The Proof is in the Pudding
At this year's Enterprise Connect conference a large emphasis was placed on customer experience and data analytics.
This new focus is representative of the entire unified communications industry maturing and realizing that results matter. Adjective overload, hyperboles, and outright deception may be fine for marketing slicks, but in the end, the only effective technology is one that people use to generate improved business results.
Internally, focusing on "customer-centric solutions", or end user experience, is really code for "we need to get people using this technology". Usage and adoption matter, even if they are sometimes misunderstood metrics. Usage represents quantity of use and is measured in number of calls, IMs sent, conferencing minutes, etc. Adoption looks at which people in the organization are using a solution; do you have broad-based adoption across departments or is it only the IT group? Regular, broad-based, increasing adoption along with increasing usage is what a successful UC deployment should achieve.
As I listened to more vendors espouse the need to be customer-centric, I started to feel a little bit sad for Microsoft, as they have been championing user-centric communications since 2007 (and likely before). It seems only now, when other vendors repeat the exact same message, is the industry as a whole waking up to this truth. Perhaps it is only because the growth of Lync as a both an IM and voice solution (aka PBX replacement) continues at a record pace, that other vendors have decided they must jump on this bandwagon.
Project Ansible from Unify goes further and suggests that with a truly customer-focused interface design, no training should be required to use their solution, and they are not the only vendor putting forth this idea. This "no training" fallacy does every enterprise a great disservice. Effective training for organizations will always yield measurable results that exceed the costs. Using a consumer device example, most often the iPhone, and suggesting as evidence that it needs no manual is not relevant to the business setting. I don't care whether my friends know how to benefit from all the features on their personal devices; I do care when my employees are not realizing the benefits from the technology I have invested in.
Externally, focusing on customer experience is about improving customer satisfaction. This is most often discussed related to the contact center. Lots of talk about enabling video communications with agents, I contend, without a proper understanding of the costs, challenges or reluctance of customers to use video, especially two-way video. Two years later, video is not the new voice and is not going to be anytime soon. Granted specific interactions, such as telemedicine, and the ever popular "high net worth client interacting with their financial advisor" use case, may benefit from video; however, measurable benefits from a "video for all" strategy have not been sufficiently documented.
And speaking of lack of results, WebRTC at present is the antithesis of focusing on measurable results. Instead of analyzing actual usage, proponents of WebRTC simply declare it to be a disruptive technology, provide numerous analogies, and move on to another hype session. I think WebRTC may in fact open some great new advances in communication and collaboration; however, like an unbaked cake, for now I can only anticipate the results; I cannot taste it. And to keep the analogy going (WebRTC proponents love analogies!), WebRTC is really an ingredient, it may be an important ingredient, however, it will never be the entire dish. (See WebRTC is for Losers.)
Altocloud, which was well represented on the EC2014 stage by new CEO Barry O'Sullivan, was all about measuring and using metrics to improve the outcomes for customers and the business: "Did this Human Action or System Action achieve a positive outcome when routed to people or content during these scenarios." The concept seems well-focused, it will be interesting to track as actual deployments move forward.
And so we get to a simple and yet wise statement: "The proof of the pudding is in the eating". Which is often shortened to "The proof is in the pudding." Until you are able to taste (measure) the results, reading the recipe (the marketing literature) or smelling the aromas (the demos) does not provide you with enough information to evaluate the end product (the pudding).
I think pudding is a great food to combine with UC because I have often been told the best UC solution should be "sticky". I myself am partial to chocolate pudding. I expect attendees at the upcoming UC Summit will have an opportunity to discuss proof points while tasting a variety of foods; although, I do not believe last year's menu included pudding.
If you have menu suggestions or other comments, please connect with me via LinkedIn or Twitter @kkieller.
Tags
Start YourCustomized Search
SOLUTION AREA
SOLUTION PROVIDERS
- 8x8 (40) Apply 8x8 filter
- Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise (50) Apply Alcatel-Lucent Enterprise filter
- AT&T (44) Apply AT&T filter
- AudioCodes (49) Apply AudioCodes filter
- Avaya (397) Apply Avaya filter
- Cisco (574) Apply Cisco filter
- Dell (11) Apply Dell filter
- Five9 (54) Apply Five9 filter
- Fuze (39) Apply Fuze filter
- Genesys (100) Apply Genesys filter
- HP (98) Apply HP filter
- IBM (171) Apply IBM filter
- Jabra (9) Apply Jabra filter
- Logitech (56) Apply Logitech filter
- Lumen (4) Apply Lumen filter
- Masergy (50) Apply Masergy filter
- Microsoft (766) Apply Microsoft filter
- Mitel (233) Apply Mitel filter
- NEC (128) Apply NEC filter
- Nectar (58) Apply Nectar filter
- Polycom (95) Apply Polycom filter
- Ramp (37) Apply Ramp filter
- RingCentral (126) Apply RingCentral filter
- Sennheiser (18) Apply Sennheiser filter
- Slack (13) Apply Slack filter
- Tata Communications (59) Apply Tata Communications filter
- Unify (186) Apply Unify filter
- Vonage Business (80) Apply Vonage Business filter
- Yealink (8) Apply Yealink filter
- Zoom (21) Apply Zoom filter
- Acme Packet (24) Apply Acme Packet filter
- Allworx (2) Apply Allworx filter
- Arkadin (22) Apply Arkadin filter
- Aspect (34) Apply Aspect filter
- BT (25) Apply BT filter
- CaféX (8) Apply CaféX filter
- CallTower (14) Apply CallTower filter
- Clarity Connect (10) Apply Clarity Connect filter
- Continuant (1) Apply Continuant filter
- Damaka (4) Apply Damaka filter
- Dialogic (5) Apply Dialogic filter
- Dimension Data (44) Apply Dimension Data filter
- Empirix (11) Apply Empirix filter
- Enghouse Interactive (17) Apply Enghouse Interactive filter
- Inference Solutions (9) Apply Inference Solutions filter
- IntelePeer (27) Apply IntelePeer filter
- IR (11) Apply IR filter
- Jive (21) Apply Jive filter
- Kurmi Software (21) Apply Kurmi Software filter
- Lifesize (33) Apply Lifesize filter
- Lightware (3) Apply Lightware filter
- Mavenir (6) Apply Mavenir filter
- Modality Systems (8) Apply Modality Systems filter
- Momentum (36) Apply Momentum filter
- Netfortris (5) Apply Netfortris filter
- NetSapiens (6) Apply NetSapiens filter
- NewVoiceMedia (31) Apply NewVoiceMedia filter
- Nureva (26) Apply Nureva filter
- NUWAVE (5) Apply NUWAVE filter
- Orange (32) Apply Orange filter
- OVCC (8) Apply OVCC filter
- Panasonic (18) Apply Panasonic filter
- PanTerra Networks (9) Apply PanTerra Networks filter
- ScanSource (21) Apply ScanSource filter
- SIPPIO (3) Apply SIPPIO filter
- Snom (20) Apply Snom filter
- Star2Star (8) Apply Star2Star filter
- StarLeaf (12) Apply StarLeaf filter
- Tadiran Telecom (2) Apply Tadiran Telecom filter
- TekVizion (9) Apply TekVizion filter
- Unimax (7) Apply Unimax filter
- Verint (41) Apply Verint filter
- Voice4Net (2) Apply Voice4Net filter
- VOSS (85) Apply VOSS filter
- Voxbone (14) Apply Voxbone filter
- West (28) Apply West filter
- XO Communications (3) Apply XO Communications filter
- Yorktel (17) Apply Yorktel filter
- Zultys (2) Apply Zultys filter
- 3CX (8) Apply 3CX filter
- ADDASOUND (1) Apply ADDASOUND filter
- Aerohive (1) Apply Aerohive filter
- Aryaka (1) Apply Aryaka filter
- Asurion (22) Apply Asurion filter
- Avnet (7) Apply Avnet filter
- Bandwidth (5) Apply Bandwidth filter
- Calabrio (5) Apply Calabrio filter
- Consilium Software (13) Apply Consilium Software filter
- Drum (5) Apply Drum filter
- ESI (6) Apply ESI filter
- Esna (16) Apply Esna filter
- Exinda (2) Apply Exinda filter
- EZuce (3) Apply EZuce filter
- GUnify (6) Apply GUnify filter
- Highfive (4) Apply Highfive filter
- Huawei (47) Apply Huawei filter
- Imagicle (3) Apply Imagicle filter
- IPCortex (1) Apply IPCortex filter
- KnoahSoft (1) Apply KnoahSoft filter
- KOVA (1) Apply KOVA filter
- Logmein (9) Apply Logmein filter
- Metropolis Technologies (4) Apply Metropolis Technologies filter
- Mutare (2) Apply Mutare filter
- NextPlane (27) Apply NextPlane filter
- Ooma (16) Apply Ooma filter
- Patton (11) Apply Patton filter
- Radish Systems (1) Apply Radish Systems filter
- Radisys (3) Apply Radisys filter
- Shango (1) Apply Shango filter
- SMART (163) Apply SMART filter
- Stack8 (1) Apply Stack8 filter
- Swyx (1) Apply Swyx filter
- TrueConf (4) Apply TrueConf filter
- UJET (13) Apply UJET filter
- Voximplant (3) Apply Voximplant filter
CONTENT TYPE
- BC Expert Insights Market (43) Apply BC Expert Insights Market filter
- BC Expert Insights Objective - Vendor Neutral (42) Apply BC Expert Insights Objective - Vendor Neutral filter
- BC Expert Insights Planning (15) Apply BC Expert Insights Planning filter
- BC Expert Insights Solution (12) Apply BC Expert Insights Solution filter
- BC Expert Insights Vendor (80) Apply BC Expert Insights Vendor filter
- BC Expert Insights Vendor Solution (145) Apply BC Expert Insights Vendor Solution filter
- BC Expert Roundtable (133) Apply BC Expert Roundtable filter
- Bcs Webinar (0)
- Bcs Webinar Registration (0)
- Best Practice (38) Apply Best Practice filter
- Buyer Guide (14) Apply Buyer Guide filter
- Case Study (29) Apply Case Study filter
- Executive Interview (145) Apply Executive Interview filter
- Expert Roundtable (450) Apply Expert Roundtable filter
- Guest Contributions (35) Apply Guest Contributions filter
- Multimedia (38) Apply Multimedia filter
- News Analysis (2081) Apply News Analysis filter
- Newsfeed Article (1303) Apply Newsfeed Article filter
- Newsfeed Article (1) Apply Newsfeed Article filter
- Thought Leadership (21) Apply Thought Leadership filter
- Vendor Collateral (211) Apply Vendor Collateral filter
- Vendor Resource Best Practices (24) Apply Vendor Resource Best Practices filter
- Vendor Resource Buyers Guides (2) Apply Vendor Resource Buyers Guides filter
- Vendor Resource Multimedia Content (4) Apply Vendor Resource Multimedia Content filter
- Vendor Resource White Paper (4) Apply Vendor Resource White Paper filter
- Webinar (13) Apply Webinar filter
- Webinars (7) Apply Webinars filter
- White Paper (64) Apply White Paper filter
MORE FILTERS
INDUSTRY
- Banking And Investment (800) Apply Banking And Investment filter
- Education (446) Apply Education filter
- Energy And Utilities (487) Apply Energy And Utilities filter
- Finance (12) Apply Finance filter
- Government (675) Apply Government filter
- Healthcare (482) Apply Healthcare filter
- Hospitality (180) Apply Hospitality filter
- Insurance (100) Apply Insurance filter
- Manufacturing (704) Apply Manufacturing filter
- Media/Publishing (422) Apply Media/Publishing filter
- None (43) Apply None filter
- Professional Services (745) Apply Professional Services filter
- Retail & Distribution (798) Apply Retail & Distribution filter
- Technology (1611) Apply Technology filter
- Transportation (110) Apply Transportation filter
Comments
There are currently no comments on this article.
You must be a registered user to make comments