Siemens Enterprise Communications recently announced significant enhancements and a new brand name - OpenScale - for its professional and managed services portfolio. Along with the enhancements, Siemens will increase its investment in its existing global services infrastructure and accelerate its capabilities to deliver software-based unified communication services (Compare Unified Communications products).

Tricia Cooper, senior manager for U. S. marketing at Siemens said: “Five years ago, we were hardware centric but provided other services like maintenance. But as IP has evolved, so has our business with the [increased] need to address services like assessments and ongoing management.”

With the announcement, Cooper said Siemens is now “looking at more software, services, and integration . . . moving away from a [pure] product focus into a more value-added business.” Cooper also noted that, especially since the Siemens service business is global, multivendor capability is critical and especially important to customers who have gone through acquisitions with inherent legacy systems.

The strategy also includes a portfolio away from silos of service, products, maintenance, and software; rather it offers the portfolio with “how the customer views” a solution, according to Cooper. While the same services offered before are still available, “framework for delivery becomes easier at price points that make sense for a customer.”

Contributing to the enhancements, Siemens has built on centers of excellence (citing an example of a security practice in the United Kingdom), and has made those best practices across global operations using the experts to provide training and support. The Siemens approach includes IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) industry practices for services because, like the need for standards-based equipment, customers have come to expect industry standard service delivery.

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Larry Hettick is a principal analyst at Current Analysis.