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ShoreTel announced on 1 February, 2012 that it was acquiring M5 Networks, a New York-based provider of hosted communications solutions for the SMB space.
I understand the motivation for M5 to sell the company - it needed access to more capital, a larger brand, and more feet on the street. I'm still trying to get my arms around what this acquisition does for ShoreTel. Where are the synergies?
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Where Should the IT Department Put Security/Access Control Points for Cloud Data Access?
To be able to run operations and applications from the cloud, the non-cloud platforms below have to be cloud enabled. But always remember that in cloud services, data security is ultimately the responsibility of the enterprise customer. So where does the enterprise put the control point to maintain data access/security control of cloud-based data?
Data can be accessed in transit or while in the cloud if not protected well. We discuss the ways that data can be protected and authorization can be given for access in a cloud environment by making sure the underlying non-cloud IT infrastructure and policy automation have taken the appropriate measures.
Quarks
Disturbing Research Shows that Social Media and Unified Communications Will Cause Employee Distraction. How Do Executives Deal With It?
This document discusses the workplace turbulence that can be caused by the incessant stream of instant messages, texts, tweets, social notifications, email, and voice messaging but concludes with some actionable suggestions CxOs and managers can take to realize the productivity benefits of the UC and social technologies they deploy.
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When and Why on the Path to Customer Centricity for CRM Customers.
Constellation’s latest survey of over 200 CRM decision makers highlights a trend to consolidate the CRM core as organizations chart four paths to CRM modernization. The four paths – stay with status quo, move to shiny new CRM, consolidate and augment, and modernize and surround with best-of-breed – represent pragmatic approaches to achieve customer centricity.
Regardless of approach, Constellation recommends that executives approach CRM modernization with a lens that accounts for including tangibles, intangibles and contingencies in the calculations of business value. Using the Constellation Business Value Framework, organizations can quickly compare the four paths of CRM modernization and determine the most appropriate path.
Welcome to an on-going series of interviews with the people behind the technologies in Cloud Computing. The interviews provide insightful points of view from a customer, industry, and vendor perspective. A full list of interviewees can be found here.
Brad Smith, President and Chief Executive Officer of Intuit
Analyst Blog
January proved an eventful month for Constellation Research, Inc. We participated in our second annual Winter Wonderland company retreat, we expanded the team, analysts spoke at a number of events, and published a range of research. Constellation's Winter Wonderland Retreat
Analyst Blog
Press Release: Constellation adds Award Winning Outsourcing Analyst Phil Fersht to Board of Advisors
Constellation Research, Inc., an award-winning research analyst and advisory firm helping clients navigate emerging and disruptive technologies, announced today the addition of Phil Fersht to the Board of Advisors. Fersht is the founder and CEO of the acclaimed IT services and business process outsourcing analyst advisory organi
Analyst Blog
Premium Research
Drive Synergy Savings by Introducing Collaborative Transportation Synchronization.
This Constellation Research, Inc. report focuses on transport synergy, summarizing a significant body of work. This report will help you answer questions about the types of hidden transport synergy present in supply chains as well as the supply chain synergy indicators that identify these synergies.
Premium Research
Office 365 Will Work for Some Organizations, but Not All. Here’s Why.
This report lists nine factors that are driving organizations to cloud-based unified communications and collaboration services, but it also balances these drivers with five inhibitors executives must also consider. It provides actionable advice and insights into one of the most popular of these services, Microsoft’s Office 365. It answers the questions, “Is Office 365 right for my organization? Why or why not?
Quarks
People Issues Need to be Addressed in Order to Profit from Supply Chain Synergy
Prior to taking action on capturing supply chain synergy, Chief Supply Chain Officers need to develop an understanding of the impact that people and related cultural issues can have. Success requires acknowledging these cultural issues and developing a methodology for addressing them. This Constellation Research, Inc. quark focuses on the six cultural issues surrounding supply chain synchronization.
On 24 January, 2012, Avaya announced availability of Avaya Flare Communicator for iPad. At the same time, the company gave indications of when Flare Communicator would be available for Windows PCs as well as when the entire Flare Experience would be available on both devices.
Analyst Blog
In a session titled, “Private or Public? Take Your Social Business to the Cloud with IBM Sametime and IBM Connections”, IBM spoke about *possible* plans to make cloud versions of Sametime and Connections. They emphasized that they were not announcing anything definitive, but you can bet there is some competitive activity behind this non-announcement.
Analyst Blog
This week at Lotusphere I experienced Dolby's forthcoming audio conferencing solution firsthand. Dolby is applying its renowned signal processing technology along with a proprietary wideband audio codec to the audio conferencing market. This is the same technology the Dolby uses in its gaming solutions which are used by millions of users simultaneously.
Analyst Blog
Welcome to an on-going series of interviews with the people behind the technologies in Social Business. The interviews provide insightful points of view from a customer, industry, and vendor perspective. A full list of interviewees can be found here.
Analyst Blog
Salt Lake City, Utah - January 18, 20129:47 AM (GMT -8:00) Pacific Standard Time
Analyst Blog
Big Data, Cloud Based Performance Apps, Drive Interest In Additional Investment
Redwood City, California based Tidemark announced that it raised $24 M in Series C funding from Redpoint Ventures, Greylock Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Dave Duffield. Key points include
Analyst Blog
Over at Computer Economics, we've just published our 2012 IT Salary Report, as we've been doing for over 20 years.
The headline this year is that IT workers in the U.S. will only receive a 2.8% pay increase, at the median, as shown in the Figure nearby. Even organizations at the 75th percentile are budgeting for only a 3.0% wage increase for IT professionals. That lags well behind the 3.4% rise in the Consumer Price Index for the 12-month period through November 2011.
Analyst Blog
Social Media Explained In 140 Characters (More or Less)
Analyst Blog
Public Outrage Grows Over Lax Privacy Polices At Popular Social Networking Sites
Analyst Blog
Business Leaders Often Poorly Prepared For Cloud/SaaS Contract Negotiations
Analyst Blog
Welcome to an on-going series of interviews with the people behind the technologies in Cloud Computing. The interviews provide insightful points of view from a customer, industry, and vendor perspective. A full list of interviewees can be found here.
Adam Rogers – Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Ultimate Software
Analyst Blog
Quarks
To ensure successful customer engagements over social networking sites, companies must coordinate with existing customer support teams to define a strategy to deliver consistent cross-channel customer support. They must also develop new metrics to accurately measure their success in responding to social networking customers. Social business interactions will continue to soar and companies need to develop a plan immediately to meet this growing wave for customer engagements.