Four Dimensions to Transformational UCC Projects (Part 1 of 2)
Four Dimensions to Transformational UCC Projects (Part 1 of 2) by Jason Andersson
As a channel partner you need to understand how you should transform your message and offering to help CIO’s succeed in their work.
To achieve the type of transformational projects you want, you need to keep four dimensions in focus, Technology, People, Workspace and Process. As CIO your organization becomes the coordinating, or project leading organization, and responsible for delivering the technology that shall support the change.
In each of these dimensions you can help the customer to identify drivers for change and by doing so identify the strategic direction the company wants to take.
Technology Dimension
Work is constantly moving and the evolution of mobile technology is a key enabler for concepts such as “Work where you are,” but in parallel to this are the moves from the physical to digital. This change in technology can be seen in many different areas; Storage moving to cloud (private and public) solutions that enable access from many different devices and inviting others to share in the work is much easier. Applications run from a cloud environment, including collaboration applications, office tools, email systems, project planning tools and CRM applications.
The plethora of collaborative tools available keeps growing. As a channel partner or systems integrator you can be the partner the IT department and CIO is looking for to introduce new tools. These collaborative tools can begin by using desktop sharing features, soft phones or mobile clients and move into social networking applications that allow employees to network, share and collaborate in a much freer way.
Virtual environments, both on the server side as well as the desktop side can enable collaboration in an environment with many different types of computers and mobile devices such as tablets. It also supports BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) as well as external partners using the same corporate collaborative environment.
New mobile technologies get new applications. For example location-based technology is going to change how users collaborate. Automatically giving users control over conference room facilities when in a specific room, which can be enabled using location information, NFC (Near Field Communication) technologies, wireless data or even docking station equipment. Or employees entering customer premises getting automatic updated information on their mobile device as to the latest purchases, products they use or other intelligence. Even using location based information to inform coworkers of the location of the employee and setting call forwarding or Instant Messaging availability directly so they won’t be disturbed.
The convergence of the communication flow will continue where new applications will become widely available from many vendors that allow users to seamlessly move between communication modes.
All these changes are much more than just technology. Having an understanding of what it means to implement these and the changes an organization should or could do to become more agile and collaborative is an expertize that you as a channel partner or systems integrator can offer as a service to build an even closer relationship with your customers.
People Dimension
In a successful transforming UCC project, 20-30% of the effort is technology. And most of this is implemented a bit at a time. 70-80% of the main workload will be under the responsibility of Human Resources and Internal Communications. This is because collaboration is a change in attitudes and how to measure success.
The new generation of workers will be able to work as the former does, however it is very clear that they want to introduce new ways of working using collaborative tools that allow them to network and share information with coworkers, partners and customers in a very different way than workers today are used to (or even willing to do).
Social networks are the foundation for their very social lives. At work they expect to find solutions by networking with competence close or far away as well as inside or outside of the secure firewall. Worker loyalty is also decreasing and employers find themselves needing to have a network of capable people they can call in on consulting assignments. Training this migrant workforce is going to be a challenge but allowing them to find competence through networking will minimize the competence gap.
For decades, there have been two kinds of offices: a private office or workstation for one person, and conference rooms and team spaces for groups. Research show that 70% of innovations occur while working together with someone else and there is significant evidence confirming that working in pairs improves learning, negotiations, problem solving, and innovation.
Most channel partners do not engage in the people dimension of UCC projects, but there are many benefits of this and I would recommend any organization seriously considering supporting this new generation of workers with collaboration tools that they need and want to use.
Also on UCStrategies.com in this series: