Italy is a wonderful place.  It sure seems true that Italians know ‘how to live’.  Architecture is graceful and pleasing to the senses, the food and beverages live up to their global reputation, and the business and social settings are congenial and courteous.  A nice place to visit, I can assure you, and the residents seem pretty happy, too. 

But that doesn’t take anything away from the technology savviness in Italy.  The IT Teams are right on top of their game, based on the enterprises attending the Microsoft UC Road Show in Milan.  We were at the Microsoft offices in the suburbs near the Linate airport.  Many other technology firms’ office signs were also visible from the airport shuttle bus, so pretty much in the high-tech neighborhood. 

The enterprises who attended were across the spectrum.  Some were from manufacturing and distribution firms, some from financial institutions, and some were communications service providers.  All had specific, direct interest in the Office Communications Server Solution. 

For the manufacturing firms, the interest was in the improvement of their customer and supply chain communications.  The discussions revealed some very insightful thoughts about how OCS might keep the firms in closer touch with their partners and customers.  Some had the idea that the OCS software clients, which the customers or partners could download for secure access to calls, meetings, training, or collaboration sessions, would improve information flow while also lowering costs.  Others were pursuing the concept of federation with their major partners who already had OCS installed.

For the financial services firms, the interest was in internal communications for productivity and cost savings.  One interest was in the use of OCS with collaboration tools such as SharePoint to improve internal processes for projects, business planning, and various approval processes.  Another interest was on how to improve communications with branch offices both for training and for linking centralized experts with the branch offices when needed, saving both time and travel expense.

For the communications service providers, the interest was both for internal use for customer services, mobile account teams and business planning teams, and for offering as a service to their business clients.  The concept of UC as a Service is a growing trend around the globe and can be especially attractive for small and mid-market businesses who would prefer a monthly per-user fee to the fixed costs of in-house staff and capital spending for hardware and software. 

At the end of the day, it seemed pretty clear to me that we will see Unified Communications flourish in Italy, with a style and graciousness for which Italy is renowned, but with intensity and energy that assure successful results, perhaps the espresso of UC.    

And, PS, it was snowing when I left Milan, and the airport closed for a while later that day; how unusual is that?  Just one more reason that my visit to Milan will be memorable.

Tags: Unified Communications Information //