ShoreTel User Guide - Fully Utilizing Your Collaboration Suite

As business owners and IT administrators it is your job to provide tools that maximize productivity within your organization. Modern voice applications, such as the collaboration suite provided by ShoreTel is making the task of empowering your workforce easier than ever before. But is your team using the tools you have invested in? The following is a list of valuable resources to share with your end users as well as best practices for launching a service appliance within a ShoreTel environment.

Collaboration Suite vs Out of the Box ShoreTel

ShoreTel delivers out of the box features such as a robust desktop client that allows dial by name directory, presence (the ability to see if others are available), and workgroup functionality. However, in order to unleash the full power of ShoreTel's UC platform a service appliance must be added to your system. Service appliances come in a few different forms depending on use and capacity needs. Both the SA-100 and SA-400 are physical hardware pieces you add to your network but there is also a virtual option - all you need is licensing. Once you have eithera physical or virtual appliance in place, you are able to unleash the full power of ShoreTel's Collaboration Suite. This means giving your end users new tools such as instant messaging, audio conferencing, and web collaboration (screen sharing). Once you have your collaboration solution ready to launch, it is extremely valuable to have resources in place that are easily accessible to your team- this blog post was created to be that resource. 

Resources for your ShoreTel End Users

ShoreTel has incredible learning tools available, but they are not always easy to find. Here is a list of self-paced learning resources that will help you successfully launch your new collaborative environment:

Self Paced, Self Guided ShoreTel Connect Client Tutorial:

This intuitive, self-paced learning tool walks your end-users through all parts of the new Connect collaboration tool set. Users can simply click on the topic they’d like to learn more about and have the option to see a demonstration or try it out themselves in a virtual environment. Note: this is only for Connect Client users. If you are still on version 14.2 or below this will not help.

For those of you that are running ShoreTel versions of 14.2 and lower here are two links that you will find useful, the first is easy access to Communicator and phone training. The second is training for how to operate and utilize the conferencing options available once a service appliance is in place.

ShoreTel Premises (software version14.2 and lower) Basic Communicator and Phone Use End-User Training Video:

• http://training.shoretel.com/communicator/

ShoreTel Premises (software version14.2 and lower) Basic Conferencing Video Tutorial:

• http://training.shoretel.com/conferencing/player.html

The video tutorial above should serve as learning tools for your end-users. Remember to keep these links (or link to this post) conveniently located for quick access.

I hope you enjoyed the read and find value in the content above. Please feel free to email us at info@mtrx.com with any questions and do share this article with your team(s). It is our goal to be your trusted ShoreTel support resource, as we look to help organizations of all sizes grow through innovative technology.

Next Article: ShoreTel Implementation Guide: Successfully Launch Your Collaboration Suite