1.)    See the real-time presence and status of co-workers

2.)    Receive voice messages in an email

3.)    Make phone calls from a laptop

4.)    Transfer calls between a smartphone and a desk phone

5.)    Keep messages accessible from phones, fax machines, PCs and more

6.)    Use group calendaring to view calendars and schedule appointments without playing phone tag

7.)    Access voicemails anywhere and at any time using speech-to-text capabilities

Enterprise-class Unified Communications (UC) incorporates real-time services—including IP Telephony, conferencing, softphones, and presence—into a company’s workflow. It’s an investment that can improve productivity and availability, save money, and increase user and customer satisfaction.

Let’s not forget—UC comes at a cost, though. If a strong ROI can’t be demonstrated, top executives may not approve. Here are some benefits to share with your boss:

·         Cut traditional telephony costs
·         IP telephony allows internal site-to-site calls to be routed over the corporate data network, lowering long-distance, maintenance and support costs by as much as 25%
·         Once the IP telephony system is in place, the costs for adds, moves and changes may also drop
·         Improved communication
·         Enhanced customer service (leading to customer retention, loyalty and referrals)
·         Revenue acceleration (Faster access to information results in sales closing faster and invoices being sent sooner)
·         Ability to quickly answer customer questions and provide better support

So, your job in IT is to determine how these productivity gains can be aggregated and calculated into ROI.

Our advice? First understand what tangible and intangible benefits are most important to your company. Need more information about UC? Here’s a great SDN source.

Download a complete report from InformationWeek, free for a limited time here:
“Strategy Session UC: Charting a Rational Path”

Source: InformationWeek Magazine, written by Mark Damphousse

Renee Halgerson
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications

While there’s no shortage yet of domain names, the numbers assigned to each web page and device are being snapped up so fast they could run out by the end of the year.

Why? An explosion of data and the increase in mobile devices connecting to the Internet, says Richard McManus of ReadWriteWeb.com

Only 6% of the available pool of IP addresses remain.

Google’s tech expert, Vint Cerf, warns that there’ll be a black market in IP addresses if content providers don’t move from Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) to IPv6.  Want to read more about IPv6? Click here.

Source: Internet & Marketing Report, August 9, 2010

Renee Halgerson
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications

Ashton Dockendorf
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications

Click here to read Mr. Fainberg’s blog about the event.

Ashton Dockendorf
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications

Because hard dollar savings is often difficult to come by with customer-owned solutions, SDN has had tons of interest in our software-based unified communications solution, that provides VoIP, desktop video, mobile phone integration, secure chat, presence, and more for a low monthly cost.  Avoiding the large upfront expense associated with a customer-owned solution allows for customers to achieve real and significant ROI the first month the system is installed.  Contact SDN today for assessment on your current telephony infrastructure and to see if an SDN UC solution can save you money.

Jered Schock
Senior Account Executive
SDN Communications

If you’d like to read the official press release, click here. And if you’d like to see photos of the event, including pictures of Governor Mike Rounds and our CEO, Mark Shlanta addressing the crowd, click here.
Interested in reading more? Here a few media links that provided coverage of the day:

KELOLAND, Sioux Falls, SD
KOTA Radio, Rapid City, SD
Rapid City Journal, Rapid City, SD 
KEVN TV, Rapid City, SD
Telecompetitor

If you’re interested in even more about Project Connect South Dakota, click here to read our FAQ sheet and see a map of the progress we’re making across South Dakota.

Renee Halgerson
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications

It’s official. SDN Communications held a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday, August 23 at Rapid City Regional Hospital for the National Telecommunications & Information Administration’s Broadband Technology Opportunities Program.

Actually, SDN broke ground for more than just the state of South Dakota. After being awarded a $20 million stimulus grant, (click here to read more about that), we were the first in the entire nation to break ground on the project.

To help us celebrate the first of 305 locations being built to, was (from left to right) Max Fainberg (US Dept. of Commerce), Gov. Mike Rounds (Governor of South Dakota), Bryan Roth (President of SDN’s Board of Directors),  Dr. Scott Eccarius (Rapid City Regional), and Mark Shlanta (SDN Communications’ CEO).

Visit the SDN Broadband Stimulus website to read more details, view pictures from the event, and see a detailed map of future build sites and locations. You can also read our Twitter feed and track our progress on each site.

Thank you to everyone who made the event succesful. And our next groundbreaking? Follow SDN’s website to see future build sites like Vermillion and Watertown.

Renee Halgerson
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications

Interested in following the progress of the National Broadband Stimulus Award in South Dakota? SDN Communications has set up a site that allows you to track the sites completed, broadband stimulus investment spent, and the map of cities touches by BTOP (Broadband Technology Opportunities Program) and Project Connect South Dakota.

Click here to track SDN’s progress and see pictures and updates along the way, including a Twitter Feed.

Click here to see the official NTIA BTOP website for nationwide details.

Click here and here to read other blog posts about how and why SDN Communications was chosen to receive this award.

Renee Halgerson
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications

·         Cyber Threats to Mobile Devices

·         Before You Connect a New Computer to the Internet

·         Securing Your Web Browser

·         Avoiding Email Scams

·         Spyware

·         Recovering from a Trojan Horse or Virus

·         Understanding VoIP

·         Malware Threats

·         Computer Forensics

Produced by the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT).

Renee Halgerson
Marketing Specialist
SDN Communications

Click here to see the full list.