Cloud Telephony

Fonality (News - Alert) is a developer and marketer of cloud-based business communications and unified communications solutions for small and medium-sized businesses and enterprises. It offers purpose-built Voice over IP (VoIP) business communication and contact center solutions.

The company was recently an exhibitor at ITEXPO (News - Alert) Austin 2012, a semiannual communications and technology event that brings together industry decision-makers for a week of networking and discussing the latest trends in the technology world. Fonality was showcasing its Fonality 5 Innovation Series, a series of five new solutions that give businesses enterprise power with small business prices.

Before ITEXPO, Fonality had unveiled voicemail transcription and HUD mobile as the first two roll-outs of Fonality 5. Last week, the company launched the beta program of the Fonality Web Client, a Web-based unified communications tool designed specifically for SMBs.

In addition to all of the excitement in Austin last week, Fonality was the recipient of the “Best SMB Solution” award for the Fonality Web Client. This powerful Web-based tool focuses the user experience on people and conversations in a social environment, as opposed to features and functionality. As the company develops the beta version of the Fonality Web Client, it will share updates on the evolution of this user experience.

The company also shared information on its partner ecosystem, which increases the levels of engagement for partners and creates more distribution avenues to SMB customers. The ultimate goal of Fonality’s Partner Plus Program is to better serve its customers and ensure its partners are successful along the way. A partner can expect solutions that are simple to use, easy to manage and affordable to deploy.

Also happening last week at ITEXPO were numerous keynote speeches, presentations and panels. Fonality participated in panels at the Cloud Communications Expo, a collocated event with ITEXPO, as well as the main conference. Speakers included David Scult, CEO of Fonality, on, “Building a Strong Basis of Unified Communications In the Cloud,” and “Grow Your Business Without Sacrificing Options” as well as Aron Aicard (News - Alert), senior director of Product Development on topics such as “Utilizing Cloud Base Unified Communication As A Competitive Advantage,” “Driving Business Efficiency using the Cloud” and “Calculating True ROI with VoIP Technology in the Cloud.”

Scult explored three major options in the market for IP-based phone systems; on-premises, hosted and hybrid-hosted. His session, “Grow Your Business Without Sacrificing Options” helped attendees navigate business decisions, investigate how each system works, necessary requirements for optimal use and the advantages and disadvantages for businesses and their customers to decide on a model that fits each business best.

Fonality has been attending ITEXPO for many years. It returns for its interactive environment and compelling demos by other attending companies.

“We like to be a part of the discussions taking place at the events to learn and also to share our thought leadership on the latest technology trends that align to SMBs. We value the forum that TMCnet creates during these events,” said Aron Aicard, senior director of Product Development, Fonality.

After a week of networking, discussing, presenting and exhibiting, Fonality hopes that attendees realized it is the only provider of cloud-based phone systems specifically designed for the SMBs. It creates technology on a scale that provides SMBs with all the bells and whistles of an enterprise-grade communications system, but at a price point they can afford and with choices to deploy either on-premises, in the cloud or a hybrid of the two.

“Cloud-based UC, compared to traditionally deployed UC, is accelerating adoption among businesses and users. However, the adoption is much slower in the enterprise and the reasons are debated,” explained Aicard. “SMB is showing a faster adoption suggesting that a new era is on the horizon where innovation and new technology emerge in the smaller markets then trickle upward into the larger ones. Cloud-based UC seems to be challenging the paradigm that has existed in telephony, where large companies got the good stuff first and small companies got the scraps. Cloud-based UC is lowering the barrier of entry for new technology and the SMB is showing its ready to capitalize on that and use its natural ability to compete with companies of any size.”

With so much happening last week at ITEXPO, it’s hard to sum it up in a few words, but Fonality gave it a try. The top three takeaways from the conference for the cloud telephony provider were that cloud-based unified communications is here to stay, SMBs are poised to become the leaders in technology adoption and innovation, and there is very broad acceptance of cloud-based solutions and it’s still on the rise.

Missed out on ITEXPO? You have another chance in February, this time in Miami! Stay tuned to TMCnet as speakers, panels and exhibitors prepare for the upcoming conference.