inrich consulting

Selecting a Unified Communications supplier - start with a roadmap

I recently spoke about selecting a Unified Communications supplier at the IBA Forum in London so thought I would try and get the key points into a post.

Unified Communications has the objective of integrating traditionally disparate communications technologies to work in a unified way. This includes voice services (including voicemail), presence, unified messaging (fax to email etc), instant messaging, e-mail, audio and Web conferencing and videoconferencing.

The benefits achieved by unifying communications are nicely demonstrated in the below Microsoft video “The Devil Wears Prada” about ~ 4 minutes duration.

For me the key factor in selecting a Unified Communications supplier is that the multiple communications technologies involved will generally have evolved independently within an organisation without consideration of any future unification. As a result unification will require a range of integration, replacement and upgrade across a variety of technologies that were not necessarily envisaged to operate together. Before even contemplating to select a Unified Communications supplier a roadmap for unifying communications is therefore required.

A Unified Communications roadmap will include:

1. Identification of the business objectives to be achieved (at an individual, team, or enterprise level - to be the subject of a future posting);
2. Creation of a Unified Communications architecture by understanding the capabilities of the current and future technologies and the potential integration requirements to meet the business objectives defined;
3. Alignment of the upgrade and replacement lifecycles of the existing communications technologies such that the Unified Communications architecture evolves in a logical manner. This may mean delaying or accelerating upgrade or replacement lifecyles that were determined independently of the Unified Communications architecture. It may make business sense to modify the Unified Communications architecture to align with pre-existing technology lifecycles; and
4. Demonstration of the technology options available so that roadmap is both informed and includes end user input. 

Once a Unified Communications roadmap is complete the task of selecting a supplier, or most likely multiple suppliers, will include consideration of the following:

1. Evaluation of a supplier’s understanding of the various technologies that comprise your Unified Communications roadmap together with the integration skills required;
2. Evaluation of a suppliers experience in delivering a Unified Communications solution with the components identified in your roadmap;
3. Evaluation of a supplier’s ability to support and maintain the Unified Communications solution identified in your roadmap; and
4. Evaluation of a supplier’s ability to grow with the roadmap and meet the future changes required.

For many suppliers the integration skills and experience required to deliver a Unified Communications solution across multiple communications technologies will not be available. This directly extends into challenges for ongoing support and future platform evolution.

Developing a roadmap empowers an organisation to make an informed selection of the best business aligned Unified Communications platform given existing and proposed technologies. In turn, this directly provides a targeted set of requirements to better select a Unified Communications supplier.

Richard Tucker

Entry Filed under: unified communications