[February 26, 2007] Interwise Customers Use Record Number of VoIP Conferencing Minutes in 2006 Tweet CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --(Business Wire)-- Interwise(R), the global leader in unlimited voice, web and video conferencing for the enterprise, today reported that customer usage of IP-based conferencing surged to 205 million minutes in 2006, a jump of over 45% from the previous year. The usage was driven by growth in enterprise-wide deployments of Interwise Connect as a core, desktop business application by mid- and large-sized companies in manufacturing, financial services, retail, life sciences, software and other industries. Taking advantage of Interwise' fixed price / unlimited usage business model, they used Interwise-based voice conferences, web meetings, virtual classes web seminars and recordings to replace business travel and traditional conference calls, accelerate business processes and strengthen connections with colleagues, customers and partners globally. In 2006, Interwise customers that deployed conferencing to every employee saw dramatic growth in usage of the technology within just weeks of going live; minutes increases of 200% to 700% were common. The customers with the highest levels of collaboration integrated their Interwise conferencing with other key business applications (e.g. email, calendaring, portals, team workgroup tools, document management, ERP). Another key factor to launching a more collaborative culture: executives at these companies participated in the introduction of virtual meetings through endorsement and by example, using Interwise for their own organization-wide meetings, direct staff meetings, integration of newly-acquired companies and other high profile activities. "Converged conferencing is a high value component of unified communications that is seeing increased acceptance as a core tool for boosting workplace productivity and collaboration," said Bern Elliot, research vice president for Gartner. "Enterprises should consider an enterprise-wide converged model prior to renewing contracts for departmental-level or stand-alone varieties." The dramatic adoption of Interwise conferencing provides a solution to a growing business collaboration gap recently identified by IBM. In its Global CEO Study 2006, IBM interviewed over 700 CEOs, executives and public leaders across 20 industries and 11 geographic regions. The study reported that "CEOs believe collaboration is absolutely critical, but there is a problem: although collaborative aspirations were high, actual implementation was dramatically lower." Only half of the CEOs IBM spoke with, believed that their organizations were collaborating beyond a moderate level. "The growth in our customers' use of conferencing to further all aspects of their businesses indicates that this collaboration gap can be effectively addressed through scalable, affordable communications technology," said Frank Zvi, Interwise President and CEO. "Our customers are reporting enormous successes in launching more collaborative cultures via Interwise. They are breaking through organizational silos and working effectively across time zones to improve business results. We believe this validates our mission to affordably incorporate conferencing into the basic toolset used by all knowledge workers, alongside the computer, telephone and email." Interwise Connect provides voice, Web and video conferencing within a single application for unlimited audio conferences, Web meetings, virtual classes, Web casts, broadcasts and on-demand recordings. Deployed as a core business application to all employees, it improves the frequency, speed and quality of both internal and external business activities. Interwise Connect integrates with existing enterprise IT and PBX systems, email and calendaring applications. It allows customers to achieve the cost benefits of VoIP conferencing securely, without having to engage in PBX and phone overhauls. Interwise Connect is a leading choice of Global 2,000 companies, with more worldwide deployments of 5,000-plus seats than any other enterprise conferencing solution on the market. About Interwise Interwise is the leader in delivering unlimited voice, Web, and video conferencing for the enterprise. Interwise' fixed price / unlimited usage business model and enterprise-class technology combine to make it easy for companies to deliver conferencing and collaboration as a core business application, replacing multiple products with a single, integrated solution that can reduce overall conferencing expenses by 50 per cent or more. For more information, visit www.interwise.com. Trademarks Interwise Connect, Interwise Expressway and the Interwise logo are trademarks and Interwise is a registered trademark of Interwise, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective holders. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]