Enterprise Connect - Premises vs. Cloud-based Telephony (UC RFP & Review)

David Stein of the independent consulting firm Stein Technology Consulting Group (STCG) delivered the 2015 Enterprise Connect session entitled “UC RFP and Review: Enterprise Communications Platform--Premises vs. Cloud-Based” at the recent 25th anniversary Orlando conference.

Eight vendors proposed eleven complete solutions (as well as one partial solution) consisting of premises-based solutions (that could also be deployed as private cloud implementations) as well as vendor provided cloud-based offerings. The proposing vendors come from a variety of backgrounds ranging from over 100 years of telephony experience to very recent entrants into the market. For the first time this year, integrators in addition to manufacturers were allowed to propose solutions they thought best met the requirements stated in a “mock” RFP. This allowed a more diverse set of responses, especially for the cloud based solutions.