I never cease to be amazed at how badly we communicate within the “communications industry” and now the “unified communications industry”. Of course, the BIG news is Nortel filing for bankruptcy, but they have had other “news” lately as well and one announcement triggered some thoughts on reseller education and certification.  I just read an article in Network World about Nortel announcing a “vendor neutral” Unified Communications course for end-users and technical people. “The program is designed for channel partners and end-customers and professionally-speaking, it will also be for sales engineers and IT department professionals since there’s more of a pre-sales UC focus,” says Scott Schauer of Nortel.  Now, my amazement comes because here again is an isolated effort to “educate” the various constituencies in UC – and I’m sure the “education” has a definite bias to some degree.     

 First, call me a pessimist (I prefer to think I’m “experienced”) but I never trust vendor neutral material from a vendor. Second, is Nortel not aware of the Convergence + certification from CompTIA, an industry-wide organization well known for its vendor neutral certifications? Isn’t it time this industry started working together to coordinate resources and information?

 What could be more “vendor neutral” than an education program developed by a non-vendor, with input from a cross section of industry vendors? Granted Nortel’s guide is purported to discuss solutions as well as technical issues, but it is still Nortel’s.

According to Scott Schauer, “The self-study guide is available from Nortel Press, a Nortel authorized publisher that develops guides for IT professionals and other individuals who support Nortel products and solutions.” And Scott goes on to describe the Nortel certification program. Here we are again….. another certification program for resellers to invest in. 

 Vendors – hear these words of wisdom….. in my latest white paper “Survival of the Fittest Will Rule Your Channel”, I explain how resellers are finding the going tough in these economic times. I suggest here that limited certifications (i.e. vendor specific) will fall far down the list in their budgets. One of the toughest issues from the reseller perspective is the time that a technician or technical engineer spends on the same basics in each and every training they attend/take. We should all know that technician time equals money and time spent away from the customer equals lost revenue. There is an excellent means for all vendors to ensure that those attending their technical training/certification have a solid foundation in VoIP and UC when they begin the vendor’s training and are not “wasting” valuable time repeating the “basics” each time they begin a training. And think of this – as a vendor, you won’t have to expend valuable resources developing the “convergence/UC basics” portion of your training. 

 My suggestion to all VoIP and UC vendors….. start thinking as a member of a community and look into making CompTIA’s Convergence + certification a pre-requisite for your own technical training/certification. You and your reseller partners will thank me later!

Tags: Unified Communications Information by Pam Avila
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What’s left to say that hasn’t already been said about Nortel filing for bankruptcy? It’s a big disappointment and I hope that something good comes out of it – perhaps a leaner, meaner Enterprise group?

The writing has been on the wall for years, ever since the financial wrong-doing that had Nortel restating its earnings over and over again. Customers no longer had the full trust in Nortel, and its reputation was badly injured. Now it’s filing for Chapter 11 after missing a $107 million interest payment. Ouch!

What’s really sad is that the company has some great technology (not all of it, but much of it) and many loyal, happy customers. I’ve been speaking with some Nortel customers recently, and they are very happy campers who love their Nortel products and relationships.

Nortel tried its best when it entered into the Innovative Communication Alliance (ICA) with Microsoft, hoping that this relationship would help provide a competitive differentiation. While some people saw this as a last ditch effort to stay relevant, others saw it as Nortel selling its soul to Microsoft. While Nortel did attain some net new unified communications customers, it wasn’t enough to make a dent in its lagging business.

Most industry pundits are debating about what will happen to Nortel – most people expect the company to be split up in parts, and sold piecemeal to competitors. The question will become, which parts will they sell, who will they sell them to, and what parts will they keep. One report had them looking to focus on WiMax, while other people believe it will sell off its Enterprise division to Microsoft (I highly doubt this will happen and would be really surprised if Microsoft gave this option much thought). Personally, I’d like to see Nortel focus on its enterprise business. To me, this is their best bet. But maybe that’s because that’s the part of Nortel that I focus on and would like most to see succeed.

The company notes that it will continue daily operations as usual and will continue to support its products while investing in research and development. As of now not much is supposed to change for existing customers. According to Mike Zafirovski, CEO, “These actions are imperative so that Nortel can build on its core strengths and become the highly focused and financially sound leader in the communications industry that its people, technology and customer relationships show it ought to be.” He went on to say “I want to reaffirm Nortel’s dedication to delivering world-class solutions and services to customers.” What he didn’t say is how they will achieve this.

While I have no insights into what Nortel will do, my personal hope is that the company sells off its Metro Ethernet and Carrier Business, and focuses on its Enterprise Business – mainly unified communications and contact center. The company has done a good job of moving forward to a software-based architecture, although not too many of its customers have moved in that direction yet. The company recognized the shift away from hardware toward software and has introduced ACE and other offerings, but has primarily been living off of its installed base of customers and products rather than selling much of the latest and greatest stuff.

This is a sad day, but there are lessons to be learned.

Tags: Unified Communications Information by Blair Pleasant
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The news, of course, is the Nortel announcement today of Bankruptcy proceedings.  But, as others have already commented, this is not a surprise — the rumors and preliminary actions have been visible.

What are the implications for UC?  It’s not bad news, that’s for sure.  Here’s a quick list of ideas:

• Motivation to Change to Software Format:  This is just one more signal that there is not much profit in the traditional telecom industry — both enterprise and carrier.  There are still too many players, little differentiation, and minimal or no growth.  Thus, both the suppliers (Nortel, et al.) and the customers should be motivated to look to the future and move to the new, layered software model, which just happens to be the format of all the new UC innovations, from Nortel and others in telephony as well as from those in the desktop, application, mobility and web categories.  This will produce a leaner, but more profitable and flexible set of solutions and options, with an emphasis on UC. 
• Customer Investment in the Software Layers vs. Hardware Options: Perhaps it will make sense for customers to focus on a software-based UC overlay to the traditional telephony systems as a safety play for telecom as well as a smart investment based on the UC applications value.  These software overlays could come in a variety of formats, such as the Nortel Innovative Communications Alliance with Microsoft, or Nortel’s partner solutions with IBM.  Siemens Openscape, NEC UniVerge 360, Mitel Unified IP Client for SunRay, Cisco WebEx Connect are other software layer options from the telecom community.
• Increased Focus on Service Sources and Agreements:  Existing customers will want to look carefully at their service agreements and providers to assure they have a reasonable source of parts (for the hardware components), a solid source of expertise from the smartest VARs, and with a good contract for on-going support from the vendor.  (This is good advice for any of the telecom providers, not just Nortel, and including Cisco.)  Since the pace of innovation in traditional telecom is fairly low, a good services program can deliver a long useful life for the existing products, even without new product releases.  One possible implication for UC is that the pace of hardware investment slows, opening up more budgetary room for UC investments.
• New Solutions and Approaches Look More Interesting:  With the traditional telephony base in question, customers may want to hedge their bets even further by exploring the alternative approaches, such as the desktop, mobility, or applications options for UC as described at VoiceCon and here on the UCStrategies.com site.  Of course Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 or IBM Lotus Sametime are the leading examples of this approach.  Other options include the RIM Mobile Voice System which makes the BlackBerry phone into a corporate extension, and the embedded or integrated communcations functions of software providers such as Salesforce.com, Siebel, or Oracle.

Major events, such as this bankruptcy filing, tend to catalyze shifts in thinking and in resulting actions.  This sort of evolution has happened in many other industries in past decades — transportation, automobiles, steel, newspapers, cash registers, and steam shovels, just to name a few.  The cause and the effect have been innovations that, in the end, produced more efficient and economical solutions.  My perspective is that this is happening in communications and the software-based world we are calling Unified Communications will be the long-term winner.

Comments?

Tags: Unified Communications, Unified Communications Information by Marty Parker
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I just participated in a survey from Basex about information overload – it was quick and easy, and I recommend as many knowledge workers as possible take the survey.

Basex notes that, “Information overload is a problem that impacts organizations of all shapes and sizes, including yours. It is a costly side effect of the emergence of the knowledge economy, and is an unavoidable part of its growing pains. Information overload results in lowered productivity and throttled innovation, with costs in the billions. We see it every day in the high cost of unnecessary interruptions in the workplace, overloaded e-mail in-boxes, and the explosion in content creation.” To combat this problem, Basex put together a survey that will help gather information about how workers are impacted by this problem. (and survey participants have the chance to win a brand new Palm Treo). You can find the survey at http://tinyurl.com/9xzehe.

On a totally separate note — we’ve all heard the phrase “My quote was taken out of context,” and many of us who speak to the press are often disappointed that what we said or meant to say didn’t come across properly. So it’s a nice treat when a reporter gets it right. In his article on destinationCRM, Christopher Musico did a good job of laying out some of my thoughts about UC and a few of the highlights of my UC market study. The article is at http://tinyurl.com/7fvzfz.

Tags: Unified Communications Information by Blair Pleasant
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There’s been a good discussion about the role and future of the IP PBX in a mobile world and as we become more dependent on our mobile devices.

Dave Michels wrote an interesting blog that asked the question, if you had to do without a phone for a week with minimal disruption, which would it be: the PBX/office phone or the cell phone? He noted that, “The vast majority of the people I’ve spoken to say they could do without the PBX phone.” You can find his blog at http://pindropsoup.blogspot.com/2009/01/pbx-needs-to-change-or-die.html

As I wrote in my UC eWeekly newsletter last week, http://www.nojitter.com/blog/archives/2009/01/mustdos_for_uc.html#comments, the switch vendors need to find ways to add value to their products and remain relevant. Mobile phones and services are becoming the predominant means of communication within the enterprise – even while working at the desk - and unless the switch vendors find ways of proving their value, they will be relegated to limited uses that mobile devices do not currently provide. Extending UC capabilities to mobile devices has been one of the key focuses of UC vendors but, on the downside, the value of desktop phones and, to some degree, the PBX/IP-PBX, has been greatly diminished.

One reader responded, noting, “I think the IP-PBX is still handling the bulk of the load today, and into the future. Cell phones and wireless devices are adding a lot of variety to the mix, but no one is pulling out their PBXs and going totally wireless.  What I see happening is greater diversity in the mix of devices and networks that have to all play together nicely; however, it is not an either/or situation with cell phones and IP-PBXs.  They will peacefully coexist and long into the future.  The real key is providing the real linkage points between the wireless LAN infrastructure, the cellular network and the wired LAN infrastructure.  This provides interoperability between cell phones, desk phones, PCs and handheld wireless devices.  People want to use their “tool-of-choice”, no matter where they are or how they are connected.  It is a tremendous challenge, but the real gem of UC.”

I agree with these comments, and certainly the IP PBX is still handling the bulk of voice communications, and will continue to do so. But there are lots of worker (not companies, but workers) who don’t use their desk phones at all, and just rely on their mobile devices. The PBX is still needed for many (and most) functions, but we all know that the mobile device can replace some or much of that functionality today (not all).

Another reader responded to the newsletter, noting: “I’m curious to understand what UC functionality app vendors need to provide beyond what the smart ones have done already. This is primarily by exposing more services and making their software generally more open and web based. Just not sure what specific UC functions they need to build. Technically the comm vendors add all of that functionality already as long as their architectures allow for mashing together of their respective offerings.”

Of course, integration with unified communications capabilities like single number service, screen pop, unified messaging, etc. is one way the IP PBXs have been adding more value for years. There are basic functions our cell phones can do that our office phones can’t – such as view missed calls and simply press a button to reply (although this can be made possible through UC), or have different ring tones for different callers.

Rather than adding specific functions or capabilities, what I should have said is that vendors need to make the switch more useful by providing vertical applications that are useful and relevant. It’s really a matter of finding useful applications that leverage the capabilities that are already built into the switch – including automated attendant, IVR, speech access, etc.  For example, One example Michels gives is “a simple K-12 demo, where the phones were the bell system, intercom, PA, text messaging system, attendance system, safety system, resource system (press 4 for projector reservation), confidential system (enter code to see important message from principal), training system, and work request system (press 2 for janitor).”
These capabilities already exist and it’s just a question of developing the applications based on the functionality PBXs/IP PBXs provide. And it’s hard to know what should be in the network versus on the switch - simultaneous language translation, for example, is probably better as a network service rather than a function of the switch.

I don’t see the death of the IP PBX (not for a while, anyway), but it’s important for the vendors to get creative and innovative.

Tags: Unified Communications Information by Blair Pleasant
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On December 8^th of last year I posted an article in which I discussed the contact center and unified communications markets relative to the state of the U.S. economy titled “Unified Communications and the Economy: Quit Wringing Your Hands and Get Back to Work. In that article I cited cases of companies that have faced past recessions head-on rather than retreating into a panic of fear-induced cost cutting and irrational management decisions.  I wrote about Proctor and Gamble, which has emerged from every recession over the last 100 years stronger than they were when each recession began.  Companies like Hewlett Packard and Microsoft were started in the middle of recessions, as were General Electric and Disney.  Compared to companies that have failed during recessionary periods, these companies maintained a positive business attitude and continued to operate with confidence in their products and with confidence in the buyer’s ability to recognize the quality of those products.

Apparently those lessons from the past have not been lost on Aspect Software which, on January 7^th, announced the acquisition of Applied Information Management Limited and its wholly owned subsidiary, AIM Technology Inc., commonly known as AIM in the contact center industry.  AIM was one of the original contact center analytics companies and had a previous relationship with Aspect about five years ago.  That relationship was dropped in favor of an OEM agreement with Merced Systems last year but Aspect must have felt the timing was right to take control of their performance management analytics solution.  Although I don’t know what Aspect’s internal rationale was that led them back to their original performance management partner, I have a feeling it might have had something to do with the common Microsoft technology platform that both Aspect and AIM share. 

If there is a downside to this acquisition, I can’t find it.  Aspect customers with the Merced Systems OEM solution installed will continue to be supported without change.  Customers with Merced-based Aspect Performance Management solutions currently on order but not in production will have the option of implementing those systems or moving on to the new system, which will be called PerformanceEdge Performance Management.  Also important to consider is the unified communications partnership Aspect has with Microsoft.  Given the common Microsoft technology base that Aspect’s PerformanceEdge performance optimization suite now has and the company’s commitment to unified communications, I think there is a good possibility that there will be some new product surprises on the horizon.    

Beyond Aspect’s move to bring their performance optimization solution entirely in-house, I applaud the confidence and character the company has shown in making this acquisition when so much of the contact center industry stands paralyzed in fear of what may or may not happen this year.  Aspect has given notice to the industry that it does not intend to back down regardless of the stories of economic doom-and-gloom so gleefully delivered to us each day by the news media.  Aspect continues to position itself for long-term success and I believe that when this recession ends, as every recession in U.S. history has, lots of Aspect’s competitors will look at Aspect’s achievements, will look at how Aspect faced-down this recession and will wish they had that kind of sand.

Tags: Unified Communications Information by Paul Stockford
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The Sunday New York Times article entitled “Living Apart for the Paycheck”  detailed how the economy is forcing more and more couples to have commuter marriages. This in turn caused me to reflect on the use of unified communications applications in the personal/home environment. I have written many blogs about unified communications, but applying unified communications to the home environment is a new. Read my take of this new development on my Blog, The User View, “Video Technology Aids the Enterprise and Families Alike“  at http://www.jamison-consulting.com/blog/ .

Tags: Mobile UC, Unified Communications Information by Nancy Jamison
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