VoiceCon Unified Communications eWeekly Issue 127, September 15, 2009
A Cooperative Project of VoiceCon and UC Strategies
This issue of UC eWeekly is sponsored by Empirix
SIP Trunking Services provide many benefits for enterprises over current, legacy ISDN trunk lines, including significant cost savings, access to new services, and integration with existing IP based services and business applications.  [...]

VoiceCon Unified Communications eWeekly Issue 126| September 2, 2009
A Cooperative Project of VoiceCon and UC Strategies
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This issue of UC Weekly is sponsored by VoiceCon San Francisco
 
Register now and save up to $900 off the regular price for VoiceCon San Francisco to be held November 2-5, at the Moscone North Convention Center.  For more information visit [...]

I’m continually bemused, and not a little dismayed, by the chameleon-like way suppliers use “UC” – making it fit into whatever marketing spin the supplier wants to give it. It’s old news that many companies have seized upon UC, and then burnished and breathlessly rebranded their slightly tarnished offerings with this shiny-new-object label.

But wait. There’s more. The thing that got me back on this tear was a postcard-like promo sent out by one of the major UC suppliers, encouraging people to view their executive’s keynote address from VoiceCon San Francisco. The card features a UC-themed mantra: “Find. Reach. Collaborate. DONE.” Nice summary.

Several enterprise customers noted that their companies have eliminated all unnecessary travel, but because they have been able to meet with customers, co-workers and partners via videoconferencing, they have been able to maintain the relationships and get their jobs done without having to get into a train, plane or automobile. In addition, videoconferencing helps make meetings more effective than audio-only conferences, because you can see what the other person/people are doing; in short, video helps to ensure that participants pay attention to what’s being presented and discussed, instead of checking their Blackberries or doing other unrelated activities.

Overall revenue in the quarter declined 7.5% year-over-year to $9.1 billion, and net income was $1.5 billion, off 27% year over year. Product revenue declined year-over-year by 11% and, in what Cisco calls its “core product areas” – switching and routing — year-over-year revenue was down 23%. Unified Communications revenues also declined, but only by single-digits – down 5% year-over-year.

But, there’s an alternative view: Microsoft is solving enterprise communications problems differently. It looks to me like they asked themselves the question: What would be the best way to deliver communications for a “people-ready business” that would reduce costs, improve business outcomes and provide both productivity and control to the users? If the new software also fills in the PBX checklists, that’s so much the better.

Channel training and incentives for UC: The channel is the key to selling UC, and they need to be incentivized to go beyond selling switches to selling UC solutions, especially solutions that integrate with business processes and applications. Most VARs and system integrators (SIs) are still leading with IP Telephony or Unified Messaging rather than UC, and are especially falling behind in terms of selling UC integrated with business processes, which requires additional business analysis skills that most VARs and SIs lack.

With the economic downturn, many enterprises need to achieve a 12 month or less payback, and I believe that best way to accomplish that goal is via UC-Business Process (UC-B) – integrating communications into a business process. By focusing on UC-B, vendors can show their customers cost savings, but also help them gain a competitive advantage and improve employee productivity.

In these tough economic times, UC and the new wave of communications it represents, need to deliver sooner rather than later. So far, the UC vendors have yet to offer tightly integrated and interoperable products. The disjointed offerings make it tough to confidently predict ROI and so writing a UC business case remains more art than science.

A Cooperative Project of VoiceCon and UC Strategies
This issue of Unified Communications eWeekly is sponsored by IBM:
The Challenge of Unifying Communications and Collaboration
Your challenge: provide simple, effective ways for your organization to communicate and collaborate. IBM understands. You have telephony systems from multiple vendors; you can’t afford to rip and replace; you need to extend [...]