The Genesys Meeting Center has been named the product of the year by Internet Telephony magazine.  From this point forward we would appreciate it if you would refer to our flagship product as the award winning Genesys Meeting Center.  Was it the ease of use, the intuitiveness of the interface, the ability to launch meetings with a click or the seamless VoIP integration that led to this big win?  The answer is all of the above.  While this award is great for marketing and PR, it is really about the people who believe in and support Genesys Meeting Center day in and day out.

I’ve noticed a change in the office since this award was announced.  The coffee tastes a little better, the tedious tasks seem a little less mind numbing and stopping on every floor when riding the elevator down for lunch seems more tolerable.  What I’m trying to say is that getting recognition sometimes makes the medicine go down more easily. 

The fact that each employee gets a $1000 bonus for winning this award makes it even sweeter.  What?  We don’t actually get compensated for providing an award winning service?  Well, sorry, I was misinformed, as I was saying it is truly an honor to win receive such a prestigious accolade.  Are you sure we don’t get a T-shirt or something? No?  Ok, moving on.

I think I said it best when I said this award is really about the people behind the product, but Rich Tehrani, TMC President and Editor-in-Chief of INTERNET TELEPHONY magazine also wanted to say; “We’re proud to honor their hard work and accomplishments and look forward to more innovative solutions from Genesys in the future.”

Thanks Mr. Tehrani and Internet Telephony Magazine!

Erik Crawford – Web Marketing Manager

The annual Sales Kickoff was in the “Big Easy” this year, and the agenda did not disappoint.  Every year Genesys gathers the sales and marketing teams together to assess where we’ve been, where we are and where we are going. 

 
Day 1
Driving in from the airport it was hard to tell what areas had been affected by Katrina, because I had never been to New Orleans before.  When you got downtown there were pockets of damage and while the French Quarter and touristy areas had recovered nicely, the remnants of the past were still evident.

 
The day’s agenda was chalked full of speeches from the company’s executives, and the news was positive.  We had a record year for sales and growth and if the dollar doesn’t totally tank in 2008, it should be another good year for the company. 

 
After the speeches it was time for some dinner in the French Quarter.  Everyone was buzzing from being in a new city, seeing old friends from other Genesys locations and getting the good news from the executives.  Regardless of how many times management warns us to take it easy on night one and we’ll do the real celebrating on night two, it never really works out that way.  A live band was cranking out the Zydeco music as we were enjoying some tradition Cajun food and watching the few tourists who braved the cold temperatures and ventured out on a weeknight.  After a few hurricanes and a few awards it was time to call it a night.  The speeches started early the next morning, and the guest speaker was sure to be a highlight of the trip.

 
Day 2
Sir Edmund Hillary’s son Peter was on hand to deliver a speech about both he and his father’s accomplishments in mountaineering and exploration.  Despite his father’s passing just a few days prior, Hillary entertained us with his tales of climbing Everest twice and of his 84 day trek across Antarctica.  I know it was supposed to be inspiring, but I felt like a worthless underachiever after hearing his stories.  I am disappointed when the escalator at the mall isn’t working; I can’t even imagine climbing the mountains that he has conquered.

  
After Hillary finished it was time for our CEO Francois Legros to deliver his state of the company address.  Like his executives before him, he painted a rosy picture of the past year and outlined what we need to do as a company in 2008 to keep this momentum going.

 
Night two started mysteriously as the marketing team went all “Eyes Wide Shut” on us.  We waited in our rooms, dressed to the nines and wearing masks.  A colorfully dressed individual then led us back into the French Quarter where a Dixieland band was playing.  After receiving several beads and colorful boas the band then led everyone out into the street, where we became a Mardi Gras parade complete with a police escort.  The locals didn’t even bat an eye at us, but the tourists watched us through amazed, yet confused expressions.

 
Finally, we finished the night with the traditional dinner and an awards banquet.  Top achievers were recognized and the DJ had the dance floor packed for most of the evening.  A big thank you goes out to the marketing team for providing both an informative and entertaining few days in the crescent city.

 
Erik Crawford – Web Marketing Manager

First, to our customers, thanks to your continued support and trust.  I’m pleased to inform you, and everybody, about some great things going on at Genesys. 

Genesys continues to gain market share and size, which allows us to continue our significant investment in R&D, infrastructure and most importantly in our service.  

The third quarter of 2007 was one of the strongest quarters in Genesys’ history, which  reflects the strong momentum being achieved by Genesys Meeting Center, our multimedia conferencing and collaboration service.. Our volume growth of 30% is among the highest in the industry. 

We have reported strong year-on-year revenue results, with total revenues in Q3 of $54.4M, an increase of 13.4% from last year. Our net income in Q3 was $6.6M. Our net debt position is $16.5M and our leverage, representing about half a year of operating profitability, is among the lowest in the industry.  

Geographical expansion and innovation
Our financial strength is critical to our growth strategy which continues to be focused on two key elements:  

Firstly, we intend to continue our investment in the distribution and customer support of our services.  We also plan to accelerate our geographical expansion into new countries in order to enhance our support to our global customers. Genesys is currently present in 24 countries in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.  

Secondly, we’re stepping up our R&D efforts to ensure that we meet the existing and future requirements of our users that have come to rely on Genesys to provide them with the most effective and easy-to-use collaboration tools. Our newly established development center in Shanghai is now fully operational and with our existing R&D organizations in North America and Europe, we’re developing new applications literally around the clock and around the globe.  

Next Genesys Meeting Center Upgrade
Ease-of-use, ubiquitous access and integration with business communication tools that you’re already using are critical elements of our product roadmap.  

In our upcoming release of Genesys Meeting Center we’re excited to include a number of new features.
 
Improvements to the user interface include a tool to instantaneously dial out to additional participants from a meeting in progress, as well as the ability to set notification tone control directly from the interface.  

It also includes the ability for any shared presentation or application to be automatically scaled to fit the participant’s screen.  

This release also brings integration support for the Lotus Notes IM client. Users will be able to easily and quickly invite Lotus Notes users via their IM buddy lists.  

For our Asian customers, the new login interface will support Japanese and the two major versions of Chinese.  

And lastly, we will now fully support the new Microsoft Vista OS as well as Office 2007 for any users that have made the upgrade.  

We appreciate all the feedback we have received from you. Our product team responds to all product suggestions within 24 hours if you email us at productsuggestions@genesys.com. 

Our results and achievements during 2007 signify a major milestone in our 21 year corporate history. The driving force behind our growth has always been your continued trust and support. On behalf of Genesys, I would like to thank you again.