It all starts in the contact center.

That’s my contention anyway. When you look for the obvious launch point for unified communications in the enterprise, it has to be the contact center. Almost all discussions about UC in the enterprise include a mention of Presence, the UC concept that provides users with an overview of the availability and status of other knowledge workers in the organization and a means to efficiently tap into those resources as necessary.

If you think about it, the contact center is the most logical place for the initial use of Presence and UC in the enterprise. The goal of most, if not all, customer contact centers is first call resolution. In other words, the folks in charge of running customer service generally prefer to have a customer issue resolved in one call. There are two reasons for this, the first of which is customer satisfaction. As a consumer or customer, aren’t you generally happier if the company you call can resolve your issue in one call without repeated call transfers or without asking you to call back in order to speak with someone else later? Everyone’s time is valuable these days and no one likes to have to make repeated phone calls to get a question answered or an issue resolved.

Presence would allow an agent the ability to pull in enterprise resources from outside the contact center in order to resolve a customer call. Agents would be able to identify which internal subject matter experts might be available and the best way to reach them. While still engaging the customer, contact center agents would have the additional resources at their fingertips to keep the customer happy or at least resolve an issue without repeated call transfers or callbacks.

The second reason customer service professionals strive for first call resolution in the contact center is cost. Each time a customer service agent picks up the phone, it costs the contact center in terms of salary, benefits, etc., and if they’re paying for an agent to address the same problem with the same customer more than once, that is usually money down the drain. UC in the contact center makes absolute sense from a cost savings perspective. Here’s where we run into our conundrum, though.
If you’ve been around the contact center long enough you’ve undoubtedly heard the discussions about the strategic importance of the customer service center in terms of its value to operational success and profitability. To hear some people talk you’d believe that the business universe revolved around the contact center. If you haven’t been around the contact center and heard this talk, trust me when I tell you that it’s mostly lip service.
The truth is, the contact center is as important as all the pundits claim it is but the fact is that most businesses look at the contact center as a cost center. As you probably know, it is generally very difficult to get a business to invest in a cost center. Thus our conundrum: an investment in UC on the contact center would undoubtedly lead to cost savings and a tangible return on investment, but there is a general reluctance to invest in cost centers such as the contact center.
I think we may be able to find our way out of this potential quagmire if the industry in general follows the lead of the small percentage of companies who really do view their customer service function as a strategic advantage or differentiator and will invest in UC in order to provide their agents with Presence functionality. It’s going to take time and there will still be those executives who will drag their contact centers into the 21^st century kicking, screaming and protesting the whole way.

Any other ideas?

Tags: UC Information by Paul Stockford
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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.

Tags: UC Information by Candice Sherman
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