Collaboration isn’t just for the big guys anymore

Cisco also announced new partner-led offers to enable more rapid implementation of collaboration solutions for midsized customers. Today’s news is all about giving hundreds of thousands of midsized customers globally easy access to collaboration solutions that are simple to deploy, are highly scalable, are feature-rich, and deliver the right solutions for the best value.

Midsized companies are leading the economy in growth, talent investments and innovation. According to a 2014 Deloitte study, midsized companies see investment in technology as the best way to sustain rapid growth. The midmarket – roughly defined by Cisco as organizations up to 1000 employees – is the fastest growing segment in the market today. But midsized companies often have been underserved when it comes to technology. From “dumbed down” versions of enterprise platforms to piecemeal and complex multi-vendor solutions that IT must cobble together, midsized companies have felt the pain of a lack of understanding about what they need.

Cisco understands that midsize customers have many of the same needs as enterprise customers, but often have fewer resources. Cisco has created a portfolio of options, from infrastructure to endpoints, to specifically address the needs of midsized companies. We have seen incredible momentum, with nearly half a billion dollars of collaboration revenue in the midmarket annually. With today’s news, Cisco is empowering more midsized companies with the same collaboration tools that Fortune 500 companies use, enabling technology to level the playing field and accelerate innovation, growth and profitability.

Cisco Business Edition 6000S
Midsized companies shouldn’t have to settle for one-trick, siloed solutions that force them to choose between only dial tone and video. The new BE6000S is an all-in-one platform that delivers essential communications tools including voice, video, instant messaging, presence, and paging to organizations from 25-150 users. For the first time, customers can get collaboration capabilities built into a Cisco 2921 Integrated Services Router (ISR), giving them Cisco’s market-leading routing, security, wireless and collaboration services in a single box. The BE6000S is easy to install and support, with new tools such as simple management wizards that reduce the cost of ownership for companies with small IT staff. The BE6000S is expected to be available globally in early 2015.

For growing midsize organizations, Cisco also offers an easy migration path to higher capacity Business Edition 6000 (BE6000) platforms, protecting a customer’s initial investment and enabling them to scale as needed. The BE6000, the flagship product in Cisco’s midmarket portfolio, has been wildly popular since its introduction in 2011, with over two million BE6000 users globally.

Today’s announcement also includes enhancements to the higher capacity BE6000 platforms, increasing the platform’s video capacity by 25% to support more simultaneous video calls, enabling more users to collaborate with video. Customers can also enable video recording and streaming functionality on their BE6000, without the need for a dedicated appliance. Adding other collaboration applications – including video, mobility, contact center and conferencing – becomes as simple as adding additional licenses and enabling the desired feature set.

Major Opportunities for Partners
Today’s announcement also includes new innovations to help partners grow their midmarket business and offer more services to take advantage of the major revenue opportunities this market segment presents.

Now, Cisco is offering all BE6000 models with an option for preconfigured settings, reducing the amount of time partners need to install the BE6000 and BE6000S by as much as 30 percent. Cisco will configure core unified communications services before shipping to the partner – enabling partners to get more customers up and running in less time with less manpower. By simplifying the deployment process, Cisco is helping partners be more competitive and profitable. Because of the ease of adding additional applications, customers can then turn on and “test drive” new applications – from video to contact center and beyond – creating more revenue opportunities for partners.

In addition, selected Cisco Distributors will now be able to offer a distributor-led implementation service for partners, called “Cisco Config to Order Portal.” Authorized Distributors such as ComStor, Ingram Micro, KBZ, and ScanSource will be able to provide configuration and customized implementation of the BE6000 and BE6000S, based on a customer’s specific requirements, at their company site, before shipping to the partner or directly to the customer. This new distributor offer for Cisco partners can reduce a partner’s installation time and labor costs at a customer site by up to two days, enabling partners to be even more efficient and competitive. With this offer, Cisco’s ecosystem of distributors and partners are finding new ways to make buying and delivering collaboration even easier and faster for midsized companies.

Comprehensive Portfolio of Voice and Video Solutions
Cisco has a complete portfolio of affordable voice and video endpoints that are a good fit for midsized companies to easily bring collaboration to any room, any desk, and any pocket. Just within the last few quarters, Cisco has introduced:
· Cisco TelePresence® SX10 Quick Set: Midsized customers can video-enable any conference room in their organization for less than the price of a PC. The SX10 turns any standard flat panel screen into an HD video collaboration solution in 10 minutes or less, enabling employees to connect more quickly and get decisions made more quickly than ever before.
· DX Series: The DX Series focuses on getting rid of the clutter on a desktop, by creating a single desktop collaboration device that delivers a touchscreen display, a superior-quality IP phone, an Android operating system, and video collaboration. The DX70 and DX80 can provide access to an entire suite of collaboration applications for about the cost of a high quality desktop monitor.
· MX200 and MX300 G2: The Cisco TelePresence MX200 and MX300 G2 are room-based endpoints that combine Cisco’s sleek, simple video design with extreme ease of use and approachability. With these fully integrated systems, customers can turn any meeting room or space into a video-enabled conference room in less than 15 minutes.
· IP Phones: Cisco also has a range of IP Phone options based on a customer’s needs, at a price point fit for any midsize company. These include the Cisco IP Phone 7800 Series for high quality voice communications, to the next generation Cisco IP Phone 8800 Series that offers exceptional audio communications performance and the ability to integrate with personal mobile devices.
· Conferencing: Cisco also offers a number of cloud collaboration services, enabling organizations to give their users the power of collaboration with the scale and flexibility of cloud-hosted services. The recently redesigned Cisco WebEx® enables users to meet instantly, share content and collaborate from any device from a PC to a smartphone. In addition, Cisco’s Collaboration Meeting Rooms (CMRs) provide users with their own personal, private, always-available video collaboration room in the cloud. CMR can also be enabled on premise on the BE6000 high-density platform, with capacity for up to 20 simultaneous high-definition calls on a single system.