VoiceCon Spring 2008
Microsoft Allies with Aspect, Opening Opportunities for Both
| Mar 20, 2008 | Enterprise Communications, Contact Center Solutions | Show Update
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Analysts: Brian Riggs, Michael Barbagallo
Current Perspective: Positive
Vendor Importance: High
Market Impact: High |
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Event Summary
March 18, 2008 - Microsoft Corp. and Aspect Software Inc., announced a multiyear strategic alliance to help deliver unified communications to contact centers. Microsoft is making an equity investment in Aspect to accelerate the development new solutions and services. Aspect will design its Unified IP contact center solution to interoperate with Microsoft’s OCS, with the first releases, sometime in 2008, to include an ask-an-expert capability based on the instant messaging and presence tools in OCS.
Analytical Summary
• Current Perspective: Positive on the strategic alliance between Aspect and Microsoft because it creates an environment in which each company can use its specific market strengths to create synergies and opportunities. Microsoft can use its resources, products, and marketing power to complement Aspect’s expertise, products, and reputation in contact centers to accelerate the evolution of unified communication in contact centers.
• Vendor Importance: High to Aspect because the Microsoft alliance dovetails with Aspect’s plans to focus its product development around the integration of unified communications capabilities to its Unified IP and PerformanceEdge lines of customer service solution offerings. (Please see Aspect’s UC Strategy Could Leapfrog Competitors’ Presence-enabled Contact Center Solutions, March 11, 2008). The partnership with Microsoft, whose Office Communications Server corporate instant messaging platform is an up and coming unified communications platform for enterprises and SMBs, has every potential of furthering corporate and product line transitions at Aspect as the contact center specialist seeks to position itself as a developer of unified communications solutions as well.
• Market Impact: High on the contact center and enterprise communications markets because Microsoft is seeking a role for its unified communications software in the contact center space and is making substantial financial investments in a company with a long and successful history in customer contact technology to bring this about. Customers and resellers can expect unified communications solutions to gain relevance in general enterprise communications environment and to impact the communications capabilities of contact center operations as well.
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Current Perspective
Competitive Positives and Concerns
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