Piggybacking on Cisco Systems’ new Unified Communications’ initiatives, software maker IPcelerate today launched IPsmartSuite, a package of VoIP solutions targeting small to mid-sized businesses and bringing them not just voice but also many other automated features.

The new software, which will be sold to SMBs by the same value-added resellers that sell Cisco products, will enable a wide range of businesses from medical and legal offices to retail outlets to offices and manufacturing facilities to use the kind of automated processes previously available only to large businesses, said Kevin Brown, CEO of IPcelerate.

“What we have done is taken the same framework that we use for the large enterprise customers, with all the embedded capability and made it much more plug and play,” Brown said. Rather than offer the customer a range of options, which requires an IT staff to sort out and operate, IPcelerate has prepackaged and bundled these capabilities into logical offerings by market vertical, he said.

“We have created specific visual dashboards that will help smaller businesses launch these capabilities, without having to have a large IT staff for support,” he said. “It’s much more plug and play right out of the box.”

For a doctor’s office or small clinic, that capability could include automating the appointment reminder and patient check-in functions, enabling patient status alerts and visual video collaboration between doctors. For a law firm heavily concerned with accurate billing, it can include validation of phone call records, recording and archiving, and client matter entry, as well as automated scheduling alerts and one-touch security buttons for alerts, 911 notifications and recordings. Retail stores would be able to automate employee clock in/out, scheduling and overtime, while an office can manage employee schedules and such things as company reminders and announcements.

“We are helping them, as they implement VoIP, to automate many of the processes that are critical and core to their businesses,” said Brown. “We have focused on these industries first because that is what Cisco asked us to do, but we will be creating similar apps for remote banks, for remote government offices, and for small schools or daycares.”

IPcelerate will be selling through Cisco’s distributors and is still determining how best to price the software licenses it offers, Brown said.