Companies Partner for UC&C Solutions, ShoreTel Acquires M5, No Cost Cloud Solutions

ADP and Cisco Partner to Bring Video-Enabled Solutions to Dealerships

ADP Dealer Services has announced the expansion of its enhanced unified communication and collaboration (UC&C) technologies via the Cisco Cius hand-held mobile collaboration device and the Cisco TelePresence real-time video conferencing solution. Combined with ADP's DriveMotion, the Cisco Cius becomes a video-enabled touch point for dealers and consumers to access detailed vehicle inventory. The Cisco TelePresence provides dealerships with a high-definition video link for face-to-face collaboration purposes, such as completing paperwork with remote Finance and Insurance employees. The Cisco Cius and TelePresence solutions also allow for a direct connection between service technicians and customers, so that the customer can be notified of service issues by email or video calls.
ADP Dealer Services and Cisco will be presenting both concept and foundational technologies at this year's North American Dealer Association (NADA) conference in the Las Vegas, Nevada.

ShoreTel Acquires M5 Networks

ShoreTel has signed a definitive agreement to acquire M5 Networks, a move that will support the company to expand its solutions portfolio into the cloud. The acquisition will benefit ShoreTel's position in the emerging Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) market. ShoreTel will take on M5's entire operation including customer base, distribution capability and proprietary network, and M5 will operate as a ShoreTel business unit.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of March 2012.

Customer Service Software and Solutions Available at No Cost

simplyCT is offering no-cost software to businesses who are new to the cloud through its Q1 Premise-2-Cloud Trade-in program. Through March 2012, the company will be offering the first 60 days of service at no cost to customers migrating from on-premise legacy phone systems.

Kunnect has introduced the Kunnect FREE no-cost hosted call center solution. The Kunnect FREE is powered by Kunnect's XVP Hosted Call Center solution and is accessible globally via the product’s website to manage inbound and outbound campaigns. The Kunnect FREE offers predictive dialing, ACD, CRM scripting to support call handling with scripts, prompts and external web page integration and real-time statistics and historical reporting on agent productivity and campaign dispositions and metrics. The solution also features the WebAgent software with a SIP phone and CRM package within a browser.

Zendesk recently announced that it is offering its Zendesk Starter Plan at no cost to anyone who donates $20 to the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital. Annual Starter subscriptions will renew with annual $20 donations.