In real-estate its location, location, location, in the UC world I believe it’s process, process process!

First I went to Wikipedia to see if they had a reasonable definition. The Wikipedia definition is “Unified Communications (UC) is a commonly used term for the integration of disparate communications systems, media, devices and applications. This potentially includes the integration of fixed and mobile voice, e-mail, instant messaging, desktop and advanced business applications, Internet Protocol (IP)-PBX, voice over IP (VoIP), presence, voice-mail, fax, audio video and web conferencing, unified messaging, unified voicemail, and white boarding into a single environment offering the user a more complete but simpler experience.”

UC Strategies  defines UC as “Communications integrated to optimize business processes”, a much easier way to comprehend for simpler minds such as mine. Then there is an array of different definitions from Avaya, Cisco, ININ, Mitel, NEC and Nortel, sorry if I left any of my astute colleagues out.

The history of Unified Communications is tied to the evolution of the supporting technology. Unified Communications relies on the Internet Protocol (IP), which also supports e-mail and the World-Wide Web.

But I need to digress for a moment. Do you remember when the telephone company introduced PRI, in 1990? No body including the telephone company knew how to configure it properly, never mind install it correctly. Only through time and effort did PRI finally come to the common enterprise around 1993-1994. What about IVR and CTI? The first CTI was created by IBM in 1987. The problem was nobody knew the in’s and out’s of it. Everything became customer code and it took till 2002-2003 for CTI to be able to show it could work for the everyday enterprise. Read the book, Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey A Moore, for a good history of CTI. Well although VoIP has been around 7 plus years, people are still not sure what to do with it. Yes, its here to stay but in order to make UC work you need the VoIP component. But you need other components as well.

Okay that’s all great but why has everyone in the world not jumped all over this? I think they do not know where to start. Everybody has such different needs, are in different stages and have different tools to work with. They do not know how to put the pieces together.

Most enterprise customers truly do not know what they have and what it will take to even consider UC. You do! Develop a tool kit or checklist of what the entry level to look at UC is. This can come from vendors, manufacturers, peers or research. Appraise the customer’s environment against that list. This creates a baseline to work from. We have a customer who is in the media business and across 10 divisions they do not share common email, business process or disciplines. How in the world is some one like that going to implement and benefit from UC with out taking stock?

Work with the client to develop a budget of what it would take to even consider UC in their organization after taking stock. Next determine the business solutions, revenue generation and cost containment opportunities that will make UC a success for that customer. Remember one organizations opportunity is not the same next door. Take the Hispanic customer in the USA. The latest estimates by the US Census Bureau at the time of writing put the US Hispanic population at 42,687,224 or 14.4 percent of the US population. That equates to one person out of every seven in the US being Hispanic. The projection for 2050 is that this will increase to one in four people or 25 percent of the total population. That means that the client wanting to serve the Hispanic customer needs something different then the client who does not, as only one example. The manufacturer client wanting to communicate out on the line has different needs then a retailer.

Third and most importantly develop the process that will be accepted, implemented and must be adhered too by all stakeholders. If this is not done up front it will never get done. There is no rule book on “How to implement UC” out there that I know of yet. Collectively the consultant community has the opportunity to develop a process that could be applied by anyone practice, group or enterprise.

No technology can fix poor people skills, as reported by Paul Stockford recently in the NACC “In Queue” blog or fix bad or non existent process. If you disagree with that theory please call me, I will gladly provide you with a myriad of examples. Even if you agree we want to hear from you.

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Having once played extensively on the vendor side of the field, I have empathy for the vendors’ perspective on where consultants fit in their go-to-market equation.  After all, we’re not as easily categorized as the end-user or reseller audiences.  And quantifying our impact on vendor revenues has never proved straightforward.  But we’re here, we’re very much a part of the UC equation, and we’re not going anywhere.  So I offer a few starter anecdotes and tips on how we add value to the enterprise market and how vendors can benefit from our involvement.1.  As an independent UC consultant, our clients expect us to always be on top of the latest “whiz-bang” application or concept. While vendor-marketing buzz may succeed in prompting attention from these end-users, it actually serves as a double edge sword for the consultant community. Often we find that even if we’re not familiar with the whiz-bang’s name de jour, a second look tells us it’s simply a newer version of a familiar application. Yes, manufacturers are incorporating enhanced functionality and features in their rebranding efforts, but in most cases the products are very similar to their predecessors where it counts most to us - in terms of technical requirements and integration issues.  A Marketing ‘de-coding’ tool would save us a lot of time.

2.  Demand for an independent consultant within an enterprise often starts with the CFO.  Many manufacturers and their distributors focus almost exclusively on “soft cost” business cases and (surprisingly), more often than not, these campaigns are effective.  The reasons for success are varied, yet a soft-cost business case often hits a roadblock when a consultant is engaged.  Why is that?  Are consultants not interested in soft costs?  Of course we are, but we are hired to address what the business stakeholders require most - The Bottom Line.  In today’s toughening economic climate, capturing illusive IT dollars requires a solid business case that considers hard and soft dollar returns.  The proof, though, is in the pudding; we follow-through after implementation to prove that the forecasted returns have been achieved, an important step which is often omitted.  Your probability of additional  sales would be greatly improved if you conducted or participated in such post-sales evaluation processes?

3.  Integration is a key driver to achieving returns, yet an area where businesses - and sometimes vendors - lack the necessary skills to evaluate related issues.  We surely don’t write integration code, but we have the expertise and responsibility to ask the hard questions that may otherwise be overlooked.  Can this slow down a sales process?  Yes, but enterprises can only leverage new ways to communicate when installations are successful.  An independent resource and client advocate who assembles the necessary pieces of the UC puzzle increases the likelihood of success for all involved.   Keep us educated on the integration side of house.

Remember, these are not knocks on anyone.  On the contrary, actually, strong working relationships with the consultant community allow us to effectively represent vendor capabilities.   Consultants should not be perceived as a threat, but as an educated avenue that can improve a vendor’s probability of success.  If an enterprise is willing to expend resources on a consultant, this reflects the enterprise’s seriousness to evaluate and invest in improving or optimizing their technology.  At the end of the day, an independent consultant and the vendor are after the same result - a satisfied and referenceable customer who can confidently say they achieved their business objectives.  Let’s keep talking.

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 Independent consultants (IC) symbiotically aid both the customer and the vendor. We help the customer better understand the vendors, and we help the vendors better understand the customer. So why then do some vendors have such a negative reaction to ICs?That’s a question I am periodically left asking myself, wondering why some vendors resist the use of an IC on a project. I wonder why they don’t seem to understand how the customer>consultant>vendor relationship can benefit all constituencies.I believe vendor resistance to ICs falls into two primary categories. One category I’ll loosely characterize as “friction”, and the second category I’ll call “competition”. This month I’ll focus on the “friction”.The “friction” speaks to the perception some vendors have that ICs sit “between” them and the customer. While not the only objection cited, one of the most common is that an IC may slow the sales cycle. I unapologetically agree with that, as we seek to bring some structure to the project and move it away from the raw “pitch” stage. Yet, there are a number of friction related complaints with which I disagree. A few of the most egregious follow:‐ Looking at the sales cycle example, one should look at the associated opportunity growth. An IC may cause a 60 day opportunity to become a 120 day opportunity. But, that opportunity will likely grow 3, 4, or 5 fold as we help the customer better understand the magnitude of their requirements, and help them better understand why they should invest in the extra capabilities, functions, redundancy, and the like. If you are an investor, wouldn’t you wait an extra two months to increase your return four times over?‐ Sometimes the vendor believes the IC keeps the customer from understanding the “real value” of the vendor solution. In fact, a significant portion of many IC projects involves customer education. We might not always agree with the vendor that something is “special”, but we do educate the customers to help them see the “value” of all their options.

‐ Vendors often forget the ways in which an IC can reduce the vendor’s pre‐sales time expenditure. We help the customer understand and articulate their needs; we help develop designs; we help articulate the customer’s position, their pricing requirements, their service levels requirements, and more. We also often play a crucial role, without which any vendor would be stymied - we help with the internal business case packaging for senior management so that the project actually gets funded.

‐ Customer satisfaction grows if a skilled IC is involved. We work to make the customer understand what they are buying and what they can expect from it, and we develop a clear set of criteria. Furthermore, if the customer is dissatisfied despite the vendor performing as agreed, we seek to recalibrate the customer’s expectations. We actually do push back on the customer as warranted.

‐ ICs are, in military parlance, a “force multiplier”. A vendor can spend one perishable hour with a customer. Or, a vendor could spend an hour with consultant, and see that hour pay dividends at multiple customers. Of course, if you are vendor and you choose to establish an adversarial relationship with the Consultants, then the multiplication may prove problematic for you.

In the end, vendors will be well served recognizing that independent consultants are their allies. Our allegiance is to our clients, but we really do help both parties.

Due next month… the “competitive” resistance

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One of the many valuable resources at UCStratgies.com is the “Ask an Expert” feature.  Post your question and one of the UC Experts will send a reply with information, suggestions or other support.

For example, about a week ago we got these questions:

“What are the challenges facing the implementation of Unified Communications in small-medium enterprises (SMEs)?  In terms of deployment of UC, what approach should the implementation take?  I simply mean the phases of implementation.”

These are interesting and important questions, and we thought others might have them, too, so here is the reply from one of our UC Experts:

Thanks for your inquiry.  As a UC consultant at UniComm Consulting that focuses on Business Enterprise customer needs in Unified Communications, here is our response to your questions.
 
The challenges are both clear and manageable.  The main challenge is to decide what you are trying to get accomplished by adopting Unified Communications (UC).  UC should be a tool that improves you business, hopefully giving you high return on investment.  Some examples might include:

• If your business has a large number of field personnel (say sales, distributorship, service organization, real estate) then a UC solution that integrates with the user’s mobile device(s) could really improve your business, allowing clients to reach your people much more successfully. Such a UC solution could also allow the in-office team to see the presence (availability) of the mobile people to link up to them and allow the mobile people to see the presence of the in-office folks so as to get an answer for a customer almost instantly. Lots of other options, too. Microsoft Office Communications Server with the Office Communicator Mobile client is one example of this option. Other examples are available from IBM as well as some of SME solutions from the IP PBX suppliers.
• If your business has a major back-office process, such as would occur in an insurance brokerage requiring underwriting approvals, or a professional services firm like a consulting firm, law firm, architecture firm, accounting firm, etc. then the UC solutions would focus more on the desktop options and the “collaborative” tools. The UC solution would enable a staff member or team member to see the availability of a the appropriate experts (often by skill or role, not just by name) so they can immediately get a consultation or a decision. The consultation might start with an IM session; then with one or two mouse clicks can become a live call or a web sharing session (to review a document), or a video conference, or even a collaboration with reference to documents, client information, etc. Tools for this type of UC are available both from the telecommunications suppliers (Mitel, NEC, Siemens, Cisco, Nortel, Avaya and others all have packages for Small-Medium Businesses or SMBs). Microsoft Office Communications Server with Microsoft SharePoint and IBM’s Lotus Sametime with the IBM Quickr product are also great solutions for this type of business process.

These suggestions focus on improving your business processes.  Of course, if you install the UC solutions, your employees will also find many other benefits for their day-to-day user productivity, but the business process changes usually deliver the greatest ROI, since you can actually manage and measure the changes.  
 
As to the Implementation approach, our recommendation is:

1. Determine what you are going to focus on (as suggested above).
2. Based on those focus areas, decide which features you will need and which employees will need them. Note that sometimes you don’t need to provide UC for all the employees; but depending on the size of your business it may be just as easy to provide UC to everyone.
3. Shop for the best products and support services for your SMB needs. You will usually find one or two suppliers who are “the best” for your needs. Make sure to find a good VAR or distributor who understands this UC approach, not just a telecom or e-mail reseller who “cuts and runs”. The cost for a good VAR will be paid back in higher ROI, for sure.
4. Get a sample copy of the UC solution (or pre-install the system) and test out the new procedures and methods, so you’re comfortable with how they will work. From this, prepare new process documentation (”the new way we will do our work”), the training and “change management” (i.e. the messages from the business leaders, the enrollment of “champions” for the new methods, and the help/support procedures as people learn the new UC methods). Be sure to include communications to your clients, if these new processes will be visible to (and likely much better for) them.
5. Finish the installation and “roll it out” to the employees (some or all, as above). Watch carefully for the questions they have and the “tweaks” you will likely need to make.
6. Monitor the business improvements. Celebrate the successful improvements.

Then, at that point, you can look for more processes to improve, as your next round of UC investments.

Well, that’s the end of the response to that question.  Do you think it was a good answer?  What would you add or change in this response.  We would welcome your post below.

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Building on a relationship that began over a year ago, Nortel and IBM announced a new UC solution for SMBs that leverages IBM’s new “Power System” and Nortel’s UC software to create the new Nortel Software Communication Server (SCS). IBM has brought together its I-series and P-series servers into one family, called Power System, and introduced three servers as part of the family: the IBM Power 520 Express, the IBM Power 550 Express and the IBM BladeCenter JS12. IBM’s Business Systems Group is breaking the mold in how it goes to market, and no longer goes to market by product line but instead by customer set. The group can talk to customers about solutions and determine what the customers’ needs are and match them with platform that best meets these needs. And of course one of the leading solutions today is unified communications.

Nortel’s Software Communication Server is an open, SIP-based UC solution for SMBs that provides VoIP and UC capabilities on a single platform. Designed jointly by Nortel and IBM, SCS runs on IBM’s new Power Systems products and was purpose built for SMBs with under 1000 users. The two companies can provide an all-in-one solution providing embedded instant messaging, presence capabilities, basic telephony capabilities, basic contact center functionality, Ad hoc/ Meet Me audio conferencing, basic videoconferencing, and more.

Lori McClean of Nortel describes the Software Communication Server as being “dead simple,” meaning it meets the needs of SMBs for simplicity, including ease of installation, maintenance, and use. The system can be up and running in 10-20 minutes for 120 users.

In terms of features, SCS provides traditional PBX feature set, integrated ACD, auto attendant, click to talk, click to conference, call management, and PC desktop integration with Microsoft or IBM. Basic IM and presence capabilities are included as part of the Nortel software, and customers who want more extensive UC capabilities can purchase and integrate IBM Sametime (most SMB customers would likely opt for the Sametime Entry or Standard editions).

Following the simplicity theme, pricing is based on a per user license basis. MSRP is $200 per seat, including the Nortel telephony UC software and feature set, and softphone all preloaded and preconfigured. Customers that do not already have the IBM server would also need to purchase the System i server, which generally costs around $8,000-$9,000.

The product is currently in controlled release with some initial trials. SCS on System i will go GA April 17, followed by the rest of the IBM Power Systems shortly after.

The two companies will work together to market the solution, which will be sold by certified resellers. While there are only 20 certified resellers today, these are very large, national organizations. IBM partners will be primary and initial route to market, and partners need to be certified on both IBM and Nortel solutions, with expertise on both Nortel SCS and IBM Power Systems required.

Both companies agree that customers demand choice, and stated that this is not an exclusive agreement - Nortel is offering similar software to other partners and IBM will work with other partners as well. However, Nortel was quick to point out that the IBM solution is unique and that the IBM platform is the first platform to leverage the Nortel software, and it is the only multi-application platform. The companies noted that what is unique about this relationship is the breadth of the relationship - Nortel is currently the only vendor to support all of the platforms that IBM brings to market.

SMBs have different needs than their larger counterparts, and to date there have been just a handful of UC solutions aimed at this segment. While SMBs haven’t been banging down the doors yet for a full-featured UC solution (then again, neither have large enterprises), it is just a matter of time, and having more options is always a good thing. SCS helps Nortel to fill out its UC product portfolio, providing a compelling offering for SMBs. IBM will need to get additional resellers certified and capable of selling this solution which will take time, but IBM resellers that also resell Nortel solutions and also serve the SMB market should be more than willing to add SCS to their portfolio.

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Last night the FCC gag rule came off, and the winners of the 700 MHz frequency auctions were free to describe their service plans. The two major winners, Verizon and AT&T, both weighed in, and not surprisingly, they’re both looking at deploying services based on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. Most notable was that neither of their visions included any mention of WiMAX.

They did make it clear that we should not be anticipating any new services in the 700 MHz band for three years. Given the wireless industry’s track record regarding new service rollouts, you can safely tack two or three years on to that prediction.

The most interesting comment came from AT&T Wireless’ CEO Ralph de la Vaga. Ralphie was quoted in the Wall Street Journal saying that the spectrum AT&T acquired was more valuable as it was “not encumbered” by open platform conditions like the C Block that frequencies Verizon bought.AT&T likes their customers hog-tied.

While I am pleased that Mr. de la Vaga’s observations regarding spectrum valuation agree with the observation I made in a post last week, it’s clear that the cellular carriers’ are still addicted to the “walled garden” view of wireless data services. Of course, this does not bode well for flexible mobile unified communications solutions. I wonder if AT&T can develop an upbeat advertising program around “handcuffs”?

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Mobile unified communications took a shot in the chops this week when FCC Chairman Kevin Martin announced in a speech at the CTIA Wireless show in Las Vegas that he will oppose Skype’s petition to open up existing wireless carrier networks to outside devices. “In light of the industry’s embrace of this more open approach, I think it’s premature for the commission to place any other requirements on these networks,” Martin told the audience. Not surprisingly, his comments were met with loud applause from an audience dominated by cellular carriers whose view toward openness I have already compared to the KGB.

In a classic column in Business Communications Review in 2005, my pal Dave Passmore of the Burton Group raised the call for a Carterphone for Wireless. Industry veterans (“gray-haired” veterans) will recognize a reference to the 1968 Supreme Court decision that forced the Bell companies to permit non-Bell devices to be connected to the public telephone network. The Carterphone ruling created the interconnect industry, which in turn gave rise to a burst of creativity in business telephone systems that led to lower prices, better technologies, and eventually IP PBXs and unified communications. Skypehad been pushing for a similarregulation to force mobile operators to allow the connection of any device that doesn’t harm the network.

Given the cellular industry’s status as “the new Bell System”, it appears that Mr. Martin’s viewpoint may be geared toward snagging one of those lucrative jobs in the cellular industry when his tenure at the FCC comes to an end.

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While everyone’s talking about the announcement made last week between Microsoft and Aspect Software, focusing on Microsoft’s investment in Aspect and the fact that Aspect will be integrating with and supporting Microsoft’s OCS, I think the most important piece of information is missing from the announcement. Ok, so it’s big news that Microsoft is investing a significant amount of money in Aspect, and it’s also important news that Aspect will integrate its Unified IP contact center solution with OCS to provide capabilities such as “ask-an-expert capabilities” (or what I’ve been calling Expert Agent capabilities) using OCS’s presence technology. This will certainly be useful to Aspect customers, and this helps clarify Aspect’s UC strategy. I see this announcement as being very beneficial to Aspect and its customers.
But what is missing from this announcement is information on Microsoft’s contact center strategy vis a vis UC. We still have not heard what Microsoft will offer in terms of a contact center solution as part of or in conjunction with its OCS offering. Clearly Microsoft recognizes how important it is to have some sort of contact center solution offering for customers that are looking into an enterprise UC/voice solution. But the company has not disclosed any sort of contact center strategy to date.
Microsoft has several options– clearly working with Nortel, a leader in the contact center space, to provide the needed contact center capabilities is one option (and while Microsoft made it clear that its investment in Aspect does not impact its relationship with Nortel, I’m sure the Nortel folks weren’t too excited when they heard the news).
Another option is to acquire a company in the contact center market, such as Aspect or possibly Interactive Intelligence. And of course rumors persist that Microsoft will acquire Siemens Enterprise Communications, Nortel, or any number of telephony vendors, which, if true, would provide Microsoft with the needed contact center capabilities and expertise. But these are rumors and so far no truth to any of them (yet).
The cynic in me believes that there’s a good chance that Microsoft will leverage both Nortel and Aspect’s expertise, and then offer its own contact center offering, competing with both companies (although less likely Aspect since they traditionally focus on high-end solutions).
Regardless of what route Microsoft takes, it’s important for the company to articulate its contact center strategy for those companies that are looking to OCS as an enterprise voice solution. Most of those companies also have contact centers and in many cases will be looking for a contact center solution down the road. Microsoft needs an answer for them.

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The 15-year old International Multimedia Telecommunications Consortium (IMTC) is an international community of companies working on promoting and facilitating the development and use of interoperable, real-time, multimedia telecommunications products and services based on open international standards. For those unfamiliar with IMTC their goals, per their web site are:

• To advocate the common interests of the industry through education and promotion.
• To be an unbiased source of information to end users, press, industry analysts, legislators, regulators and the industry.
• To identify obstacles to the growth and success of the industry and to implement or recommend solutions.
• To promote and facilitate interoperability testing of real-time, Multimedia Telecommunication products and services.
• To develop and advocate requirements to standards-making organizations.
• To provide opportunities for industry participants to meet, exchange ideas and information, and guide the future direction of the organization.

I met with the president of the organization, Anatoli Levine, From RADVISION, at VON this week and we talked about two of IMTC’s most recent focal points as being unified communications and content delivery. At the very beginning of this effort, IMTC’s goal is to create a reference architecture (although not the classical ‘reference architecture’ that engineers would think of, but rather a deployment blueprint for UC (however they refer to it as both). I was thrilled as this effort directly addresses one of the major hot points of UC and that is the difficulty we face in deploying UC solutions given the myriad vendors and products we have in this space.

The IMTC is set up so that a broad subject, such as unified communications, is a work group, with area or subject activity groups underneath. The Unified Communications Working Group, which is chaired by Shantanu Sarkar from Cisco, has four activity groups under it covering 3G-324M, conferencing interoperability, IMS, and SIP. Activity groups are open for unlimited participation from member companies, and as they eloquently said it on their web site “Activity Groups allow competing companies to conduct regular dialog regarding interoperability of their products and to develop a common stance enabling them to help shape and evolve industry-wide standards.” Yoo Hoo! I applaud these efforts.

In checking out their membership, they have quite a list including Cisco, Alcatel-Lucent, NMS Communications, Apple, Polycom, etc., but there are many I’d like to see including Microsoft, IBM, Nortel and all the other usual suspects. I encourage anyone involved in UC to participate and check the site regularly for updates as they move along.

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There is a new conferencing player in town, and this one has a twist or two. At the Spring VON show in San Jose, I met up with Wyde Voice, winner of the 2008 VON Innovator award, for producing the industry’s first wideband audio conferencing appliances with 16 kHz voice quality. Wyde voice is a start up company that is backed by Free Conferencing Corporations’ founder and CEO, David Erickson. It’s the result of one of their engineers getting the idea at the VON show two years ago, that they could create a voice conferencing appliance that would support 16-bit, 16 kHz voice quality for conferencing calls, an industry first, at an affordable price. Two years later they had their coming out party at this VON conference.

The new Wyde voice appliances utilize the Asterisk platform, and bridge the gap between PSTN and VoIP environments providing a conference bridge for up to 7000 concurrent users over PSTN networks and up to 3000 on VoIP. Pricing for their VM1000 model is $160 a port and $140 for their VM3000, which provides conference for a great price. In addition to providing high voice quality to begin with, they designed their codec to compensate for current network conditions, such as heavy network traffic, so that quality of the conference doesn’t deteriorate.

The first twists were 16 kHz voice quality and the price. The most interesting twist to me, however, was the addition of voice verification along with conferencing. Wyde will be offering Porticus Technology, Inc’s voice verification as a server plug in alongside their audio conferencing application, which opens up a different aspect of security in conferencing. Granted if you are doing conferencing with large variable groups of people, as in one-time conferences, briefings, etc., punching in the access code for the conference will remain the status quo. But think of the possibilities that being able to create voiceprints for employees in companies that regularly use audio conferencing, or special groups such as classes, network marketing entrepreneurs, committees, etc. The groups that could use verification instead of access codes to quickly jump on a conference call can improve speed and reduce frustration, particularly if someone is calling in on a mobile phone. Add to this the security of knowing someone else can’t enter the conference unknown, sounds pretty cool to me.

Wyde is marketing their products to both service provider and enterprise customers. They see, and I agree, a market opportunity in targeting different groups for conferencing, such as distance learning and social networking sites. The VM3000 and VM1000 are offered as turnkey appliances, but allow customers to customize features such as call flow.

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