Ensuring a smooth transition to Unified Communications

Users need to take control of the systems rather than let the technology ride all over them

Extracting maximum value out of IT investments is high on every IT director’s agenda at the best of times, let alone when the economy is taking tentative steps out of a global downturn.

One technology area that is gaining rapid momentum is unified communications (UC), as companies look to more sophisticated and varied ways of communicating to support their decision-making processes and allow them to react in real time. The explosion of the mobile workforce is also driving demand for tools that both simplify communications and give users choice about how they interact with others.

“The objective is to make people more productive. How much time do people waste trying to get hold of others? This is not about working 25 hours a day, it’s about eliminating inefficient communications,” says Steve Blood, research vice president at analyst Gartner.

The theory is all well and good, but successful rollouts of UC are not without their challenges. Technology aside, extracting the maximum potential benefits from these sorts of systems hinges in no small part on the way your employees embrace the technology.

“Cultural issues are big,” warns Blood. “UC is a bit like CRM – it’s being pushed on IT departments. Companies make it very easy to get going with the technology but it’s not so easy to work out how to get people to use it.” A survey conducted by Gartner last year found that the element of implementations most underestimated by enterprises was training and, says Blood, UC is by no means an exception. “It’s still so new and no one gets training on these things.”

Andy Brocklehurst, head of UC at Cisco, agrees that the relative immaturity of UC means that too many implementations are an application-centric sell. “But it has to become more business-outcome based otherwise that will slow down adoption. Culture, process and technology – they’re all equal in importance. If you don’t look at the first two, it’s difficult to get people to use the technology.”

Cisco’s own implementation of UC has allowed the company to reduce its deal approval process from an average of 7.2 days to just three, primarily because the new system means it is far easier to get an answer from the relevant people.

UC systems have a wide range of capabilities and not all staff will either want or need to access the full gamut of functionality offered. “In reality you have to segment your users by those who want the technology and those whose job requires it,” Blood says.

Alex Donnelly, portfolio manager at IT consultancy Damovo UK, agrees that the profile of users and the types of activities they perform are key to determining which functionality is appropriate to them. “Simply saying everyone can have all these tools, won’t work. The Generation ‘Y’ in organisations expect to use these tools whereas other people are very passive users of UC.”

Changing the process of what someone does can be hard for them. People are creatures of habit and if they have always contacted people in a certain way, for example looking up a name on a directory and calling them from a desk phone, being faced with a choice of communications methods can be daunting.

So having processes in place is very important, Donnelly says. “Users need to be made aware of how to get the main benefits of UC, otherwise it just becomes clutter on their desktop.”

Cisco’s Brocklehurst warns companies should accept a certain amount of resistance from employees to new ways of working. “But it’s about focusing on the quick wins. For example, setting up the system so you can search for specific skill sets on Google maps, find out how they like to be contacted and see if someone is available. I think it’s best to leave it up to individuals to decide which methods of communication they prefer.”

The presence information, which tells others whether you are on the phone, away or available to chat, for example, has huge potential benefits in terms of improving the efficiency of communications. However, some people have expressed concerns that it has the potential to be rather Big Brother-esque, allowing heavy-handed managers to micromanage employees and making staff feel as if their every move is being watched.

Brocklehurst says users need to take control of the systems rather than let the technology ride all over them. Ultimately, if they find the presence notification too stressful, there is always the option to turn it off.

Michael Dean, director of advisory services at the National Computing Centre, says in the current climate, employees might want to feel visible, particularly if they feel their job is under threat. One potential benefit to UC is even those staff working remotely can be as visible and accessible as their office-based counterparts.

“For me it’s not about being as available as possible; I use it as a flexible tool for my work-life balance, but in our organisation it has taken some time to get to that level of comfort,” Donnelly admits.

Etiquette is another area that needs to be addressed head on if companies want to reap the most benefits from UC. “If you suddenly give everyone the opportunity to contact people through multiple channels, there has to be some policy about how you use them,” Blood says.

“You need to respect people’s presence status,” warns Davomo’s Donnelly. “If someone is busy and you still contact them, it’s a bit like walking up to someone when they’re on the phone and saying, ‘I can see you’re on the phone, but...’”

Poor user experiences are also likely to hinder widespread adoption of the technology by staff. It is vital that network people make sure the technology does what it is supposed to. If the technology fails end users, they will want to revert back to the old way of doing things and not want to make the most of what UC has to offer.

Read how Eclipse Scientific made its communications system easier to manage and how Vodafone has a UC offering to suit most types of enterprise