Business

UC – A technology, or something else?

 UC – or  should I cut out the TLA (three letter acronym – or in this case two letter) and give it it’s full title – Unified Communications, is one of those “titles” that has many different meanings and thus causes as much confusion as it does buzz.

For many in my industry, UC is absolutely a technology, and some are keen to talk the hind legs off a donkey about the technical details of what “it”can deliver, but rarely get to the real “pay back” part of the conversation.

So what have I got to say for myself – well I believe that there is significantly more to the UC conversation than just technology. I am firmly in the space that technology is rarely the only element of a successful solution, as we need to factor in the people engagement piece – whether that be employees, partners, or the paymasters themselves Customers.

UC is about bringing together various disparate channels of communications and devices into a device agnostic, location independent offering. That is to say that my ability to communicate is supported wherever I am and whatever device I happen to be using. Microsoft Lync is such a platform that enables a fairly intuitive interface for engaging with your colleagues, suppliers and customers using whatever is the most appropriate mode – Instant Messaging; Email; Telephone Call; Video Call and allows for Collaboration, through desktop sharing and discussion. All of the options are embedded in the applications that most business people are using in their daily work. Open Outlook, and you immediately have access to presence (availability and status of people in your work circles) especially if you “federate” (your presence) beyond just your internal contacts.

AND beyond the technology is the people element. Any organisation looking to embark upon a UC “journey” (that is how it should be viewed IMHO) should ensure that the company culture and people “fit” are scrutinised very carefully. The transition from existing pbx to lync voice, needs carefully planning and skilfully migrating, so that it appears seamlessly executed. This can only be achieved with a sound understanding of the process and the technologies. It is also key to be clear about your objectives and how the people in this journey are included and embraced. Just changing the tech alone will surely yield some improvements, but for the real payoff you need buy in and engagement. (If you do what you always did, you’ll get what you always got).

Finally consider this – today you are probably arriving at your office (home office, work office, coffee shop) and after turning on your laptop, opening Outlook. Good news – all of your communications are embedded here, and with the simple addition of a headset or similar, you have your communications hub ready to go – IM, telephony, video etc. So simple and ubiquitous, and think about the considerable savings of no longer needing your office wired pbx….worth serious consideration don’t you think?

Business, ecademy

To buy or not to buy – Unified Communications Online

Just been reading this post on UCExpo blog (penned by editor Guy Clapperton) and thought I’d re-share it here as I’ve been thinking quite a lot about the whole Unified Communications and Collaboration piece, and for me there is still too much uncertainty over what exactly is meant, and that is the point – there is no real universally accepted definition of what you get with UC – in fact I am writing a blog about this as we speak, so watch this space.

I’ve highlighted this piece from the article as I thought it a good summary, so here it is:

“UC and what it means isn’t completely set. Three years ago including ‘social’ in it would have seemed a little avant garde, now it’s becoming mainstream. Procurement patterns are not settled either – hopefully this weeks posts will offer some insights into what different organisations are doing.”

via Graham Bunting’s blog at Ecademy http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=177696

Business, ecademy

It’s a date – and unified too

If like me, over time, and with the prolific growth of new sites etc, you end up with multiple instances of “things” such as calendars.

You too may also use multiple input devices to book your time – I use a (laptop) PC when at home, along with an iPad and an android mobile device. I am using gmail increasingly moving away from my long standing hotmail account (because I like the way google is developing an elegant solution with integrated offerings that so far appear a better fit for me)

Add in facebook and it’s calendaring and it can become challenging to ensure you do not double-book or indeed miss a meeting.

I use tungle.me as a public calendar to share availability which works very nicely and it pulls in feeds from your various calendars.

via Graham Bunting’s blog at Ecademy http://www.ecademy.com/node.php?id=177672

Leadership

Can your Leadership repertoire run to coaching too?

I was watching the TV earlier in the week – Vera was the name of the programme in question and for those not acquainted, it’s a police detective drama.

There is the usual hierarchy on display with a hard working sergeant who is smart and growing in confidence in his role and adding enormous value to the case currently under investigation. What struck me about this particular episode was the fact that the Inspector, whilst valuing the sergeant’s inputs, was not particularly OPEN with him, and in fact the communication was pretty one-way traffic, apart from the issuing of instructions and orders – sound familiar?

At the end of this episode, there is a moment where the inspector and her sergeant are sitting in a car and the conversation takes a turn to matters of a more “personal” nature, and the sergeant speaks up to say that he learns a lot from her, and he needs her to share more with him to help him to develop……how true this must be for organisations around the World! The old paradigm of “knowledge is power” still rings through the corporate corridors and business “leaders” are jealously guarding their knowledge for fear that giving it away makes them somehow impotent. The reality is that this very act is holding back the success of the “group” and ultimately the business. This outdated thinking is also creating a positive reason why those very individuals being starved of help and support will most likely entertain the call from the “head-hunter” when he comes knocking.

Don’t let your fear and neurosis halt your progress, as it is through the success and development of the people you are responsible for, that you will deliver the result that you and your business are seeking.

But hey – what do I know!

Business, Personal Management, Social

Together Everyone achieves More – It’s true

I wonder when, during your busy schedule and heavy demands on your time, you last thought about an old (or current) friend or colleague for whom life has dealt a different set of cards!

We all know that we are enduring a tough downturn in the global economy, and the result for employment numbers is not great. However, pragmatically, times of change often present opportunities albeit that uncovering them is sometimes a little more challenging. Thinking about others is a great way of taking some of the personal stress away – especially when licking your wounds because you’ve not had your best day.

I decided recently, as I was thinking about what I could do to help, that I would use my online presence to assist my friends to raise awareness for them. I decided to dedicate a page of my blog to promoting their profiles and CVs as my part in helping them to secure a new role. Follow this Link to review them

I read an article recently that bemoaned larger “corporates” who were taking the lions share of the available “talent” and I felt compelled to comment that this was not the case. There is an fact a lot of talent available, it just doesn’t shout about it. Their CV might not be the best written in the pile, or they might not use sufficient wow words (my daughter in year 6 has used this descriptor recently) to showcase their capabilities, but it is there.

I would urge you to do a couple of things:

1. Think today (and every day) what little thing can I do to help – and do it

2. Doing what I have always done to recruit will get me the same results I have always got, so think about a small change and look beyond the CV and you might strike gold

But what do I know

Personal Management

I wish you enough

This story was emailed to me by a friend a few years ago, and recently the words “I wish you enough” jumped into my conscious thoughts as I was writing a comment on someone’s blog. I love the story and the meaning, so wanted to take the moment to share it with you here and hope that it resonates with you too.

To my family and friends – I wish you enough

via I wish you enough.

Business

Be Audacious (look it up in the dictionary)

It seems counter intuitive to me that at a time where speed is of the essence, so many people within organisations are increasingly slow to make decisions.

Am I being extremely unfair given the tough economic conditions that we are currently experiencing? Is it simply fear that is driving caution, and inactivity? Possibly! However, the issue is less about what is happening, and much more about how we choose to act as a result of the causation.

Opportunityisnowhere – You’ve probably seen this before, so apologies if you have… What do you see, when you look at the words joined together at the start of this sentence….honestly – Did you see Opportunity is nowhere or did you see Opportunity is now here?

If you are frozen by fear, you probably should be shaking yourself out of it and making a decision to move forwards boldly and with audacity, because the spoils are to the bold and brave who dare to succeed and move with velocity whilst their competition are inactive worrying what to do next. When they do make a decision, you could have made significant ground. Go on be AUDACIOUS, and you will be glad you did.

Business

I’m glad I’m not like you

Isn’t it irritating when people don’t do things the way we would do it? I’m sure sometimes you may have given rise to the thought “I wish everybody was like me….” No? Well like most people I do have opinions. Sometimes fairly strong opinions on some subjects, and often views that are at odds with other people’s. Whilst occasionally this can be quite irritating, I’ve come to realise that a difference of opinion can be a good thing. It can be quite difficult however, to make that step change in thinking, when you find yourself in conflict with someone, but it can be so so rewarding. My personal recommendation is that you try the following the next time you find yourself confronted by somebody demonstrating a different perspective to yourself. Try saying something like “that’s fantastic I’m glad that you disagree. Why don’t you help me understand how you see it”. This can be a great way to identify things that you may not have considered but also to defuse a possibly confrontational situation. After all wouldn’t it be dull if we all saw things the same way? I certainly think so.

Leadership, Personal Management

Values and principles

Because we always see and experience 100% of the time through our own eyes, sometimes we may struggle to be truly objective on all issues.
I thought I would begin with that caveat, as I recognise that my rantings are entirely “as I see things” So to my post ……

Through innovation in technology and in how we communicate, we have never had more channels open to us through which to engage and communicate with other people, or not. This is coming to my point; despite the open ubiquitous nature of communications, I have found that rather than improving communications, it has stifled them. There may be many reasons for this and perhaps the very fact that we are spoilt for choice, may well be the issue – communications overload!!!; Perhaps responding to incoming “traffic” has become a firefighting exercise, and if you or your “message” are deemed unimportant to the recipient, then you are possibly going to the bottom of the queue; relegated to the “I’ll deal with it when can” group.
My personal experience of late is that I have seen a rapid surge in periods of deafening silence over not just days, but weeks following commitments to keep me updated. I’m not sure that anyone could argue that this could be viewed as either desirable, or indeed welcome.
Fast forward to some of the social media channels and again it’s a not uncommon experience for an individual or organisation to use, Twitter, for example as a broadcast; automating a series of outbound marketing messages in the hope of hooking some new customers. How they intend to do this is a little puzzling, as I’ve replied a few times to a feed and guess what? Yep, radio silence.
So why is this? Are people so ignorant that they can’t be bothered to respond, or are the tools not in place to support the meteoric growth in channels of communications….. Who knows?

Can I get off my soapbox now before I fall off…

Business

#Bring Your Own Device

I wrote a blog recently about the trend towards BYOD to work, and a thought struck me this morning as I increasingly see pieces about the subject.

The increased use of mobile devices means that increasingly we are mobile (obviously Graham – what’s your point) and not plugged into the mains. I think you are probably ahead of me now – right!

Yup – BATTERIES. My personal experiences with battery life are mixed to say the least, but suffice to say that being mobile all day on a device for calling, emailing, web surfing, document browsing…..etc, does tend to have a fairly profound impact on the battery. So what’s the answer?

I’m not really sure is MY answer, as I have tried several different ways of addressing the issue, mostly unsatisfactory thus far. My attempts have included: multiple batteries – inconvenient and a pain to change on the go, but does provide the life needed; external battery pack – was a complete pain, as the connector didn’t stay in the phone, and it was like trying to hold an octopus with the cables; second mobile – well we all know that multiple SIM and single number isn’t widely available; phone sleeve with battery – not tried this yet, but may well give it a go, as it looks by far and away the most elegant solution.

But what about a better battery – wouldn’t that be the answer? Well yes obviously (presupposing we remembered to charge it before we left home this morning). I heard recently about some research that had discovered a new “way” of producing a battery that had increased power storage and performance, but sadly it indicated that production would commence in several years time. What do we do in the meantime – I suspect this issue will become a bigger one as we all find ourselves out-and-about with a “dead” device, and either nowhere to charge it, or the charger at home “on the side”

But what do I know