By Art Rosenberg, The Unified-View/ UC
Strategies Expert
It’s getting very obvious that the use of computers is shifting dramatically away from just desktops and portable laptops to personalized, mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. It’s not that desktop and laptops are going to disappear, but everyone, including kids and their grandparents will be using those wireless personal computers for information access, online transactions, and personal contacts. In effect, there will be “BYOD” in play for all types of end users, which in turn means that both communication applications and business applications will all be software-based and live in different kinds of network “clouds.”
This shift in how and where software and data will be
stored brings with it many challenges for organizations that are used to
controlling all of their applications and data on premise-based hardware
systems with more controllable, wired connectivity. Now that “consumer BYOD” is
starting to displace or replace telephones and online PCs with wireless
smartphones and tablets, what should organizations do with all their apps and
data stores to accommodate all the end users, both inside and outside of their
organizations?
“Clouds” To The Rescue!
Fortunately, the solution to that issue has already
become available in the form of “cloud” computing, alias “network” access, to
“virtual” data storage and applications. Options for using public, private, or
hybrid “clouds” are being offered by all the big technology providers, allowing
selective migrations of both business and communication application services to
end user groups who have different operational requirements.
This is very fortunate for business organizations
that are challenged to provide complex multi-modal “unified communications” to
their end users. Because most of it is now becoming software-based
responsibilities that few IT organizations have any practical experience with,
it is an expensive proposition to consider doing things in-house as before.
Even if all that software were “free,” it would still be a daunting task to use
it effectively and maintain the never-ending changes on an ongoing basis. So,
here come “cloud”-based customized and managed solutions to the rescue.
The challenge of “cloud”-based applications of all
kinds is proving to be a great opportunity for the old VARs or sales
“channels.” Not only will smaller organizations, who have little or no IT
staffs, be interested in exploiting mobile contacts and access to information,
but even the larger enterprises and government organizations will need help in
satisfying the many needs of customers and internal end users.
So, Whose “Cloud” Service Should You Use?
Now
that vertical markets have begun to appreciate the need for UC-enabled
applications and CEBP, the still have to understand exactly how they will be
able to benefit properly from using the new technologies, They have to know
where they are going before they can abandon the past. Nowhere is this more
critical than with customer contact centers, which generate revenue and ensure
good experiences for customer satisfaction and retention. In my view, UC can
really pay off the most with its ability to satisfy mobile customer needs more
flexibly and cost effectively than the old telephony call center game.
When
it comes to playing any “cloud” services game, it is critical to use a service
provider that is reliable, experienced, and specialized in the application
functions you want to UC-enable in a “cloud.” I recently highlighted this
concern in a new white paper on contact center applications that you can read
at the site of one of the leading contact center “cloud” service providers, Echopass.
Posts
