Current Analysis analyst Brad Shimmin was among the first in a batch of experts trying out DiVitas’ newly released web client. While our web client runs on all of the popular smartphones, Brad’s device of choice is the iPhone. And all he had to do to get started was fire up his browser and punch in his password.
Among the things Brad liked about the DiVitas web client is its quick response time – after all, apps that don’t live up to their promise are among the chief complaints among iPhone users and DiVitas claims to offer real-time mobile communications.
“I have used a lot of interfaces and this is really quick and responsive,” says Brad, explaining that he was impressed by the fact that he was able to easily switch from an IM chat session to a voice call without the delay of changing modes. “I found the switchover to be really slick because it didn’t force me to jump around and leave my address book and look you up.”
Brad also liked the way the app takes advantage of familiar iPhone features and functions already familiar to iPhone users because “it utilizes the UI … not the symbols, but the contrivances that we understand very clearly.”
Although Brad communicated back and forth with the DiVitas team during his trial, he saw how an enterprise social networking application and integrated business number could help workgroups communicate more efficiently.
“I have a common work scenario in which I work with a team people and it is very important to be able to pull them together to solve a problem in real-time,” he said. “Unlike just a chat program with Presence, such as Yahoo messenger, this actually ties that chat to additional forms of communication – such as a business number – that are real-time communication tools.”
He explains that tying the application with a business number is a unique approach that gets around a lot of the problems that you see with web-based apps on mobile devices. “Normally whenever you do that with today’s smartphones you are breaking that UI and forcing users to jump between apps on their mobile devices.”
Brad described the exhaustive steps he goes through to contact team members, highlighting the problem DiVitas solves. “Typically if I’m sitting at my desk, I would look people up on Skype to see if they are available to chat, and if they don’t answer me I would go to my phone book would call, and if didn’t get them that way I would email them and ask for a shout back, and then I would try their mobile,” he says. “What DiVitas gives you is the escalation opportunities within one source.”
In contrast, with DiVitas, Brad could simply pick up his iPhone, scroll through his list of contacts, read the individual Presence and status updates … and then use the touch-dial pad to chat or call his colleague.
“That’s exactly the point of Presence. You want to be able to unify communications.”
Posted Wednesday, November 18, 2009 by
Richard Watson
Enterprise Social Networking is an emerging mobile-communications technology that leverages business voice along with Enterprise 2.0 capabilities on a smartphone to connect colleagues on the first try. In making people more reachable, it helps eliminate the time-consuming and costly business problem of continually missing calls and checking/returning voicemail.
We’ve already seen Web 2.0 apps such as Facebook and Twitter help make consumer-based communication more efficient – hundreds of millions of people worldwide update and broadcast Presence and Status messages (i.e. Twitter's “What are you doing”) to one another daily. With Facebook and Twitter, individuals always know what their friends are doing. And now Enterprise 2.0 is upgrading the consumer-based collaboration tools offered by Social Networking and repurposing them for business to let colleagues stay apprised of one another’s Presence and Status, and therefore their availability.
Enterprise Social Networking takes disparate, but familiar, communications components and ties them together to address worker productivity problems. It uses the collaboration and productivity capabilities of Enterprise 2.0 (Presence and Status) and unifies them with communications apps (voice and IM) on a mobile phone. It wraps these capabilities around a deskphone number – the legacy PBX number – which has also been mobilized as business voice onto the same mobile phone. And it ties all of these applications – Social Networking, business voice (deskphone) and IM – to a directory that is easily accessible from the smartphone interface.
Mobile Presence Makes Every Call Count
Being able to first check a colleague’s Presence from a smartphone, before initiating any communication, is the best way to increase the probability of connecting on the first try.
For example, let’s say Joe wants to contact his boss, Mary. He would first check Mary’s Presence icon from his smartphone and note that she is “available by text only.” And he would additionally see that Mary’s Status message says “in a meeting until 2pm.”
Instead of having his call go directly to voicemail and waiting until 2pm for a possible voice response from his Mary, Joe would take the “text-only” cue and send his boss a brief IM (directly from his phone-based contact list). Mary can then discreetly read and respond to Joe’s IM from her smartphone, without interrupting his meeting.
Under this scenario, there are no missed calls; no cell minutes wasted leaving/retrieving/answering voicemail; no interrupted meetings; and the communication between Joe and boss, Mary, is executed in a timely manner.
Here’s what an Enterprise Social Networking-enabled smartphone would look like. It would have:
• A customizable Status message to broadcast exactly what an individual is doing and if they are reachable. Being able to show a Status message such as “at the airport for 5pm flight to NY” speaks volumes when needing to let authorized colleagues know an individual’s whereabouts.
• A Presence icon to broadcast an individual’s availability to their entire community (users strictly within the defined organization). One glance at the smartphone-based directory lets all members of the community see who is available (by voice and/or text) or unavailable at any given moment.
• IM so that colleagues can discreetly send each other brief text messages – a thrifty alternative to using cell minutes when a voice call is not appropriate, convenient or necessary.
• Voice – communication by voice is preferred over text in certain situations.
• Mobilized deskphone - carries the corporate phone number (and caller ID) and enables corporate PBX features (extension-dialing, call transfer, hold, etc.)
Using Enterprise Social Networking, organizations can create a secure, controlled community where users make informed decisions before connecting. This results in fewer missed calls, lower mobile expenses and greatly improved productivity.
We’ve already seen Web 2.0 apps such as Facebook and Twitter help make consumer-based communication more efficient – hundreds of millions of people worldwide update and broadcast Presence and Status messages (i.e. Twitter's “What are you doing”) to one another daily. With Facebook and Twitter, individuals always know what their friends are doing. And now Enterprise 2.0 is upgrading the consumer-based collaboration tools offered by Social Networking and repurposing them for business to let colleagues stay apprised of one another’s Presence and Status, and therefore their availability.
Enterprise Social Networking takes disparate, but familiar, communications components and ties them together to address worker productivity problems. It uses the collaboration and productivity capabilities of Enterprise 2.0 (Presence and Status) and unifies them with communications apps (voice and IM) on a mobile phone. It wraps these capabilities around a deskphone number – the legacy PBX number – which has also been mobilized as business voice onto the same mobile phone. And it ties all of these applications – Social Networking, business voice (deskphone) and IM – to a directory that is easily accessible from the smartphone interface.
Mobile Presence Makes Every Call Count
Being able to first check a colleague’s Presence from a smartphone, before initiating any communication, is the best way to increase the probability of connecting on the first try.
For example, let’s say Joe wants to contact his boss, Mary. He would first check Mary’s Presence icon from his smartphone and note that she is “available by text only.” And he would additionally see that Mary’s Status message says “in a meeting until 2pm.”
Instead of having his call go directly to voicemail and waiting until 2pm for a possible voice response from his Mary, Joe would take the “text-only” cue and send his boss a brief IM (directly from his phone-based contact list). Mary can then discreetly read and respond to Joe’s IM from her smartphone, without interrupting his meeting.
Under this scenario, there are no missed calls; no cell minutes wasted leaving/retrieving/answering voicemail; no interrupted meetings; and the communication between Joe and boss, Mary, is executed in a timely manner.
Here’s what an Enterprise Social Networking-enabled smartphone would look like. It would have:
• A customizable Status message to broadcast exactly what an individual is doing and if they are reachable. Being able to show a Status message such as “at the airport for 5pm flight to NY” speaks volumes when needing to let authorized colleagues know an individual’s whereabouts.
• A Presence icon to broadcast an individual’s availability to their entire community (users strictly within the defined organization). One glance at the smartphone-based directory lets all members of the community see who is available (by voice and/or text) or unavailable at any given moment.
• IM so that colleagues can discreetly send each other brief text messages – a thrifty alternative to using cell minutes when a voice call is not appropriate, convenient or necessary.
• Voice – communication by voice is preferred over text in certain situations.
• Mobilized deskphone - carries the corporate phone number (and caller ID) and enables corporate PBX features (extension-dialing, call transfer, hold, etc.)
Using Enterprise Social Networking, organizations can create a secure, controlled community where users make informed decisions before connecting. This results in fewer missed calls, lower mobile expenses and greatly improved productivity.
Posted Friday, November 13, 2009 by
Richard Watson
“After all these years, even for those who haven't been paying attention, mobility is finally getting interesting!
Craig Mathias’ words, not mine, but I couldn’t agree more. These 113 characters sum up Craig’s final thoughts in his NetworkWorld blog, Redefining Unified Communications - DiVitas Changes the Game.
Covering DiVitas’ recent launch in which our enterprise social networking software now runs as a web-client on iPhone, Blackberry and Android smartphones, Craig writes,
“I noted a while ago that the future of enterprise communications is in social networking. It's easy to see why this should be: e-mail has become a vast wasteland of spam and other irritations, IM is increasingly in popularity among essentially all classes of enterprise users, and there's a fundamental requirement for file (and many other forms of) sharing within the closed-user-group paradigm. Closing the user base keeps the riff-raff and especially spam and other distractions out, and also enhances integrity and expands the range of possible functions while maintaining security and enhancing ease-of-use and productivity.
And that's where convergence/mobile unified communications pioneer is DiVitas Networks is going with their recent announcement, which also pursues one of my favorite directions (and a natural fit and requirement for social networking of any form regardless) - Web services. There's no software to load here, and instant support of a broad range of key handsets. Client behavior is uniform across handsets, minimizing the training and support load and maximizing flexibility. No new apps need to be developed. And a single LDAP directory can be used for all enterprise communications functions, meaning everything works the same whether at one's desk or out and about. This is a great addition to the overall power of mobility, and builds upon DiVitas' previous convergence and mobile unified communications capabilities.”
I love it when experts like Craig get what we do, but of course he’s not alone. A few other examples of digested analysis of our Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) web-client launch:
Craig Mathias’ words, not mine, but I couldn’t agree more. These 113 characters sum up Craig’s final thoughts in his NetworkWorld blog, Redefining Unified Communications - DiVitas Changes the Game.
Covering DiVitas’ recent launch in which our enterprise social networking software now runs as a web-client on iPhone, Blackberry and Android smartphones, Craig writes,
“I noted a while ago that the future of enterprise communications is in social networking. It's easy to see why this should be: e-mail has become a vast wasteland of spam and other irritations, IM is increasingly in popularity among essentially all classes of enterprise users, and there's a fundamental requirement for file (and many other forms of) sharing within the closed-user-group paradigm. Closing the user base keeps the riff-raff and especially spam and other distractions out, and also enhances integrity and expands the r
ange of possible functions while maintaining security and enhancing ease-of-use and productivity.And that's where convergence/mobile unified communications pioneer is DiVitas Networks is going with their recent announcement, which also pursues one of my favorite directions (and a natural fit and requirement for social networking of any form regardless) - Web services. There's no software to load here, and instant support of a broad range of key handsets. Client behavior is uniform across handsets, minimizing the training and support load and maximizing flexibility. No new apps need to be developed. And a single LDAP directory can be used for all enterprise communications functions, meaning everything works the same whether at one's desk or out and about. This is a great addition to the overall power of mobility, and builds upon DiVitas' previous convergence and mobile unified communications capabilities.”
I love it when experts like Craig get what we do, but of course he’s not alone. A few other examples of digested analysis of our Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) web-client launch:
- 100,000 iPhone Apps. Congrats. Now Add Things Businesses Care About (Ted Schadler, Forrester)
- DiVitas's Mobile UC Now Available on the Latest Devices (Ted Stevenson,VoIPPlanet)
- DiVitas Ups the Mobile UC Ante (Bob Emmerson, TMCnet)
- DiVitas extends mobile collaboration to iPhone, Android, RIM (Stephen Lawson, InfoWorld)
- DiVitas Offers Handset-Agnostic Collaboration (Marin Perez, InformationWeek)
Posted Tuesday, November 10, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
A BYO (bring your own) phone strategy is a win-win for companies and their employees. By letting people use their personal smartphones at work instead of corporate-owned devices, companies save thousands of dollars on overhead (device purchases) while letting individuals enjoy their mobile handset of choice.
The reason why this works is simple: Because we all use mobile phones so heavily in our every day lives, handsets (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Nokia, Samsung, etc.) have become a very personal choice – more personal than any other business device in history. As a result, “prosumer” mobile phone users have gained an unusually strong voice in certain hardware choices. And they have been overwhelmingly voting with their dollars – for example, last quarter Apple sold its highest volume of iPhone sales.
Combined with web-based apps such as DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), a BYO strategy makes for an affordable and secure approach to arming the workforce with devices that are business by day and personal by night. Enterprise Social Networking capabilities that keep them in contact with business colleagues are available from a single phone to become part of the mobile workforce.
“Over time, an increasing number of companies have shifted desktop applications targeting HR, sales, governance, and data entry back to Web-based centralized services that don't require a client…” according to analyst Rob Enderle in his article, Bring-Your-Own-PC an Option for Cash-Strapped Enterprises.
Adding to that, Enderle writes, “Employees, particularly executives and younger employees, when they needed a new PC simply bought one (generally a laptop). They used existing polices that provided for system access from a home PC to enable them for work. For those
working from home, many have used their own PCs for years.
In addition, with the massive number of layoffs people have increasingly had to buy their own PCs while looking for a job — and when rehired, appear willing to go on using it for business. Web applications make this possible because IT does not have to load client applications on the individual’s laptop.
The cost savings is about $300 per employee per month that flows right to the bottom line at a time when profits are elusive for many companies. You can understand why neither the IT organization nor the line organizations that would have to fund a replacement program are eager to fix this.”
There are nothing but parallels between the BYO phone and PC stories. Companies save money by relying on employee-owned devices, and they maintain security and continuity by providing access to web-based clients (i.e. secure collaboration software). Employees get to use their device of choice – most often smartphones such as iPhone – which allows continuity in their communication and ensures they are connected to their colleagues when they are mobile. They reduce miss calls, which increases productivity and further improves the company's bottom line.
The reason why this works is simple: Because we all use mobile phones so heavily in our every day lives, handsets (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, Nokia, Samsung, etc.) have become a very personal choice – more personal than any other business device in history. As a result, “prosumer” mobile phone users have gained an unusually strong voice in certain hardware choices. And they have been overwhelmingly voting with their dollars – for example, last quarter Apple sold its highest volume of iPhone sales.
Combined with web-based apps such as DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), a BYO strategy makes for an affordable and secure approach to arming the workforce with devices that are business by day and personal by night. Enterprise Social Networking capabilities that keep them in contact with business colleagues are available from a single phone to become part of the mobile workforce.
“Over time, an increasing number of companies have shifted desktop applications targeting HR, sales, governance, and data entry back to Web-based centralized services that don't require a client…” according to analyst Rob Enderle in his article, Bring-Your-Own-PC an Option for Cash-Strapped Enterprises.
Adding to that, Enderle writes, “Employees, particularly executives and younger employees, when they needed a new PC simply bought one (generally a laptop). They used existing polices that provided for system access from a home PC to enable them for work. For those
working from home, many have used their own PCs for years.In addition, with the massive number of layoffs people have increasingly had to buy their own PCs while looking for a job — and when rehired, appear willing to go on using it for business. Web applications make this possible because IT does not have to load client applications on the individual’s laptop.
The cost savings is about $300 per employee per month that flows right to the bottom line at a time when profits are elusive for many companies. You can understand why neither the IT organization nor the line organizations that would have to fund a replacement program are eager to fix this.”
There are nothing but parallels between the BYO phone and PC stories. Companies save money by relying on employee-owned devices, and they maintain security and continuity by providing access to web-based clients (i.e. secure collaboration software). Employees get to use their device of choice – most often smartphones such as iPhone – which allows continuity in their communication and ensures they are connected to their colleagues when they are mobile. They reduce miss calls, which increases productivity and further improves the company's bottom line.
Posted Thursday, November 5, 2009 by
Richard Watson
The debate about handset support in the Mobile UC space has officially been put to rest, according to a recent VoIPPlanet article covering DiVitas’ BYO (Bring Your Own) phone launch.
DiVitas’ Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution is now available as a nimble web-client that can run on any browser-enabled smartphone, such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android
In his article DiVitas's Mobile UC Now Available on the Latest Devices, VoIPPlanet’s Ted Stevenson writes:
“DiVitas Networks today made an announcement that pretty much sews up [the number of supported handsets] competition for good (or perhaps makes it irrelevant going forward).”
He explains, “the flashy way to state what they've done would be something along the lines of: 'DiVitas's technology now works with the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android phone—not to mention the desktop PC.' While those are the big attention-getters, in reality what they've done is to make their technology compatible with any device that runs a Web browser—a number that's growing every day.
He quotes DiVitas CEO Vivek Khuller as saying, the market reality that set the company on the development path that ended with today's announcement was the overwhelming predominance of what they are calling "Bring Your Own" phones. "We [started with] the notion that the mobile devices would be bought by the enterprise and distributed to the employees," Khuller told EnterpriseVoIPplanet. "The reality is that people pick their own phones. People pick their own plans, their own carriers.”
According to Stevenson, DiVitas has answered the call for a new approach to enterprise mobility. “Rather than negotiating with owners of 'closed,' proprietary operating systems in order to gain the access necessary to write native applications for more devices, why not build a way to accomplish the same end using a piece of open technology that's already on the device?
According to Stevenson’s analysis of DiVitas’ BYO phone announcement: “Not only does this vastly enlarge the potential market universe that DiVitas can address (nice for them), it makes the benefits of mobile unified communications (cost savings and enhanced communications efficiency), available to many kinds of organizations that would be unable (or simply unwilling) to try to impose on their end users the kind device uniformity that would have been required heretofore.
Citing an example of the perfect BYO customer, Stevenson quotes Ron Hutchins, CTO of Georgia Institute of Technology, "Universities constitute one of the most diverse handset ecosystems, where IT has minimal control over selection of handsets or carriers by students," he said. "With support for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, DiVitas would be able to offer handset and carrier choice that would be very appealing in a college campus environment."
DiVitas’ Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution is now available as a nimble web-client that can run on any browser-enabled smartphone, such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android
In his article DiVitas's Mobile UC Now Available on the Latest Devices, VoIPPlanet’s Ted Stevenson writes:
“DiVitas Networks today made an announcement that pretty much sews up [the number of supported handsets] competition for good (or perhaps makes it irrelevant going forward).”
He explains, “the flashy way to state what they've done would be something along the lines of: 'DiVitas's technology now works with the iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android phone—not to mention the desktop PC.' While those are the big attention-getters, in reality what they've done is to make their technology compatible with any device that runs a Web browser—a number that's growing every day.
He quotes DiVitas CEO Vivek Khuller as saying, the market reality that set the company on the development path that ended with today's announcement was the overwhelming predominance of what they are calling "Bring Your Own" phones. "We [started with] the notion that the mobile devices would be bought by the enterprise and distributed to the employees," Khuller told EnterpriseVoIPplanet. "The reality is that people pick their own phones. People pick their own plans, their own carriers.”
According to Stevenson, DiVitas has answered the call for a new approach to enterprise mobility. “Rather than negotiating with owners of 'closed,' proprietary operating systems in order to gain the access necessary to write native applications for more devices, why not build a way to accomplish the same end using a piece of open technology that's already on the device?
According to Stevenson’s analysis of DiVitas’ BYO phone announcement: “Not only does this vastly enlarge the potential market universe that DiVitas can address (nice for them), it makes the benefits of mobile unified communications (cost savings and enhanced communications efficiency), available to many kinds of organizations that would be unable (or simply unwilling) to try to impose on their end users the kind device uniformity that would have been required heretofore.
Citing an example of the perfect BYO customer, Stevenson quotes Ron Hutchins, CTO of Georgia Institute of Technology, "Universities constitute one of the most diverse handset ecosystems, where IT has minimal control over selection of handsets or carriers by students," he said. "With support for iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, DiVitas would be able to offer handset and carrier choice that would be very appealing in a college campus environment."
Posted Tuesday, November 3, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
DiVitas’ Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution is now available as a nimble web-client that can run on any browser-enabled smartphone, such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android. This move by DiVitas enables companies to implement a BYO phone (bring your own phone) policy in which an employee’s personal smartphone doubles as their business phone.
What does this mean to organizations that are looking for an affordable way to mobilize more of their workforce without over-taxing their busy IT staff? A BYO policy means the as-yet un-mobilized workforce (such as corridor warriors) can use their personal smartphones – such as iPhone, Blackberry or Android – to double as a mobile work phone. And this enterprise mobility magic happens with little-to-no overhead because companies need not purchase a phone for every mobile worker (they are using their own devices). Also, there is no additional burden on the IT department to support individual devices (everything is managed as software at the server level).
This BYO strategy simply takes advantage of a major mobile-communications trend already under way. As much as 90 percent of mobile devices used in the workforce today are already personally owned, with only monthly cell bills expensed to the company. Furthermore, as browser-enabled devices such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android continue to gain in popularity, these mini/mobile-computers are predicted to become the de facto phone for business users.
With DiVitas’ secure Web client running on a personal iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids:
A BYO enterprise mobility strategy saves money on overhead (no need to buy additional smartphone hardware for non-mobilized workers.) It also makes your employees happy – and hence more productive – to be using their favorite phone by day (work) and night (pleasure) rather than juggle two sets of phone instructions.
What does this mean to organizations that are looking for an affordable way to mobilize more of their workforce without over-taxing their busy IT staff? A BYO policy means the as-yet un-mobilized workforce (such as corridor warriors) can use their personal smartphones – such as iPhone, Blackberry or Android – to double as a mobile work phone. And this enterprise mobility magic happens with little-to-no overhead because companies need not purchase a phone for every mobile worker (they are using their own devices). Also, there is no additional burden on the IT department to support individual devices (everything is managed as software at the server level).
This BYO strategy simply takes advantage of a major mobile-communications trend already under way. As much as 90 percent of mobile devices used in the workforce today are already personally owned, with only monthly cell bills expensed to the company. Furthermore, as browser-enabled devices such as iPhone, Blackberry and Android continue to gain in popularity, these mini/mobile-computers are predicted to become the de facto phone for business users.
With DiVitas’ secure Web client running on a personal iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids:
- Personal devices become a mobilized business deskphone – the smartphone carries the business number, eliminating the confusion caused when colleagues are reachable by two numbers (deskphone and cellular).
- There is nothing to download, upgrade or delete (the DiVitas app is accessed strictly via smartphone’s web browser) – there is no additional tax on the device or IT department because the application resides on the DiVitas Server.
- The web client can be accessed by a desktop browser.
- Companies still subsidize individual cellular costs, but they eliminate hardware overhead (additional device-purchase costs) in mobilizing the entire workforce, including traditionally un-mobilized corridor warriors.
- Even though devices are personally owned, they are as secure as deskphones and corporate-liable phones because the Mobile UC server is web-based and under IT control – should a phone become lost or an individual change employers, IT staff simply updates the server to disallow server access by that client.
- Individuals have access to smartphone-friendly Enterprise Social Networking capabilities (Mobile Presence and Status) to make them aware of one another's reachability. The ability to scroll through an interface-based directory to see who is available and where they are located is a powerful tool for ensuring colleagues connect on the first try.
A BYO enterprise mobility strategy saves money on overhead (no need to buy additional smartphone hardware for non-mobilized workers.) It also makes your employees happy – and hence more productive – to be using their favorite phone by day (work) and night (pleasure) rather than juggle two sets of phone instructions.
Posted Tuesday, November 3, 2009 by
Richard Watson
For guests of a casino, the name of the game is getting the most out of your stay. So imagine a scene where a casino’s amenities are directly accessible from a guest’s personal iPhone, Blackberry, Android … or any other web-enabled mobile phone. One tap to the directory displayed on their smartphone and a guest has reached, say, the concierge or the reservation desk at one of the casino’s restaurants.
Next imagine a guest being able to use that same device to see where their friends or family members are located and what they are doing at any given moment. A quick glance at the smartphone interface and guests instantly know which of their party-members are poolside or, say, at the poker table testing their luck.
As futuristic as these on-the-fly conveniences sound, they are available today from casinos that have deployed DiVitas Mobile UC with a goal toward differentiating themselves in the very competitive hospitality market.
Casino guests can simply point their smartphone browser at the Casino’s DiVitas server to gain access to a temporary client – meaning their personal phone is transformed into a hotel guest phone.
The client authorization can be issued by the casino, lasting only for the duration of the guest’s casino stay. Once the guest leaves, the session is terminated. Of course when the guest returns to the casino another day, the client can be reinstated again (on a temporary basis). There is nothing to download, and casino IT is not involved beyond configuration of the DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) server.
Guests gain several conveniences with a temporary DiVitas client:
Casino's also gain a more mobile workforce because staff similarly benefits from the mobile social networking software advantages offered by the DiVitas client. Casinos can use DiVitas to increase staff efficiency by making them continuously reachable. Casino Staff:
Next imagine a guest being able to use that same device to see where their friends or family members are located and what they are doing at any given moment. A quick glance at the smartphone interface and guests instantly know which of their party-members are poolside or, say, at the poker table testing their luck.
As futuristic as these on-the-fly conveniences sound, they are available today from casinos that have deployed DiVitas Mobile UC with a goal toward differentiating themselves in the very competitive hospitality market.
Casino guests can simply point their smartphone browser at the Casino’s DiVitas server to gain access to a temporary client – meaning their personal phone is transformed into a hotel guest phone.
The client authorization can be issued by the casino, lasting only for the duration of the guest’s casino stay. Once the guest leaves, the session is terminated. Of course when the guest returns to the casino another day, the client can be reinstated again (on a temporary basis). There is nothing to download, and casino IT is not involved beyond configuration of the DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) server.
Guests gain several conveniences with a temporary DiVitas client:
- They are able to use their personal smartphone (iPhone, Blackberry, Android, etc.) to gain a mobilized hotel room phone – they can place and/or receive calls from their hotel room number without being tethered to the hardwired phone.
- DiVitas provides one-click access to all resort services from the guest’s personal mobile phone – using the hotel directory that is accessible from their personal phone interface, they can simply touch-dial the iPhone, Blackberry or Android screen to reach the concierge, book tickets for a show or make a dinner or spa reservation.
- Guests’ party members stay connected and engaged via voice or IM. Meanwhile, the DiVitas Mobile UC solution's enterprise social networking capabilities let party members tell one another what they are doing and where they are doing it by updating their Mobile Presence (i.e. icon indicating available by IM only) and status (i.e. text reading “at the poker table”).
Casino's also gain a more mobile workforce because staff similarly benefits from the mobile social networking software advantages offered by the DiVitas client. Casinos can use DiVitas to increase staff efficiency by making them continuously reachable. Casino Staff:
- Leverages Mobile Presence and Status to maintain awareness of colleague availability – managers can, for example, quickly find the most available staff member to attend to a guest’s need by scanning Presence and status updates from the mobile phone interface.
- Gains a mobilized business number and IM – the mobile user can decide which method of communication (voice or IM) is optimal depending on what is indicated by the colleague they are trying to reach (available by voice, text or Do Not Disturb).
- Are made available by a single business number – there is no need to know individual cell phone numbers because all casino workers are reachable by their mobilized casino-business number, and their extensions can be accessed via a directory on the smartphone interface.
Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 by
Richard Watson
I am posting a response to a question I received about federating DiVitas mobile Presence. It was an interesting question and I thought the thread was worthy of a blog post in order to share the information.
Question posted to our Mobile Presence Makes Every Call Count blog: "I certainly agree with the concept of checking "availability" before blindly making a real-time contact. However, how do you do this without “federating” such capabilities across various groups, as opposed to just within a single business organization?"
Answer: Today DiVitas supports checking Mobile Presence and Status before placing a call or sending an IM within a community of users supported by one or more DiVitas servers. In this scenario, each geographic location of a large organization would have its own DiVitas server and would federate with other DiVitas servers within the overall organization.
For example, using our own solution, we at DiVitas federate between our offices in Europe, India, Boston and our Silicon Valley headquarters. I can simply look at the interface on my interface and know what my DiVitas colleagues are up to whether they are working alongside me here in Mountain View, Calif. or they are located in India, Boston or the U.K.
Also, wherever possible, DiVitas takes advantage of existing standards making it a straightforward engineering process to federate DiVitas Mobile Presence with Presence capabilities offered by other popular applications (such as Microsoft OCS, Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) Plans are in place to federate to these popular applications through standard interfaces to allow users to go outside of their DiVitas community and view Presence across individual organizations.
Mobile Presence and Status comprise DiVitas’ Enterprise Social Networking capabilities:
Question posted to our Mobile Presence Makes Every Call Count blog: "I certainly agree with the concept of checking "availability" before blindly making a real-time contact. However, how do you do this without “federating” such capabilities across various groups, as opposed to just within a single business organization?"
Answer: Today DiVitas supports checking Mobile Presence and Status before placing a call or sending an IM within a community of users supported by one or more DiVitas servers. In this scenario, each geographic location of a large organization would have its own DiVitas server and would federate with other DiVitas servers within the overall organization.
For example, using our own solution, we at DiVitas federate between our offices in Europe, India, Boston and our Silicon Valley headquarters. I can simply look at the interface on my interface and know what my DiVitas colleagues are up to whether they are working alongside me here in Mountain View, Calif. or they are located in India, Boston or the U.K.
Also, wherever possible, DiVitas takes advantage of existing standards making it a straightforward engineering process to federate DiVitas Mobile Presence with Presence capabilities offered by other popular applications (such as Microsoft OCS, Google, Yahoo, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) Plans are in place to federate to these popular applications through standard interfaces to allow users to go outside of their DiVitas community and view Presence across individual organizations.
Mobile Presence and Status comprise DiVitas’ Enterprise Social Networking capabilities:
- Mobile Presence is displayed on the DiVitas smartphone’s interface as an icon similar to Yahoo IM (showing emoticons to indicate if you are available, not available.) However, DiVitas' Presence icon also shows whether you are reachable by voice or IM chat, or maybe you are temporarily on a call and all together unavailable for communication (in which case Do Not Disturb calls go straight to voicemail.)
- Status message is coupled with the Mobile Presence icon on a DiVitas smartphone, providing an additional level of detail to availability about where you are and what you are doing (i.e. at the airport waiting for a 5pm flight.)
Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
DiVitas CEO Vivek Khuller has walked the enterprise social networking walk, and now it’s time for him to talk the talk – by speaking at next week’s Enterprise 2.0 conference that is.
Vivek is participating in the “Future of Social Networking in the Enterprise” panel at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Others on the panel include Avaya, IBM, Socialtext, Yammer and Voxeo Corporation.
The panel is described as addressing the following issue: “.. the rapid rise of social messaging services such as Twitter creates challenges and opportunities for end-user organizations. How can end-user organizations utilize social messaging to improve external and internal collab
oration? What's the role of social messaging in a unified communications and collaboration architecture and how are UC&C vendors incorporating social messaging into their products? How can organizations embrace social messaging in a way that is consistent with needs for security, governance and compliance? Will the rise of public social messaging services render investments in unified communications moot?”
In context of enterprise social networking, Vivek will be talking about how DiVitas mobilizes the existing deskphone number and integrates it on a smartphone with IM and social-networking applications (Mobile Presence and Status). DiVitas Enterprise Social Networking enables colleagues to stay engaged and to connect with one another on first attempt and in real-time.
"The Future of Social Messaging in the Enterprise" session at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference where Vivek is presenting takes place Tuesday, November 3, 2009 4:15 - 5:00 pm
Vivek is participating in the “Future of Social Networking in the Enterprise” panel at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Others on the panel include Avaya, IBM, Socialtext, Yammer and Voxeo Corporation.
The panel is described as addressing the following issue: “.. the rapid rise of social messaging services such as Twitter creates challenges and opportunities for end-user organizations. How can end-user organizations utilize social messaging to improve external and internal collab
oration? What's the role of social messaging in a unified communications and collaboration architecture and how are UC&C vendors incorporating social messaging into their products? How can organizations embrace social messaging in a way that is consistent with needs for security, governance and compliance? Will the rise of public social messaging services render investments in unified communications moot?”In context of enterprise social networking, Vivek will be talking about how DiVitas mobilizes the existing deskphone number and integrates it on a smartphone with IM and social-networking applications (Mobile Presence and Status). DiVitas Enterprise Social Networking enables colleagues to stay engaged and to connect with one another on first attempt and in real-time.
"The Future of Social Messaging in the Enterprise" session at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference where Vivek is presenting takes place Tuesday, November 3, 2009 4:15 - 5:00 pm
Posted Friday, October 23, 2009 by
Richard Watson
A recent Forrester Research report talks about social networking issues that need to be resolved in the face of the skyrocketing use of mobile social networking among consumers – issues that are in fact already being addressed by DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) on the enterprise side.
“People have separate identities in each social network they visit,” writes Dan Butcher, the author of a Mobile Marketer article based on Forrester’s findings that states the number of mobile social networking users has doubled in the last six months. Butcher also writes that the future of social networking for consumers will be one where “universal social IDs will enable a portable identity … mobile phones will become the hub of social computing activities—the glue that holds the social graph together.”
I think that’s a smart prediction, especially because DiVitas has already identified and addressed this single-identity need among business social networking users.
DiVitas’ Enterprise Social Networking platform mobilizes the existing deskphone number to provide Business Voice on a smartphone – and ties it with secure Instant Messaging (IM) and Social Networking (Mobile Presence and Status) to give individuals a single business-number identity. Whether DiVitas users are seated at their desks, roaming the corporate corridors or standing in the security line at the airport, there is just one number by which they can be reached.
Indicating the window of opportunity for a call or real-time chat is powerful knowledge and a great contributor in the quest to reduce missed calls and connect on the first attempt. Adding to that, having a single business identity – your moblized business number – eliminates any confusion about the best number to reach and be reached.
“People have separate identities in each social network they visit,” writes Dan Butcher, the author of a Mobile Marketer article based on Forrester’s findings that states the number of mobile social networking users has doubled in the last six months. Butcher also writes that the future of social networking for consumers will be one where “universal social IDs will enable a portable identity … mobile phones will become the hub of social computing activities—the glue that holds the social graph together.”
I think that’s a smart prediction, especially because DiVitas has already identified and addressed this single-identity need among business social networking users.
DiVitas’ Enterprise Social Networking platform mobilizes the existing deskphone number to provide Business Voice on a smartphone – and ties it with secure Instant Messaging (IM) and Social Networking (Mobile Presence and Status) to give individuals a single business-number identity. Whether DiVitas users are seated at their desks, roaming the corporate corridors or standing in the security line at the airport, there is just one number by which they can be reached.
- Mobile Presence is displayed on the DiVitas smartphone’s interface as an icon similar to Yahoo IM (showing emoticons to indicate if you are available, not available.) However, DiVitas' Presence icon also shows whether you are reachable by voice or IM chat, or maybe you are temporarily on a call and all together unavailable for communication (in which case Do Not Disturb calls go straight to voicemail.)
- Status message is coupled with the Mobile Presence icon on a DiVitas smartphone, providing an additional level of detail to availability about where you are and what you are doing (i.e. at the airport waiting for a 5pm flight).
Indicating the window of opportunity for a call or real-time chat is powerful knowledge and a great contributor in the quest to reduce missed calls and connect on the first attempt. Adding to that, having a single business identity – your moblized business number – eliminates any confusion about the best number to reach and be reached.
Posted Wednesday, October 21, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
Want to know how to affordably mobilize your workforce? Implement a BYO phone (bring your own phone) policy in which an employee’s personal smartphone doubles as their business phone. This works for iPhone, Blackberry, Android or any other web-enabled mobile devices.
Let's face it. Popular devices such as iPhone are quickly making their way into the workplace. And a BYO enterprise mobility strategy saves money on overhead (no need to buy additional smartphone hardware for non-mobilized workers.) It also makes your employees happy – and hence more productive – to be using their favorite phone by day (work) and night (pleasure) rather than juggle two sets of phone instructions.
In keeping with this strategy, I read an interesting FierceWireless blog posted by IDC analyst Stephen Drake about what companies can do to best take advantage of this “individual-liable” trend in enterprise mobility.
[Note: Drake defines "Individual-Liable" devices as either: 1) Purchased by the user and expensed back, but not reimbursed formally by a company-established policy, or 2) Purchased outright by the individual user, brought into the workplace, and used for either corporate or standalone business applications.]
Says Drake in his article How businesses can embrace individual-liable smartphones, “With the smartphone market expected to outshine the overall mobile phone market for the foreseeable future, the growing influence of new devices and platforms, including Apple, RIM [Blackberry], Android, Palm, etc. … the critical nature of the individual-liable business device is evident.”
In fact, IDC’s Drake predicts the individual-liable business-use mobile phone will experience more growth than corporate-liable devices. Also, the researcher says it’s seeing a trend in which large companies begin to move towards the individual-liable business use device model.
The benefit, he says, is “a slowdown on costs and provides better choice, user control and delivers an image that IT is being progressive in enabling such choice to its worker base.”
“Add that to the growing number of smartphones coming on the market. Certainly the strong popularity of the iPhone, continued consumer push from RIM and the large Windows Mobile OEM base drives much of the individual-liable business use in the U.S. In addition, devices such as the Palm Pre, Nokia's E Series (in particular the E71) and the new Android tide rolling in all speak to the importance of this individual-liable business use case.”
In his blog, Drake lays out a list of advice-points to be heeded by any company following the BYO phone strategy for enterprise mobility.
As for DiVitas, we recommend pairing the BYO phone strategy with Mobile Unified Communications Mobile UC) web client, which is under IT control and which enables the smartphone to carry the deskphone number. At the same time the device and business number tie in with voice, IM and social networking (Mobile Presence and Status) to help employees connect on the first try – and eliminate missed calls to further reduce cellular costs.
With DiVitas’ secure Web client running on an individual-liable iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids:
Let's face it. Popular devices such as iPhone are quickly making their way into the workplace. And a BYO enterprise mobility strategy saves money on overhead (no need to buy additional smartphone hardware for non-mobilized workers.) It also makes your employees happy – and hence more productive – to be using their favorite phone by day (work) and night (pleasure) rather than juggle two sets of phone instructions.
In keeping with this strategy, I read an interesting FierceWireless blog posted by IDC analyst Stephen Drake about what companies can do to best take advantage of this “individual-liable” trend in enterprise mobility.
[Note: Drake defines "Individual-Liable" devices as either: 1) Purchased by the user and expensed back, but not reimbursed formally by a company-established policy, or 2) Purchased outright by the individual user, brought into the workplace, and used for either corporate or standalone business applications.]
Says Drake in his article How businesses can embrace individual-liable smartphones, “With the smartphone market expected to outshine the overall mobile phone market for the foreseeable future, the growing influence of new devices and platforms, including Apple, RIM [Blackberry], Android, Palm, etc. … the critical nature of the individual-liable business device is evident.”
In fact, IDC’s Drake predicts the individual-liable business-use mobile phone will experience more growth than corporate-liable devices. Also, the researcher says it’s seeing a trend in which large companies begin to move towards the individual-liable business use device model.
The benefit, he says, is “a slowdown on costs and provides better choice, user control and delivers an image that IT is being progressive in enabling such choice to its worker base.”
“Add that to the growing number of smartphones coming on the market. Certainly the strong popularity of the iPhone, continued consumer push from RIM and the large Windows Mobile OEM base drives much of the individual-liable business use in the U.S. In addition, devices such as the Palm Pre, Nokia's E Series (in particular the E71) and the new Android tide rolling in all speak to the importance of this individual-liable business use case.”
In his blog, Drake lays out a list of advice-points to be heeded by any company following the BYO phone strategy for enterprise mobility.
As for DiVitas, we recommend pairing the BYO phone strategy with Mobile Unified Communications Mobile UC) web client, which is under IT control and which enables the smartphone to carry the deskphone number. At the same time the device and business number tie in with voice, IM and social networking (Mobile Presence and Status) to help employees connect on the first try – and eliminate missed calls to further reduce cellular costs.
With DiVitas’ secure Web client running on an individual-liable iPhones, Blackberrys and Androids:
- There is nothing to download, upgrade or delete (app is accessed strictly via smartphone’s web browser.)
- The web client can be accessed by any device (handsets or desktops.)
- Companies still subsidize individual cellular costs, but they eliminate hardware overhead (additional device-purchase costs) in mobilizing the entire workforce, including traditionally unmobilized corridor warriors.
- Individual-liable devices are as secure as deskphones and corporate-liable phones because the Mobile UC is web-based and under IT control.
- Individuals have access to Enterprise Social Networking capabilities to make individuals aware of one another's reachability.
Posted Tuesday, October 20, 2009 by
Richard Watson
Mobile VoIP is a hot commodity despite global economic woes, according to consultancy Research and Markets. This is because the Voice over IP technology reduces telecom costs for companies, even as they invest in their mobile workforce.
The researcher sites “improved technology solutions” as a major factor leading to “a robust VoIP market in recent years.” The researcher is also anticipating growth to continue throughout the year, despite the economic downturn of 2009.
Noting the cost-saving benefits offered by VoIP, Research and Market said, “… while security and reliability concerns still need to be resolved; consumers and business are turning to VoIP in an effort to save costs.”
Continuing, the company noted global market trends, saying, “Japan, China and the USA continue to be some of the world's hottest markets for IP telephony. Over the last couple years, Europe has also become a prime innovator in VoIP services, whether stand-alone, bundled as a triple play offer, or through fixed mobile convergence packages.”
DiVitas’ VoIP solution helps companies reduce their cellular costs by mobilizing the business number onto smartphones in order to make it easier and less expensive for colleagues to reach one another. Companies can leverage DiVitas’ seamless roaming (FMC) to allow VoIP calls to hand off seamlessly between WiFi and cellular networks, which results in substantially reduced cellular costs.
The researcher sites “improved technology solutions” as a major factor leading to “a robust VoIP market in recent years.” The researcher is also anticipating growth to continue throughout the year, despite the economic downturn of 2009.
Noting the cost-saving benefits offered by VoIP, Research and Market said, “… while security and reliability concerns still need to be resolved; consumers and business are turning to VoIP in an effort to save costs.”
Continuing, the company noted global market trends, saying, “Japan, China and the USA continue to be some of the world's hottest markets for IP telephony. Over the last couple years, Europe has also become a prime innovator in VoIP services, whether stand-alone, bundled as a triple play offer, or through fixed mobile convergence packages.”
DiVitas’ VoIP solution helps companies reduce their cellular costs by mobilizing the business number onto smartphones in order to make it easier and less expensive for colleagues to reach one another. Companies can leverage DiVitas’ seamless roaming (FMC) to allow VoIP calls to hand off seamlessly between WiFi and cellular networks, which results in substantially reduced cellular costs.
Posted Friday, October 16, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
DiVitas President and CEO, Vivek Khuller has been honored with an Asia America Multi Technology Association (AAMA) award at this year’s 30th Anniversary Gala reception that was held at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View on Thursday, Oct. 1st, 2009.
Vivek was chosen on behalf of the AAMA board and management team as one of the ten AAMA up-and-coming leaders of tomorrow. He was also featured in the AAMA 30th Anniversary celebration video which took a look back over the past 30 years and showcased Asian American business leaders of the past and future --those who have made significant contributions to the development of the high-tech industry and Silicon Valley.
“We were looking to honor young business leaders of the Asian descent who will most likely make an impact in Silicon Valley in the next 10-20 years,” said Anna Mok, AAMA's President and Partner at Deloitte and Touche. “Vivek Khuller was honored by the AAMA this year because he stands out as a leader of tomorrow.”
“Leading a high-tech company that has the real potential to improve people’s lives is as exhilarating as it is challenging,” said Vivek Khuller, President and CEO, DiVitas Networks. "It is an honor and a pleasure to be selected and standing alongside the impressive list of highly successful individuals who have come before me. I look forward to following in their footsteps and inspiring others to take the risks required to make the world a better place to live via technology.”
To read the full release visit our website.
Vivek Khuller, CEO of DiVitas Networks based in Mountain View, Calif. The DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution unifies the deskhone number with voice, IM and Social Networking (Mobile Presence and Status) on a mobile phone to make it easier for individuals to connect with one another on the first try. With its enterprise mobility solution, DiVitas is using enterprise social networking to help companies affordably create a more mobile workforce.
Vivek was chosen on behalf of the AAMA board and management team as one of the ten AAMA up-and-coming leaders of tomorrow. He was also featured in the AAMA 30th Anniversary celebration video which took a look back over the past 30 years and showcased Asian American business leaders of the past and future --those who have made significant contributions to the development of the high-tech industry and Silicon Valley.
“We were looking to honor young business leaders of the Asian descent who will most likely make an impact in Silicon Valley in the next 10-20 years,” said Anna Mok, AAMA's President and Partner at Deloitte and Touche. “Vivek Khuller was honored by the AAMA this year because he stands out as a leader of tomorrow.”
“Leading a high-tech company that has the real potential to improve people’s lives is as exhilarating as it is challenging,” said Vivek Khuller, President and CEO, DiVitas Networks. "It is an honor and a pleasure to be selected and standing alongside the impressive list of highly successful individuals who have come before me. I look forward to following in their footsteps and inspiring others to take the risks required to make the world a better place to live via technology.”
To read the full release visit our website.
Vivek Khuller, CEO of DiVitas Networks based in Mountain View, Calif. The DiVitas Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) solution unifies the deskhone number with voice, IM and Social Networking (Mobile Presence and Status) on a mobile phone to make it easier for individuals to connect with one another on the first try. With its enterprise mobility solution, DiVitas is using enterprise social networking to help companies affordably create a more mobile workforce.
Posted Thursday, October 15, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
Expanding on TechTarget’s article, Presence, IM power mobile UC with or without fixed mobile convergence – absolutely! DiVitas agrees that being able to broadcast your Mobile Presence and Status is the best way to ensure you connect with colleagues on the first try. In fact, we’ve developed our Enterprise Social Networking solution around this issue.
However, not all Mobile Presence is created equal. DiVitas’ Presence technology provides a uniquely deep level of information about an individual’s availability. For Presence to be truly useful, it must convey far more than simply “available or unavailable.”
DiVitas takes the Presence and mobile Instant Messaging (IM) aspect of Mobile UC farther by making it an Enterprise Social Networking platform. By mobilizing the business number onto a mobile phone and tying it to voice, IM and Social Networking - Mobile Presence and Status - DiVitas ensures that the mobile workforce is always reachable, whether individuals are in- or out-of-office.
In her article, TechTarget’s Jessica Scarpati writes: “Mobile unified communications (UC) has become more than just voice over Wi-Fi [and cellular]. Enterprises can improve communication and collaboration by investing in other mobile UC applications, such as presence and IM that can integrate with smartphones, whether enterprises rely on their cellular data networks or fixed-mobile convergence to do so."
(Footnote: The key thing is that these mobile social networking tools must be integrated. Just having a bunch of tools on your phone does not provide total story.)
Agreeing with TechTarget’s Scarpati, Vanessa Alvarez, a unified communications analyst at Frost & Sullivan, is quoted as saying: "…the last [place] you want [employees] to be is behind a desk. You want them on the move, but at the same time you want them connected as if they were in the office."
Alvarez also says: “… as [presence] evolves it'll state what you're doing and the best way to reach you.”
Well, Vanessa, Mobile Presence has evolved and it is here today. Welcome to DiVitas.
However, not all Mobile Presence is created equal. DiVitas’ Presence technology provides a uniquely deep level of information about an individual’s availability. For Presence to be truly useful, it must convey far more than simply “available or unavailable.”
- Mobile Presence is displayed on the DiVitas phone’s interface as an icon similar to Yahoo IM (showing a happy face to say if you are available, not available.) However, DiVitas' Presence icon also shows whether you are reachable by voice or IM chat, or maybe you are temporarily on a call, and you are all together unavailable for communication (in which case calls go straight to voicemail).
- DiVitas Mobile Presence also communicates a person’s location, activity and network connectivity. Various Presence components allow people to obtain information about others and use that information to engage in the most efficient and economical way. For example, if I can see via your Mobile Presence that you are in London and on cellular, I would much rather IM you than talk -- to save on international calls. However if I know we are both on WiFi, I could choose to talk instead because the call is a free WiFi call and I might prefer a voice conversation.
- Status message is coupled with the Mobile Presence icon on a DiVitas smartphone, which provides an additional level of detail to availability about where you are and what you are doing (i.e. at the airport waiting for a 5pm flight). Indicating the window of opportunity for a call or chat is powerful knowledge and a great contributor in the quest to reduce missed calls and connect on the first attempt.
DiVitas takes the Presence and mobile Instant Messaging (IM) aspect of Mobile UC farther by making it an Enterprise Social Networking platform. By mobilizing the business number onto a mobile phone and tying it to voice, IM and Social Networking - Mobile Presence and Status - DiVitas ensures that the mobile workforce is always reachable, whether individuals are in- or out-of-office.
In her article, TechTarget’s Jessica Scarpati writes: “Mobile unified communications (UC) has become more than just voice over Wi-Fi [and cellular]. Enterprises can improve communication and collaboration by investing in other mobile UC applications, such as presence and IM that can integrate with smartphones, whether enterprises rely on their cellular data networks or fixed-mobile convergence to do so."
(Footnote: The key thing is that these mobile social networking tools must be integrated. Just having a bunch of tools on your phone does not provide total story.)
Agreeing with TechTarget’s Scarpati, Vanessa Alvarez, a unified communications analyst at Frost & Sullivan, is quoted as saying: "…the last [place] you want [employees] to be is behind a desk. You want them on the move, but at the same time you want them connected as if they were in the office."
Alvarez also says: “… as [presence] evolves it'll state what you're doing and the best way to reach you.”
Well, Vanessa, Mobile Presence has evolved and it is here today. Welcome to DiVitas.
Posted Friday, October 9, 2009 by
Richard Watson
Delivering Mobile UC (deskphone number, social networking, voice and IM) onto smartphones as a Web-based application lets organizations inexpensively transform themselves into a secure collaborative, mobile community.
The business market is currently underserved on both the mobility and social networking fronts –frequently leaving billions of employees out of touch and unproductive. Without mobile phones, colleagues can’t collaborate with one another when they are away from their desk, which makes it difficult to do their jobs. And all too often employees close the mobility gap by using their personal phones for business communication.
The fact is, only 30% of the people using their mobile phone for work get compensated. On the other hand almost everyone is provided a desk phone for use at work.
Given that total mobile market penetration in the US has almost reached 90%, there is a massive benefit to mobilizing existing work deskphones on to smartphones. This will give people single number reach, letting them use the same device to make and receive business and/or personal calls.
By using a Web-based Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) app to deliver deskphone number, social networking (Mobile Presence and Status), voice and IM (mobile Instant Messaging) onto personal smartphones, companies reduce cellular costs while gaining productivity. This is because these businesses gain mobile VoIP while avoid having to buy additional smartphones for non-mobilized employees.
At the same time they have the assurance of enterprise security because the Mobile UC solution is delivered to personal mobile devices as a Web app that is under IT control. Just as with phones on the PBX system, only authorized users with a PBX managed extension or DID can be part of the community.
In addition to mobilizing their deskphone numbers, users have access to social messaging tools that create a collaborative community that is equally secure.
Mobile devices by their very nature (first-and-foremost a communications device) are the perfect delivery platform for integrating voice, IM and the deskphone number with secure social networking. Using a Web-based solution, companies can securely mobilize more of their workforce – and realize the benefits of mobile enterprise mobility and collaboration – without purchasing additional phones for every individual.
The business market is currently underserved on both the mobility and social networking fronts –frequently leaving billions of employees out of touch and unproductive. Without mobile phones, colleagues can’t collaborate with one another when they are away from their desk, which makes it difficult to do their jobs. And all too often employees close the mobility gap by using their personal phones for business communication.
The fact is, only 30% of the people using their mobile phone for work get compensated. On the other hand almost everyone is provided a desk phone for use at work.
Given that total mobile market penetration in the US has almost reached 90%, there is a massive benefit to mobilizing existing work deskphones on to smartphones. This will give people single number reach, letting them use the same device to make and receive business and/or personal calls.
By using a Web-based Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) app to deliver deskphone number, social networking (Mobile Presence and Status), voice and IM (mobile Instant Messaging) onto personal smartphones, companies reduce cellular costs while gaining productivity. This is because these businesses gain mobile VoIP while avoid having to buy additional smartphones for non-mobilized employees.
At the same time they have the assurance of enterprise security because the Mobile UC solution is delivered to personal mobile devices as a Web app that is under IT control. Just as with phones on the PBX system, only authorized users with a PBX managed extension or DID can be part of the community.
In addition to mobilizing their deskphone numbers, users have access to social messaging tools that create a collaborative community that is equally secure.
- Mobile Presence is displayed on the phone’s interface (icon similar to Yahoo IM showing a happy face to say if you are available, not available, etc.), which communicates a person’s location, availability, activity and network connectivity. Various Presence components allow people to obtain information about others and use that information to engage in the most efficient and economical way. For example, if I can see via your Presence that you are in London and on cellular, I would much rather IM you than talk (to save on international dialing costs). However, if your Mobile Presence information said that you were on WiFi, I could choose to talk because the call is free and I might prefer a voice conversation.
- Status – a Status message is coupled with the Mobile Presence icon to give an additional level of detail to availability about where you are and what you are doing (i.e. at the airport waiting for a 5pm flight).
- Secure Social Networking - Similar to corporate email, this is a closed, enterprise 2.0 solution so access is limited to authorized group of people (colleagues within your organization).
Mobile devices by their very nature (first-and-foremost a communications device) are the perfect delivery platform for integrating voice, IM and the deskphone number with secure social networking. Using a Web-based solution, companies can securely mobilize more of their workforce – and realize the benefits of mobile enterprise mobility and collaboration – without purchasing additional phones for every individual.
Posted Friday, October 9, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
Possibilities for Windows Mobile smartphone users took another giant step forward this week thanks to our strategic partnership with Samsung. At CTIA in San Diego, DiVitas and Samsung announced availability of the first Mobile UC solution that unifies business voice with IM and Social Networking on Samsung Windows Mobile Smartphones (available for both CPE-based and hosted deployments.)
This news is significant because it shows how leading mobile phone makers – i.e. Nokia, HTC and Samsung – are continuing to come to the Mobile UC table to enable better enterprise mobility.
With DiVitas, Windows Mobile end users can use Mobile VoIP to make and receive calls using their business extension, IM one another, broadcast personal or departmental status, and use Mobile Presence to inform colleagues about availability, location and network connection. The DiVitas Client provides a consistent experience on all leading smartphones, so usage does not vary among individuals regardless of which handset they are using (Windows Mobile, Symbian, etc.)
The DiVitas Server also easily interoperates with any existing company PBX or carrier voice-switch, and the solution allows complete IT control over user and application management leading to completely mobile workforce.
This announcement comes two months after Samsung and DiVitas anounced a joint collaboration effort to advance Samsung’s software developer kit for developing Windows Mobile applications for Samsung smartphones.
This news is significant because it shows how leading mobile phone makers – i.e. Nokia, HTC and Samsung – are continuing to come to the Mobile UC table to enable better enterprise mobility.
With DiVitas, Windows Mobile end users can use Mobile VoIP to make and receive calls using their business extension, IM one another, broadcast personal or departmental status, and use Mobile Presence to inform colleagues about availability, location and network connection. The DiVitas Client provides a consistent experience on all leading smartphones, so usage does not vary among individuals regardless of which handset they are using (Windows Mobile, Symbian, etc.)
The DiVitas Server also easily interoperates with any existing company PBX or carrier voice-switch, and the solution allows complete IT control over user and application management leading to completely mobile workforce.
This announcement comes two months after Samsung and DiVitas anounced a joint collaboration effort to advance Samsung’s software developer kit for developing Windows Mobile applications for Samsung smartphones.
Posted Friday, October 9, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
DiVitas CEO Vivek Khuller recently sat down with editors from the San Jose Business Journal to talk about our company.
Explaining how DiVitas enables Enterprise 2.0 social networking capabilities on a mobile phone running Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) to affordably create a more mobile workforce.
“… DiVitas sells software that enables businesses to mobilize employees’ deskphones onto their smartphones. DiVitas is differentiated in two ways: First, the product combines voice with familiar social networking tools such as instant messaging, status updates and presence on either device. Second, DiVitas allows users to roam freely between cellular networks and WiFi hotspots without dropping calls.”
He also highlighted a few of our mobile VoIP customers who have benefitted from reduced missed calls and reduced cellular costs, as well as improved enterprise mobility.
“…the U.S., the rail giant CSX Corp. uses DiVitas to keep its rail operations personnel accessible on mobile phones in areas without cellular coverage. VoIP carriers Sawtel Inc. and Clearfly Communications Inc. use DiVitas to mobilize their existing VoIP fixed lines and offer new services. In Finland, midsize company SGN Group uses DiVitas to make all its employees accessible via company desk-phone numbers and instant messaging using mobile”
To read the complete article visit the San Jose Business Journal.
Explaining how DiVitas enables Enterprise 2.0 social networking capabilities on a mobile phone running Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) to affordably create a more mobile workforce.
“… DiVitas sells software that enables businesses to mobilize employees’ deskphones onto their smartphones. DiVitas is differentiated in two ways: First, the product combines voice with familiar social networking tools such as instant messaging, status updates and presence on either device. Second, DiVitas allows users to roam freely between cellular networks and WiFi hotspots without dropping calls.”
He also highlighted a few of our mobile VoIP customers who have benefitted from reduced missed calls and reduced cellular costs, as well as improved enterprise mobility.
“…the U.S., the rail giant CSX Corp. uses DiVitas to keep its rail operations personnel accessible on mobile phones in areas without cellular coverage. VoIP carriers Sawtel Inc. and Clearfly Communications Inc. use DiVitas to mobilize their existing VoIP fixed lines and offer new services. In Finland, midsize company SGN Group uses DiVitas to make all its employees accessible via company desk-phone numbers and instant messaging using mobile”
To read the complete article visit the San Jose Business Journal.
Posted Friday, October 2, 2009 by
Richard Watson
There is a lot of buzz around Enterprise 2.0 lately, especially with the upcoming Enterprise 2.0 conference in November. I am particularly interested in the buzz because this is exactly the market DiVitas addresses with our Enterprise Social Networking capability.
It’s important to understand where Web 2.0 leaves off and Enterprise 2.0 begins. According to Forrester, Enterprise 2.0 is a set of collaboration and productivity tools based on the concepts of Web 2.0 (utilized by Facebook, Twitter, etc.), but designed for the enterprise worker. And it’s a market that is expected to grow by several billion dollars over the next four years.
DiVitas’ approach to implementing Enterprise 2.0 is a mobile-communications solution – Enterprise Social Networking – that enables colleagues to connect with one another on the first try.
DiVitas Enterprise Social Networking takes disparate, but familiar, communications components and binds them together to address worker productivity problems. It uses the collaboration and productivity capabilities of Enterprise 2.0 (Presence and Status) and unifies them with communications apps (voice and IM) on a mobile phone.
Further, DiVitas’ Enterprise Social Networking moves the deskphone – the legacy PBX number – onto a smartphone, enabling business voice on a mobile handset. And it ties all of the applications – Social Networking, business voice (deskphone) and IM – to a directory that is easily accessible from the smartphone interface.
In its report Global Enterprise Web 2.0 Market Forecast: 2007 To 2013 Forrester predicts that business spending on Enterprise 2.0 technologies is going to increase dramatically over the next five years. This increase will include more spending on social networking and other tools, with the end result being a global enterprise market of $4.6 billion by the year 2013.
After reading the Forrester report, I fundamentally believe that all that buzz surrounding Enterprise 2.0 and the resulting solutions, such as Enterprise Social Networking, have merit.
It’s important to understand where Web 2.0 leaves off and Enterprise 2.0 begins. According to Forrester, Enterprise 2.0 is a set of collaboration and productivity tools based on the concepts of Web 2.0 (utilized by Facebook, Twitter, etc.), but designed for the enterprise worker. And it’s a market that is expected to grow by several billion dollars over the next four years.
DiVitas’ approach to implementing Enterprise 2.0 is a mobile-communications solution – Enterprise Social Networking – that enables colleagues to connect with one another on the first try.
DiVitas Enterprise Social Networking takes disparate, but familiar, communications components and binds them together to address worker productivity problems. It uses the collaboration and productivity capabilities of Enterprise 2.0 (Presence and Status) and unifies them with communications apps (voice and IM) on a mobile phone.
Further, DiVitas’ Enterprise Social Networking moves the deskphone – the legacy PBX number – onto a smartphone, enabling business voice on a mobile handset. And it ties all of the applications – Social Networking, business voice (deskphone) and IM – to a directory that is easily accessible from the smartphone interface.
In its report Global Enterprise Web 2.0 Market Forecast: 2007 To 2013 Forrester predicts that business spending on Enterprise 2.0 technologies is going to increase dramatically over the next five years. This increase will include more spending on social networking and other tools, with the end result being a global enterprise market of $4.6 billion by the year 2013.
After reading the Forrester report, I fundamentally believe that all that buzz surrounding Enterprise 2.0 and the resulting solutions, such as Enterprise Social Networking, have merit.
Posted Friday, October 2, 2009 by
Nancy Colwell
My 11 year-old-nephew Tommy asked me an interesting question last night: “What does DiVitas do?”
I had to ponder a moment about how to answer this question about enterprise mobility. Keep in mind that although Tommy has an email account, he never uses it claiming that “I’m not an email kinda guy.” Nor does he use Facebook, Myspace or Twitter (although I later realized he has vague knowledge of how those consumer Social Networking apps work based on what he reads and hears.)
As it turns out, it took about three seconds to explain how Enterprise Social Networking works to him – far less time than I spent pondering what to say and how much base knowledge I was working with.
Here’s how I did it: I turned on my phone and updated my mobile Presence icon to show "available" and typed in my Status message to read, “showing my nephew how DiVitas works”. Then I scrolled through my contact list, explaining to Tommy that my Presence and Status can be seen by all of these folks on my list – and likewise we are able to see all of their Presence and Status.
Apparently this was very easy to grasp.
His first question: “So this is kind of like Twitter?”
Me (a bit stunned by the connection): “Yes. I can edit my Status message (“What are you doing” in Twitter lingo”) to tell others what I’m up to.
Second question: “So everybody on that list can see what you are doing, but nobody else because it’s private?”
Me (again surprised by his astuteness): “Yes. This list is restricted to people at DiVitas.”
He continued down his quizzical path, asking what kind of companies would use this and specifically asked if, for example, Walmart would use it.
Me (interested by where he is going with the questions): “Yes” and I went on to explain how a boss could look at his phone to see what Joe-employee is doing in order to know if he’s available for a particular task. But if Joe’s Status message reads “cleaning up spilled milk on aisle 3,” I explained, the boss knows that Joe will be busy for awhile and he should find somebody else for the task at hand.
Excited by an idea of how he could use DiVitas Enterprise Social Networking, enabled by Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), Tommy then went on to apply what he learned to a scenario that he is familiar with. And that is Rollercoaster Tycoon – a computer game in which you can build an amusement park.
One of the tasks with Rollercoaster Tycoon is that you have to manage/maintain the park and so when, Tommy explained, if somebody gets sick by a ride, you have to find an employee to go attend to it (he was actually a bit more graphic in his explanation but I will spare you the gory details). This type of clean-up task is apparently a very big deal in this game because it is every kid’s goal to create the most stomach-turning rollercoaster possible. Hence streamlining the cleanup/delegation process is a key productivity element.
The important point here is that Tommy was able to connect the dots and apply DiVitas secure collaboration software benefits to a business process (of sorts) that is relevant to him. Tommy said that our Mobile Presence and Status would be excellent for amusement-park management. The park manager, he explained, would have the mobile phone with him at all times, so he could simply look at his mobile phone instead of having to go back to his office and monitor everything from his computer.
He could also use a GPS locator and an automated program to locate and contact the employee who is nearest to the job location, and who is available to do the task. This is key benefit to enterprise social networking on a DiVitas mobile phone - you are able to assign tasks and simultaneously benefit from the ability to reduce missed calls.
Here is what struck a cord with me:
I had to ponder a moment about how to answer this question about enterprise mobility. Keep in mind that although Tommy has an email account, he never uses it claiming that “I’m not an email kinda guy.” Nor does he use Facebook, Myspace or Twitter (although I later realized he has vague knowledge of how those consumer Social Networking apps work based on what he reads and hears.)
As it turns out, it took about three seconds to explain how Enterprise Social Networking works to him – far less time than I spent pondering what to say and how much base knowledge I was working with.
Here’s how I did it: I turned on my phone and updated my mobile Presence icon to show "available" and typed in my Status message to read, “showing my nephew how DiVitas works”. Then I scrolled through my contact list, explaining to Tommy that my Presence and Status can be seen by all of these folks on my list – and likewise we are able to see all of their Presence and Status.
Apparently this was very easy to grasp.
His first question: “So this is kind of like Twitter?”
Me (a bit stunned by the connection): “Yes. I can edit my Status message (“What are you doing” in Twitter lingo”) to tell others what I’m up to.
Second question: “So everybody on that list can see what you are doing, but nobody else because it’s private?”
Me (again surprised by his astuteness): “Yes. This list is restricted to people at DiVitas.”
He continued down his quizzical path, asking what kind of companies would use this and specifically asked if, for example, Walmart would use it.
Me (interested by where he is going with the questions): “Yes” and I went on to explain how a boss could look at his phone to see what Joe-employee is doing in order to know if he’s available for a particular task. But if Joe’s Status message reads “cleaning up spilled milk on aisle 3,” I explained, the boss knows that Joe will be busy for awhile and he should find somebody else for the task at hand.
Excited by an idea of how he could use DiVitas Enterprise Social Networking, enabled by Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC), Tommy then went on to apply what he learned to a scenario that he is familiar with. And that is Rollercoaster Tycoon – a computer game in which you can build an amusement park.
One of the tasks with Rollercoaster Tycoon is that you have to manage/maintain the park and so when, Tommy explained, if somebody gets sick by a ride, you have to find an employee to go attend to it (he was actually a bit more graphic in his explanation but I will spare you the gory details). This type of clean-up task is apparently a very big deal in this game because it is every kid’s goal to create the most stomach-turning rollercoaster possible. Hence streamlining the cleanup/delegation process is a key productivity element.
The important point here is that Tommy was able to connect the dots and apply DiVitas secure collaboration software benefits to a business process (of sorts) that is relevant to him. Tommy said that our Mobile Presence and Status would be excellent for amusement-park management. The park manager, he explained, would have the mobile phone with him at all times, so he could simply look at his mobile phone instead of having to go back to his office and monitor everything from his computer.
He could also use a GPS locator and an automated program to locate and contact the employee who is nearest to the job location, and who is available to do the task. This is key benefit to enterprise social networking on a DiVitas mobile phone - you are able to assign tasks and simultaneously benefit from the ability to reduce missed calls.
Here is what struck a cord with me:
- I mentally struggled with explaining DiVitas’ Enterprise Social Networking solution because I assumed Tommy, being 11 and unfamiliar with Facebook, wouldn’t get it. Completely untrue. But after a brief explanation and seeing a demo, he understood Enterprise Social Networking in a split second.
- Tommy is in sixth grade, and while he’s a smart kid, it’s not like he’s a child prodigy skipping high school and heading straight to university. So if your basic 11-year-old can get what we do in five seconds or less, I feel confident that an adult purchasing-decision maker in an IT department can too. You may not work in an amusement park but if you are anything like me, your job often takes on the feel of riding a rollercoaster. But having my DiVitas smartphone, I am connected to my collegues at all times, making that ride less frequent than it otherwise would be.
Posted Friday, September 25, 2009 by
Richard Watson
Enterprise Social Networking is beginning to rival voice as a must-have app for mobile communications.
Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter and Facebook first gained popularity among consumers as stationary applications. Users share personal information and interact with one another from their computers to stay apprised of where their buddies are and what they are doing.
But along with the recent smartphone craze – a phenomenon that has gripped the mobile phone market since the iPhone was released two years ago – has come demand for mobile phone-access to user-centered, collaborative apps. And Enterprise Social Networking -- Mobile Presence and voice capabilities, which wrap around a business number and mobile Instant Messaging (IM) and run as an integrated package on a smartphone -- falls squarely in that trend.
In fact, Enterprise Social Networking and voice complement one another to create a perfect mobile-communications application match. Particularly when they integrate tightly with the mobile phone they are running on, and when they tie directly with the business number associated with the end user for single number reach.
DiVitas addresses this business demand head-on with our Enterprise Social Networking solution.
DiVitas uses Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) to mobilize an existing deskphone number and tie it with Enterprise Social Networking, which includes Mobile Presence and Status, on a mobile device, making it easier for individuals to reach one another. With DiVitas, mobile Enterprise 2.0 and business voice capabilities reside side-by-side on a single mobile device. This makes text-based and voice-based communication equally accessible to the mobile user.
DiVitas moves an existing business number to a smartphone by integrating with legacy PBXs, which creates a mobile deskphone. In addition, DiVitas provides directory access to all contacts directly from the smartphone interface. This means all applications within the DiVitas solution – voice, business number, IM and Social Networking capabilities – leverage this integrated directory of contacts.
Consumer Social Networking tools have already laid a Presence-aware foundation that is educating the business community about the value-add of having collaborative apps (i.e. Mobile Presence) in the workplace. Now combining these capabilities with a mobilized business number, to run as an integrated solution on a smartphone – as DiVitas has done – will help employees work more efficiently, and it will affordably improve enterprise mobility.
Web 2.0 tools such as Twitter and Facebook first gained popularity among consumers as stationary applications. Users share personal information and interact with one another from their computers to stay apprised of where their buddies are and what they are doing.
But along with the recent smartphone craze – a phenomenon that has gripped the mobile phone market since the iPhone was released two years ago – has come demand for mobile phone-access to user-centered, collaborative apps. And Enterprise Social Networking -- Mobile Presence and voice capabilities, which wrap around a business number and mobile Instant Messaging (IM) and run as an integrated package on a smartphone -- falls squarely in that trend.
In fact, Enterprise Social Networking and voice complement one another to create a perfect mobile-communications application match. Particularly when they integrate tightly with the mobile phone they are running on, and when they tie directly with the business number associated with the end user for single number reach.
DiVitas addresses this business demand head-on with our Enterprise Social Networking solution.
DiVitas uses Mobile Unified Communications (Mobile UC) to mobilize an existing deskphone number and tie it with Enterprise Social Networking, which includes Mobile Presence and Status, on a mobile device, making it easier for individuals to reach one another. With DiVitas, mobile Enterprise 2.0 and business voice capabilities reside side-by-side on a single mobile device. This makes text-based and voice-based communication equally accessible to the mobile user.
DiVitas moves an existing business number to a smartphone by integrating with legacy PBXs, which creates a mobile deskphone. In addition, DiVitas provides directory access to all contacts directly from the smartphone interface. This means all applications within the DiVitas solution – voice, business number, IM and Social Networking capabilities – leverage this integrated directory of contacts.
Consumer Social Networking tools have already laid a Presence-aware foundation that is educating the business community about the value-add of having collaborative apps (i.e. Mobile Presence) in the workplace. Now combining these capabilities with a mobilized business number, to run as an integrated solution on a smartphone – as DiVitas has done – will help employees work more efficiently, and it will affordably improve enterprise mobility.
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