Is Anyone Really Listening?
I really do like this industry! It is dynamic, exciting, and full of great minds. But it is also too busy talking to itself. How many definitions are there for UC right now? And is VoIP really a part of UC?
Thinking like a customer, I have to tell you that the definitions REALLY don’t matter to me very much. And I don’t care if VoIP is part of UC or not! In fact, I (the customer) am getting so confused by all of the articles, podcasts, etc. that I probably won’t be able to make a decision whether to buy anything or not!!!!!!!
I sure would like to see unified communications (however it is defined) have the impact on business that it promises. And I believe that it will do that - if the industry can get out of the way! Wouldn’t it be more productive to focus on how various verticals will benefit from UC solutions? As an end-user, I really don’t care HOW you make my work day more productive - I just want you to DO IT! And I don’t care if my new communication system is IP telephony and isn’t part of unified communications - I just want to work from anywhere and have my tools be easy to use!
Many of us depend on reseller partners to get our products into the hands of customers. But we’ve even managed to keep them confused! And if they’re confused, how can they possibly take the UC story to their customers? In a recent white paper on my own web site, I discussed the chasm between the UC vendor and their channel. But now I’m wondering about the chasm between manufacturers and the end-user!
A number of the resellers who attended UCStrategies UC Channel Summit in May, indicated that the conference answered many questions for them - but the vendor presentations brought up an equal number of new questions. We need to “unconfuse” our channel partners! We need to bring clarity to the end-user. We need to stop talking to ourselves!
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