Cox Business Launches New Suite of Cloud Services for Small Businesses

Essential Cloud platform provides applications to meet the specific needs of small businesses in key vertical markets

ATLANTA, March 6, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Cox Business today announced the national availability of Essential Cloud™, a suite of cloud-based business applications that provides small businesses with the solutions they need to increase operational efficiency and improve customer relationships.  A Cox Business solution, Essential Cloud is designed to meet the needs of businesses in specific industry verticals.

"Businesses are continuing to embrace the cloud to improve performance, while allowing them to remain customer-focused and revenue driven," said Asheesh Saksena, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Cox Communications.  "With this as a backdrop, we developed Essential Cloud to include the very best applications to enable customers to run their small and medium businesses as efficiently as a large enterprise."

Essential Cloud carefully curates business solutions that can be purchased and managed through one portal, similarly to how music files are managed by consumers.  It recommends three "Basic Essentials," which are solutions every business needs, and then tailors solutions by four primary verticals: real estate, restaurant, professional services, and personal services.  For instance, Essential Cloud directs those in the professional services industry to a menu of options which includes email marketing, online appointment booking, proposal creation, and secure file sharing – solutions that almost any professional services company would need to run and grow. 

"Essential Cloud is another example of our commitment to provide technology solutions that small business need to grow," added Steve Rowley, senior vice president of Cox Business. 

Essential Cloud also features PayLeap, a payments/merchant services platform, as its anchor business solution. Developed by Acculynk, a Cox Business partner, PayLeap provides small and medium-sized businesses with the ability to integrate in-store, online and mobile payment processing in one offering, thereby eliminating many of the steps and costs typically associated with card payment processing.

Customers can access their apps from anywhere, at any time, with continual backup.  Essential Cloud also offers personalized service and live consultation via a concierge team to aid users in selecting the best apps for their unique business needs.  To learn more about Essential Cloud, visit:  www.essentialcloud.com.  

Cox Business continues to go deeper in delivering cloud solutions for customers.  In 2013, Cox Business launched VoiceManager IP Centrex, a cloud-based voice solution for business designed to increase efficiencies in one reliable communications platform.  In addition, Cox Business forged a partnership with ViaWest to offer commercial customers secure fiber network connectivity along with colocation and cloud infrastructure solutions.  

Cox Business provides voice, data and video services for more than 300,000 small and regional businesses, including healthcare providers, K-12 and higher education, financial institutions and federal, state and local government organizations. The organization also serves most of the top tier wireless and wireline telecommunications carriers in the U.S. through its wholesale division. According to Vertical Systems Group, Cox Business is one of the largest providers of business Ethernet services in the U.S. based on customer ports and has been consistently recognized for its leadership among small/midsize business data service providers. Cox is currently the seventh largest voice service provider in the U.S. and supports one million phone lines. For more information about Cox Business, Click Here or call 1-800-396-1609 FREE.

About Cox Communications
Cox Communications is a broadband communications and entertainment company, providing advanced digital video, Internet and telephone services over its own nationwide IP network. The third-largest U.S. cable TV company, Cox serves approximately 6 million residences and businesses. Cox Business is a facilities-based provider of voice, video and data solutions for commercial customers, and Cox Media is a full-service provider of national and local cable spot and new media advertising.

Cox is known for its pioneering efforts in cable telephone and commercial services, industry-leading customer care and its outstanding workplaces. For seven years, Cox has been recognized as the top operator for women by Women in Cable Telecommunications; for seven years, Cox has ranked among DiversityInc's Top 50 Companies for Diversity. More information about Cox Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises, is available at www.cox.com and www.coxmedia.com.

©2014 Cox Business, All Rights Reserved

SOURCE Cox Business

For further information: Shana Keith, Cox Business, 404.269.0942, shana.keith@cox.com