Over the past several days the UCStrategies team has been involved in an interesting, sometimes heated, and sometimes funny discussion on a name for UC “resellers”.  As we prepare our marketing material for the UC Summit 2010, we’ve been trying to figure out the best/proper term for the data VARs, systems integrators, and telecom dealers/interconnects who offer VoIP and UC solutions to their customers.  Certainly “VARs/systems integrators/telecom dealers/interconnects” is much too long.  We could lump them together as “resellers” – but that term doesn’t even begin to describe what they do or the level of expertise that they bring to the table. 

If a rose by any other name is still a rose – what the heck is a VAR or telecom dealer who has progressed beyond selling “features and benefits” to identifying and solving customer business problems by integrating various technology elements into a “solution” (whew! that was a mouthful!)?  And while each UCS team member had their own thoughts and suggestions (some not repeatable), it seems to me that the naming issue comes down to this:

·         The name/term needs to properly position the “VAR/systems integrator/telecom dealer/interconnect” as a problem solver (or that over-used term “trusted advisor”) for their customer.  In other words, I think the term needs to focus on what the “VAR/systems integrator/telecom dealer/interconnect” does rather than where they come from or what they sell.

·         The name/term needs to be flexible and broad so that it survives the changes in the industries and changes in the “VAR/systems integrator/telecom dealer/interconnect’s” product or solution direction.

·         “UC” should NOT be a part of the name/term because a “VAR/systems integrator/telecom dealer/interconnect” may be focusing on only one area of UC or UC may be only one silo in their overall business direction.

OK – are you tired yet of reading “VAR/systems integrator/telecom dealer/interconnect” to describe those who are integrating products to provide voice/data/mobility/video solutions to their customers?

So here’s what the team came up with – and I like it a lot…… “SOLUTIONS INTEGRATORS”!  If I were a “VAR/systems integrator/telecom dealer/interconnect”, I’d like it because it says to a customer that I deal in solutions for their needs/problems and it says that I have the expertise to integrate elements/technologies to create those solutions.  It doesn’t reflect whether I come from a traditional voice or data environment….. it doesn’t reflect that I sell something…. it does reflect my focus on solving problems and providing solutions.  Yea!  Higher margins!

What do you think?  Does “solutions integrator” work?  And if you’re thinking about the acronym “SI” and its current meaning for “systems integrator” – DON’T GO THERE!     

Tags: Unified Communications, Unified Communications Information // Add Comment »

Social networking sounds so pleasant and civilized. It’s cocktails and canapés. Folks of like interests coming together to discuss the latest events. And, then, you hear the loud, obnoxious voice. Apparently, nothing is right and the host doesn’t know, want to know or care that this guest is ‘unhappy’.  Suddenly, everyone is talking not about the wonderful party, but about the disgruntled guest. Conversations have gone from social to viral.

While in the business world of buzz word bingo, ‘viral marketing’ is to be desired – positive messages being spread exponentially through Yammer, Twitter and the plethora of social networking sites. There is the obvious flip side to ‘viral’. Viral doesn’t sound pleasant; it sounds toxic.  And, this is the challenge of the evolving social media craze for companies – the allure of free advertising versus the fear of being pilloried on a global scale. Remember when conventional wisdom stated that for every bad experience an individual would tell 10-20 people. Those days are long gone. Think thousands and even millions.

And, it’s not as if you can choose not to participate in order to control the conversations. Imagine one irate customer ranting to the world. You have to take control of the online conversation or you will no longer own your brand image. As we have seen with political campaigns, once something is put out there it acquires the presumption of truth. And, to dispute the claim doesn’t dispel it, but ironically gives is credence. One is challenged as to how to respond to the negative or blatantly inaccurate.

So, given it’s out there and you cannot ignore it:  How are you using social media? What are you doing to tie it into the overall communication fabric (application management, analysis, marketing, etc.)? Have you considered whether you participate as “Company” or create a persona for the company to establish the impression of a human relationship? Will monitoring be automated or manual? Have you established a formal group to manage and respond or is it still ad hoc? Or, are your employees speaking on your behalf with no guidelines or oversight?

Remember, no one has all the answers yet as to how to best use social media. The space is evolving too rapidly. The only wrong answer is to do nothing.

Tags: Unified Communications Information // Add Comment »

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry!  Avaya announced on Tuesday, May 26^th, that it is “inviting” Nortel and Siemens dealers to join the Avaya team through a fast-track program.  My first thought was that I’ll bet the announcement just made the day for current Avaya partners.  In many areas, Avaya dealers have already been competing against other Avaya partners – now they’ll have even more Avaya partners to compete against!  Whopee!? 

 My second thought was that if I was a savvy Nortel dealer, I would already have been exploring opportunities to bring my business into the changed world brought about by convergence, VoIP and unified communications – not to mention the current economic situation.  I would be looking for new vendor partners with both innovative products and a partner program that’s really a “partnership”.  I would NOT be looking for a new partner who is encumbered by years of legacy, even though this might feel like the “safe” option.  As a Nortel dealer, I would grab the opportunity to move my company into the fast-paced world of UC by aligning with visionary vendors, and with UC integrators/resellers that have heavy expertise on the data side but need expertise on the voice side to provide UC solutions.

 My third thought (yes, I can have more than 2 thoughts at one time….) moves to the question of how many of these Nortel dealers are currently successfully involved in VoIP and/or UC or moving in that direction.  Does Avaya need more dealers who are “exiters” waiting to sell their business rather than change to the new model that I describe in “The Industry has Left its Reseller Channel Behind”?  Or does Avaya need the “go getters” that I describe in that same article?

 Would it be crazy to imagine that every single Nortel dealer is already being courted by the likes of Mitel, NEC, Cisco, Microsoft and too many other manufacturers to name?  Right now, these dealers can pick and choose their vendor partners and if they are smart, in some cases, they can set the terms of the new “partnership”.  What a fantastic opportunity for these dealers to put themselves in a position to successfully move forward in a rapidly changing technology world…. in an already changed business environment where customers’ buying requirements make the PBX (of any type) a pull-through item.  Most of all, this is a golden opportunity for Nortel dealers to shed their own mantle of “legacy” and join the movers and shakers who will be the successful dealers of tomorrow.

Tags: Unified Communications Information // 2 Comments »

Last week I blogged about Mike McCue’s planned departure at the end of June from Tellme and Microsoft’s plans to fold Tellme and all other things speech into one division under Zig Serafin. This includes Tellme, a research team developing text-to-speech in Beijing, and the Redmond-based Speech Components group. I’ve since talked to Microsoft and a few others, so here is a brief update on the reorganization of speech at Microsoft.

Something I sort of glossed over, but thought about after I posted, was the importance of this new group having Zig Serafin at the helm. For those of you who don’t know, Zig has spent a decade at Microsoft and is the co-founder of the Unified Communications (UC) group there. In my opinion, this is extremely important. From an industry standpoint, speech technologies have been gaining traction in pockets or silos for two decades. Speech technologies first showed up with applications such as speech-enabled IVR, and voice-activated dialing, then with directory search, and dictation. In the past two years, as unified communications evolved, speech started to proliferate everywhere from mobility applications to more complex natural language voice search. I’m not forgetting other uses such as translation either, but we have seen a more concentrated melding of multiple types of speech technologies such as speech-to-text for mobile users sending messages and in applications such as unified messaging (a component of UC) as part of the UC push.

Making Zig the leader of the combined speech groups, given the results of his efforts in UC, is a big statement as to the commitment Microsoft has made, and will continue making into the development and deployment of speech technologies across applications and platforms. For those of you who have listened to keynotes given by Gates and Ballmer in the past, this isn’t new, but it is a reminder of how far Microsoft has come in speech and its commitment to it.

As part of this, Microsoft is creating a speech center of excellence. This is really to focus their efforts on developing speech across business and consumer products. Tellme’s research and installed base of products is a big part of this as they have vast experience in many of the recipients of speech research including IVR, multi-modal applications, directory assistance, etc.

Finally, Tellme is staying put. I mean that in a physical and philosophical way; maintaining their office in Mountain View and their brand. I had hoped this was the case, and had thought so as the spring Tellme announcement really showed how far Microsoft and Tellme’s product and research groups have come working together. Folding all of them into the same division just breaks down any work barriers further. Also, that joint effort is producing a broadening of speech deployments across more products as was shown by Tellme’s Windows Mobile 6.5 announcement. This deeper melding into one group reminds me a lot of Active Voice folding itself more tightly into NEC, which I blogged about in April.

Tags: ADA communications, Unified Communications, Unified Communications Information // 2 Comments »

Oprah does it, Sarah Palin and Michael Palin do it, and apparently Justin Timberlake and Demi Moore do it a lot. And rumor has it that Jennifer Aniston left John Mayer because he was doing it too much. I’m talking, of course, about Twitter. Twitter is hot, and while lots of celebrities and politicians are now tweeting about their thoughts and activities, many people question whether it has a role in the enterprise and for business communications. My answer is unequivocally yes.

Aside from the obvious examples of companies like Comcast, Dell, Zappos, and others that use Twitter to provide information to customers and to proactively deal with customer service issues, there are many ways Twitter helps me personally to do my job.

As an analyst, I need to be on top of breaking unified communications-related news and events, and Twitter is an easy way to get access to the latest articles, blogs, and other information from vendors, customers, resellers, and analysts who tweet about not only what they’ve written, but things they’ve read that they recommend to others (the RT or retweet function is especially useful for disseminating information).

In addition, I’ve met many people through Twitter who for whatever reason I hadn’t met before. In fact, one of my Twitter buddies is now part of the UCStrategies.com extended team – welcome Dave Michels (you can read one of his many new articles at http://www.ucstrategies.com/unified-communications-expert-views/the-microsoft-office-communications-server-ocs-infomercial.aspx).

I now keep in touch with CEOs, VPs, sales managers, product managers, analyst relations, engineers, industry analyst colleagues, and many others through Twitter, and I can read about how testing of new products is going, what problems they may be facing, successful rollouts and trials, and more. By following certain topics such as unified communications, OCS, or specific vendors through the search function or tools like Tweetdeck, I can instantly get the latest information.

Usually when I post a blog or column I “tweet” about it and include the link so that my “followers” can read it. More and more I’m finding that rather than post a comment on the website where the article is posted, people will send me a comment via Twitter, leading to more interactions.

Of course you have to get through the non-work related tweets – like what someone had for lunch or a great new bar they found in a country you’ll never go to, but Twitter is still worth it. Through Twitter I’ve met people to share ideas and information with, and have broadened my UC-related network. While you have to be judicious in whom you follow and what you tweet, Twitter is certainly an important business tool for those of us who want to continue expanding our knowledge and networks.

And of course, please follow me on Twitter at blairplez.

Tags: Unified Communications, Unified Communications Information // Add Comment »

Sometimes my not-so-lofty thoughts strike a nerve out there.  This time I struck a number of nerves.  I’ve had several comments to my last blogs (take a look at them) discussing the need for resellers to learn how to consultative sell but each of the comments only sees a part of a quite complex issue. 

One comment decried the use of the word “reseller”, saying that UC requires so much more than just “reselling” or “selling” the products.  While I heartily agree with this, the challenge is providing a term that everyone in the industry will understand.  I’ve tried describing the group as telecom dealers/VARs/SIs but that’s pretty darn cumbersome.  I’ve tried calling them “solutions integrators” but no one in the industry recognizes the term, hence they have no idea who I’m talking about.  A group that I managed several years ago – the CT Pioneers – came up with the term “convergence integrators”, which I still think is a great term to describe the telecom dealers, VARs and systems integrators who are now providing converged voice, data, and video solutions – but the UC people take exception to the term “converged” as being outdated.  Out of desperation – and lacking in creativity – I fell back on the term “resellers”, which everyone in the industry seems to understand, even if it does fall waaaaay short of what is actually being provided by this group.  Any suggestions? 

Another comment talked about the role of the vendors in providing “sales training” which in fact is really just product training (features and benefits).  I heartily agree with the person making the comment that the vendors have done a great disservice to unwitting resellers who think they’re actually getting sales training for their sales staff!  In point of fact, the vendors themselves, with their “sales training”, have contributed significantly to the inability of most resellers to really “sell” solutions and address customers’ business needs.  And resellers aren’t the only ones who have paid the price – so have the vendors themselves.  In one of my white papers, “Survival of the Fittest”, I talk about what vendors can do for their resellers to aid in the transition from low-margin product selling to higher margin consultative selling. 

And yet another comment, from a distributor, talked about how they are working to get their resellers to begin “consultative selling”.  Kudos to that distributor (wish I knew who they are)!  However – and of course there’s always a “however” – in reality the answer isn’t as simple as getting resellers to start using the consultative selling approach.  Consultative selling requires a change in the mindset of and a commitment from everyone in a reseller organization – from the CEO/owner to the technicians.  In another of my white papers, I talk about the changes that a reseller business has to make to compete in UC, and many of the changes are associated with consultative selling.  It requires an investment in “real” sales training from a third party organization.  It means taking sales people out of their comfort zone.  It means that the technical team has to be able to take the “business needs/problems” that the salesperson identifies and “translate” them into solutions based upon technology.  It’s just not simple – but the rewards are well worth it!  Ask the few resellers who have made the financial and training investments in switching to consultative selling and they’ll all tell you it has made a big difference in the growth and profitability of their company.  And by the way, consultative selling is not just for UC – it works just as well for selling straight data or telecom.  I know – I’ve done it!

Tags: Unified Communications Information // Add Comment »

I frequently blog about Tellme due to their speech recognition and self-service offerings, and I liked the relative autonomy which Microsoft gave Tellme after the MS acquisition 2 years ago.

However, I sense a change is in the works for Tellme Network, because its’ founder and GM, Mike McCue, is leaving Tellme at the end of June. It’s been reported that part of the change will be an overhaul of Microsoft’s speech recognition efforts, and that Tellme and all related areas will be combined into one business unit at Microsoft under the leadership of Zig Serafin.

Read more on my blog, http://www.jamison-consulting.com/blog/

Tags: ADA communications, Unified Communications Information // Add Comment »

I knew I was probably asking for a miracle, but I didn’t realize what a big miracle it probably is!  I recently posted a blog about the challenge of getting telecom dealers and VARs to act like real sales professionals as they advance into selling UC solutions – it’s going to take a miracle, in my opinion!  I talked about a proposal that I had been asked to evaluate – and my evaluation was pretty brutal.  Boilerplate about how good the reseller is, how much their customers love them, blah, blah, blah.  What the proposal totally missed was any indication that the reseller understood the customer’s specific business needs and long range goals.

 So here’s Act II in what’s turning into a sad saga……  The customer went back to the reseller and took the time to tell them that he wanted to know why they were recommending that system.  How did it fit his company’s specific business needs better than other products?  How would it fit into the customer’s overall evolving UC strategy?  What business benefits could the customer expect if they implemented that recommendation?  Get where I’m going with this……?

 Guess what!  The customer received a second proposal from that same reseller – this time for one of the other 20+ remote offices.  Great opportunity for the reseller to show that they really were listening to the customer, wouldn’t you think?  Oh, no!  The second proposal was exactly like the first – 80% self-promoting boilerplate, 10% product boilerplate and 10% cost figures (no ROI, of course).

 Telecom dealers!  VARs!  Listen up!  Especially in these challenging economic times, customers are only buying when the purchase will have a positive impact on their business – reduce expenses, increase revenue, improve customer service, etc.  They ARE NOT making buying decisions based upon how great your company is!  Or how much you are loved by your other customers!  If you have ever wondered how to make your own business more successful, this is a great place to start – begin focusing on your customers’ business needs and stop focusing on the products that you have to sell.  In a recent video presentation on The Inside Advantage: 4 Steps to Unlocking the Hidden Growth of Your Business, Robert Bloom stated quite clearly that “sellers have to think like buyers” if they are to succeed.  I totally agree with him, based on my own experiences in sales!  So get yourself into your customer’s head and start seeing better and bigger sales as a result!

Tags: Unified Communications // 5 Comments »

One of the more appealing concepts embraced by executives in recent years is delivering first contact resolution through the use of experts on demand. Could there be anything more obvious than using existing resources to resolve customer issues quickly? The employees are already paid for – seems like a great way to leverage existing investments, doesn’t it? Not to mention that applications exist to enable these “experts” with access to relevant information and manage the communications flow. Let’s put a bow on this one and wait for the oohs and ahs.

Not so fast, this could be that present from your Great Aunt Myrtle – the one you open with trepidation. Is it just what you’ve always wanted?  Or, have you been re-gifted with some old solution polished up to look new?  Is it that free trip to Florida that ends up costing a fortune because of the hidden fees and the extras? Is it that gift encased in plastic that you just know would be perfect if only you could get to it? Does it come with instructions and some assembly required?

Now, I don’t want to leave the impression that you should avoid this type of solution. With the right planning and the right folks involved, it can create a competitive advantage. But, some assembly is required. As with other UC projects this one requires buy-in and participation from multiple organizations within the company. People, process and technology continue to be the three areas to be addressed. And, in my opinion, technology is the easy part. A few questions to consider as you move forward:

• Who are the experts and where do they reside in the organization? Is expertise self-declared? Or, is there a formalized process for declaring and communicating expertise?
• How and when will experts be accessible? Do experts really have available time to respond? What happens if experts don’t reply?
• How or will experts interact with the call center? What are the handoffs? Will customers have direct access to experts?
• Do you want to track what your experts are doing? What metrics or KPIs are relevant for experts? How are experts evaluated and tied to customer satisfaction?
• Where does ownership for the results of “experts on demand” fall?

Once you have the answers to these questions, you can identify who needs to be involved in the project (HR, Division Heads, IT, Call Center, etc.). Once the implications of the answers are evaluated, you can move forward with rolling out a customer service and support solution delivering first call resolution through the maximization of your human assets irrespective of where they sit. If done correctly, customers will receive better answers faster and customer satisfaction (and, hopefully customer loyalty) will increase. Employee satisfaction should also increase and, as a result, employee retention. Done incorrectly, it could be that gift from Great Aunt Myrtle – employees feel over-worked and underappreciated, customer calls go into the black hole, there’s lot of finger pointing as to who is responsible, and so on.

Tags: Unified Communications // Add Comment »

Is it possible to deliver exceptional customer service anymore? Was it ever possible? With each advance in the options for – purchasing services – finding information – rectifying problems – resolving complaints, the end-state moves further away. Consumers are not just demanding more, they are expecting more. Once, access to a toll free number was considered good service. Today, round the clock entree via phone, web, email, etc. (foundation of the customer service hierarchy of needs) is expected. But, that does nothing to distinguish a company. Which leads us to the second level in the pyramid – each application must be easy to use. Sounds obvious, but so few companies do it. It truly is a change of focus from how a company wants to manage the interaction to how consumers want to communicate. One has only to experience any of the myriad of voice/speech response applications out there today and compare to a real conversation to understand the difference. Which brings us to the next level – customers want informed resources. This is where the impact of unified communications is felt. True unified communications is not just telephony mixed with some messaging with a dash of collaboration and a sprinkle of video. It is the combination of all conversations (regardless of type) with context. How well is the consumer known?  What have they done recently? Do they have to repeat the same information over and over? Easy enough.  All you have to do is get all the departments within your organization to share information in a timely and consistent manner. Ok, who am I kidding? Now, we get to the top of the hierarchy – awareness, or, anticipating what customers want and meeting their expectations holistically rather than satisfying discrete events. Experience creates loyalty; not individual events. Realize that many of those conversations are happening outside your control.

 While this appears to be a “no win” situation; it is also a “must play” situation. Technology advances are both a blessing and a curse. It is easier to support these consumer expectations. Yet, consumers expect more because they have access to applications powered by this technology. Was it ever possible to reach the top? Probably not. The challenge is making the conscious decision to own all the communications or to let your customers speak without you. Now more than ever, it is critical to balance the costs and the benefits of retaining and growing an increasingly precious customer base.

Tags: Unified Communications // 1 Comment »