Unify rolls out new Unified Communications solution

MANILA, Philippines - Charles Chow, Unify director for AOAC pre-sales, said the UC portfolio includes voice platforms, video conferencing, web collaboration, mobility, contact centers, SMB solutions, social collaboration instant messaging, and mobility, among others.

These could effectively reduce up to 90 percent on conferencing costs and up  to 30 percent of voice call costs with voice over IP (VoIP).

The OpenScape Business UC solution will be distributed by WordText Systems Inc. (WSI) in the country.

“WSI is eager to bring Unify’s OpenScape Business solution to Philippine companies searching for innovative ways to cut communication costs and achieve seamless workforce mobility,” said Juan Chua, president of WSI.

Small and medium businesses (SMBs) with five employees, as well as large enterprises with half a million personnel in multiple locations, could benefit from the solution, which is currently being offered as an appliance.

“The biggest challenge for unified communication is managing complexity. With complexity comes cost,” said Chow. “The box is supposed to be an all-in-one solution.”

WSI said different models are available depending on telephony use and UC functionality. The smallest box, the OpenScape Business X1 good for 30 users, retails for about P50,000. The bigger X5 could accommodate up to 100 users for P300,000.

Since many companies already have existing PABX systems, Unify said there is no need to rip and replace existing infrastructure because the solution works on top of this. Moreover, it is completely scalable, so that the solution can grow as the business grows.

Daniel Mountstephen, Unify’s managing director for ASEAN, said Unify’s OpenScape Business has 45 million users in 90 countries and the company is optimistic that it could double its business in the Philippines given that Siemens Enterprise Communications, which was rebranded into Unify in 2013, has existing clients in the country.

He disclosed that even now, the company already has around 2,000 enterprise customers in the Philippines with over one million install base.

The Unify executive is banking on the Philippines and Indonesia as growth areas in the region. On top of the existing solutions, however, there are more exciting products and services to look forward to in the coming quarters.

Chow disclosed that one of these is Circuit, an enterprise WebRTC-based team communication and collaboration cloud service that will be integrated into the OpenScape business. With Circuit, users can initiate conversations among team members early – make internal or outside calls, share their screens, search for information, provide guest access for non-team members, invite team members to a meeting with no dialing or passcode.

Meanwhile, a newly rebranded healthcare solution from the Siemens portfolio called the Hi Med Health Station is also expected to introduce more innovations in the healthcare space.

A  unified terminal at the point of care, the Hi Med Health Station could be a valuable device in hospitals and healthcare institutions as it integrates phone and video capabilities with meal ordering system, entertainment, billing, and more importantly  with the healthcare information system.

 These capabilities improve both patients’ and clinicians’ access to information, services and support.