SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ConnectSolutions, an industry-leading provider of enterprise-class hosted unified communications (UC) technologies, announced today that MeetingCloud, ConnectSolutions’ scalable and secure foundation for cloud-based UC services, has delivered more than 5 billion minutes of online meeting, collaboration and communication time. MeetingCloud, a customizable service offering based on the Adobe Connect and Microsoft Lync platforms, is used by large enterprises and government agencies to instantly connect remote workers and satellite offices around the world, increasing efficiency, saving time and reducing travel expenses.
The 5-billion-minute figure is based on the industry-reference standard of minutes spent by individual participants in UC use cases including online meetings, training, collaboration, and webinars. This reflects an increase of more than 400 percent since ConnectSolutions began reporting MeetingCloud usage statistics in March 2011, but does not include ConnectSolutions’ other UC offerings, including those targeted at small and midsize businesses (SMBs).
“The 5-billion-minute milestone is evidence that even the largest enterprise and government clients — those with the most rigorous reliability and security concerns — now have confidence in the hosted UC model,” said ConnectSolutions’ CEO and co-founder Michael Fitzpatrick. “MeetingCloud’s support of best-of-breed, customizable UC solutions, including Microsoft Lync and Adobe Connect, delivers on the business and technical demands we hear from global organizations.”
ConnectSolutions deploys and maintains highly customized and scalable MeetingCloud UC implementations across some of the world’s most complex, widely distributed and demanding environments. The most common enterprise MeetingCloud use cases involve e-learning and employee training, while government agencies use the offering for a broad range of mission-critical use cases, including public hearings and secure meetings. President Barack H. Obama used MeetingCloud for a global meeting attended by more than 10,000 people in more than 100 countries. Government clients find MeetingCloud’s strong customization and security especially attractive because it enables them to meet specific regulatory compliance requirements, such as those mandated by the U.S. Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA).
The diverse ConnectSolutions client base includes government agencies such as the U.S. State Department, Department of Defense and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), multinational corporations including General Motors, world-class educational institutions like the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, leading technology providers such as SAS, and major nonprofit organizations including the Global Fund for Women. Their constantly evolving requirements for manageability, scalability and security are addressed by ConnectSolutions’ highly skilled enablement team, which can deliver highly customized MeetingCloud implementations rapidly, efficiently and with minimal operational disruption.
“With our share of 5 billion minutes, SAS Institute Inc. has trained more than 15,000 customers across the United States and Canada in our industry-leading business analytics software,” said Kathleen Guerra, senior E-learning manager, SAS.
“As enterprises become more distributed and focused outward our 2013 research shows that over 50 percent surveyed use collaboration tools to work externally with content experts, partners, sub-contractors, clients and professional services,” noted David Coleman, managing director of Collaborative Strategies, Inc., an industry analyst group focusing on collaboration technologies for the last 25 years. “Some of the issues holding the enterprise back from full adoption are security and reliability. ConnectSolutions’ 5 Billion minutes of online meeting time not only shows acceptance by the enterprise, but an increasing need for this service.”
About ConnectSolutions
ConnectSolutions is the leading managed-cloud provider of unified communications (UC) solutions for small business, enterprise and government. ConnectSolutions MeetingCloud™ platform delivers an innovative, scalable cloud service that lowers total cost of UC ownership. We are the trusted provider of eLearning, collaboration and communication solutions that are reliable and secure. At ConnectSolutions, we ensure your success through essential architecture, adoption, and support services. For more information, visit www.connectsolutions.com.
