and systems integration practice to assist organizations with planning, implementing and supporting unified communications (UC) products across their enterprises and into their contact centers. This new practice within Aspect® Professional Services supports the Aspect strategy to provide services and software that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results.

In support of the Aspect/Microsoft strategic alliance announced earlier this year, the new UC services practice at Aspect assists organizations in deploying Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) and other Microsoft UC applications from planning through implementation.

“With UC continuously evolving, Aspect keenly understands that both IT and business leaders have questions around how and when to deploy it across the enterprise to reap the greatest results,” said Kevin Schwartz, executive vice president of Aspect Global Professional Services. “Our new services practice is designed to help companies create and execute a logical UC rollout strategy, from basic infrastructure through business process enablement, which will improve enterprise productivity and enhance customer-facing business processes.”

UC services capabilities will be delivered by a team of Aspect Professional Services experts who have been trained and certified by Microsoft, and include:

UC Strategy, Planning and Architecture services to help organizations identify the right UC opportunities, address potential pitfalls and get the right results. This includes roadmap development that outlines where and when specific functionality is deployed, and enterprise technical architecture specifications that cover software, security, management and availability requirements.

Implementation and Integration services that will help ensure successful implementation of UC technologies and applications by providing services for the design, installation, configurations and testing of Aspect and Microsoft UC products, with expert guidance for navigating obstacles. Services also include custom application development and integration services to deliver a complete enterprise solution.

“Customers globally are embracing software-powered communications as a means to extend the life of existing infrastructure, improve productivity and reduce costs,” said Roger Murff, director of unified communications partner marketing at Microsoft. “Today’s announcement from Aspect validates the strong customer interest we are seeing and will enable more customers to take advantage of the benefits of unified communications.”

Aspect will be taking advantage of many of the capabilities available with Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2, Microsoft’s newest release, including the voice features that support remote and mobile workers, full-featured audio conferencing capabilities and comprehensive developer tools to improve implementation and integration with other applications. The developer tools are an important part of creating tight integrations between Microsoft Office Communications Server and Aspect® Unified IP™ with the first integration release scheduled for December.

“Our alliance with Microsoft, coupled with our 35 years of successfully deploying mission-critical voice applications, makes Aspect unique in its ability to provide OCS implementation and integration services across the enterprise,” added Schwartz.  “We are anxious to show our customers and prospects how UC can improve their operations and how, in doing so, can allow IT to become an even more strategic asset to the business.”

Beginning in November, Aspect and Microsoft will be hosting a series of executive forum events for joint customers across the United States and the United Kingdom to discuss the value that unified communications can bring to the enterprise.

About Aspect® Global Services
Aspect® Global Services provides comprehensive consulting, technical and educational services to help customers realize the full potential of their unified communications solutions across the enterprise and in the contact center.  The Aspect Global Services team is comprised of highly-trained experts whose sole focus is to drive the greatest returns for customers by enhancing contact center and knowledge worker productivity and streamlining business processes. Aspect Global Services offerings include Aspect® Professional Services, Aspect® Technical Services, Aspect® Education Services.
 
About Aspect
Aspect provides software and consulting services that turn the potential of unified communications into real business results across the enterprise and in the contact center.  Applying 35 years of insight and experience, Aspect helps two-thirds of the FORTUNE Global 100, as well as small and medium enterprises, power their business processes with communications.  For more information, visit www.aspect.com.