11 April 2017

Having launched a cloud service in the USA, ShoreTel has opened a data centre in the UK to offer the service here. It is available as ShoreTel Connect and, for larger users, ShoreTel Connect Contact Center.

The company says subscribers can now benefit from UC – ready made and with clear and simple pricing – offering voice, video, mobile, conferencing, messaging and contact centre services.

Connect has a client app which, says the firm, makes collaboration simple and consistent: with one click, users can escalate a conversation from an IM to a call, to an online meeting, and then to a web desktop share and video.

It is said to allow seamless collaboration among internal teams, while also enabling external users to engage and collaborate without the need for plug-ins, multiple application windows, passwords or complex set-up.

Connect’s user interface shows a panel as a guide to what the user may wish to do next. They include icons for calls, video, web sharing, add a participant and other actions, contact timeline, favourites, agenda timing, and integration with Outlook and ICS calendars.

Features include IP PBX telephony services, desk phones with function keys, and Connect clients for PCs and Macs for user call control, contacts, event scheduling and history and collaboration. ShoreTel claims performance is assured because it designs and develops its own phones, voice switch technology, software and other applications.

Meanwhile, Connect Cloud Contact Center is said to integrate seamlessly with Connect and enables agents to handle multiple interactions, with features such as web chat, callbacks and email routing. ShoreTel adds that supervisors can build complex call queues and IVR scripts in house, and customisable reports display immediately.