Dimension Data sets target of a million Microsoft Lync Enterprise Voice seats

23 Jul 2014

Dimension Data has announced an initiative to sell one million new seats of Microsoft Lync Enterprise Voice, delivered either on premises or in a private cloud by 2017.

Microsoft Lync is a rich client application that provides presence, instant messaging, voice, video, ad hoc collaboration and online meeting capabilities through a single interface.

Peter Menadue, Dimension Data's group GM for Microsoft Solutions said: "While the Lync business for Microsoft is growing 30% year on year and advanced workloads like voice growing even faster, globally there are still millions of enterprise employees who would benefit from Lync.

"A 2013 study carried out by the T3i Group on the Impact of Microsoft Lync on the Enterprise Voice Market- 2013 revealed that 93% of enterprises have plans or already using or trialling Microsoft Lync overall, which is up from 80% last year, while 59% of enterprises are planning or already deploying Lync Voice, up from 45% in 12 months. With over 500 Lync projects completed globally, Dimension Data has deep experience in delivering end-to-end Lync deals including hardware, networking, deployment, adoption services, as well as managed services.

Targeting all delivery models

"While these target numbers are impressive, what's particularly exciting for Dimension Data is that we're targeting all delivery models as part of this initiative. These include:

Mature markets where there's a desire to enable knowledge workers to communicate easily wherever they are; and

Emerging markets, where many organisations are leapfrogging traditional communications tools - particularly where existing infrastructure may be immature, and the desire to drive down cost and prepare for as-a-service is relevant across all markets.

"Our experience, together with our long history of working with Microsoft over the past 10 years ensures we'll meet the one million target," added Menadue.

A Lync blog dated 21 October 2013 authored by BJ Haberkorn, director, Lync Product Marketing, reported that Shell, The Jetstar Group, Obama for America, Milwaukee Electric Tool, Red Wing Shoes, The Kennedy Center, Marquette University, Bentley Systems and Cerner and many other companies use Lync, including voice, to improve their employees' productivity, deliver greater work life balance with remote and mobile capabilities, and save money compared to alternatives.

According to Giovanni Mezgec, GM, Lync Marketing of Microsoft: "In today's highly competitive, global business environment, teams need to collaborate more closely than ever before. Lync brings the future of communication to the enterprise by connecting employees, partners, and customers wherever they are. Only Lync delivers a complete unified communications solution, while giving people a consistent experience for presence, IM, voice, and video across PCs, Macs, phones, and browsers. This makes communicating easier while reducing costs and increasing productivity."

Other benefits of converging communications with Microsoft Lync include:

The reduction of costs of traditional phone calls and the elimination the cost of conferencing services;

Less business travel thanks to videoconferencing;

Enterprises will no longer have to maintain a separate telephony infrastructure; and

With Lync available on-premises, in the cloud, or as a hybrid solution, enterprises have the option to evolve their IT at the pace they choose.