"Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around me
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I'll get on my knees and pray
We don't get fooled again
Don't get fooled again." - The Who
Customer experience with the early days of VoIP and now with Unified Communications share some unfortunate similarities. Both initiatives were undertaken with the underlying faith that customers will receive real benefits. Both technologies require a large scale change-out of existing infrastructure and replacement, often accompanied by additional infrastructure requirements that were not immediately obvious. Examples include more UPS's, Session Border Controllers, new wiring and routers, operating systems, software, the list goes on.
I have long lost count of the number of IT executives who thought they were being led to the promised land and after cutover, they emerge exhausted and over budget. They discover the new technology basically recreated the old technology and they were no further along in improving their organization's effectiveness. Of course their expectation is that since the investment has been made they should begin to receive real productivity benefit, but do they really?
A senior executive at one of the industry's leading suppliers of Unified Communications (and other) software said that his customers have been somewhat negative about UC. The reason, the benefits they received were less than they were expecting and deploying UC was dramatically more difficult than anticipated and the results often left users frustrated. That suppliers' recommendation is to focus on achievable benefits and don't talk about UC.
We couldn't agree more.
All investments, not just technological ones should solve business problems, reduce costs or increase productivity. Don't do anything on blind faith. It is easy for you or your senior management to be wooed by companies (who have cash hoards in the billions) spending vast sums of money on how VoIP and UC will deliver a better future. TV show product placements (Jack Bauer and CTU), executive briefings, great parties for analysts and lavish entertainment budgets all deliver that message. Eventually a better future will probably emerge. In the meantime take specific measurable steps so that you can be sure to get the benefits you seek. To increase the odds of success keep as many options open as long as possible. That means retain the ability to use best of breed components and work with best of breed partners that will work with your other partners for your success and so that you can put your interests first.