Houston midsize and small business owners take note: ShoreTel was ranked highest of the major business phone system and unified communication providers for midsize and small businesses, according to a new report by Gartner. ShoreTel was the only vendor to receive the ranking of “Strong Positive”, while another Genesis product, Avaya, was rated “Positive”. Other systems fell shorter, including NEC and Toshiba, which scored only “Promising”.
The report laid out factors that were most important for midsize and small businesses when it comes to Unified Communications (reading almost like a list of ShoreTel strengths):
- Are easy to install, configure and manage (require limited customization)
- Are simple to use and have consistent user interfaces
- Don’t increase demand on already limited IT resources
- Have affordable, transparent and simple pricing that makes it easy to acquire UC functionality
- Come with superior customer service and support
Of ShoreTel specifically, Gartner wrote:
- ShoreTel has designed a solution that effectively addresses IT-constrained organizations’ needs for easy-to-use, easy-to-manage and easy-to-implement communications solutions. The user, administration and implementation simplicity as well as the inherently redundant architecture of ShoreTel 13 is well-suited for most SMBs’ UC needs and resource limitations. ShoreTel’s architecture offers the SMB market the same inherent redundancy that is used by large customers.
- ShoreTel’s focus on customer satisfaction (which is tracked through Net Promoter scores) through the implementation cycle and beyond translates to generally positive customer experiences with ShoreTel UC. ShoreTel partners receive rewards and recognition based on their Net Promoter score metrics. Furthermore, the company has effective practices in place to bring customer feedback into the business to resolve issues.
- While ShoreTel has fewer marketing resources than many of its SMB UC competitors, the company is rapidly gaining recognition as an SMB UC provider and is increasingly being considered in UC bids across North America. ShoreTel is consistently making positive strides, adding new customers and expanding its channel footprint on a quarterly basis.
For even more, read the whole report.
If you’re interested in finding about more about ShoreTel and whether it may be right for your business, request a free consultation!