For UC Apps, It’s All About Usability
For UC Apps, It’s All About Usability by UCStrategies Guest Contributor
There is a simple test for judging the success of applications. If they are easy to use, there’s a good chance they’ll succeed. If not, their future is dark. This formula is being played out now in the mobile unified communications (UC) space.
Looking at apps today on smartphones and tablets – some are intuitive, some aren’t. If people are trying to access apps and they aren’t simple to use, people will forget about them.
For the most part, companies recognize this fact. They want to accommodate employees looking for new ways to collaborate using their iPhones, iPads and Android devices as the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend continues to ramp up along with the popularity of mobility.
These businesses have a great opportunity to serve their workers (and save money) by providing employees converged solutions embracing collaboration brought on by BYOD, mobility, and UC. But the solutions need to be easy to use.
We are moving into a multimodal world of communications and collaboration where we are no longer in our office doing business by making phone calls. Now we’re on our mobile phone and sending instant messages and texts. We may even want to do a video presentation while on the go.
The ability to seamlessly switch between these modalities with mobile UC apps becomes an important consideration. The UC vendors need to focus more on these issues.
For example, what should be a simple, enjoyable process for setting up a conference call is often stressful, as an organizer often has to juggle phone numbers and passcodes. If we can find a way to enable the user with a single click to join a conference call – that’s going to make that user want to use that conference where they can hit one button and they’re in a conference bridge.
Or, if a sales person is on a call with a customer and he realizes he needs to ask an engineer a question, he should be able to send an IM to his sales support engineer and ask him for clarification on the customer’s question.
That makes him look responsive and more effective because he doesn’t need to hang up, make a call, and call back. He wants to give a fast response to the customer’s question and business needs, and he’ll look until he finds apps that will do it for him.
We’ve seen sales teams take to such apps. They recognize the value in such communication and collaboration for closing sales, so they are using them more.
And although users ultimately dictate the success or failure of applications, some in the industry are slow to recognize this fact. There can still be frustration with using applications not purpose-built to provide the best mobile device experience.
So UC adoption on the mobile side is not yet as advanced as it should be, nor as high as it will ultimately get.
The challenge for UC is how to drive adoption up. Vendors will have to deliver solutions that improve productivity while making the user experience attractive. Most vendors haven’t focused on the end user. They are focused on selling to the IT guys and this needs to change.
These solutions must be simple to use, so their channel partners can highlight these benefits and make a compelling case to their customers. Resellers can ensure customers are equipped to realize the full potential of these solutions to give workers more freedom and control in how they communicate and collaborate.
UC mobility apps should be able to connect simple interfaces with mobile platforms and be intuitive to use. Proprietary solutions provide a less interesting experience. If you use an iPhone or an Android, you should be able to easily connect and integrate your mobile with UC platforms.
To make these apps work better, vendors need to focus on the user and drive benefits to the customer.
By Christian Gilby, senior product manager for mobility, ShoreTel.