About ShoreTel Shoregear

ShoreTel is a Sunnyvale, California-based telecommunications company that delivers unified communications (UC) and call center technology. The company, which was founded in 1996, has regional offices in the UK, Germany, India, Australia and Spain. Edwin J. Basart and Mike Harrigan, who previously founded Network Computing Devices, set up the organization. Since its inception, ShoreTel has acquired various companies. In 2010, the organization purchased enterprise mobile provider Agito Networks in a deal worth around $11.4 million. In 2012, ShoreTel purchased New York City-based M5 Networks for $146 million — one of the biggest financial acquisitions of that year. The company rebranded M5 Networks’ cloud services as ShoreTel Sky and has since introduced new services under this name, including conference calling and instant messaging. In 2016, ShoreTel acquired Corvisa, a deal which helped them expand their SIP trunking capabilities. ShoreTel changed its name from Shoreline Communications in 2004. In 2013, Don Joos, previously of Avaya, became ShoreTel’s president and chief executive.

ShoreTel is a leader in VoIP communications, with a variety of products for small, medium and large businesses. These include Connect Cloud, which combines UC and VoIP technologies in the cloud. This flexible platform includes popular features like call blocking, call forwarding, and phone alerts. Call centers use this service: they access a dashboard and monitor call activity in real time, assess agent and queue statuses, create reports and share valuable data. Another service, Connect Hybrid, offers businesses a hybrid cloud solution. Users can download applications, includeing CRM and ERP integration apps, which allows companies to track customers and clients for more effective operations. Connect Common UC Platform was launched in 2015, after two years of planning and development. This platform has a single user interface and combines cloud-based and on-premise UC products. Other services include Connect OnSite and Flex Contact Center, a comprehensive solution for call center management. All of these platforms provide users with enhanced disaster recovery, so businesses can access data after an emergency like a storm or a flood, or a security breach.

ShoreTel has won a string of awards over the years. Its ShoreTel Connect service scooped the Unified Communications Product of the Year Award in 2016. The company also won Technology Provider of the Year at the 2016 IT Europa Awards and Best Telecommunication Website at the 2016 Web Awards. Other accolades include Best in Unified Communications and Collaboration at Network World Asia’s Product Excellence Awards, Best Midmarket Solution at the Xcellence Awards and Communication Solutions’ Product of the Year.

About Salesforce

Salesforce is an American cloud computing company specializing in CRM. Its initial goal was to disrupt the delivery of business software applications via a completely new model known as Software-as-a-Service or SaaS. Though most of its revenue comes from CRM products, Salesforce also creates commercial applications for social networking.

Founded in 1999 by Marc Benioff, Parker Harris, Dave Moellenhoff, and Frank Dominguez, Salesforce is now regarded as one of the most highly-valued cloud computing companies with a market capitalization of $55 billion. Salesforce’s initial public offering was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2004 under the ticker symbol CRM, with the help of $110 million in investment capital. It is also a constituent of the S&P 500 Index.

Salesforce’s main headquarters are situated in the historic Southern Pacific Building in San Francisco. It also has regional offices in Switzerland, India, Tokyo, Toronto, Chicago, London, Sydney, Dublin, Hyderabad, San Mateo, Hillsboro, and New York City.

Salesforce’s products are divided into eight categories: Sales, Service, Marketing, Community, Analytics, Platform and Apps, Commerce, and Internet of Things (IoT). One of its most well-known products is Sales Cloud, which allows users to manage their contacts and track opportunities from any device. The Sales Cloud is used widely by sales teams, often in conjunction with a Salesforce dialer. Service Cloud is another popular add-on as it helps create a faster and smarter customer service experience.

When it comes to marketing, Salesforce has Pardot as its offering, an app that helps generate high-quality leads and drive sales with intelligent B2B marketing automation. Engaging the community has also become smarter and easier with Einstein, an artificial intelligence app built to discover patterns of community interaction so that it can recommend the best ways to personalize offers and content for every user. Using this new technology, sales and marketing teams can reach prospects and customers with tailored offerings be it through the use of a Salesforce dialer with calls or through outbound emails. There is also the IoT Cloud that can transform big data into real-time actions through the use of intuitive tools.

Salesforce has received hundreds of awards and accolades since its inception. Fortune named it as one of the world’s most admired companies five times. It has also appeared in the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For nine times. Salesforce entered the Fortune 500 list in 2015 and 2016. Forbes named Salesforce as one of the most innovative companies in the world six times. CRM Magazine also chose the company as the best enterprise and mid-market CRM multiple times.

Other institutions that have bestowed awards and recognitions on Salesforce include Business Insider, Fast Company, FlexJobs, San Francisco Business Times, and The National Diversity Council Awards.