ShoreTel receives Gartner and Nemertes accolades

Gartner – highest honours

The rapidly advancing global vendor, whose range is distributed in South Africa by Tellumat, received a “Strong Positive” rating in Gartner’s 2011 Unified Communications for SMB MarketScope Report for North America.

It is the highest honour in Gartner’s MarketScope, which provides product guidance to enterprise IT users. A strong positive rating denotes a provider of strategic products, services or solutions, whose products customers are advised to consider or continue using.

“Our large global base of SMB customers is already reaping the benefits of ShoreTel’s brilliantly simple unified communications solution,” said Peter Blackmore, CEO of ShoreTel. “Gartner’s rating confirms our market position and our commitment to low total cost of ownership and continuously improving customer satisfaction.”

Nemertes – 8 times a winner

In addition to its Gartner triumph, ShoreTel has also just received the Nemertes Research award for “Top IPT provider among the Market Challengers”, in the firm’s annual PilotHouse Awards report.

It is the eighth year in a row that ShoreTel has broken the tape ahead of the field, which numbered 22 this year. Nemertes, an independent research firm, bases the award solely on the views and experiences of more than 2 000 users of IP telephony systems. How ShoreTel’s overall score of 4.32 was compiled, makes for interesting reading.

Customers rated providers on a scale of 1 to 5 in three categories. ShoreTel scored above 4 in all of them:

• Technology – 4.18: The report states as follows: “ShoreTel has kept pace with technology innovation, invested in and integrated mobility into its platform, and provides the integrated UC functionality that its customers want.”
• Customer Service – 4.18: Customers lauded the company’s solid customer service, including tech and sales support, responsiveness during deployment, and general customer care.
• Value – 4.65: ShoreTel received the highest score for value of any IPT vendor in any category. The report cites the solution’s affordability and its ease of implementation and operation.

What makes ShoreTel successful is its focus on clear product differentiation, low total cost of ownership and commitment to continuously improving customer satisfaction.

“These are independent endorsements,” says Bennie Langenhoven, managing executive, Tellumat Communication Solutions. “They’re proof that ShoreTel is not just doing something right, but that it is well positioned to continue doing so.”