Spanlink: Riding the Unified Communications Wave

Spanlink (News - Alert) Communications has had a very eventful year. In October, the company named former Chief Financial Officer Scott Christian as president and chief executive officer, and in November Spanlink introduced three pre-packaged UC solutions in one day. The solutions, dubbed SpanCom 50, SpanCom 200 and SpanCom 200Flex, are designed to give small to mid-sized businesses affordable, comprehensive and easy-to-manage unified communications. Built on hardware and software from Cisco Systems (News - Alert), the bundled solution gives Spanlink’s customers e-mail, voicemail, desktop video, fax, instant messaging and other communications capabilities in one unified offering.

 

Clinton Fitch, Spanlink’s Unified Communications (News - Alert) Product Manager, took some time to respond to a series of questions regarding the state of the company and the outlook for the coming year.

 

Fitch will represent Spanlink at the upcoming ITEXPO in Miami Beach, FL (February 2–4, 2009). He will join a group of industry experts on a panel entitled Unified Communications Basics, which will take place on Monday, February 9, from 12:00-12:45pm. Moderated by David H. Yedwab (News - Alert), Partner at Market Strategy and Analytics, the presentation will provide statistics and analysis to help attendees understand the steps to consider when selecting UC solutions; the business benefits of UC; how other organizations are using UC to improve processes and reduce costs; and more.

 

CF: Attendees can expect to learn how Unified Communications can improve productivity, communication and operational costs when deployed and fully exploited.

 

CF: 2008 was a banner year for Spanlink Communications in many aspects thanks in part to the growth in the UC market, our establishment of a dedicated practice in the UC market and our partnership with Cisco.

 

CF: From a UC perspective, it was our establishment of a dedicated UC practice.

 

CF: In 2009 you can expect to see continued growth in our UC and Contact Center practices with new bundled offerings and support solutions.

 

CF: As 2009 begins, IP communications is now the standard for many companies and continued adoption will persist. Because of the flexibility IP offers, communication methods will continue to become more integrated, providing seamless connectivity from a multitude of devices and platforms.

 

CF: Many customers have expressed that they are cutting budgets in 2009 in their IT departments but we do not expect to see a significant change in our business. Unified Communications is not simply about product in racks — it is about fundamentally changing how a company communicates internally and externally with higher efficiency and at a lower cost. This will resonate well with the tight budgets expected in 2009.

 

CF: We have been a contact center company for 20 years and we understand applications exceptionally well. Because UC is very much application driven today, our pedigree allows us to bring a high level of understanding and intellect to our customers business needs and solve them using the technology.