NEC Continues Global Launch of UNIVERGE BLUE® Cloud Platform Services to the UK Market
Release of cloud-based unified communications and contact centre solutions represents the next step in the global expansion of NEC's ‘stress-free cloud experience’
Hilversum, Nottingham 1 June 2021 – NEC Corporation (NEC), a leading, financially stable provider and integrator of advanced IT, communications, networking and biometric solutions, is announcing the general availability of NEC UNIVERGE BLUE® CONNECT, a fully integrated unified communications as a service solution (UCaaS), and NEC UNIVERGE BLUE® ENGAGE, a contact centre as a service (CCaaS) solution, in the UK.
Born in the Cloud Partnership
NEC UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT and UNIVERGE BLUE ENGAGE are designed for businesses of all sizes, from enterprise to SMB. Since its launch on 21 April 2020 in the US, feedback is overwhelmingly positive, with thousands of resellers and businesses benefitting from flexible and adaptable solutions that can support the shift to a distributed workforce and hybrid working. The product rollout sees the launch in the UK, other territories across EMEA, Australia and beyond. The strategic partner NEC selected for this significant expansion of its offering is Intermedia Cloud Communications - a US-based ‘born in the cloud’ and award-winning communications software provider.
Differentiation
UK & Ireland Sales Director Andrew Cooper says, “UNIVERGE BLUE offers genuine differentiation. As arguably one of the broadest cloud platforms available, it enables telecoms, collaboration, back up, security, webinars, file sharing and more within a single solution. If purchased from different vendors, all these have their own costs along with the resources to maintain and integrate them. If these are consolidated and streamlined, the cost of ownership is lowered considerably. Businesses can also benefit from monthly billing - users only pay for what they use and user licenses can be altered month by month.”
The launch also presents further benefits for channel partners and Andrew Cooper continues, “On-boarding partners should be empowering, not burdening. Our Partner Program philosophy is ‘We work for you’ with partners getting to maintain control of customer ownership.
UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT and ENGAGE are now generally available for NEC's UK Business Channel Partner Community and customers. This announcement represents phase three of a worldwide rollout that will ultimately include partners around the globe by the end of 2021.
With fully integrated conferencing, collaboration, screen sharing and video conferencing capabilities available from desktop or mobile devices, UNIVERGE BLUE MEET provides reliable, stress-free meetings from anywhere, at any time.
NEC’s go-to-market strategy will be maintaining the 100% indirect sales channel using selected resellers across the UK as well as Nimans as launching partner distributor - the largest telecommunications distributor in the UK.
Nimans Dealer Sales Director Tom Maxwell explains, “Unlike other cloud telephony solutions, the UNIVERGE BLUE partner program enables resellers to stay close to their customers with greater control of pricing and billing.
There's a real focus on making the initial on-boarding as simple as possible - resellers can choose the partner model they're most comfortable to start with and take it from there.”
Darren Scott-Healey, CEO of Taylor Made Solutions adds, “What sets UNIVERGE BLUE CONNECT apart from the competition is the strength of the voice capabilities with over 100-plus telephony features. Building from there, the video conferencing, file sharing and contact centre packages provide an easy path for upgrades. Our customers quickly identify the advantages of more streamlined IT administration and costs by combining their cloud services with us.”
Global No. 1
NEC's leading portfolio of on-premises solutions which currently ranks No. 1 for global line shipments over the past 6 years in a row* is now bolstered with the addition of the UNIVERGE BLUE portfolio of UCaaS and CCaaS solutions offering compelling cloud PBX, team collaboration, file sharing and backup, and online meeting - all integrated with top SaaS applications - that a cloud-based platform provides. NEC's portfolio now addresses business needs across both premises-based and cloud deployment environments as well as hybrid - providing a genuine choice of platform for B2B customers.
Business leaders interested in learning more about the solution can do so by visiting www.nec-enterprise.com.
* Source MZA Call Control (PBX-IP PBX) Market Reports 2015-2020
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For more information please contact NEC Enterprise Solutions:
In the UK: Rest of EMEA:
Jim Eagers Robert van Amerongen
Tel: + 44 (0)115 969 5728 Tel: +31 35 689 1521
jim.eagers@emea.nec.com robert.van.amerongen@emea.nec.com
About NEC Enterprise Solutions:
NEC Enterprise Solutions provides IT & Communication solutions to small, medium and large enterprises in both the private and public sectors. Designed for open connectivity, high availability and flexible growth, our innovative solutions incorporate the latest voice, data and video technologies and enable real-time, collaborative working, increased productivity and customer satisfaction. Our servers, storage solutions, software and virtualized workstations enable businesses to maximize operational efficiency, performance and profitability.
NEC Enterprise Solutions serves its customers across EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) through a network of direct sales organizations, business partners and value-added resellers. For more information, please visit: http://www.nec-enterprise.com.
About Intermedia Cloud Communications, Inc.
Intermedia is the cloud communications company that helps over 122,000 businesses connect better – through voice, video conferencing, chat, contact center, business email and productivity, file sharing and backup, security, archiving, and more – from wherever, whenever. We strive to eliminate the need for multiple communications service providers with a seamlessly integrated portfolio of communications and collaboration solutions – all delivered through one highly reliable and secure platform. With month-to-month contract options, one monthly bill, one intuitive point of administrative control, and five-years running J.D. Power-certified 24/7 technical support, Intermedia is committed to providing enterprise-grade products to businesses of all sizes through a simple, Worry-Free Experience™.
As a partner-first company, Intermedia goes to work for over 7,000 channel partners by providing a comprehensive set of programs, resources, and support to help them grow their revenue and maximize their success. Programs include our Customer Ownership Reseller (CORE™) model – which enables partners to resell, package and manage Intermedia's solutions as if they were their own, while benefiting from highly attractive economic terms and maintaining ownership of their customer relationships – as well as agent models. Intermedia is also proud to be the exclusive cloud communications platform provider for NEC, a leader in global market share for unified communications with an estimated 80+ million business phone users worldwide.
For more information about Intermedia, visit www.intermedia.com.