Order in the Communication System: Legal Community Selects Cypress' C4 IP Platform

At the close of 2010 Cypress Communication had yet another award to place on its shelf of excellence. Technology Marketing Corporation (TMC (News - Alert)), a global and integrated marketing company, donned Cypress with its 31st award for excellence and product innovation. The award was given in recognition of Cypress’ hosted unified communications solution, C4 IP.

Upon receiving the award, executive vice president of implementation, support and marketing at Cypress, Frank Grillo (News - Alert), recognized, “Unified communications is truly helping people be more productive in their communications. People instinctively recognize that different communications methods are best for different purposes. Sometimes an IM or an e-mail is best and for other communications only a phone call will do. And tying them together in an easy-to-use platform creates great efficiency. With C4 IP, we bring these benefits to small-to-medium businesses.”

It appears, however, that the newly merged Broadvox (News - Alert)/Cypress entity, plans to utilize the C4 IP’s benefits in more than small-to-medium businesses. The hosted unified communications solution and service recently has been selected by the International Legal Technology Association (ILTA), a peer networking organization for the legal profession.

As Clay Gibney, information technology director at ILTA, explained in a statement, “Ultimately, it is the greater functionality of the Cypress solution, especially with remote workers and travelers, that won Cypress the business….Adding productivity enhancing features like presence – knowing if someone is on the phone or away from their desk – and the unified messaging voicemail to email inbox, which greatly simplifies the use and management of voicemail messages, just added to the value of the service.”

With half the legal workforce working remotely and travelling extensively, presence and unified messaging aren’t the only features making communication simpler. Remote workers can also benefit from tying their IDs to virtual PBX (News - Alert) versus a phone, allowing them to login and access any phone and receive their defined set of features, extension, speed dialing and user preferences.

Recently, I contacted David Byrd (News - Alert), executive vice president of sales and marketing at Broadvox, asking him: What are some of the other reasons Cypress’ C4 IP service might be beneficial in the legal community, besides its functionality for remote workers? Byrd replied, “The legal community has historical uses for communication systems that only Cypress’ C4 IP Platform can support.” Below are five of the historical uses for communication systems that particularly resonate with the legal community, as provided by Byrd:

Team Collaboration: Work as a team instantly, anytime, anywhere.

VIP Call Treatment: Calls from top clients get through, while others are routed to voicemail or assistant.

Call Recording: Full-time or on-demand call recording to capture, store and access the information for regulatory compliance, dispute resolution and risk management.

Receptionist Console: Advanced call-handling features for attendants, receptionists and assistants increases efficiency and productivity.

Client Chargeback: C4 IP captures costs by account code for easy invoicing and tracking billable hours.