Frost & Sullivan Lauds Sprint's Targeted Collaboration Solutions for Small Businesses in the United States
-- The company offers unique value for this underserved segment through focused product design, expert support and affordable solutions
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, Jan. 16, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the mobile communications and collaboration market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Sprint with the 2012 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Value Enhancement. Sprint stands out among its peers by offering not only a tightly integrated, professional communications solution in Microsoft Office 365 but also personalized "Carefree Cloud" that includes onboarding, migration, and technical support services to meet real small business needs.
While effective mobile communications and collaboration tools are crucial to succeed in today's challenging economy, smaller businesses have historically received little attention from communications vendors. Though many U.S. wireless carriers are starting to realize the significant sales potential of solutions tailored for small businesses, customizing their approach to match the needs of these businesses has not been as forthcoming.
"Too often, technology can act as a barrier instead of an enabler," noted Frost & Sullivan Principal Analyst Jeanine Sterling. "Sprint doesn't leave small businesses to just cope with day-to-day demands on their own, but instead serves as a true growth partner, enhancing the value that its customers receive."
Sprint has teamed with Microsoft to offer the Microsoft Office 365 solution, a very attractive collaboration and productivity offering in a hotly-contested field. The basic Microsoft Office 365 package includes professional-grade Exchange email, web conferencing, instant messaging file sharing, access to Microsoft Office documents on the go, and the ability to quickly create a public website. Additional packages layer in additional capabilities. The software-as-a-service (SaaS) model allows subscription pricing and per-user, per-month rates.
These packages are only the starting point, as far as Sprint is concerned. "Sprint starts with the excellent Microsoft Office 365 tools and then makes the solution even more compelling by adding the surrounding services that small businesses crave," observed Sterling.
Sprint offers its "Carefree Cloud" service, which includes white-glove migration and onboarding service to ensure a smooth deployment, further enabling client satisfaction and optimal use of the solution. Unlike rival services, this service is free of charge during the first 90 days after the purchase of the Office 365 product. Customers can simply schedule a one-on-one appointment with a Sprint Carefree Cloud Agent at whatever time is convenient and then be assisted through the entire migration and activation processes. These sessions can take place by phone or remote log-in and are gauged to the needs and expertise level of the customer.
After the actual implementation, Sprint maintains a close partnership with the customer, providing free technical support at the end-user level, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Customers can further simplify IT management from Sprint by purchasing a Productivity Suite that bundles Office 365 with Sprint IT Helpdesk. Sprint IT Helpdesk includes unlimited 24/7 remote and on-site technical support for operating system issues, software support and installation, and hardware diagnostics and troubleshooting including most peripherals and mobile device. From other providers, this type of support is often only available to the customer's designated "administrator" and also may require an additional fee.
Sprint also makes its Microsoft Office 365 solution available on a month-to-month basis, with no contract or minimum number of seats required. Visit www.sprint.com/office365 to learn more.
Based on these factors as benchmarked through Frost & Sullivan competitive analysis, Sprint is the recipient of the 2012 Customer Value Enhancement Award in the mobile communications and collaboration market.
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in implementing strategies that proactively create value for its customers with a focus on improving the return on the investment that customers make in its services or products. The award recognizes the company's inordinate focus on enhancing the value that its customers receive, beyond simply good customer service, leading to improved customer retention and ultimately customer base expansion.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.
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