Aspect Celebrates One Year Phone-Free with Microsoft Office Communications Server

CHELMSFORD –Aspect, a global provider of unified communications (UC) and collaboration servicesand software, today announced its one-year anniversary of operating completely phone-free following its global implementation of Microsoft® Office Communications Server 2007 R2.

Following a pilot of the unified communications (UC) technology in February of 2009, the company took its Massachusetts headquarters live on Office Communications Server the next month, and subsequently deployed it to every Aspect employee across the globe – approximately 1,800 individuals at more than 20 sites. In its first full year of utilizing UC, Aspect:

•   Completed more than 1.7 million calls, with nearly 12 million minutes of talk time
•   Participated in more than 2 million IM sessions
•   Held more than 138,000 conference calls, with 33 million minutes of participant time
•   Reduced conference calling expenditures by 97 percent, or by $100,000 per month
•   Lowered telephony circuit costs by more than $350,000 with session initiation protocol (SIP) Trunking
•   Eliminated 16 PBXs and the associated $300,000 of annual maintenance costs

“The numbers are staggering. Microsoft unified communications has literally changed the way we work at Aspect – every call, every IM session, every time we share a screen – we are a different organization because of UC,” said Jim Foy, president and chief executive officer, Aspect. “And, the ROI is tremendous. With nearly two million dollars saved in just the first year, we intend to remain at the forefront of using and deploying UC and collaboration technologies, as well as helping our customers deploy and benefit from applying Microsoft capabilities to address their own business requirements.”

As the company moves into 2010, Aspect is actively engaged in the Microsoft Technology Adopter Program and will be involved in beta testing of the next release of Office Communications Server, which is due to become generally available in the fourth quarter. In addition, Aspect’s own global customer support centers will be expanding their use of “Ask an Expert” capabilities utilizing the Seamless Customer Service™ unified communications application for the contact center powered by the Aspect® Unified IP® platform product and Office Communications Server. This serves as a showcase for Aspect customers to see UC and collaboration at work and the associated value it provides.

“Our UC accomplishments have been significant, including that every person in every Aspect site worldwide has fully embraced UC, to the point that it’s difficult to imagine working without it,” said Jamie Ryan, chief information officer, Aspect. “UC has helped Aspect become a more efficient and more collaborative company, and we are proud to serve as an example for companies considering how UC can positively impact their organizations and their bottom lines.”

About Aspect
Aspect is a global software and IT services firm specializing in applying Microsoft® unified communications and collaboration to help customers achieve optimal results through enhanced business processes across the enterprise and in the contact center. Aspect provides IT consulting, integration services and business applications. For more information, visit www.aspect.com.