I use the StartMeeting platform for my webinars. One business partner uses Join.me. Another uses Uber. There are a number of conferencing platforms available with most containing some form of video call and screen share. Even Skype has some functionality like that.

Hosted UC players have conferencing and collab features in their offerings. What are they doing with them? I am not sure they are including them in the ROI calculations. How are they competing against the Freemiums?

Broadsoft just bought mPortal to add to its UC-One mobile offering that it is calling Broadsoft Designs.

The thing about collaboration is that it varies with each business. Microsoft Project was a bloated attempt to stylize project management. Basecamp by 37 Signals is too techie for many. Today, however, there are so many different task managers and productivity tools. (Some Productivity tools are listed here by style of user.) Infusionsoft has a list of 13 analog/offline and online tool, some included on other lists – such as the Lifehacker list and this one.

David Seah is a designer who has been working on perfecting productivity tools. I have used a couple of his simple designs. What is the highest priority? RGA! Revenue Generating Activities.

A lot of productivity has to do with lists and setting priorities. That means prepping for your day, which only the smarter people do. Evernote pops up over and over as a tool, because jotting stuff down gets it out of your head. In a digital form, thoughts/ideas/tasks can later be searched!

But productivity is about getting back seconds, until it adds up to minutes, which accumulates into hours in a month or year. It isn’t freeing up hours and hours (unless you outsource tasks.)

Back to collaboration platforms. In an article on UC, the writer mentions that Skype for Business is the form (or style) that many users want to see in their unified comms platform. One interface that does a few functions well and easily. I am not certain that many developers consider UX (user experience). Also, that is why for many small businesses the hope nad light of UC is unrealized — too many cheap, consumerized, half-baked, non-integrated apps to get the job done. Integration, single sign-on and one similar UI (user interface) would make it so much simpler. Simpler means that it will be used more. As users get familiar with it, they get proficient and productive.

Two interesting apps I came across recently:

Workboard is the team performance app – goals, priorities, actions, reports and feedback always aligned, always available – at no charge. Don’t know much more about it.

Redbooth is an award-winning collaboration platform for task management, communication and file sharing. (Good twitter feed too.)

There are so many players in the UC&C space. No clear winner. Plenty of room for consolidation. Plenty of room to go niche. Plenty of space to grab a piece of the market with your story of productivity. Winning back seconds every hour.

IHS Infonetics Enterprise Unified Communications and Voice Equipment report

Napoleon Hill was the author of Think and Grow Rich. If you have not read it, what are you waiting on?

A newsletter today led to a quick Google search which led to this video. Yes it is 2 hours long, but worth it. (Use a youtube to mp3 converter so you can take the audio in your car or to the gym. It is 217MB!)

Space, Power and IP starting at $600 at select CoreSite data centers. I rep many data centers across the US (and the globe), so if you need colocation, VPS, IAAS and PAAS. If you don’t have the capital (capex) for a hardware refresh, think about cloud.

BTW, IPR International, an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) provider in the mid-Atlantic region has announced the acquisition of FL-based cloud and hosting company, Next Solutions Group / Axios Hosting. (This transaction completed already but I couldn’t find a press release online yet. Jim Thomas of Axios is already on board at IPR.)

And Tech Data, the global VAD, is buying Signature Technology Group, a data center specialist. “STG offers partner-led IT professional services that deploy technology physically and virtually, cloud assessments and migrations, and technical staffing to ensure that IT departments have skilled resources and coverage.” [channelvision mag]

The largest cableco with a $3B Business division wants more Metro Ethernet deals. EoHFC is Ethernet over HFC (coax). EDI is dedicated Internet access over Ethernet. EPL is Ethernet private line. EVPL is Ethernet virtual private line. It’s a hub and spoke. Comcast can do them over coax up to 10M and fiber up to 10GB. There is an SLA available. Symmetric too. Would you like a call to discuss?

Ma Bell is the ILEC in 22 states and runs many, many promotions each month for DIA (Internet), SIP trunking and more. Just nothing TDM – no ISDN, no PRI, no POTS lines.

I also quote and provision from 50+ other carriers including Zayo, C-Link, AireSpring (reseller), Windstream and XO. Besides colo, bandwidth, MPLS and private line circuits, I also deal in VoIP origination/termination. I have DIDs!

Call 813-963-5884 to find out how I can help you today. Or set an appointment to speak with me HERE.

This is Gartner’s worldwide CRM survey. Which CRM system are you using?

• Salesforce
• Microsoft
• Zoho
• Netsuite
• Sugar CRM
• Highrise HQ 
• batchbook.com 
• insightly 
• infusionsoft
• Sage ACT
• OTHER

If you are looking at your sales and wondering why they aren’t where you want them, consider reading this blog I wrote.

Then ask yourself: Do you have the elements necessary for sales success?

If not give me a call, the first 20 minutes are no-charge. Make an appointment to speak with me by clicking here.

I also wrote a book on selling cloud in paperback and on kindle, titled SELLECOM2. I offer self training kits on cloud selling. (See here).

If you are building out fiber to the home, business, premise or curb, the webinar I am doing next Wed. comes with a money back guarantee. If you don’t think it was worth it, email me right after the webinar and I will refund it. Register here.

Come see me live in Atlanta for FISPA expo on June 16-19. Use DISCOUNT CODE R2 to save $50 on registration at fispalive.com

I am speaking on 2 topics at the show (see the schedule on fispalive.com):

1) Marketing is Not Free! Would you use Fiverr for a router config? There are costs associated with sales and marketing. We are going to go over them – and why a professional can make a big difference in copywriting, collateral and other components of S&M. (This will include some examples of bad marketing!)

2) What are You Measuring? An executive look at the metrics we use and if they are the correct metric – or should you be looking at something else. In sales, the means are more important than the end. In revenue, what is a more meaningful number? What is your employee’s time worth?