Cisco, Microsoft Converge On IP

Specialization is designed to help channel partners grow IP communications revenue while differentiating themselves from competitors and, perhaps most important, is a tangible sign that convergence has become a reality. The new CRM solution lets partners integrate Cisco CallManager Express with the Microsoft CRM application, providing the IP telephony interface for Microsoft CRM users based on the Cisco CRM Communications Connector. The application was developed after Cisco and Microsoft announced an SMB collaboration in February.

SMBs can improve customer service and reduce operational costs using the Communications Connector to link Cisco IP communications platforms with Microsoft CRM. The tool automatically triggers screen pops with customer account information and contact history, allowing account managers and engineers to more quickly and effectively respond to customers' needs.

"It gives customer information for every call coming into a business, not just into the call center," says Richard McLeod, director of IP communications solutions for Cisco's worldwide channels. "It can capture a ton of information within the course of a call, and it takes the power of convergence and makes it real."

McLeod says Cisco is aiming the tool at vertical sectors, such as health care and financial companies. "We're moving into significant value-add mode with partners who want to move to vertically oriented solutions," he says.

Solution providers say the industry has reached an inflection point with convergence on which they can begin to build new practices. "The network infrastructure upgrades are the catalyst for it," says John Freres, president of Meridian IT Solutions, Schaumburg, Ill. "We're seeing a lot of data-center consolidation and convergence around voice, including IP telephony and messaging." But, he adds, customers are making this move only if it makes economic sense. "It's always tied to ROI or compliance or to giving the customer some kind of competitive business advantage," he says.

The broader question about this development is the suddenly tighter alliance of Cisco and Microsoft. The two have intermittently worked together for years, but with the long-awaited arrival of voice and data convergence, the cooperation between the two dominant companies is likely to make it even tougher for other networking vendors to compete. Countless businesses of all sizes already "succumb" to Windows because there seldom is an alternative choice to give customers everything they need in a platform. As SMBs ramp up to VoIP solutions, they're likely to choose the one that was handpicked by their CRM vendor rather than deal with possible integration problems.

It's a condition that, from the Cisco partner POV, isn't such a bad proposition. "I wouldn't want to be in the market today selling anyone but Cisco," says Ken Batorski, president of Woods Networking Services, a solution provider in Farmington, Conn. "We've partnered with bigger vendors, such as 3Com and Nortel, but we weren't happy with them, and I wouldn't sign up with Enterasys or any of the other competitors because they don't have the partner programs Cisco does."