Unify Delivers Integrated Communication Platforms

As the IT landscape shifts from hardware to software, from proprietary to open, from linear to multi-channel, and from 1:1 to social, Unify is harnessing this business opportunity to bring change in the market.

Rahul Kulkarni, Director Presales APAC, MEA, Unify

We are known in the market as a German engineered, reliable communication platform and now with strong back up from Atos we are also giving long term commitments to the customer to design, develop & support our OpenScape communication platforms.

Brief us about Unify’s Genesis and growth?

Unify has its legacy root with Siemens as communications business unit. After going through rebranding from Siemens Enterprise Communications to Unify, now Unify is integral part of Atos globally. Digital Transformation is one of the important business pillars in Atos’ strategy and Unify brings the communication & collaboration piece for the Digital Workplace.

In an increasingly digital, social and mobile workplace, how we work, collaborate and contribute continues to undergo significant change. This transformation comes, in part, from the communication / IT landscape shift from hardware to software, from proprietary to open, from linear to multi-channel, and from 1:1 to social. For us in Unify this is a significant business opportunity and we are bringing this change in the market.

Briefly tell us about your Indian presence and growth?

We have been successfully operating in Indian market with our close network of partners. The partner network has given us footprint to cover a good geography as well as vertical markets. Along with partners we also bring some industry specific solutions for Banking, Healthcare & Public Safety markets.

We have identified critical communications as a key driver for growth in Indian market. Unify offers specialized solutions targeted towards mission critical communications for military & armed forces, business critical solutions for Trading Floors in Banks and NG-911 solutions for command & control centres.

What is your marketing and growth strategy?

Marketing Communication is important function of our business. As part of marketing plan we work on branding, media & analyst relations, consultant communities, end customer interactions, thought leadership. Social Media is core to our marketing strategy and we use LinkedIn quite effectively as part of our public communication.

For us marketing is not just limited for Unify as a company but we extend our marketing communication services to our partner community also. We offer powerful Digital Channel tool for partners to manage their campaigns. We also have sales and presales partner communities to share experiences and learn from each other.

Lead generation, effective use of market development fund, how to work effectively with social media for generating business opportunities – these are some of our hot topics for marketing communications.

What is your competitive advantage vis-a-vis the competition?

Most of the vendors in communication & collaboration market work on proprietary protocols & technologies thereby sadly creating a lock-in for customers. As a company philosophy we work only with industry standard protocols. This gives huge advantage to customer to choose best of the breed solutions for their businesses.

We are known in the market as a German engineered, reliable communication platform and now with strong back up from Atos we are also giving long term commitments to the customer to design, develop & support our OpenScape communication platforms.

On our SME portfolio – OpenScape Business, by default we offer Software Support Package for 36 months while most of the competitors in this segment are still working with only 12 months support packages. This gives huge advantage for customers as they get all software upgrades, new versions, security patches as well as Unify Help Desk support covered for this 36 months.

What are the vertical markets you are focused on?

Unify has special offerings for Banking sector – Trading Floor solutions. Our OpenScape Xpert is a powerful multiline and multi-modal call handling solution, designed for time critical and high pressure decision making processes. OpenScape Xpert is a powerful software solution for traders that enable trading rooms and floors to manage virtually unlimited calls in parallel on a phone-like device rather than one call at a time.

Dispatching solutions for – NG-911, Command & Control centres, Operational control centres for Metro Railways etc. When trouble hits, you need your emergency services in play immediately. Xpert co-ordinates all relevant parties irrespective of the communication technologies involved. OpenScape Xpert takes secure multi-channel conferencing and calling to a new level. Designed to allow operators to manage several conferences simultaneously at the touch of a finger. With military grade security built in as standard and available as a hardware device or soft client for touch screen computers.

What is your product roadmap?

Unify has been developing & delivering integrated hardware & software communication platforms to Indian market. As per changing technologies & market demands, hardware component is reducing and now we are more a software & services company. We are also seeing a shift happening from standard on premise based deployments to Private Clouds and then Public Clouds. We really want customer to think ‘communication as a service’ instead of current mindset of ‘communications as an infrastructure’.

Going forward we have clear roadmap to develop our Circuit cloud communication & collaboration platform more as cPaaS allowing technology developers to build their business applications. The Circuit platform will enable tightly integrated communication enabled business processes.

What is your channels strategy?

Unify is committed for 2 tier channel model in India. We work closely with our distributor and partners. Along with partners we try to do optimum geographical coverage. As a high-touch model from Unify side we also work closely with large system integrators & engineering contractors to promote Unify solutions.

We are focusing on developing some specialized skill set with partners to address vertical markets like Trading & Dispatching. Partners will act as true system integrators and bring some innovative solutions to these markets.

As part of our Cloud strategy we have also come up with Cloud Partner Program, certification and even Cloud Development Fund to develop this market along with our partners.

What is your program and advantage?

With the Unify Partner Program, we provide great business opportunities for partners in form of Attractive discount scheme, Reward continuous investment, Reward commitment, Marketing Development Funds. Besides multiple partner levels like Authorized, Professional & Master we also have come up with partner specializations for vertical markets. Recently we also introduced our Cloud Partner certification also.

Our value proposition for partners is – Partner will be rewarded at his highest available specialization level when you show high commitment to Unify and evolve in more than one specialization. Our Marketing Development Fund (MDF) Program is a co-operative program designed to aid Unify partners’ sales and marketing efforts and grow our joint business. Systems for in-house and demonstration use are supported through our Demonstration System Program.

What is your yearly calendar for channel engagement?

We have regular interactions with our partner community in form of webinars, newsletters, Unify and Atos Partner Conference. We also conduct joint customer events along with partners. Besides this at India level we also have our annual Unify India Partner Conference. This is a platform for partners to learn, share and have business networking with Unify management and other partners. At this event we also celebrate success and recognize the efforts of our partners in form of award ceremony.

Recently we conducted Unify India Partner Conference in Baku in Azerbaijan. This event was attended by total 25 participants showcasing their commitment towards Unify business. As part of this event this time we also introduced extended Atos portfolio to Unify partners creating some new business opportunities for partners.