Hitting the UC Target

 

Like so many other communications solution providers that are getting more focused on specific verticals as they put together their offers, some UC outfits are doing the same.

 

For example, Bob Barnes, executive vice president of sales, marketing and business development at CallTower, tells me the company last year launched its first vertical initiative - in the government-based education space. That vertical now contributes up to 40 percent of CallTower's recurring revenue to date, he says. While deciding which vertical to tackle first can sometimes put a company into a quandary, the decision to focus on the education space initially was an easy one for CallTower, Barnes says, because the company had a partner that knew a lot about this sector. CallTower has since brought that individual, Brian Moore, into its organization as director of government education sales.

 

Now CallTower is working to add security profiles to its UC solutions, which Barnes says will enable it to get into such verticals as medical and financial. The company expects to move into those sectors with targeted solutions by the fourth quarter.

 

Barnes notes that some industry requirements involve replicating and archiving of communications records for up to seven years, and allowing a company to search such records easily in case that need presents itself or is of added value. He says that HIPPA, for example, also calls for communications solutions that blend on-premises with hosted solutions. For example, he says, a medical facility might use an on-site patient database and an on-premises version of Microsoft Exchange integrated with a CallTower cloud-based UC solution. That would allow users to place messages, play messages and otherwise interact and manage their communications while also allowing for such capabilities as audio lookups from the patient database.

 

CallTower, which has grown more than 150 percent in three years, may not market the solution as a HIPPA product, says Barnes, but it wants its UC product to be compliant with such requirements so it can target customers in specific verticals such as health care.