Nexus Open Systems and the Mitel-Microsoft Advantage

Nexus Open Systems and the Mitel-Microsoft Advantage

Providing IT solutions and services, training and certification to organizations across the UK, Nexus Open Systems Ltd. has the pulse on what customers want. For more than 15 years, the Exeter-based company has been helping organizations from start up to enterprise, local to global brands with technology solutions that help them succeed. As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Nexus Open Systems has a deep understanding of how customers are leveraging the Microsoft platform for business.
Seeking solutions that complement Microsoft technologies and extend their value, Nexus partnered with Towner Communications, a leader in business communications. Together, Nexus and Towner have helped numerous organizations optimize their communications and customer service solutions. We recently spoke with Chris Goodwill, Operations Manager at Nexus to get his perspective on current industry trends.

Q: What are some of the emerging industry trends that are affecting businesses today?

Increasingly we are seeing our clients consider moving their productivity, communications and line of business systems to the cloud, either completely migrated or in a hybrid-style deployment. As a Microsoft Gold Partner with 18 competencies including Cloud Deployment Partner, we’ve had great success with Microsoft Office365, Lync and SharePoint, which we now consider core solution offerings for our business. Mitel is also well positioned for this trend with its solid offering for cloud communications and solutions that complement the Microsoft platform.

Q: What are the biggest challenges that customers are facing today? What solutions are they demanding to address this?

Doing more with less seems to be a common thread in organisations of all sizes at the moment. They want to leverage as much value as possible from the solutions they deploy. We’ve seen that Microsoft Office365, Lync and SharePoint offer tremendous value for clients in all sectors and of all sizes. Microsoft technologies allow businesses to increase productivity and Microsoft Lync has now proved itself as meeting the requirements modern organisations require in terms of a telephony and collaboration platform.

Q: We keep seeing data that shows Microsoft Lync adoption is growing. Are customers starting to ask for solutions that leverage Microsoft technologies and extend the organization’s investment in Microsoft infrastructure? What are they saying?  Is this a growing priority?

Yes and yes. There has been a definite buzz around Microsoft Lync for some time, but in the last 12 months this has accelerated beyond the early adopters and trailblazers. We are now seeing wide adoption of Microsoft Lync to provide the unified communications solution for organisations of all sizes. Clients love the integration with existing the Microsoft technologies they use. Microsoft Lync is intuitive, easy to use and almost every time we demonstrate the solution to customers they seem impressed with the potential for improving the way they work and communicate. With this excitement, our customers are looking for partners that build on Microsoft technologies to enhance them. That’s where Mitel comes in.

Q: Good point. How is Nexus and Mitel working to address these challenges and help our joint customers succeed with Microsoft?

In order to meet the growing number of client requests for a Microsoft Lync certified contact centre solution, Nexus wanted to partner with a manufacturer within the Lync ecosystem that had a feature-rich, resilient and intuitive platform. Mitel provided the perfect fit for Nexus and our clients. Together we have developed a strong, successful relationship whereby we’ve deployed Mitel MiContact Center for Lync either in isolation or together with Enterprise Voice installations of Microsoft Lync. In a similar vain to Microsoft Lync, when we demonstrate the MiContact Center for Lync solution, our clients love the software and how seamlessly it works with Lync. Talk about doing more with less, this solution extends the value of their Microsoft platform and adds great value.

Q: Most business communications providers say they have solutions that work with Microsoft. Are there any advantages of working with Mitel to offer a seamless solution with Microsoft? What does Mitel offer that others don’t?

From the perspective of a systems integrator and reseller, we feel that Mitel have looked under the hood of Microsoft Lync and really understood how to integrate with Microsoft’s platform. As a result the Mitel MiContact Center for Lync solution provides what we consider to be a world-class enterprise contact centre product. This is backed by their constantly developing roadmap which ensures that their product meets the demands of both clients and the evolution of Lync. As a Microsoft Gold Partner we’re extremely pleased that we decided to work with Mitel and look forward to a long and productive commercial relationship.

Mitel will be demonstrating MiContact Center for Lync, Lync-optimized phones and its portfolio of other solutions that help customers leverage their Microsoft infrastructure and maximize Lync at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) in Washington D.C.  from July 13 to 17, 2014. Check us out at booth 329.