OVERLAND PARK, Kan. & ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sprint (NYSE:S) today announced Workplace-as-a-Service, providing all the technology needed to run a business, offered on a predictable per-user, per-month basis. Sprint will design and fully manage all core communication and key productivity tools, providing site-by-site integration and implementation, complete with service level agreements and a single source for support.
Sprint announced its new, transformative employee enablement solution today at the Enterprise Connect Expo in Orlando, where Workplace-as-a-Service is a finalist for the Best of Enterprise Connect Award, recognizing significant technological and service delivery advancements in communication and collaboration.
Workplace-as-a-Service includes the core wireless and wireline elements necessary to run a business:
- Wide Area Network (WAN) Connectivity
- Enterprise-grade managed Wi-Fi
- Enterprise grade voice
- Local and domestic long-distance voice2
- Audio/Video conferencing
- Online collaboration
- Instant messaging and presence
- Mobile device management across all carriers, plus Bring Your Own Device support for laptops, tablets and smartphones
- Optional, Sprint wireless plans for smartphones and tablets
“We believe our Workplace-as-a-Service offering will become the new standard for how communications and connectivity solutions are provided and purchased,” said Mike Fitz, vice president of business solutions commercialization – Sprint Business. “We see it as a platform for our customers to expand to other services.”
Collaborate, work anywhere, bring your own tech
Workplace-as-a-Service was designed to be the most comprehensive converged service in the market, going further than other “office-as-a-service” offerings in market. Sprint will integrate high-speed Internet services with enterprise Wi-Fi for businesses to ensure a seamless connection with cloud services. Additionally, Sprint’s wireless network enables businesses to stay connected with fast, reliable voice, text and data services while away from the office. Mobile Device Management (MDM) offers a secure and integrated communications experience with devices across all carriers, and permitting employees to use their own laptops, tablets and mobile devices. All of these services are provided as a managed service, the first of its kind in the telecommunications industry.
Workplace-as-a-Service can save customers time and money by eliminating most unnecessary upfront capital expenditures for hardware or software, and by directing internal IT professionals toward more strategic, revenue-generating projects. It is ideally suited for businesses opening a new office or expanding to additional sites, or customers looking to upgrade outdated technologies. Target customers include those with 100 to 10,000 employees across multiple sites, and with 20 to 200 knowledge workers at each site.
“This is a really unique offering,” said Zeus Kerravala, founder and principal analyst -- ZK Research. “Offloading user support to one resource is a significant customer benefit. In today’s IT environment there’s practically no way to keep a help desk inside a company trained on every service. This let’s those inside IT resources focus on what they do best.”
Knoll, Inc., SATO Global early adopters of Workplace-as-a-Service
Sprint customer Knoll Inc., the international designer, manufacturer and distributor of workplace and residential furniture, textiles, leather and accessories, turned to Workplace-as-a-Service, seeking a more efficient way to enable employees and transform showrooms for a deeper, more engaging customer experience with better Wi-Fi, faster Internet and collaboration capabilities. With its IT staff shifting focus from operations to more strategic initiatives, Knoll was seeking an advisor who could deliver a simple, flexible and cost-effective solution to help focus on business growth and efficiencies for the sites across the country and its 3,000-plus employees.
"We were challenged with providing consistent user experiences in our showrooms across the country. We liked Sprint’s Workplace-as-a-Service because it provides a single, consistent model with enterprise class network, Wi-Fi and collaboration capabilities, all delivered by a single supplier with one number to call if there’s an issue with any aspect of the solution," said Michael Beattie, Knoll Global CIO. “Now we don’t have to worry about integrating solutions from multiple vendors to deliver world-class services to our users."
Sprint customer SATO Global Solutions was searching for a way to expedite telecom services for their new headquarters in Florida, with a single provider for wireless and wireline services.
"We liked how quickly the mobility and collaboration tools could be provisioned with Sprint's Workplace-as-a-Service offering,” said Jeff Fudge, Global Software Director of SATO Global Solutions. “We are always looking for ways to remain agile and customer-focused, and having one provider fully manage the complexity of our voice and data networks aligns very well with our strategic vision as we provide RFID and other track and trace solutions to customers across the globe."
Increasing mobility, mobile security
Workplace-as-a-Service comes with the option to allow each user to keep wireless service with another provider or to move to Sprint wireless service. Sprint has aggressively priced wireless plans for tablets or smartphones, which are available only as part of this solution. Sprint primary research conducted with more than 400 decision makers within the targeted segment revealed that 94 percent are interested in the solution as a way to increase mobility options for their workforce, and 92 percent are interested in the solution as a way to manage the growing security challenges for mobile devices. The same research shows that with this solution, customers could save up to 50 percent versus existing way of delivering these services to their business.1
Workplace-as-a-Service is part of Sprint’s OfficeFuelTM approach for making IT and communications enablement simple and flexible. Watch a 30-second video and find more information on Workplace-as-a-Service and other OfficeFuel solutions at sprint.com/officefuel.
About Sprint Business
Sprint Business provides a range of simple, flexible services that help workforces to collaborate, mobilize and accelerate. As work changes, the winners will be the businesses that remove obstacles to best empower their employees to drive business success. Our solutions are designed specifically to help our customers' people work better together, be more engaged and enjoy their jobs more. To learn more, visit www.sprint.com/business or join the conversation at www.sprint.com/futureofwork.
About Sprint:
Sprint (NYSE: S) is a communications services company that creates more and better ways to connect its customers to the things they care about most. Sprint served nearly 56 million connections as of December 31, 2014 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; leading no-contract brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Sprint has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) North America for the past four years. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.
1 – Potential savings based on internal Sprint research on average IT spend for hardware investments, monthly costs per person, integration, ongoing maintenance and support costs for a unified communications suite by leading service providers. Actual savings may vary.
2 – Long distance rates apply to voice calls outside the United States and Canada.
