This week, a lot of the chatter at CBR headquarters is about ‘brands’ – company brands and Russell Brand.
Earlier this week, the powers that be at Siemens Enterprise Communications took the bold decision to rebrand, changing the firm’s name to Unify. So why did they do it?
Well, there’s no doubt that the way in which companies do business and communicate is changing. BYOD means workers are no longer chained to their desks and video conferencing is becoming more prevalent.
So more and more firms are adding video conferencing to their unified communications systems. At the same time, more companies are taking to the cloud.
This is all positive news for Siemens Enterprise Communications, or Unify as we now call it, especially in relation to a project it launched this summer.
Project Ansible will combine cloud-based comms using video, voice, text and remote screen sharing. Users are expected to be able to move conversations between different devices, with trials beginning in January and general availability expected in July.
So, as the company’s CEO explained this week, Siemens Enterprise Communications as a brand was not speaking to its prospective customers. Unify, on the other hand, "perfectly encapsulates what we’re all about," he explained.
Completely changing a brand name is not to be taken lightly, though. People have heard of Siemens Enterprise Communications. It may well be a brand that some people have come to know and love. To really make it work will take time, effort and, of course, a fair amount cash. The marketing team will be working overtime to get ‘Unify’ out there. So we’ll see how it goes. Good luck to them.
Meanwhile, comedian Russell Brand is hanging out in our offices today. Apparently, he’s working as guest editor on another Progressive Digital Media title, The New Statesman, but nobody on Team CBR has sighted him yet. The lesser spotted Brand is working in the boardroom upstairs and our passes don’t allow us the luxury of reaching that level. I even hear they have windows up there. And fresh air.
