There’s a Shift Afoot

Looking for a great ice breaker? Try, “what’s your definition of UC?” It’s a favorite topic covered on this site and many others (never gets old). I myself have written many a posts along these lines.

In the past, I took an evolution of voice stance. Before I shoot this down (for the first time), let me explain it. People love to say the PBX is dead - that UC changes everything. The PBX was about voice, and UC is about voice, IM/Presence, mobility, CEBP/APIs, video, and collaboration. So if the conversation was about CEBP, using APIs to, for example, route the call to the right agent - someone would invariably say “this sure isn’t a PBX anymore.”

http://www.ucstrategies.com/there-is-a-shift-afoot.aspx

Hosted Voice v2.0

There are unanimous and astonishing forecasts around the upcoming growth of hosted voice. The projections I'm seeing suggest growth figures unlike anything else in the UnPBX industry. It isn't just one or two reports, it is numerous reports from organizations that are not known for agreement. The predictions are staggering based on a perfect storm of conditions:

• Ubiquity of broadband networks
• Decreasing prices of broadband networks
• High speed broadband networks
• Increasing demand for mobility (the killer app)
• Distance insensitivity of VoIP
• A general change in heart favoring outsourced services
• A general change in heart for pay as you go vs plan for the worst
• For the first time, transparent multi-site feature consistency can be obtained at a reasonable cost
• Increased prices to maintain equipment (power, software assurance, know-how).

http://www.pindropsoup.com/2010/05/hosted-voice-20.html

Information versus the silos

The idea that ‘information is important and we want to do more useful things with it’ transcends technology by virtue of it having been true long before IT vendors wanted to talk about it. However, technology does have a key role to play in helping us exploit the information in our businesses, not least because of its ability to help us capture, sort, filter, transform and generally make sense of vast quantities of it.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/27/info_silos/

Nimans breaks £1m Siemens stock barrier

Yvonne Tierney-Neave, Siemens business manager at Nimans, said: “Market demand for Siemens technology is on the increase and we want to lay the foundations to help our resellers continue to grow, backed by award-winning levels of service. We have the buying power, stock capacity and foresight to react positively to changing trends within the industry."

http://www.channelweb.co.uk/crn/news/2260453/nimans-breaks-siemens-stock

World finally using unified communications

It seems that Unified Communications (UC) has at last started to move beyond the ‘what is it’ stage and hit the mainstream world of real users with real implementations and real experiences.

El Reg http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/02/07/using_uc/

Telephone equipment Channel Changes on Deck

The telephone equipment channel is one of the few forms of distribution not largely impacted by national chains or Internet distribution houses. The channel remains predominately independent local firms that specialize in voice systems and related services. But several factors in play today suggest big changes are coming--partly due to technology changes and partly due to obsolete models now under competitive pressure.

http://www.nojitter.com/blog/archives/2009/12/channel_changes.html

Dissecting the DECT Option

One alternative that is being bandied about for local mobile voice is the European-developed Digital Enhanced Cordless Telephone (DECT) technology. While the US market interest has focused on voice over Wireless LAN (VoWLAN) on Wi-Fi networks, in the European market the installed base for local voice is roughly 95% DECT versus 5% Wi-Fi. Several US suppliers including Siemens, NEC, Nortel, Mitel, and Polycom offer DECT-based solution so they are being proposed in a number of installations. For an enterprise buyer looking for a solution for local mobility, it is important to be aware of the pros and cons of the two solutions.

Read more at UC Strategies...

Customer UC Voice Assistance Is Only A Part of The Contextual Contact Center

The traditional call center is no longer really a physically located “center,” but has to be “virtual” in terms of where the technology is located and where the “agents” and “experts” are located; (Call center “customers” have always been “virtual!”) nor is the next generation “contextual contact center” dedicated to handling just conversational voice calls or automated, self-service applications, based on legacy telephones and Interactive Voice Response technologies.

Read more at UC Strategies...

Is Technology Evil?

Bob Cringley has nice column on Technology and Ethics

"This column started out being titled “Is Goldman Sachs Evil?” until I realized the issue is far more broad. It began with a blog post by my old boss Jim Casella, who now runs Asset International, a financial publisher. Jim concludes after a review of some recent and very negative press that Goldman isn’t evil, per se, just cocky. But by comparing the investment bank to sports teams and players I think Jim makes a grave error. Goldman Sachs isn’t evil, just stupid. And that stupidity comes in the form of their witless abuse of technology."
continue reading... I, Cringley Blog

Siemens SEN bid for Nortel Network Unit

It's official Siemens Enterprise Communications would bid for Notel Network Unit

Nortel Networks has received bids from two companies for the sale of its corporate networking business, Financial Times reports. Avaya and Siemens Enterprise Communications have secured approval to bid for the network equipment unit.
The deal could help the Canadian telecommunications equipment maker to raise more than $600 million. Avaya had previously offered $475 million for Nortel’s enterprise unit. The auction is expected to complete by the end of 2009 or early 2010.

Siemens SEN legt Angebot für Nortel-Sparte

Der Firmennetzwerkausrüster Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEN) geht nach einigem Zögern nun doch ins Rennen um das Nortel-Unternehmensnetzgeschäft. Die Mutterholding ENH bereitet nach eigenen Angaben vom Mittwoch ein Angebot für das Enterprise-Geschäft der zahlungsunfähigen Kanadier vor. ENH gehört mehrheitlich dem US-Finanzinvestor Gores und zu 49 Prozent Siemens. ENH werde sich im Vorfeld eines Gebots erheblich anstrengen, was Aufwand und Ausgaben angehe, hieß es.

http://futurezone.orf.at/stories/1621776/

Paul McMillan Responds Regarding Cloud

I had the following exchange with Paul McMillan of Siemens, who responded to my recent post on UC and the cloud:

First I have to say I didn't realize I was that old when you said I have been around for a long time;) I like to think I'm still young I guess. In any event, I wanted to address a couple of points, the first being the willingness of the enterprise to adopt cloud services including UC. It's fair to say the Cloud has some maturing to do but its also fair to say that the uptake from major corporations for cloud services is impressive given the maturity of the technology. Second I don't think I can buy into the comparison of CTI which offered, I believe, limited integration when you think of it. That would be the inverse of the cloud model. Centrex services are another matter and my feeling is that some folks might consider centrex successful but what really held it back is that beyond telephony, what else did it offer? The answer is not very much. The cloud model doesn't have these restrictions. More and more application functions and capabilities are ported to the cloud every day. The pace of innovations is very impressive. UC in the cloud is a natural fit and let's face it, if the SMB market alone adopts the cloud as a model it's a big win. Why would the SMB market do that? One reason is access to technologies they are not able to implement on their own. If an SMB can get the same LOB [line of business] applications as larger organizations, the playing field can be somewhat leveled. When you embed communications functionality into that LOB application and deliver it as a service, well the value proposition just got a lot brighter. If you look across the industry today just about everyone is making a big bet on the Cloud (Cisco, MS, IBM, SAP, and even Oracle has changed its tune completely). Furthermore the cloud takes on many definitions but what's most important from my perspective is that we demonstrate adaptability of our technology into whatever cloud model emerges (public cloud, private cloud, hybrid model etc). When I talked about the number of developers working in Amazon's cloud I was kind of surprised to see you write whether they were doing anything useful for the enterprise. Im not sure 450k plus developers can just play around in the cloud and not generate something useful, otherwise they probably won't be there for long. To answer the question directly, they are generating a lot of useful applications for vertical markets in particular and we believe we can tap into that innovation to deliver additional value. What's most interesting to me about the cloud and more importantly the role of UC in cloud architectures is that it is truly a blank slate from which a great deal of innovative applications, deployment models, and use cases can be developed. It's really a model that allows for a lot of the concepts developed over the last few years to be proven out (mashups, on demand applications, and mass collaboration are among some of the things the cloud can most easily foster). In last year's fall VoiceCon we spoke at length about Federation services and this is just one example of a capability that could be cloud based and is probably optimally placed in the cloud since it gives enterprise customers the widest possible reach to collaborate beyond their borders. Fred thanks for keeping me honest and letting me respond. Take care and enjoy the rest of the summer Hope to see you at Fall VoiceCon.

My response to Paul:

Thanks Paul. Points well taken. My comments were focused on the enterprise rather than SMB, where I agree the cloud is likely to have its biggest impact, at least in the short term. Since our readers are typically enterprise-oriented, I didn't make that distinction as clear as I should have.

With regard to developers providing what a specific enterprise might want, I think to an experience that we had just earlier in the week. We are working to create a community site for NoJitter and VoiceCon, and want to launch as close to Sep. 1 as possible. We spoke to several service providers about what they can deliver, and while each had interesting templates, none had the specific combination of apps and features that we'd like. Each told us that they'd be adding the missing capabilities but were vague about exactly when they'd become available, and while each said that customization of the template was possible, the costs were considerable. I don't believe that scenario is unique to us or this project.

Finally, from Paul:

For the enterprise I believe a hybrid model will emerge where certain software functions will reside within the enterprise and other software functions will move to the cloud. Hopefully that clarifies my thoughts on the subject. Take care Fred.

http://www.nojitter.com/blog/archives/2009/07/paul_mcmillan_r.html

Cloud Computing and Unified Communications

Nice article on No Jitter from Paul McMillan on Cloud Computing and UC.
http://www.nojitter.com/blog/archives/2009/07/at_the_intersec.html

Video Solutions for Health Care

Ten considerations for adoption.

When the topic of video conferencing is broached, the majority of information technology (IT) or telecommunications operations managers usually cringe based on past experiences. One only has to look at the dust-covered legacy systems tucked out of the way in many a conference room to admit there were failings with past promises.

In the past, video conferencing solutions in health care had a difficult time for a number of reasons:

• The technology was difficult to use.
• Audio/video quality was poor.
• The video conference rooms were too expensive and thus not pervasive.
• Video conferencing was often incompatible with voice or even other video systems

With the rapid growth of IP communications and high-definition (HD) technologies, we see for the first time vendors' ability to deliver on the promises of video solutions for health care. The expansion of voice over IP in the enterprise has laid the groundwork for an organization's ability to expand into video communications.

However, as easy as it is to connect, configure and use these new video-over-IP solutions, there are still obstacles and challenges the IT organization needs to address to prevent these next-generation video conferencing systems from also being cast aside. Here are the top 10 considerations when planning for video.

1) What is the goal?

It may seem like a simple question but different departments within the organization may have different needs and views on what video conferencing solutions are needed. Rather than IT having the responsibility of identifying the needs for video conferencing, more than likely it will be their responsibility to organize all of the ideas coming from forward-thinking clinicians. For example, HD video systems can now be integrated with clinical systems used in surgeries allowing for educational observations or even assisting in remote diagnostics. Video solutions are also being installed on wireless carts for use in emergency departments. In a multi-facility campus, medical assessments (i.e., psychology and stroke assessments), or translation services can be done at the patient's bedside without losing precious time while a specialist travels between facilities. It will be the responsibility of the IT department to organize all the various interests into an enterprise solution that meets these needs.

2) Is the network ready?

You may have already rolled out voice across your network, but video is a different application with unique requirements. If you have ever undertaken a painting project at home, you know that preparation is key to success. The same principle applies here; a professional services assessment of the network for video readiness is the safest approach to minimize risks associated with its adoption and impact on the network. If a video conference call is going to have problems, then Murphy's Law states it will happen when the executive leadership is using it.

3) Time to integrate

One of the past failures with video conferencing implementations was that they did not integrate with enterprise phone systems. Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)-supported solutions allow for seamless integration between voice and video networks. You can ease adoption pains with extension-based dialing between users. With the right solution, you no longer need separate audio and video systems in conference rooms.

4) Talking to outsiders

I was one week into customer evaluation when I received a call from the customer asking how to dial outside of its network to communicate with a partner. Only planning for internal communications is like having a phone system that doesn't connect to the public switched telephone network (PSTN). External communications can be accomplished via legacy integrated services digital network (ISDN) or IP, but both approaches have unique design considerations. Video conferencing outside of the enterprise may not be a requirement today but ensuring all the project stakeholders are in agreement is critical.

5) Video for the masses

Telepresence solutions provide only one usage scenario -- primarily for executive leadership. Dollar for dollar in a health system the odds are return on investment for video will be in the deployment of small, medium and large conference room systems, not in the deployment of a couple standalone premium telepresence rooms.

6) The whole solution

A standard endpoint from a manufacturer includes a codec box, camera and microphone/speakerphone. That's a fraction of the components needed for a solution and can lead to sticker shock when you add up the numbers. A typical solution will include monitors, mounting hardware, AV components, cabling and room lighting changes. An experienced integrator will be able to provide pricing for the entire video conferencing solution.

Note that, although often overlooked or underappreciated, a strong support infrastructure is a critical factor for long-term adoption and ongoing stability. Support falls under people, tools and processes. Ensuring the solution performs consistently is dependent on the performance of the underlying network (network performance monitoring) and the IT organization's ability to deliver a variety of video-related services.

7) Support tools or services

Often an afterthought, management tools are an important part of the overall enterprise solution and should be thoroughly evaluated. A vendor's overall solution should include tools for proactive monitoring of endpoints, centralized management, call scheduling capabilities and usage reporting. The right tools will reduce the support burden of the operations staff. Managed services providers for video have expertise and tools that go beyond the basic offerings from the hardware manufacturers.

8) Support staff training

When the integrator's work is complete it will be up to the operations staff to provide the care. Whether being offered directly from a manufacturer or through an integrator, training operations staff on the solutions is an important component in the implementation of a solution. The operations staff will need to be ready to handle the demands of Day Two support.

9) Support for your customers

While the technology is easy to use, you'll still need to assist end-users. It is likely when IT gets a request, it will come from a frustrated end-user who expected the solution to "just work right." Processes need to be in place on how to address those in an organization who may need a little extra level of support. Be careful of relying on an administrative assistant to understand all of the features of a multimedia video conferencing solution. He or she may not be available to handle calls. If your staff doesn't have the bandwidth to support last-minute service requests, then consider video concierge services. Concierge service allows your organization to focus on its core competencies and provide a premium level of end-user support to the organization.

10) Predicting the future

"I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been," said Wayne Gretzky, national hockey league legend. A CTO I used to work with used that quote whenever considering a technology decision, and it applies here as well.

According to Frost & Sullivan's 2009 North American Video Conferencing Study: "The video conferencing market is in the midst of a massive transition as new products and delivery modes continue to emerge and as vendors realign their strategies to tap into emerging opportunities. The viral growth of video in the consumer market will impact the psyche of 'Gen Y-ers' when they get into the workforce. Along with Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, blogs and social networking, video is becoming a key part of this new communication paradigm."

The consumerization of communication technologies has led us to a point where rather than IT having to sponsor and advocate solutions, the interest and drive come from the end-users. Often IT finds itself struggling to accommodate demand. And the possibilities continue to grow as organizations think of new uses beyond traditional usage scenarios. The benefits will run the gamut from cost efficiencies to improved education, from saving time to saving lives. In the end patients will be the beneficiaries of video communications in health care.

Mr. Zemke is a unified communications consultant, HealthCare Solutions, Siemens Enterprise Networks. You can contact him at bob.zemke@siemens-enterprise.com.

http://health-care-it.advanceweb.com/Editorial/Content/Editorial.aspx?CTIID=3211

Neue Siemens Enterprise Website

Siemens hat launched new redesigned website on SIEMENS Enterprise

Siemens Enterprise – New Contact Center Products

Siemens once again has executed on their product roadmap as promised; this time through the integration of outbound technologies from their SER Solutions acquisition, adding a couple of new products to their contact center portfolio. Since the joint venture occurred, Siemens has consistently delivered on extending their portfolio of products through solutions that mesh with what they deem as their ‘core product values’; first call resolution, high usability and ease of deployment. Recently this has included delivering a fully integrated voice portal offering at the end of last year, and enhancing their managed services portfolio with features such as multi-tenancy, earlier this year.

To set the table for this announcement, Siemens has rebranded HiPath ProCenter as OpenScape Contact Center. The focus on this announcement is the results of the integration of the SER product portfolio into OpenScape. The theme of this announcement is costs savings and greater efficiencies for the contact center – which of course, flows perfectly with the economic themes of the current business environment.

Today Siemens announced two products, resulting from the integration of the SER portfolio. OpenScape Contact Center Campaign Director is an outbound application with predictive dialing, dynamic list and real-time campaign management capabilities, along with an agent-less IVR solution. The goal of Campaign Director is to enable intelligent blending of inbound and outbound calls for proactive customer care, and to improve contact center efficiency,
The second product, OpenScape Contact Center Unity, is an all inclusive specialty outbound campaign solution that also provides native inbound routing, IVR, chat and email capabilities, along with integrated digital call recording. This product is focused on those verticals that are campaign/claims driven, such as healthcare, or insurance.

Part of delivering on the roadmap is Siemens clear understanding of the needs of their customers based on what is the primary driver or mission of the contact center. If a contact center’s mission is to primarily handle inbound calls to take orders or provide customer service, for example, then they need the tools to resolve that call quickly, on the first attempt in order to keep costs down. So, skills-based routing, integration with UC-based tools such as IM, presence and collaboration, or up-front self-service options are of utmost importance. Similarly, if the primary mission of the contact center is something like collections, then predictive dialing, proactive outbound interactive self-service to handle calls before they come into the contact center is the order of the day, but seamlessly integrated with inbound call handling in order to maximize use of agents.

Unified Communications für HiPath 3000 Kunden

Durch die Integration in HiPath-Anlagen erweitert sich das Klientel für das UC-System erheblich. Bisher wurde es nämlich vorinstalliert auf der Appliance "HiPath OpenOffice ME" ausgeliefert. Deren größtes Manko: Sie ist für reine IP-Umgebungen konzipiert, das Marktpotenzial deshalb sehr überschaubar.

Die installierte Basis an HiPath-3000-TK-Anlagen, die sowohl reine TDM- oder IP-Installationen als auch hybride Netze unterstützen, ist dagegen riesig. Nach Angaben des Herstellers gibt es weltweit über eine halbe Million Installationen.

Wer bereits eine HiPath 3000 einsetzt, kann diese mit einem Software-Update auf Version 8 fit für die Zusammenarbeit mit OpenScape machen. Anders als bei der IP-Lösung wird das UC-System nicht integriert, sondern separat auf einem Linux-Server installiert. Die Hardware-Voraussetzungen sind laut Hersteller gering und vor allem von den Anforderungen des Kunden an Verfügbarkeit und Leistung des Systems abhängig. Im Lieferumfang der Lösung ist eine Suse-Betriebssystemlizenz enthalten. Eine Installationsroutine, die zunächst das Betriebssystem und dann die Unified-Communications-Umgebung installiert, soll Händlern ohne große Linux-Erfahrung die Inbetriebnahme erleichtern.

Contact Center ergänzt UC-Funktionen

Der Leistungsumfang von OpenScape Office entspricht im Wesentlichen dem der OpenOffice-ME-Version (ChannelPartner berichtete). Zentraler Bestandteil ist das Präsenzmanagement. Es informiert unter anderem einen Anrufer darüber, ob der gewünschte Gesprächspartner in einem Meeting, im Home Office, auf Dienstreise oder im Urlaub ist. Für verschiedene Abwesenheitstypen lassen sich Regeln einrichten, nach denen Telefonate aufs Handy, den Anschluss eines Kollegen oder die Mailbox weitergeleitet werden können. Über ein optionales Plug-in kann das Präsenz-Managament direkt über den Kalender von Microsoft Outlook gesteuert werden.

Praktisch ist auch die so genannte "Call-Me"-Funktion. Sie erlaubt es, vom Hotel oder vom Heimarbeitsplatz aus Anrufe zu tätigen, ohne dass am abgehenden Anschluss Kosten anfallen. Dazu initiiert der Mitarbeiter über die "myPortal" genannte Benutzeroberfläche den Anruf. Die Zentrale baut darauf hin zunächst die Verbindung zur angegebenen Rufnummer im Hotel oder im Home Office des Nutzers auf und stellt diesen dann zum gewünschten Gesprächspartner durch.

Im Unterschied zu OpenOffice ME bietet die HiPath-3000-Version von OpenScape ein optionales Contact-Center-Modul. Es ermöglicht den Aufbau und die Integration eines Call-Centers in die Unified-Communications-Umgebung, ergänzt um die Anbindung von Fax und E-Mail als Kommunikationswege. Diese lassen sich wie Anrufe behandeln, also priorisieren, in Warteschleifen einbinden oder bestimmten Agenten zuordnen.

Call-Center-Mitarbeiter können über die Präsenzfunktion erkennen, ob ein Gesprächspartner - beispielsweise ein Experte für ein vorliegendes Kundenproblem - verfügbar ist oder ob er eine Vertretung aktiviert hat. Je nach eingerichteter Weiterleitungsregel kann ein Teilnehmer auch dann über seine Büro-Durchwahl erreicht werden, wenn er auf Reisen ist oder sich im Home Office befindet. Die Contact-Center-Funktion ist für bis zu 64 Agenten ausgelegt. Als typisches Einsatzszenario sieht der Anbieter aber Call-Center-Umgebungen mit 10 bis 20 Mitarbeitern. Das Contact-Center-Modul wird Ende 2009 auch für OpenOffice ME zur Verfügung stehen.

Zur Integration in bestehende Kommunikationsumgebungen stehen drei Clients zur Verfügung. Der im Lieferumfang enthaltene Java-Client funktioniert theoretisch mit allen Kommunikations-Plattformen und java-fähigen Betriebssystemen. Ein Einsatz unter Mac OS X wird vom Hersteller allerdings nicht empfohlen. Für die Integration in Outlook gibt es wie bereits erwähnt ein optionales Plug-in. Der dritte Client namens "myAgent", ist für die Zusammenarbeit mit dem Contact-Center-Modul gedacht. Ein Client für Mobiltelefone ist ebenfalls verfügbar. Nach wie vor werden allerdings nur Blackberry-Endgeräte und Nokia-Telefone der E-Serie unterstützt. Weder Windows-Mobile-Smartphones noch das Apple iPhone lassen sich einbinden.

Enterasys and Siemens Enterprise Communications Upgrade Wireless Products

Enterasys and Siemens Enterprise Communications today announced new enhancements to the Enterasys Wireless portfolio, also known as HiPath® Wireless, including new hardware platforms and new software features which further unify wired and wireless network management and security while extending the flexibility of the Enterasys solutions-oriented wireless architecture. The portfolio enhancements deliver standards-based, secure infrastructure choices to enterprise users seeking to reduce operational expenses associated with wireless networking.

Expanded Portfolio

A new, enterprise-class dual radio 802.11a/b/g access point, at a single-radio price point, supports diverse deployment options and delivers premium secure, reliable, centrally-managed mobility. A next-generation, appliance-based wireless controller provides more cost-effective scalability and flexibility -- important to both medium and large enterprises as well as education users.

"These new platforms allow us to offer customers additional options to provide more cost-effective and robust wireless capabilities," said Chris Crowell, Enterasys executive vice president and general manager. "Combined with further advances in wired/wireless management integration, users can significantly reduce operational expenses as well."

Unified Wired/Wireless Management and Security

"Wireless networks have moved from convenience to critical in enterprise environments," said William Terrill, principal analyst, Enterprise Network Systems at Current Analysis. "Being able to integrate and manage both the wired and wireless connections as a single entity, and do so for both local and remote sites, can significantly reduce the overhead and complexity of managing the network. Wireless clients have to be able to securely access the same resources on the network as their wired cousins in today's mobile enterprise."

Enterasys continues to deliver on its commitment to drive integration of wired and wireless networks. The latest portfolio enhancements extend the integration between Enterasys wired and wireless management software to include centralized backup/restore and software management for all wired and wireless infrastructure components.

Flexible Architecture

Enterasys offers a highly flexible wireless network architecture that simultaneously delivers both centralized and distributed traffic forwarding according to business needs. New features such as enhanced policy management at the access point (AP), with advanced AP filtering, now provide the option of user policy enforcement directly at the network point of entry. Unwanted tunneled or locally bridged traffic no longer needs to traverse expensive WAN links or create bottlenecks on aggregating links before being filtered out. Additionally, integrated Guest Access provides a fully integrated captive portal solution with no need for an external RADIUS or Web server. A simple, intuitive dedicated user interface enables non-technical personnel to easily create temporary guest accounts and distribute credentials.

Enterasys Pricing and Availability

-- The new C4110 wireless controller starts at $16,995 U.S. list price and can support up to 500 APs in a high-availability deployment.
-- The new AP2605 wireless Access Point is $349 U.S. list price, including antennas and mounting brackets.

All of the new Enterasys Wireless offerings are available within 90 days from authorized Enterasys distributors and value-added resellers worldwide in addition to current Siemens Enterprise Communications channels. Prices set forth above are the Enterasys list price and Enterasys distributors and value-added resellers are free to set their own prices.

Communication key productivity factor: study

Communications barriers and latencies can cost small and medium businesses (SMBs) up to 40 per cent of their productive time, according to a Siemens-sponsored global study.

On average, 70 per cent of employee respondents of SMBs with up to 400 employees said they spend 17.5 hours each week addressing the pain points caused by communications barriers and latencies, according to a global study sponsored by Siemens Enterprise Communications and conducted by SIS International Research.
The research also showed that while SMB awareness of unified communications as a solution is rising, nearly 60 per cent of SMBs do not currently employ one based on the sampling.
In addition, researchers at SIS International Research determined that the time spent per week dealing with communications issues was more than 50 per cent higher in companies with more than 20 workers.
In hard costs, the study concluded, companies of 100 employees could be losing more than $500,000 each year by not addressing their employees’ most painful communications issues.

Key findings
The Siemens-sponsored SMB study ascertained the top five pain points to be, in order of their estimated expense to an SMB: inefficient coordination; waiting for information; unwanted communications; customer complaints; and barriers to communication.
Specifically, they obtained the following responses to each of these pain points:

1. Inefficient coordination: Sixty-eight per cent of respondents have trouble coordinating communications among team members, affecting their ability to respond quickly to time-sensitive customer requests. They also average 3.7 hours per week attempting to coordinate communications across team members, slowing the realization of goals and deadlines.
2. Waiting for information: Sixty-eight per cent of respondents said they experience work delays while waiting for information from others that they have attempted to reach live multiple times using multiple methods. The average delay is 3.5 hours per week per knowledge worker. This is a considerable amount of time to spend before making progress on a particular task, which could negatively affect critical business processes.
3. Unwanted communications: Unwanted communications, including low-priority calls and voicemail, were experienced by the survey group by 77 per cent of respondents, who said they spend two or more hours per week dealing with unwanted communications. These interruptions create distractions and disrupt workflow, leading to lower productivity and missed deadlines.
4. Customer complaints: Seventy-four per cent of respondents said they average 3.3 hours per week dealing with negative comments or complaints from customers, specifically because the customer was unable to reach them in a timely fashion. This eight per cent loss in productivity is itself significant, but the true cost of customer dissatisfaction may be much greater.
5. Barriers to collaboration: Sixty-one per cent of respondents find difficulty in establishing collaboration sessions with colleagues and average 3.3 hours per week attempting to address issues of inaccessibility or lack of full collaboration with colleagues.

Other findings
Another finding of the SIS International Research study is that SMB employees are highly mobile, with more than 50 per cent identifying themselves as mobile workers, either traveling outside the office, roaming inside the office, or working from home some or all of the time.
Overall, SMBs placed a high or very high priority on improving communications for mobile workers.
Researchers also confirmed that SMBs are increasingly using various communications technologies, including phone, instant messaging, and video conferencing, in an effort to increase productivity.
However, they found that the proliferation of these technologies has created multiple points of presence for individual employees with which other employees must contend. The resulting fragmentation of the SMB communication fabric can create a barrier to effective communications and collaboration.
According Frost & Sullivan analyst, Vanessa Alvarez, in general SMBs currently have very ad-hoc communications strategies in place. Integrated unified communications solutions, such as Siemens OpenScape Office, which integrates voice, email, instant messaging, presence and mobility, can help efforts to solve the increasingly fragmented communications landscape SMBs are facing.
“With the SIS research suggesting that unified communications can help SMBs eliminate as much as 20 per cent of hidden costs due to fragmented communications, it’s clear that the return on investment is significant,” Alvarez said.
“This study echoes the very communication pain points that many of our SMB customers have told us are driving their adoption of our UC solutions,” said Eric Van Hoecke, recently appointed as country manager MEA, Siemens Enterprise Communications.
“Although we are seeing strong adoption in this market, based on this study’s findings, we believe that more than 60 per cent of SMBs are not currently using a UC solution and are missing out on a major opportunity to cut costs. In addition, they can gain new levels of competitiveness, productivity and collaboration.”
“Even by assigning hard costs of more than $5,000 per employee a year for these pain points, there remain the soft costs of lost opportunities and customer dissatisfaction due to the lack of responsiveness caused by disparate communications.”

The study surveyed a total of 513 knowledge workers, in Brazil, France, Germany, India, Italy, Russia, US and the UK.
The knowledge workers also represented eight key vertical industries: communications, finance, healthcare, insurance, manufacturing, professional business services, real estate, and wholesale or retail trade.