Businesses are constantly looking for ways to improve their efficiency and productivity, none more so than in the legal services industry.  Lawyers and the firms they work for are under tremendous pressure to stretch every minute of the day into a productive one.  Technological advancements have always been a well for firms to go to when they look to be more productive, as it’s one that has yet to run dry.  Today, this has never been truer as cloud services and Unified Communications are making productivity enhancements for businesses more affordable than ever.  Unified Communications now allow lawyers to make every minute count toward what matters to their firm the most:  The billable hour.

To make every minute count a firm needs to ensure that its employees can be accessible anytime, anywhere.  One of the UC features law offices can utilize is a Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) solution, such as Alteva Anywhere. FMC enables users to make their cell phone an extension of their desk phone.  This allows for calls made to and from the desk phone to be transferred seamlessly to their cell phone.  In situations where a partner must continue the important call they’re on, but also make it to court on time, there’s no longer a need to give one precedence over the other.  By utilizing FMC, the call can continue without the partner getting a harsh reprimand from the judge for being tardy.

Perhaps a more subtle, yet just as important, benefit of Fixed Mobile Convergence is the ability to make calls from a cell phone but have the office number out-pulsed on Caller ID.  By masking their cell phone number to show their office number on Caller ID, partners are assured of a few things:  Their clients will never not answer a call because they did not recognize the number on their caller ID.  There will never be a chance for a “problem client” to have access to the partner’s cell phone number.  But the most important assurance of all is that every call made from a cell phone can be easily tracked and referenced for billing purposes.  The call to the client will now show up on a call detail report that can be accessed daily by the accounting leg of the firm.

While a Unified Communications platform can be a tremendous benefit to partners on the go, it also can be a huge productivity enhancement to a firm’s “in-house” employees.  Paralegals, litigation support specialists and administrators are the fuel to a firm’s engine.  They’re the unsung heroes of the legal community and they need every second of every minute to meet the unrelenting demands of the partners they support.  Alteva’s UC platform provides a circular approach to communications. A partner who is working remotely from a hotel can contact a paralegal back at the office via an Instant Messenger (IM) client such as Microsoft OCS.  By utilizing OCS, the partner and paralegal can have a conversation via IM while the partner continues a call with a client via the phone.  In this way, the paralegal can feed information to the attorney without interruption.  With Microsoft OCS colleagues can share their desktop with one another and send files through the application.  When multiple parties need to collaborate from disparate locations, they can utilize web conferencing, such as Microsoft Live Meeting to give presentations and hold web meetings with clients and colleagues. These web conferences can be recorded and offer multiple benefits to firms that are looking to technology to advance their business.

Maintaining effective communication with clients is vital to any service business. With UC solutions, voicemails are sent in .wav files directly to email, so they are easily forwarded to colleagues and saved electronically in client’s folders for future reference. Voice-enabled Microsoft Exchange provides the ability to schedule and change calendar appointments, listen to and manage emails and retrieve contacts via voice prompts from any phone. In Alteva’s UC solution, Exchange email is integrated with Microsoft OCS as well as our hosted VoIP platform. With integration across all applications, the user’s presence status on OCS changes automatically, in real-time, based on the user’s activities. When they pick up the phone, the status reads “in a call” and during scheduled meeting times, the status reads “in a meeting.” This is displayed not only on the OCS desktop client but presence is also displayed on Outlook, and on shared documents in SharePoint.

One of the most beneficial UC products to law firms is a call recording product, like Alteva Archive. An integrated call recording product, is a valuable tool that can be used to document client interactions and interviews. The recorded calls are accessed via standard web browser, and can be set up to automatically record and save all calls. The calls can be easily downloaded and saved in client files, or sent via email for transcription, a vital resource for all law firms.

Unified Communications improves colleague and client communications, speeds decision-making and boosts business productivity. Sharing and discussing information instantly and making decisions quickly using video and other collaboration tools is vital to business success and client satisfaction. Providing a meeting environment with face-to-face video collaboration that is as lifelike and natural as if you were in the same room allows clients, partners, and colleagues to connect and work together much more effectively. Through a Unified Communications solution, firms are able to hold virtual meetings that promote faster communications across key locations. Having technology that brings attorneys, clients and staff together gives the firm a competitive advantage and the ability to make better decisions and grow the business.

Leland Evans
Channel Manager
Alteva

Lobby

Exciting times are ahead as Alteva prepares to expand into new National Headquarters and launch our first ever Innovation Center. Alteva’s new national headquarters will be located in the hustle & bustle of Olde City Philadelphia at the corner of 5^th & Market Streets. Nestled among Philadelphia’s rich historical attributes such as the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall and the National Constitution Center you will now find the future of business communications in action now.

Walkway

The new headquarters was designed to cultivate innovation, creativity, and upward thinking. With its all glass exterior, open space design where there are no cubicles, “no ceiling” offices produced with demountable wall systems and open area meeting spaces, the focus is on collaboration. Every component from the chair fabric to the lighting design was selected to inspire and motivate our workforce while demonstrating the technological advancements we’ve made with our products and services to  our clients, partners, shareholders and vendors.

Innovation Center

The Innovation Center will showcase our technology and serve as a place where people can come to see and feel the “cloud” at work and experience firsthand how it can help businesses communicate effectively and increase productivity.

Collaboration Work Space

So if you’re walking by, feel free to gaze in, wave hello or come in for a tour – we’d be happy to show you around and show you what the buzz is all about it!

It’s the Atlantic City Expressway at 4pm on a summer day.   It’s Route 42 to I-295 at 8am every Monday.  It’s the BQE to the Queens Midtown Tunnel, the Capital Beltway Loop around Washington DC, or the 405 from LA to San Diego.  It ruins plans, makes good days go bad and turns good Samaritans into self-serving monsters.   It’s traffic.  And it’s usually the worst part of our day.  In every major city, there is a stretch of road that makes even the most battle-tested commuter shudder.

Philadelphia has such a road. Known as the Schuylkill Expressway – or what I refer to as Satan’s armpit –  the I-76 corridor from Conshohocken to Center City is a 9 mile trek that makes grown men cry on a daily basis.  It can go from 60 to Zero in less than a minute and rips the most well thought out travel itineraries to shreds.  I travel it daily and I used to hate every laboring minute that I had to spend on its winding, congested trail.  I hated the merging on ramps and off ramps.  I hated the stranded vehicle blocking half of the right hand lane.  I hated the 18 wheelers that took too long to get up to speed, but that I could never get far enough in front of to pass. But mostly, I hated the fact that I was stuck and had much better things to do.  I used to turn on the radio in an effort to keep my sanity.  But, that only helped to increase my frustration.  There are only so many times you can stand listening to the same traffic report reminding you how late you’re going to be.

What I really wanted to do was stay on top of my ever growing inbox of email.  My smartphone would beep every few seconds notifying me of yet another message received, as if to tempt me to take my eyes off the road and start typing away.  But, the only thing worse than being stuck in traffic is being in one of the cars in the accident that caused the traffic.  Typing emails while driving because you’re late is like eating egg salad that’s been sitting in the sun for six hours because you’re hungry.  It’ll satisfy the immediate need, but eventually you’re going to pay for it.  According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the average time you take your eyes off the road to look at your phone is 5 seconds.  Next time you’re driving, close your eyes for 5 seconds and then see if you have the guts to do it again.  No, reading emails while I was driving just wasn’t a risk that I was willing to take.  So with no safe way to be productive, I used to sit in that traffic and loathe everything and everyone around me.

I say “used to” because my company, Alteva, has created a solution to my problem.   Alteva’s Unified Communications platform has a feature known as Voice Enabled Hosted Exchange.   VE Exchange allows a user to access their Exchange account from their mobile phone.  With speech enabled menus you can hear and act on your calendar, listen and respond to emails, or access personal and company directory contacts.  Now I’m able to listen and respond to the emails that are steadily pouring into my inbox.  By simply dialing into my inbox I hear the, now familiar, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) voice saying:

Welcome, you’re connected to Microsoft Exchange.  Please say voicemail, email, calendar, personal contacts, directory…

I respond simply with “Email”

Opening your mailbox.  First, an unread message from….

Through the IVR, I can delete the unwanted emails, respond via voice to the important ones and turn a productivity killing traffic jam into a productivity enhancing leisurely drive.  Now, the 45 minutes I would have spent at my desk reading and responding to email can be used to tackle larger projects.  Hitting the ground running is a great start to the day.  I used to spend an hour when I got home doing the same task, but now I’m able to use that time to focus on family.  Isn’t that why we work so hard in the first place?

I used VE Exchange two weeks ago while traveling to a customer site when I found myself stuck in an unexpected jam.  The traffic was going to make me 20 minutes late to the appointment and I needed to update the 5 other people that were attending the meeting.  I quickly dialed into my Exchange and said:

“Calendar for today”

The IVR responded back with the meeting I was traveling to and I said:

“I’ll be 20 minutes late”

The IVR then automatically sent an email to all the attendees letting them know that I would be 20 minutes late.  I then accessed my contacts and called my associate, who was meeting me there.  I asked him to start the meeting without me and I would be there as soon as I could.  When I got to the meeting, the customer actually thanked me for the notification.  After demonstrating how I was able to send the message, they asked how quickly we could implement service.   Yeah, it was a good day.

And that’s how Alteva’s Unified Communications platform is helping more and more businesses get ahead.  We’re transforming the way business gets done through state of the art technology.  We’re turning a problem into a solution.  Quite simply, we’re turning lemons into lemonade.

Leland Evans
Channel Manager
Alteva

Tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock.

It’s a fast-paced world for designers and creatives; we’re a collaborative bunch. Sure, there are times when we need to focus undivided attention on our process, but then, when pushing out towards production, we need to make sure we’re in line with our goals. So what do you do when your director is off-site, you know you need to get this draft critiqued, reviewed and approved from the top and the five minute window of opportunity to catch her is now?

Tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock.

Time is running out. But, the solution is easy: I check my Microsoft OCS contact list and I see the marketing director’s status blink from red to green. Here’s my chance. I click a button, and send a message:

“Hi, can we review that sell sheet I sent over a bit ago?”

Tick…

Half a second passes and I get a response:

Tock…

“Sure thing. I have a few things I wanted to show you. Let’s share desktop.”

Click…

I hit “accept” on my OCS window I now see the director’s desktop and she is showing me the very same design sheet I sent her an hour ago. As I watch her cursor mouse over a bit of typography, my phone rings.

Talk…

I answer the phone and now we’re collaborating on design intricacies and strategies using voice, desktop share and a direct visual critique all with a few clicks, just as easily as if in person. And that’s the ease and benefit of Microsoft OCS from Alteva.

When deadlines loom with other projects on the horizon, using the Alteva Unified Communications solution shaves off hours—not minutes—of possible delays. There are no travel concerns, no shipment of physical proofs, no technological hiccups. It’s smooth, it’s easy and most importantly, it’s effective. When you’re a designer and the clock is ticking, these are all the attributes you stake your work on. For me, it’s as easy as a click.

Phillip Le
Graphic Designer
WVT Communiations Group

“Hello? …Hey Cheryl!  …of course I’ve got time to talk…”

And there it was.  In this one beautifully hypocritical moment, my mother-in-law had re-affirmed my belief in the importance of the work that my company and I do.

We were all seated in the dining room, enjoying a well prepared home cooked meal.  A few minutes into dinner I noticed that my 19 year old sister-in-law was furiously typing away on her cell phone to her friends in between bites.  My mother-in-law noticed this as well and quickly scolded her daughter for texting at the table, reminding her that it was impolite to do during dinner.  My sister-in-law reluctantly slipped the phone into her pocket and dinner continued.  Five minutes later, the phone rang and my mother-in-law instinctively jumped up from the table to answer it.

Now, was it important for me to point out to my mother-in-law that it was just as impolite to answer the phone during dinner as texting at the table?  Of course not.  Every married man knows, you never correct your mother-in-law, regardless of the offense.  What was important for me to understand was this:  there is an inherent generational preference when it comes to the mode of communication we use.  My mother-in-law views texting as an annoying interruption that takes too much time and effort to use effectively.  Yet, with Pavlov-like instinct, she will immediately jump from the table as soon as the phone rings.  In contrast, my sister-in-law will not answer her cell phone if you call her, but will send you a text message immediately after asking “what’s up?”  Her generation has embraced texting and they use it with amazing efficiency.  This new generation can now carry on five conversations in the same amount of time that it takes to have one phone call.  They have created ways to communicate tone and importance in the words they type with the same effectiveness that my mother-in-law’s generation uses during a phone conversation.

Understanding this inherent preference is essential for businesses and their future success.  As the new generation enters the workforce, companies will need to offer the types of communication tools that will attract the best and brightest.  It’s a notion that my company, Alteva, has recognized and embraced.  Our platform is rooted in the idea that people have preferences for how they choose to communicate within their organization.  It’s why we offer a solution that enables employees within an organization to communicate via instant messaging.  It’s why we enable that instant messaging conversation to turn into a voice call that can then turn into a video call.  The video call can evolve into a desktop sharing session or a three way conference call.  All with the click of a mouse.  Now, regardless of the preference, businesses utilizing our solution give their employees the choice on how they want to interact with one another.   By taking a unified approach to communications, we are able to offer a best-of-both-worlds solution that fits the needs of essentially any business topology.

Leland Evans
Channel Manager
Alteva

The warm ocean breeze wasn’t the only highlight of my trip to Miami last week. My first trip to TMC’s ITEXPO, held in Miami, proved to me that there is more to be taken away from these types of events than a few new business cards or LinkedIn contacts. Not only did I gain new contacts, but also new connections within the industry, inspirational stories of women in wireless and telecom and a fresh reading on the current pulse of the marketplace. The sunny and warm Miami weather was a great backdrop to an event that had much to offer.

There was a great variety of exhibitors as well, and many speakers and presentations to choose from at ITEXPO. It was a great opportunity to hear not only others’ perspectives on the industry and the rise of cloud communications, but to have our own CSO Louis Hayner’s view reinforced. Conferences like ITEXPO help the telecommunications industry and its respective business members to keep innovating and forging ahead with new technologies, products and fresh marketing ideas. Not only was I able to view and analyze what other vendors and their booths had to offer, but I was able to stand in our booth to explain and demonstrate why Alteva and USA Datanet’s products are standouts in the marketplace. The event not only strengthened and deepened my knowledge on the status of the industry, but also my knowledge of our own products. I learned little facts and tricks that I hadn’t previously known just from listening to my colleagues’ presentations to prospective wholesale and channel partners.

I guess it is true what they say. Sometimes you have you have to get lost (or just get away) to find yourself.

Elizabeth Backus
Product Manager
WVT Communications Group

The room was soft-lit, but bright. Hanging behind my teammates were paintings depicting historical scenes from a century ago. History: there was a lot of it in Philadelphia’s own Union League. Union Leagues like this one were once used across the country to promote loyalty during the Civil War. Philadelphia’s was the first. It was here that WVT Communications Group held its “Ramp-up to 2012” meeting for the Sales & Marketing Team. Here, we sat to write our own history.

The leader from each department gave an overview of their 30-60-90 day plans. As presenters explained their department’s charge towards success, those listening asked questions or contributed suggestions. We each had complex roles to play, even those who didn’t give official presentations. And the message was simple, even if it we knew it would be a challenge: each of us needs to be the most efficient and effective cog in the machine. Only then will we move forward as a single, unified machine. Like the very Unified Communications platform we are so passionate about, we will have to work seamlessly with one another to be industry leaders.

It became immediately clear we aren’t just trying to fill in the gaps between departments, to simply brief one another along the path. Filling in gaps suggests linking separation. Here, we are assuring that moving forward, there won’t even be any gaps to fill. From time to time our team leader, Chief Sales Officer Louis Hayner complemented the presentations with his perspective and experience. “We spend so much time at work,” he proclaimed, “so why not do our absolute best and have fun doing it?” WVT Communications Group wants its Sales and Marketing team to become a solid whole, flexible and strong.

We were so motivated that we continued our presentations right through lunch, enjoying our meals while engaged in understanding the projected goals of the upcoming year. Growth, efficiency, excellence, accountability and pride were our mantras. As the day rounded out within the generous walls provided by history and WVT Communications Group, a Latin proverb crept its way into my mind:

Amat Victoria Curam. Victory favors preparation.

For 2012, we have no other option than victory. Our dedicated time towards preparation confirmed as much and I am more than willing to do my share to ensure it.

Phillip Le
Graphic Designer
WVT Communications Group

What do the following images conjure up in your mind?

•         Transportation: Horse and Buggy….Automobile….Airplane
•         Written Communication: Pony Express….Postal Service….Next-Day Air….E-mail
•         Oral Communications: Orator…Telephone…PBX Phone Technology, Hosted VoIP Technology

Now I know it’s been quite a while since grade school for some of us, but will you endeavor to humor me a bit and play along?

How did advancements in technology change the way we work, live, communicate and view the world? What are some of the key components that fostered such change? Well for starters these advancements allowed us to go faster; go farther and go cheaper; but the results didn’t end there. As we were able to go faster, farther and cheaper we allowed our views and behaviors to change accordingly. A whole new world opened up to us as we expanded our minds to embrace this change.

For example, we don’t have to wait for months, weeks or days to send and receive letters. We can send a letter to multiple people anywhere in the world instantly and get immediate responses and we don’t have to feed a horse or wait for a mail carrier to deliver; all we have to do is click on a send button.

How about live communications? We don’t have to be physically in the same location to speak with another person. The telephone changed the world as it provided us with the capability to hold a live conversation with someone in another geographic location. Furthermore, technological advances allowed us to hold one-to-many and many-to-many communications expanding our reach, our capability, and speed to share ideas.

In recent years, there have been leaps and bounds in the advancements in telephony. Even young kids carry mobile phones. In recent years businesses have come to embrace Voice over IP phone service technology. And, now, we are again reaching a communications tipping point, as companies are learning about the benefits of cloud technology and the advantages of hosted VoIP systems over premise-based VoIP systems.

A premise-based VoIP PBX is located at the customer site. This requires the customer to purchase PBX equipment (the brains) and to make an investment in human capital to manage and maintain it. It is important to note that in a premise-based VoIP system all of the features are delivered by the equipment on site. While it may, at first glance, appear that the customer is in more control of their phone system, the customer may not realize that along with this control comes greater responsibility for managing their system. Within the confines of this greater responsibility comes processes and resources to manage and support the Internet connectivity; technology upgrades; security and fraud protection; and continuity and disaster recovery to name a few.

In comparison, a hosted VoIP solution, like that provided by Alteva, only requires phones and an Edgemarc router to be delivered to the customer premise. All the brains of the system are hosted in Alteva’s data centers, which are redundantly backed up with failover management capability across geographically dispersed regions; thus meeting the federal guidelines of a true continuity planning and disaster recovery solution. Alteva also provides the Internet connectivity to offer a total solution to the customer. So in reality, the customer gets greater capability, more control and ease-of-use with less responsibility and a lower total cost of ownership since Internet connectivity, technology upgrades, processes for security and fraud protection, continuity planning and disaster recovery are all administered and resourced by Alteva.

As a cherry on top, Alteva’s customers have the opportunity to add Microsoft Communication Services and other application such as call recording and data backup, for a complete Unified (UC) solution, all delivered from the cloud.

So, I view hosted VoIP as a direct result of how advancements in telephony go farther, go faster and go cheaper become the fulcrum that helped to change the world as far as its acceptance towards a new delivery model (i.e. cloud-based solutions) that has once again, changed the way we work, live, communicate and view the world. Hosted VoIP and UC solutions really are for a changing world, which makes me think of premised-based solutions as the horse and buggy, the Pony Express and the Orator.

Jonathan Bishop
Account Manager
Alteva

It was late August in Philadelphia, and it seemed as though Hollywood was writing the weather report. In just seven days, the region was devastated by a massive hurricane, a tornado, and finally an earthquake. Truthfully, the earthquake and tornado did very little damage to the area. It was Hurricane Irene that caused the most destruction, as the entire Delaware Valley was rocked by high gusting winds and massive flooding. Over 800,000 customers in the area were without power for a portion of the week; many were in the dark for more than a week and a half.

And while local weathermen had a dream week of reporting, local businessmen had a nightmare that they weren’t able to wake up from. One question at the heart of their fears: How can my business survive if my customers can’t reach me?

In today’s business environment, successful companies need to respond to their customers in times measured by seconds or minutes, not hours or days. Today’s consumer is more finicky than ever. With the internet and cell phones, we have instant access to what we want when we want it. A busy signal, or worse a “this number is not in service” message, is a death sentence for a business. So when Mother Nature bares her teeth, a business without a communications redundancy/disaster recovery plan is dead in the water.

Enter:  Hosted Unified Communications.

Today, companies like Alteva are providing a solution for times when disaster strikes. In the traditional model, the ability to control calls was only able to be changed from the physical office’s location. In cases of weather emergencies, if no one can get to the phones to re-program them and reroute the calls accordingly, the traditional model simply does not work. Our hosted model provides services to the end user from one of our four switches that are geographically diverse from one another. This allows the end user to control how their phone calls are routed and answered from anywhere. This means that an entire work force could receive calls from their home or mobile phone. Or have all calls answered by an automated attendant and voicemail system. In addition, our fixed mobile convergence application also allows for you to make calls from any phone, but have them appear to the customer as coming from your office number. While it’s a little detail, it goes a long way, because your customers now know that they only need to call one number (your office phone) to get in contact with you. It may be raining cats and dogs, but to the outside world it’s business as usual for your business.

Our customers also have access to all of their contacts and customers’ information. With our Voice-Enabled Hosted Exchange product integration, a business can access all of their email, calendar, and customer contacts from any phone. They have the ability to read, respond, or forward an email from their inbox; they can check their calendar and meeting schedules along with all of their personal contacts. This is absolutely key to a solid disaster recovery plan. More and more, data is communicated through one of these mediums. Without this information a business cannot survive and if it is only stored locally on a server that’s on-site, you are only one bad storm away from destroying your business.

When a natural disaster strikes, the last thing any business owner wants to worry about is whether or not their email is safe or if their calls are being received. This is why it is so imperative that businesses make sure that they have a solid disaster recovery/redundancy solution in place. Hosted Communications can provide that solution for any business regardless of make or size. Cloud technology like Alteva’s gives you the ability to weather any storm.

Leland Evans
Channel Manager
Alteva

Having never before been through a merger or acquisition, I did not know exactly what to expect with Alteva recently being acquired by WVT Communications Group (www.wvtcg.com). The whole process began as one could imagine; there was nervousness about the unexpected, the insecurity of what is ahead and how it affects each of us personally.

Parts of the process were somewhat predictable and understandable. We in the Sales & Marketing Department attended some “get to know one another” type events, and next, came the educational process. This meant mentoring time by my fellow channel managers and account managers and me, requiring several trips to new our sister office in Syracuse, NY, happily not during the winter season. This was followed by a series of deeper interactions walking our new team members through the process of selling an Alteva platform and providing my advice and insights based on my 5+ years of experience with Alteva.

As a sales professional, this was a little challenging to accomplish effectively while also working to keep my pipeline full. There were, of course, new marketing materials and new messaging and the explanation about the merger and what we, our customers and our partners, should all expect.

Along the way, came some new ground rules from management; things like change in quota, new review processes, setting expectations, seeing the talent in sales that you have, knowing what the market acceptance is for your product, and raising what is the bar of what we all should be achieving.

Then came this past week, notably in the week of Thanksgiving, when both Judy Walter and Frank Cafarchio, who are based in our Warwick, NY office, had a great week in sales. This proved to us all that the goals being set are achievable and that teamwork pays off, and was a valuable encouragement to us all.

These achievements were followed by a weekly sales call that was in a word: fun. It was great to be at the point where we now know one another well enough to joke and laugh and tease one another. Judy picked on Louis Hayner, our CSO, about some of his deliverables to the team, and his response was laughter. Ultimately, we ended with the appropriate congratulations to Judy and Frank. I saw all the signs of a strong team forming and a plan working.

For me, I am thankful and excited about what the future holds and look forward to our future as everyone continues to work together and we expand our presence in the market place. Louis has always told us “to explain the dream”. For me it is fun actually living the dream. As we come into this season of Thanksgiving and of a New Year’s promise, I look forward to working with the professional folks here and to what our future together holds.

Guy Yasika
Sr. Channel Manager
Alteva