UC--gotta have it

Many people have implemented VoIP and wonder "What's next?" They've logged the cost savings, they've simplified phone management, and maybe they have arranged for the IT people and the phone people to play together well (OK, maybe not so much on the last point …).  

"What's next" boils down to UC in some shape or form. And it's coming out of the woodwork in places that are going to challenge the conventional thinking of IT executives and CIOs. Next week, CosmoCom will add mobility to its call center solution; which, oh-by-the-way, looks and smells like a UC solution that just happens to be labeled a call center solution. Presence, IM, and sophisticated routing capabilities enable first-line customer contacts to be connected with the right people in a matter of minutes, rather than hours.  Answers come quicker, problems can be solved faster, happiness is more prevalent.

Being able to splice mobile phones into the mix means you can reach people faster, especially if they are they are out of the traditional office a lot. No more phone tag or trying a couple of different numbers before you find the correct one. 

A more radical notion is that you don't need a desktop handset and mobile UC (The concept formerly known as FMC) will be UC. All business is conducted through the cell phone, with phone calls routed through the converged services node, or whatever you want to call it, to the proper parties. Corporate phone calls will be routed through that node, so the company gets billed and the worker doesn't gripe about his long-distance phone bill.

I like the corporate phone number as an alias to one's own phone. Who foots the bill for an upgrade to a smart phone enabling presence and IM is an interesting question, since it is highly unlikely everyone who needs a smart phone will have the supported type and PIT (Phone-IT) approved model. And there will be resistance to switch phones unless you standardize everyone on the Apple iPhone, which would make Mr. Jobs and AT&T stockholders happy.

Fierce is in the process of lining up speakers for our Unified Communications Conference at NXTcomm. If you need an excuse to come to Vegas in June, this is about as good as it gets if you are in the wide world of telecommunications. -- Doug