Ericsson targets mobile enterprise
Firm launches smartphone software
Ericsson Enterprise has launched its Personal Assistant for Smartphone software, which it has claimed will give VARs extra margin.
The software can be installed into the vendor's MD110 telephony system and its SME BusinessPhone counterpart as part of its mobile extension.
It enables mobile workers to access corporate telephone directories.
"This is a small piece of software that has a big impact on efficiency," said Frederic Boone, director of marketing western Europe at Ericsson.
"It is all about being able to do out of the office what you can do in the office."
Resellers selling MD110 and BusinessPhone will sell the application pre-installed, and those with existing customers can upgrade them. Initially the upgrade will be able to connect to the firm's P9000 phone.
Paul Rennuci, managing director of Ericsson's former direct- sales arm Damovo, said: "We are expecting investment from the vendor in direct-touch people to promote the offering to the enterprise. This upgrade supports Ericsson's plan to make everything for the office mobile.
"I met recently with the vendor. It is planning to invest in products for its mobile enterprise strategy."
Rennuci admitted he believes Ericsson "has taken its foot off the pedal in the enterprise space". But he added that as its biggest sales partner in the UK, Damovo is positive about the future.
"Most of our new opportunities have come from Nortel and Cisco, but if Ericsson invests in products it will be great news for our enterprise customers, which is most of our installed base," he said.