Neville Burdan, General Manager for Microsoft Solutions, Datacraft Asia said, "More than ever, our clients are demanding innovative, reliable and scalable ways to streamline communications, reduce costs and improve productivity. Office Communications Server 2007 R2 is a powerful platform that builds on the solid base of Office Communications Server 2007 and allows for the creation of even better unified communications solutions. It will form a key part of our unified communications offering and augment our ability to provide solutions that deliver these benefits."
"Datacraft takes advantage of the greater cost savings derived from deploying Office Communicator 2007 R2 for its clients, giving them significant communications benefits," said Bharat Mirchandani, Business Group Manager, Information Worker, Microsoft Singapore. "We at Microsoft are excited to work with Datacraft to enhance our customers' experience and help foster better collaboration and productivity."
Burdan continued, saying: "However, as our research shows, to fully exploit the potential of this new software-based platform, and unified communications in general, it's important to place them within a strategic framework. That's why we developed the Unified Communications Development Model (UCDM), which was launched early last year to help organisations take a strategic, cross-functional approach to their unified communications investments."
Research commissioned by Datacraft / Dimension Data in June 2008* showed that the most important thing for IT decision-makers to consider before embarking on a unified communications project was how it would align with business strategy, followed by what technology was right for the business. In addition, a strategic plan was found to be essential to the success of a unified communications implementation. Datacraft's UCDM helps organisations to assess their competence and capabilities in unified communications, and to develop a strategic plan for implementation.
Burdan concluded, saying: "With a unified communications strategy and roadmap in place, organisations that deploy Office Communications Server 2007 R2 will be in an ideal position to reap the benefits of exciting new features such as desktop sharing, persistent group chat and dial-in audioconferencing. And for those organisations that already use Microsoft technologies for communication and collaboration, the synergy that comes through integration with Microsoft Office, Microsoft Exchange Server and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server will amplify these benefits, as well as allow them to maximise their current infrastructure investments."
Note to editors
*Datacraft / Dimension Data commissioned independent UK researchers Vanson Bourne to study IT decision-maker attitudes towards and experiences of unified communications. The research was conducted in June 2008 and involved 100 IT managers and CIOs of UK enterprise-sized organisations with 1,000 employees or more.
About Datacraft
Datacraft is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dimension Data plc (LSE:DDT), a US$4.5 billion leading global IT solutions and services provider. Datacraft operates in over 50 offices across 13 Asia Pacific countries. We help clients plan, build, support, manage, improve and innovate their IT infrastructures. Datacraft combines an expertise in networking, security, data centre, storage, Microsoft solutions and contact centre technologies, with advanced skills in consulting, integration, training and managed services to craft IT solutions for businesses. For more information, please visit www.datacraft-
For further information, please contact:
Esther Quah (Datacraft Asia) Tel: (65) 6322 6688
(Email: esther.quah ( @ ) datacraft-asia dot com)
Tng Szu Lin (Datacraft Asia) Tel: (65) 6322 6605
(Email: szu-lin.tng ( @ ) datacraft-asia dot com)
Website:www.datacraft-
