Next generation communications

A Roundtable with Adobe System, Microsoft Gulf, and ShoreTel

In these tough economic times eagled-eyed bosses are looking to slash costs where possible. So could unified communications improve efficiencies, reduce overheads and even shrink your carbon footprint? We sought the views of three industry insiders – Adobe System’s Andrew Lindstrom, Microsoft Gulf’s Shahab Ahmed and Mark Swendsen from ShoreTel.

“It is important to cut costs with intelligence, and the IT infrastructure can function as a significant tool in keeping costs down while also enabling acceleration of the core business ”
-Shahab Ahmed

BM. In these difficult economic times, how can organisations achieve their business goals and reduce costs through adoption of UC solutions?
Shahab Ahmed. Software-based unified communications (UC) solutions offer organisations the flexibility to collaborate and share information at lower operating costs. It allows companies to reduce costs such as travel and telecoms by giving workers on-demand voice, email and audio/video conferencing options. It allows productivity savings by integrating communication tools within the existing desktop and enterprise productivity infrastructure.

In order to help business overcome communication challenges, Microsoft has recently released Office Communication Server release 2 which positions Microsoft as a market leader in communication platform technology. Microsoft Unified Communications platform brings together email, voice, presence, instant messaging, audio/video conferencing and on-demand communications tools that allow organisations to adopt cutting edge communication solutions quickly, easily and at fraction of the cost of traditional legacy communication systems.

Mark Swendsen. As businesses attempt to control capital spending, they are looking harder for enterprise communications solutions that give them more for less. That's why many of them are turning to ShoreTel to help them cut costs and better weather the economic crisis. ShoreTel UC starts from the position of making business more nimble, productive and efficient through smarter use of technology. Our bundled CEBP (computer-enabled business processes) makes users more productive, and our unique, distributed architecture dramatically reduces costs in the most expensive of places: recurring phone, mobile and network charges

Andrew Lindstrom. Unified communications promises to change the way people work, increase productivity and foster greater collaboration. The convergence of voice, video, and data communication services on a shared IP-based infrastructure may offer organisations significant gains in business productivity by removing latency in communications – between customers and service providers, between team members, and with partners and consultants. However, there are challenges to finding and deploying a single communications solution that suits all constituents and fits how they work. It is unlikely that a single packaged application will be able to act as an adequate console for all communications channels, including critical channels such as voice, chat, and email that allow for little down time – at least in the near term. For organisations ready to build a roadmap to unified communications, Adobe recommends an incremental approach, relying on today’s best-in-class applications and a multi-channel collaboration solution.
 
To formulate and execute a UC strategy, CXOs and IT managers need to understand how team members are collaborating within their organisations today in terms of modes of communication, cultural preferences, and tools. In addition, they must consider the risk that deploying a single application will disrupt the existing flow of information and impede effective collaboration, which may far outweigh any advantages conferred by the new solution.
To be successful, a UC strategy must focus on the applications enabled by UC technology: collaboration and knowledge sharing. To avoid the pitfall of deploying yet another communications silo in the enterprise, you must first understand the collaboration needs of each department or business unit, then build a roadmap to meet those requirements. Finally, build a strong user adoption plan.

BM. How are your solutions helping organisations make better use of communication today and in the future? 
AL. It is important to highlight the potential pitfalls of deploying a UC solution, outline critical points to consider when devising a long-term strategy, and suggest ‘quick wins’ organisations can try on their way to a fully-fledged UC solution. For instance, Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro software can fill gaps in your communications capabilities today, and it can run with existing technologies without requiring an overhaul of critical systems such as voice or instant messaging (IM) platforms. Since it does not require the displacement of existing technologies, Acrobat Connect Pro is uniquely positioned to help companies capture the benefits of UC today, without the potential downsides of a ‘rip-and-replace’ solution.
 
Adobe Acrobat Connect Pro is a complete web communications and collaboration application suite that enables live, interactive web meetings; virtual classes; on-demand presentations and courses; and real-time and asynchronous group collaboration. It supports your UC strategy by providing a platform that can be tailored to the collaboration needs of each department, that can be deployed quickly, and that fits within a best practices approach.

MS. Today, we find ourselves in one of the toughest economic climates we have seen for a long time and as such organisations need to find ways of becoming more efficient and taking costs out of their businesses. Communications is a key driver of organisational efficiency and an area that ShoreTel excels in. Our solutions bring together all the various disparate communications systems within an organisation and ensuring a single, consistent and easy to use interface for users. By improving communications at the personal level we know that companies who embrace this technology will become leaner and more efficient and the overall effect on a business can be significant. We couple this with easy to use management tools and an architecture that is unique in our industry. ShoreTel can deliver solutions that demonstrate a rapid ROI and as such we are currently the fastest growing UC company in the world.

SA. During these economic times it is very important for businesses to stay close to their employees and customers. Companies that intelligently reduce costs and invest wisely can secure an offensive position, whereas those who adopt a more defensive position will be at the mercy of the more dynamic, forward-thinking companies. It is important to cut costs with intelligence, and the IT infrastructure can function as a significant tool in keeping costs down while also enabling acceleration of the core business. Microsoft’s collaborative technology offerings give businesses a platform to invite stakeholders to actively engage and partner with them anytime, anywhere and via any device.

BM. Mobility is of the utmost importance for businesses, with staff travelling all over the world but still needing to stay in touch with colleagues and clients. How us UC playing its part in mobile working?
SA. Unified communications provides workers with the ability to connect and communicate anytime, anywhere. Microsoft’s solution allows employees to communicate and collaborate quickly and efficiently from their workspaces via email and voice while being in separate locations across the world. Ability to integrate with mobile phones is a key capability that thousands of people are benefiting from today as workforce become more mobile.

With many companies restricting travel during these tough times, audio and video conferencing is increasingly becoming the most important communication mechanism, as it helps companies maintain the needed level of customer-facing and internal communications and still achieve cost reduction plans. Like many of our customers, at Microsoft we are saving millions of dollars annually in travel and productivity costs by leveraging audio/video conferencing and collaboration tools to conduct business on a worldwide basis.

Our customers are particularly excited to use the presence functionality within Office Communications Server. It provides a kind of built-in intelligence for communications through the ability to check into co-workers’ availability and determine the optimal way to connect with them. Without this capability, communication can be a lottery, so the ability to put daily interactions on a tighter, more-efficient footing is a major draw.

MS. Mobility is unified communications; we need to move away from just thinking about mobile phones as we discuss mobility, although that is certainly a deep aspect in a real UC environment. The ability to work in a collaborative environment anytime, anywhere, across any medium -- that is the essence of mobility, and that is where companies can most dramatically see reductions of costs and increases in productivity. Think of the long-term implications of mobility: if the two highest traditional costs in a company are employees and office space, mobility leverages the investment in people and reduces the need for traditional office space.

BM. Do you see the Middle East as a growth region and are there any challenges that have to be overcome before widespread UC can be adopted?
MS. Most definitely – the Middle East is a key market for ShoreTel and one in which we are focussing on and investing in very heavily. Furthermore, unlike many other regional markets, the Middle East is very progressive in its thinking about leading with technology. This disposition eliminates many of the hurdles that we see in other markets, which are often paralysed by legacy investments or lack of infrastructure. As part of our investment in the market, we have recently announced two key distributor contracts in the region that will allow us to scale out business quickly and bring the ShoreTel success story to the region.

SA. There are certain areas where enterprises in the Middle East are early adopters of technology, whereas in other areas they lag behind. In the Gulf region, for example, there is a fertile environment for leapfrogging of legacy technologies, where we find companies embracing innovative business models and technologies like UC to drive their business goals. Therefore, we find that enterprises in some cases have adopted technologies much sooner than those elsewhere in the US or Europe. Current technology trends that are seeing rapid growth in enterprise IT are collaboration, virtualisation and video. However, while there is a good level of deployment, there is still room for optimum utilisation of technology.

Shahab Ahmed is Business Group Leader, Information Worker Group for Microsoft Gulf. Shahab joined Microsoft Corp. in 2005 in Redmond, USA, where he held variety of leadership roles in product management and engineering. He has a Bachelors degree in IT and MBA from Minnesota State University.
 
In 2001, Andrew Lindstrom joined Adobe Systems as Country Manager for South Africa. After filling this role for two years, Adobe expanded his portfolio to include Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands and then later the entire MEA region. After the acquisition of Macromedia, his region expanded again to include the Mediterranean region.

Mark Swendsen is Shoretel’s Managing Director for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Leveraging his extensive knowledge of ShoreTel’s enterprise IP telephony solutions, Swendsen is spearheading ShoreTel’s growth in EMEA. Specifically, he is focused on working closely with ShoreTel’s partner ecosystem to achieve world-class customer satisfaction across the region.