We’re buried in email — it’s the simple truth. Many organizations and individuals default to email as the primary mode of communication, and it’s seen as the “work” channel. You might use text messages, instant messaging, and social media in your personal life, but “work email” is a familiar phrase and is used to describe how we get things done in the office. But technology has moved far beyond this, and what we should be doing is efficiently utilizing the appropriate modes of communication within our professional lives to reach the desired outcome with the lowest amount of effort, server load, and time. Utilizing your organization’s investment in mobility and collaboration technology can go a long way to solving this issue.

If I’m not watching my inbox like a hawk, I don’t feel like I’m working. If I leave my inbox unsupervised for even a short amount of time during the day, I feel like I’m neglecting my responsibilities. The other day I heard it referred to as “watching your inbox closer than you watch your kids”, and it hit home. The amount of time that we waste (yes, waste) checking, sending, and receiving email is astronomical. This doesn’t just strain your personal efficiency; it can also have implications on your company’s mail servers, particularly if you’re a heavy user of large attachments such as presentations.

Read more at the Inside BlackBerry for Business Blog »

The latest version of BlackBerry® Mobile Voice System (MVS) 5.1 now supports BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry® 7 Operating System (OS), and the AudioCodes® Mediant 3000 VoIP Gateway.

The BlackBerry® Bold™ 9900/9930, BlackBerry® Torch™ 9810, and BlackBerry Torch 9850 smartphones are now supported by MVS 5.1, which allows businesses to extend their phone system to their mobile workforce. By enabling “Voice over Wi-Fi®” or “Voice over Mobile” calling on the leading business phone systems from Cisco®, Mitel, and Avaya®, BlackBerry MVS was designed to extend the functionality and capability of a desk phone to a BlackBerry® smartphone virtually anywhere in the world. Now employees can be reached in the office or on the road through a single phone number, reducing the likelihood of missed calls. Even when a call is routed to voicemail, end users will have a single voicemail account to manage. Calls can be routed securely over Wi-Fi when available, in order to help reduce a company’s overall telecom costs. Lastly, the handoff is automatic – calls are seamlessly transferred between Wi-Fi and mobile networks without interruption. (You can learn more about BlackBerry MVS from our previous blog post on the launch of version 5.1.)

New expanded support for the AudioCodes Mediant 3000 VoIP gateway allows businesses that operate the Avaya® Communication Manager and Nortel® Communication Server phone systems to take advantage of BlackBerry MVS. In addition to supporting the AudioCodes Mediant 1000 and 2000 series VoIP gateways, BlackBerry MVS also supports the Cisco Unified Communications Manager and Mitel® Communications Director phone systems. Designed to encompass most widely used VoIP and phone systems, BlackBerry MVS has your business covered.

BlackBerry MVS 5.1 is just one component of RIM’s Unified Communications & Collaboration portfolio, joining BlackBerry® Mobile Conferencing, BlackBerry® Client for Microsoft® SharePoint®, BlackBerry® Chalk™ Pushcast™ Software, and BlackBerry Enterprise Instant Messaging in providing a comprehensive suite of voice and collaboration solutions that are managed through the BlackBerry® Enterprise Server platform.

We’re excited about the new support for AudioCodes® and BlackBerry 7 OS devices, as well as wider availability. BlackBerry MVS is now available through Research In Motion® (RIM®) distribution partners in over 25 countries including the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Australia and Mexico. To learn more about BlackBerry MVS features or to contact a reseller, head over to www.blackberry.com/mvs.

Question: How often do you miss calls to your desk phone in any given week, and how could BlackBerry MVS help you? Share in the comments below.

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