ShoreTel won the Best Overall VOIP Provider award based on earning the highest average rating (4.22 out of 5) across all categories. ShoreTel was tops in:
* Technology - covering underlying software, platforms, intelligence and standards compliance.
* Product Features - focusing on handset and switch capabilities. Customers like the architecture, built-in redundancy and ability to scale by stacking additional switches.
* Customer Service - focusing on response time, account service, RFP process, and warranty issues. Customers like that ShoreTel listens well to suggestions for upgrades and improvements.
* Value - focusing on "bang for the buck" - customers feel they received value for their expenditure. Customers like that the capital, implementation and operational costs are lower than competitors and that ShoreTel includes its Personal Call Manager desktop client with every license.
* Solution Experience - focusing on the ability to understand business requirements and craft solutions that meet customer needs.
* Ease of Installation and Troubleshooting.
* UC Vision - indicating the best plan and outlook for moving customers from VOIP to a full UC deployment.
* ShoreTel was also one of the top three rated vendors for integration capabilities, which tracks how well products integrate with third-party products and applications.
"We're extremely pleased that Nemertes has provided an independent opportunity for our customers to express satisfaction with their ShoreTel UC systems," said Steve Timmerman, vice president of marketing, ShoreTel. "We understand the business and communications challenges our customers face, and we will continue to create the systems that meet their most exacting demands for high reliability, ease of deployment and use, and features that provide them with a competitive edge. We are especially proud that we have earned the top spot in Nemertes' evaluation for the fifth straight year."