So, this is pretty cool:
http://videolounge.cisco.com/video/24-pres-taylor-meets-over-tp/
Talk about product placement! While Cisco has always had its products featured on the show 24, this particular scene seems to revolve entirely around TelePresence, much like a commercial.
Obviously, the launch of TelePresence is huge for Cisco. I think showcasing a product like that on a show where people can see exactly how it can be used is extremely smart. Internet and phone technology tends to scare a lot of people, I think. We hear about all these different products but in the back of our minds, we'd rather just keep things simple and wait until someone else figures it out. Giving a demonstration on a show like 24 helps all viewers better understand what the products are and how they are used.
Most of the time I don't bat an eye when products are not-so-subtlety featured in movies, television shows or other forms of mass media. It's just a part of the entertainment package. But let me tell you something, the amount of product placement Cisco gets from the hit show 24 is on a whole other level. From major features of the newest products like the one above or a character throwing in the obligatory "shout out" (I believe it was Chloe who had the line "it's impossible that our network is under attack- it's self defending!"... Anybody else get a laugh out of that one?), there's no question in any viewers mind what company inadvertently assists Jack Bauer in his quest to defend the United States against terrorism.
Cisco's product placement on 24 breaks through the noise for me, and not just because my company sells Cisco phones. It's like the whole show literally revolves these different products! Whether it's beneficial or not, it's hard to miss. My only suggestion would be to keep Cisco on the screen and out of the script. I can't stand any more cheesy lines.
Tara Young, Marketing Coordinator
Unified360
My Pastor has engrained this thought process into my head. Logically speaking, I have understood the meaning and intent of the message. However, it is one thing to understand, another thing entirely to apply it to your life (personally, professionally, etc).
Change and the unknown over being comfortable and content; who would take such a risk? We all have a comfort zone, so to speak. The challenge is how it limits and inhibits our growth potential!
I took a position at Unified360 in February 2009. I risked a lot to put trust and faith in this company and its leadership team. Since I have been here, there has been CHANGE weekly! I was employee 15; we are now at 40+ employees in multiple markets. This growth is happening in a depressed economy! I attribute this growth to two things: 1) Managing and adapting to CHANGE and more importantly, 2) Holding true to the principles our leadership team has set in place from the beginning.
The principles I am speaking of are the "core values and purpose" our owners (Jim & Paul) founded the company on.
Unified360 Purpose & Values
Our Purpose
Unified360 exists to integrate lifelong clients, innovative technology, and industry leading partners in cutting edge communication solutions that deliver improved productivity and profitability of our clients.
Our Values
Innovation
Through innovative thinking, technology, and ideas, we will grow to become the most innovative organization in our local market for our business segment. We practice this innovation by challenging the thinking of our team, clients, and business partners regularly.
Partnering
Through the partnerships we develop with our team member, clients, and other business partners, we practice the process of helping all grow and thrive to achieve success.
Commitment
Our commitment to our team members and clients is proven by our continuous improvement in helping them achieve their goals - business, professional, and personal - making our relationship unmatched by any other organization.
Results
Continuous growth was not only the foundation of Unified360 upon inception but will remain a core value throughout our existence. Growth to Unified360 means personal, professional, and intellectual growth for all of our team and our loyal clients.
Excitement
We challenge ourselves to maintain excitement within our team, partnerships, and community for the success of all. We show this through our quarterly events and family gatherings.
These Core Values are one of the many reasons we continue to grow as we put our customers first!
What I do know is that when you have the end-goal in mind and a foundation to build a business, family or team upon, you will never waiver or fail. This is the foundation that Jim and Paul created a few years ago and we, as the Unified360 family, will continue to build this company on!
I am thankful and honored to be a part of this team of champions! Merry Christmas!
Shawn Fisher, Sr. Account Consultant
Unified360
It's a common term that we've all heard at one time or another. In many call centers and other environments companies use an outsourced provider to provide their dialing capabilities, reach their customers, bridge them to a call center, communicate a message, make an appointment or schedule a reminder.
As technology goes, this one is fairly old. It made sense in the late 90's or even just a few years ago. During that time frame it was just too cost prohibitive to bring in enough lines, bandwidth, and dialer technology for it to make any financial sense. So the Hosted Dialer companies were born in an era when bandwidth was 40% higher, and the termination costs were north of 5 cents per minute.
As technology goes, companies are now realizing that getting this technology embedded into their organization is driving real savings back to the company, and improving efficiencies. By deploying SIP trunking across bandwidth that is much less expensive than in years past, companies are realizing savings of 40% or better. The ability to get Sub 2 cents per minute and advanced dialer solutions that offer other benefits such as soft phone integration are starting a new trend in the dialer market.
Unified360 manages several of these deployments and has strong experience in the implementation and dialer technology. Anybody reading this should refer back to some of our Blogs on "SIP" that may also provide more information on the bandwidth prospective. No matter what, we keep dialing for dollars... but let's do it at a cost of pennies!!
Jeff Rothell, COO
Unified360
As Google, Red Hat, SugarCRM, Digium, and others push the open source approach to software development and usage, we are seeing more and more open source technology affecting business communication. Over the last several weeks we've been introduced to software companies who have leveraged open source software to perform tasks like real time intelligent Internet searches, multiple simultaneous database queries, and other integration. As this model continues to grow we believe that this will help keep major players, like our partners Cisco and Microsoft, moving forward with new ideas and technology.
One example of this model really taking off like wildfire is Digium's SwitchVox telephony platform. This system has the ability to leverage Cisco's state of the art infrastructure and transport but provides much more feature functionality for a small business than other telephony systems on the market. It does so in fact to the degree of allowing open source integration with Google, Facebook, Linkedin and many desktop applications. We look for this model to continue to grow and develop as we develop technology within Unified360 with a focus on personalizing and customizing for our clients application needs.
For more information on open source applications and how they will impact communications, check out http://www.switchvox.com/switchboardDemo/ and http://www.tmcnet.com/it/0104/0104PO.htm. Also, let us hear from you as to other applications that might help your business.
Paul Tran, CTO
Unified360