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
No Comments »

To build on its movement into the world of UC and its relationship with Microsoft, Aspect announced that it is launching a new professional services and systems integration practice t”o assist organizations with planning, implementing and supporting unified communications products across their enterprises and into their contact centers.”

Aspect announced an important partnership with Microsoft a few months ago, focusing on integrating with and supporting Microsoft’s OCS (and Microsoft is investing a significant amount of money in Aspect). Aspect is integrating its Unified IP contact center solution with OCS to provide capabilities such as “ask-an-expert capabilities” using OCS’s presence technology.

Aspect, which now calls itself a “unified communications and contact center software and services provider,” says that the new services practice within Aspect Professional Services is “designed to help companies create and execute a logical UC rollout strategy, from basic infrastructure through business process enablement, which will improve enterprise productivity and enhance customer-facing business processes.” The new UC practice is intended to support the Aspect/Microsoft strategic alliance, and assists organizations in deploying Microsoft OCS and other Microsoft UC applications from planning through implementation.

The new services practice will include several types of services: UC Strategy, Planning and Architecture, and implementation and integration.

In addition, Aspect is already hard at work supporting the new voice capabilities in Microsoft OCS 2007 R2 (see my UC Strategies Views post on R2, Aspect’s Professional Services Practice - Makes Sense to Me. Aspect will support the voice features that support remote and mobile workers, audio conferencing capabilities, and developer tools, which will be used to create tight integrations between OCS and Aspect Unified IP, with the first integration release scheduled for December.

During my pre-announcement briefing with Microsoft about OCS 2007 RS, I asked about Microsoft’s contact center strategy, since there were no new contact center capabilities or features included in the new release. Knowing that many enterprises purchase their switch (IP PBX) based on the vendor’s contact center offerings, I was surprised that Microsoft acknowledged no plans to introduce its own contact center capabilities. Instead, the company plans to continue to partner with companies like Aspect, Nortel, and others.

Microsoft has made many partnership announcements since it entered the world of unified communications, and I didn’t take all of them very seriously (everyone is a “special friend” to Microsoft). Its relationship with Aspect is different - Microsoft isn’t just partnering with Aspect because it has to and because its customers are demanding it (like in the case of Cisco). Instead, when customers ask Microsoft about its contact center offerings, Microsoft points them to Aspect or Nortel.

So it makes sense that Aspect is building up its professional services capabilities in UC to help customers in their UC strategy and implementation. The more help that’s provided to customers, the better for everyone.

Tags: Unified Communications Information, Unified Communications Information by Blair Pleasant
1 Comment »

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.

Tags: Unified Communications Information by Blair Pleasant
1 Comment »