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Unified Communications Week in Review: Partnerships Aplenty

By Steve Anderson
Contributing TMCnet Writer

This week in unified communications (UC) featured an unusual twist: plenty of news about partnerships within the industry itself. While UC often helps businesses in terms of yielding better collaborations among users, this week featured several new connections within the business sector itself. So with a weekend now at hand, partner up with us as we run down the biggest events of the week that was in our Week in Review coverage!

First we had a look at the release of MEDL Mobile's Hang w/ 3.2, recently arrived on the market for users to put to work. Hang w/ has proven to be a major part of the Android (News - Alert) lineup, and users get access to a variety of features that help illustrate Hang w/'s importance in the field. Hang w/ allows users to stage a live streaming chat session from a smartphone at virtually any time, and now the app can offer hashtag searches, archive control, and the ability connect outside of SMS use as well as new emoji characters to bring into conversations.

Next we had a look at a partnership between the United Spinal Association and Ivycorp, a move that will allow—according to United Spinal's CMO Tom Scott—the group to better connect with its other partners, specifically, its membership and donors, as well as outright partners in the field. With Ivycorp's line of tools, users can connect on a variety of different tools from one centralized platform, whether using email, SMS, IP, or a variety of other connection vectors, thus allowing better collaboration and better engagement from partners.

A partnership between Skype and JacksGap is set to produce a series of videos known as “Following Heart”, a video series that focuses on three women around the world using Skype (News - Alert) to improve both businesses and general lot in life. This isn't the first time that Skype and JacksGap had partnered, meanwhile, with a previous venture bringing about “The Rickshaw Run,” focusing on bloggers and the ability of same to tell stories.

Then we took a look at the changes in the field for premises-based business communications solutions, with one key feature: the changes in delivery options for such services, particularly an expanding use of cloud-based systems, was weighing negatively on demand for complete systems with hardware options. Moreover, the use of such things as multi-year software subscriptions, cross-product enterprise software, and other such matters were making for substantial market changes as well.

Finally, we had a look at a partnership between Box (News - Alert) and Oracle Marketing Cloud, a development that was set up to help marketers not only better establish and plan for marketing campaigns, but also put these campaigns into action accordingly. The connection between Box and Oracle (News - Alert) Marketing Cloud allows for the use of a variety of other tools ranging from PDFs to standard Microsoft Office tools, and allows for quick conversion of said tools into HTML5 documents for easier Web use. This not only allows for easier collaboration on the creation of marketing materials, but also more rapid dissemination, allowing savvy marketers to strike while irons are hot, so to speak.

That was the week that was in UC, and it was a week packed with plenty of partnerships. Your partner in the industry—our global online community—was likewise busy bringing back all the latest in news. So be sure to join us back here next week for all the latest in news, and every weekend as well for our Week in Review coverage!