MARKET REVIEW
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The problem with Unifi
Terms like Unified Communications look good on paper but they can often be meaningless to prospective customers. Here, we examine some of the issues surrounding the UC sales pitch and highlight ways to get customer buy-in from the outset.
people from within, or between different organisations, to collaborate with each other more easily to add real business value. “Whether that is by helping them to reach quicker and more accurate decisions, get products to market faster or by stripping out existing operational expense,” he said.
“It should then identify how that consumer would like to consume the agreed collaborative applications and apply the appropriate model. We need to talk less of FMC, Presence, SaaS, UC and so on, and articulate why a customer would care!”
Leon Mangan, UK Sales Director, Indirect Channel, Siemens Enterprise
T
he problem with the term Unified Communications is that it comes
across as a technology solution that is looking for a problem to solve, believes Andy Brocklehurst, Business Transformation Manager, Cisco UK and Ireland. “UC, or more appropriately, ‘collaboration’, should always be business outcome based. For instance, the move to IP Telephony was a natural progression from traditional telephony platforms driven by natural changes within business,” he said. “UC has to deliver tangible
returns either by increasing top line revenues through innovation and improving the customer experience, or by reducing operating costs by enabling the business to become truly borderless. If neither can be proven, collaborative architectures will not be adopted.”
There are cultural challenges associated with UC, but they are more associated with the adoption of the technology once the decision has been made, than identifying and articulating the business benefits. “If the
decision is firmly based on real business needs with a clear alignment to what that organisation is looking to achieve, then this should not be a problem,” added Brocklehurst. “The focus needs to be placed on which investment will provide the greatest return in the shortest period. Time should be taken by the vendor to understand the sector as well as the customer’s unique requirements and circumstances.”
According to Brocklehurst, the industry should talk more around enabling
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Communications, believes that vendor and VAR sales people’s inability to turn industry jargon into layman’s terms is stopping them achieving their business goals. He said: “Too often we talk about VoIP, SIP, SaaS, FMC etc. We understand, but no one at a user level has a clue. Instead, we need to ask questions about what stops them growing their business, what costs them time and money, what frustrates them, what their top ten costs of doing business are.”
Unified Communications is as simple as the way it is communicated and customers are educated. Mangan added: “The one thing to remember is that if you have ever heard a customer or prospect say ‘you’re not speaking my language’, then you know it’s time to change your approach and get inside their business mind!”
Another aspect of not speaking the language is the fact that sales people focus too much on costing in the product, installation and service. User training is frequently a tiny percentage of the deal and as competitors lower their offer price, that means cuts in user training. “User training isn’t just about features on handsets,” added Mangan. “It’s a re-education from the ground up, taking the time to talk through the applications, how they can save time, effort, money for the user and enhance their work/life balance. It’s also about continuous education in bite size chunks so that people get used to the applications and benefits as a result.”
To overcome any internal resistance, the implementation of a Unified Comms strategy should be done gradually, combining a short-term and long- term strategy that solves any initial technology gaps, but also evaluates the lifecycle of existing assets. Andy Hollingworth, Director of Wholesale at Opal, agrees that all of this should be underpinned by training, because a key part of the success of a Unified Communications strategy is getting people to make changes to the way they work. He said: “To show the benefits to the customer, partners need to have a close enough relationship with operators to allow them to demonstrate the success of a UC strategy by offering demonstrations, and even pilots where appropriate.”
Terms like UC might look great on paper but they can often be meaningless to prospective customers.
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