ShoreTel® (NASDAQ: SHOR), the leading provider of brilliantly simple phone systems andunified communications, has announced the availability of a cloud UC and Contact Center offering in the UK, ShoreTel Cloud for Partners. Based on ShoreTel's award-winning platform and user experience capabilities, the new solution is offered through ShoreTel'sUK channel partners. This supports the ShoreTel strategy of providing the greatest choice and flexibility for customers looking to implement unified communications solutions.

Now, not only can UK customers purchase, deploy and manage ShoreTel systems onsite, they may also choose to have those solutions delivered from the cloud by partners as a subscription service. The offer comes as a direct result of research gathered from the UK channel showing a customer requirement for cloud services, and growth in Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS). The solution has also been designed specifically to meet the requirements of the ShoreTel channel by complementing their existing access, call bundles and other managed services, enabling them to create complete end-to-end managed services.

Adrian Hipkiss, vice president of EMEA at ShoreTel, commented, "More and more enterprises in the UK are looking to the cloud as the most effective solution for their communications needs. ShoreTel Cloud for Partners is a unique opportunity for customers to buy into a cloud solution and have access to genuine choice and flexibility, which is particularly important in the competitive UK market. Our goal is to deliver, via our partners, the high customer satisfaction and low total cost of ownership of a managed service that sets us apart from our competition."

With ShoreTel Cloud for Partners, ShoreTel is launching a cloud services model that is specifically designed to meet the needs of mid-market businesses. Partners in the UK can now offer services in a "pay-as-you-go" model which is becoming an increasingly popular way for businesses to acquire and consume the services they need. The solution is flexible, allowing easy scaling up and down to meet business needs. It also permits some CAPEX purchases to be mixed with the OPEX spending model so a company can combine the benefits of both models. 
 

ShoreTel Cloud for Partners is initially available from Softcat, Solar Communications^TM and Incom^TM. Customers will be able to choose from different user profiles, including Contact Center, Mobility, and UC, to meet individual business needs.

"For us, as a partner, ShoreTel Cloud for Partners complements the existing services we offer in support of our customers' network infrastructures like WAN and LAN," said David Hughes, CEO at Incom. "The result is a solution that's highly available, feature-rich and customizable to meet individual client requirements."

"With a clear focus on user experience and scalability, ShoreTel Cloud for Partners enables us to offer our customers a solution that is scalable to address their needs not only today, but into the future, as requirements change with business growth," said Darren Standing, head of products and marketing at Solar Communications.

Sam Routledge, solutions director at Softcat Ltd., added, "As an extension of our customers' IT departments, we understand that cloud services are key to business growth today. This partnership with ShoreTel addresses this market demand and allows us to focus on the unique needs of each customer through an end-to-end cloud UC and contact center offering."