The way that companies conduct business is usually in a state of change. As new technologies emerge, companies need to be able to take advantage of what they can offer and use those assets to their advantage.
At this stage, the adoption of bring your own device (BYOD), in conjunction with a hosted phone system, is nothing new—both employers and employees have seen the benefits of such a policy in the workplace. As we move ahead, more enterprises are adopting BYOD practices, and this, of course, means that they are trying to figure out the right way to use mobile devices in a way that makes everyone happy. At the same time, security needs to be maintained.
Along with managing BYOD policies, corporations also need to manage unified communications (UC) for success. UC deployments are on the rise, unfortunately, so is the cost of implementation, migration and ongoing management associated with it.
When you add into the mix the term mobile, you will find that this actually embraces BYOD policies, mobile operating systems, mobile device form factors, mobile application development, mobile security and so on. You get the idea. There is a lot involved in bringing mobile into the workforce.
As we progress down the line, you will find that everything mentioned above leads toward the direction of mobile device management (MDM), mobile application management (MAM) and of course, a secure document repository.
Philip Clarke, who is an analyst at Nemertes Research, recently discussed how enterprises can create a strong strategy to successfully deploy new mobile collaboration technology to employees with SearchUnifiedCommunications. Nemertes Research is a research advisory firm that specializes in analyzing and quantifying the business value of emerging technologies.
In most companies, creating UC architecture involves integrating disparate platforms, adding a range of collaboration services, adding new bandwidth and increasingly supporting mobile devices and virtual desktops. Overcoming these challenges requires addressing management requirements early in the UC planning cycle.
According to Clarke, mobile access is the new “killer app” for unlocking UC benefits. Unfortunately, one of the main problems is that IT professionals are still attempting to figure out how to deal with the challenge of identifying how to use UC for specific user groups.
Companies need to incorporate leveraging tools and managed services to simplify and automate management tasks. This becomes especially important during migration and integration. It was found that the companies using third-party management tool along with managed services have a higher rate of success with UC implementation and management which leads to lower total cost of ownership.
Clarke discussed how enterprises can create a strong strategy to deploy new mobile collaboration technology to employees in a successful way. Listed below are four steps designed to help ensure UC success:
1. Get outside help
Companies that use professional services to integrate their UC solutions report excellent success. While bringing outside consultants in to determine how and where to deploy UC can be a scary proposition for IT professionals, it helps ensure that the right questions are asked and that UC is deployed properly based on company, business unit and employee-specific requirements.
2. Consider the cloud
A great place to start is with document storage and collaboration. Many -- if not most -- organizations have employees who travel and need guaranteed access to work files through quasi-consumer Software as a Service (SaaS) tools like Box (News - Alert), DropBox or Google Docs. These vendors address this new market opportunity by bolstering their enterprise functionality through secure connectivity, encryption and integration with corporate infrastructure, such as Active Directory, SharePoint and Salesforce. Typically, companies that use managed, hosted or cloud tools for UC management find greater success.
3. Take a holistic approach
A common characteristic of companies with less-than-successful mobile UC initiatives is that they take a piecemeal approach. Many IT staffers assess the individual components of UC -- video, voice, instant messaging and presence -- and come to the mistaken conclusion that these are familiar technologies and will therefore present little trouble. But UC is much greater than the sum of its parts, mainly because it implies excellent integration among components. Further muddying the waters for IT professionals, consumer-oriented products are released and updated at rates that outpace enterprise-focused solutions. The end result is that companies can spend countless dollars to better enable their workforce through UC, only to find that employees are using a free app that is better suited to their role requirements.
4. Measure what matters
Too often, IT organizations measure the success of UC initiatives by adoption rates. But this misses the point. A full 72 percent of organizations report that improved collaboration is the primary driver behind their social software. Though adoption metrics can serve as a baseline, companies need to dig deeper. IT professionals should review their reasons for bringing UC to their users and evaluate success based on that. They should also understand the endpoint of consumer apps, devices and collaborative tools -- and make sure that, wherever possible, solutions rely on devices and apps that users are already adopting. Instead of focusing on "let's get users to adopt the corporate solution," the approach should be, "let's ensure the solution delivers on business value to the enterprise."
Driven mostly by a combination of BYOD, along with the rise of mobile apps and Software as a Service (SaaS) cloud offerings, Unified Communications (News - Alert) and Collaboration (UCC) is moving ahead a lot faster than in previous years.
One problem that this poses is that businesses are investing in the above mentioned technologies. They are choosing endpoints, software and infrastructure options to help complement all of the requirements. So what is the problem you ask?
The problem is that most IT professionals are not signing off on these options and are very concerned about security and compliance. You have one side trying to move ahead as quickly as possible known as the employer and on the other side you have IT professionals who are trying to get a handle on everything while keeping the company safe.
Nemertes Research feels that IT professionals should look objectively at what workers are adopting and rein in company data where necessary without stifling productivity. There is the feeling from employees that existing IT is not meeting their needs so they tend to by-pass the department.
Speaking as an ex-IT manager, I can understand both ends. However, it is hard to give everyone what they want while at the same time ensuring that everyone can use what they have and yet at the same time make sure that all the information is safe and secure.
Edited by Alisen Downey