ShoreTel and IBM Sametime: Dynamic Duo of Communication and Collaboration

A challenge for businesses of all sizes is to create a fertile ground for innovation regardless of time, distance and location. But in today's difficult economy, companies must pay close attention to efficiency and cost, and they need effective communication and collaboration tools that give workers the flexibility to communicate the way they want.

ShoreTel and IBM make unified communications (UC) easier with tight integration between the award-winning ShoreTel UC system and IBM Lotus Sametime or IBM Lotus Notes. With the ShoreTel plug-in, organizations can integrate voice capabilities throughout their IBM Lotus collaborative applications, and gain new ways to increase productivity and collaboration without requiring users to learn a new program or change their habits.

"The combination of ShoreTel and IBM gives organizations the flexibility and choice to deploy the best UC tools to meet their business requirements," said Jerome Joanny, product manager at ShoreTel.

The Benefits of UC, with the Tools You Know

By deploying the ShoreTel and IBM Lotus Sametime solution, organizations make it easier for people to collaborate on the type of daily tasks that are the engine of productivity. IBM Sametime users gain telephony control at a click. Hold, transfer, conference and other telephony features become intuitively easy.

With click-to-call and call-by-name features, users can easily place a call by selecting a name in the IBM Lotus Sametime or IBM Lotus Notes and Domino directories. No longer do workers have to remember phone numbers or take the time to look up a number in the latest paper phone directory (if they have it handy) and dial it.

Telephony presence boosts productivity, because system users can see at a glance when another person on the system is on a call. They can decide how best to communicate with them — perhaps a quick instant message (IM) or an e-mail, or they can wait until the person is free to talk. They can "camp on," and the system will alert the person when their intended party is available for a phone call. And with an integrated call stack, users can easily manage multiple calls from within the IBM Lotus Sametime user interface.

"IBM Sametime customers love the ShoreTel widget. Having click-to-call and the ability to see a person's real presence status is a new and useful capability for them," Joanny said.

Users can choose the client software that works best for them, whether that is ShoreWare Call Manager or IBM Sametime. That way, users don't have to retrain to learn a new tool, so they stay consistently productive.

Joanny noted that information workers who typically spend most of their day using communication applications, such as e-mail and IM, lean toward using the IBM Lotus Sametime client enhanced with the ShoreTel plug-in to interact with their phones. Operators, executive assistants and others who spend a lot of time on the phone prefer ShoreWare Call Manager for fast and easy access to advanced telephony features.

The combined ShoreTel and IBM solution offers solid investment protection. IBM customers can leverage their full investment in IBM Lotus Sametime, by simply plugging in the ShoreTel plug-in to gain new telephony functionalities.

"IBM customers can invest in ShoreTel with the peace of mind knowing that it will integrate seamlessly as the ShoreTel plug-in is based on the IBM Eclipse framework," said Joanny.

In today's always-on world, jobs and interactions have become much more fluid. People need to work with colleagues in different cities, across the country or on different continents. Companies that can help people communicate and collaborate better, faster and cheaper can gain a competitive edge.

Learn how ShoreTel and IBM can help by contacting your local ShoreTel partner today.