August 1998

Technology — If It Doesn’t Kill Us, It Just Might Save Us

BY RICH TEHRANI

Nobody said salvation was easy, not even with technology, which often creates as many problems as it solves. For every technological advancement we implement, we seem to create more distractions for users, and more complications for MIS personnel.

The promise of technology, however, is that it will work its magic while shielding users from its complexities. As a matter of fact, technology is much more user-friendly than it used to be. But technology hasn’t been so good at sparing MIS. Indeed, MIS is more harried than ever.

Once, not so long ago, MIS confined its interests to data communications. But now, MIS is also taking responsibility for voice communications. Is it any wonder MIS feels overwhelmed? We might even understand how MIS could doubt whether technology has the potential to simplify life — not just for users, but for implementers.

Fortunately, many of the current MIS woes are temporary. For example, MIS can look forward to better integration of voice and data communications. That’s the good news. What’s the bad news? Complexity won’t disappear once the current problems are resolved. It will pop up somewhere else, as new problems arise, and as new solutions are devised, and as new problems arise, and so on, and so on…

It would appear that technological salvation isn’t a one-time thing. It is, rather, a career-long commitment. So, if you’re in MIS, you may never enjoy a lot of relaxation, but you will have job security. (If that seems bleak, don’t blame me. I started thinking along these lines after speaking with Dialogic’s Erica A. Erickson, who suggested this article’s title.)

WELCOME TO THE VICIOUS CYCLE
Technology decisions for corporations used to be straightforward. Consider this not-so-gut-wrenching question: Should we buy a typewriter with correctable ribbon, or should we just order another case of whiteout? Well, nobody ever got fired for buying liquid paper.

Today, technology decisions can instigate a chain of consequences. Each technology we purchase requires another technology to either manage or fix the original technology. What got us into this vicious cycle? The PC. It has changed, seemingly overnight, the purchasing habits of corporate America.

Corporations that purchased the original IBM PC or XT were soon enticed to upgrade their slow and limited PCs and XTs to state-of-the-art PC ATs. (I won’t harp on the upgrades from ATs to 386s, 486s, Pentiums, Pentium Pros, and Pentium IIs.)

Once corporations had a good number of PCs on all their user’s desks, they realized that users needed to share files, as well as resources such as printers and scanners. So, they ran out and installed a LAN with a network operating system, most likely one from Novell.

Then corporations realized they needed a network administrator to keep the LAN up and running. This person needed to be well versed in the Novell system of networking and administration.

Once the network was up and running, corporations had another problem. The network needed to access the legacy mini or mainframe. Now the LAN administrator worked with the legacy computer group to connect the network to the legacy computer. That complicated life somewhat, but a lot of dumb terminals got replaced by good terminal emulators.

PROLIFERATION OF MIS DUTIES
As corporations got caught up in upgrade cycles, they ended up investing a lot of money. So, naturally, they wanted to make sure they got the most out of their investments. And to whom did they assign responsibility for making sure the investments really did pay off? MIS, which started accumulating a bewildering array of chores.

Instituting Corporate Web Access
The benefits of extending Web access to employees are impossible to ignore. The Web is a powerful research and information gathering tool. With access to the Web, corporate users can collect information from the company Web site as well as Web sites maintained by vendors, customers, and competitors. Being online at least once a day seems mandatory. Otherwise, it’s hard to see how you could keep up on news that affects your company/industry.

Once you decide you need to give employees Web access, you soon discover that you need the appropriate resources, typically a T1, a CSU/DSU, and a router. Granted, once they are installed, a T1, CSU/DSU, and router may be relatively painless. However, they are challenging to choose and configure.

Managing Corporate Web Use
While Web access is a powerful business tool, it does have its drawbacks. Only the most focused person can resist browsing sites that, while fascinating, are irrelevant. Too often, users are tempted to linger on sites that have little or nothing to do with getting work done, which can undermine productivity. Thus, while Web access is mandatory, it seems that monitoring how Web access is used (and abused) is mandatory as well.

As a matter of fact, we recently installed a Web usage and reporting program at TMC. This type of program tracks external Web sites visited by Web users in our company. Of course, adding this capability is an extra burden on our already busy MIS department.

Extending Web Access To Customers
Many companies give their customers access to legacy data. Such companies include airlines that allow customers to review their frequent flyer accounts via the Web. If customers lacked Web access, they would have to call on the services of call center agents and managers. Thus, Web access can be liberating to call center personnel, who can turn their attention to more challenging (and remunerative) tasks. On the other hand, customer Web access represents another headache for MIS.

Worrying About Web Security
Servers on the Internet will always be vulnerable to prying eyes. We need to constantly monitor our servers for hacker attacks. Firewalls and regular security checks are musts.

Implementing Fax
I may have been too quick to blame the PC for all of MIS’s woes. There’s fax, too. Back when the PC was new, many of us decided that next day delivery service was too costly and too slow. So, we bought fax machines. Then, we toyed with fax boards for individuals and eventually fax servers for the masses. Again, more work for MIS.

Guarding Against Toll Fraud
A decade ago, many of us realized that while computers automate written communications, voice mail does the same thing for verbal communications. So we ran out and bought voice mail for all our users. Right around the same time, many of us needed interactive voice response (IVR) systems to connect to our legacy computers. Using screen scraping or other technologies, IVR systems allowed our customers to read their bank balances, 401K account summaries, and other information while freeing up agents in our call centers.

We soon learned, to our horror, that IVR and voice mail systems are vulnerable to break ins, and that our corporations could be liable for hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraudulent long-distance calls. So now, many of us take courses on protecting our phone systems from break ins. And many of us purchase software to recognize and prevent toll fraud.

Of course, implementing additional security measures gives users with another place to look for messages and more passwords to remember. And people in charge of telecom systems must continually monitor phone usage to guard against the depredations of hackers.

Maintaining E-Mail Systems
E-mail access has spread like wildfire. Most people I know have two or three accounts already, along with rules about which types of e-mail are appropriate for each account. For example, personal messages usually go to a casual (usually Hotmail) account. Serious messages usually go to a work address. And as for AOL accounts, well, they’re of indeterminate status as far as I can tell.

I am supposed to remember when, where, and how to e-mail almost everyone I know. Who has time? Who can keep track? One possible solution: Personal e-mail managers, a single account invested with the intelligence to distribute e-mail messages to subaccounts according to user-defined rules.

However people decide to manage their e-mail, they’ll likely call on an MIS specialist every time the e-mail doesn’t work. A typical problem: A large attached file (avi or exe) that chokes the network or server and — more often than not — has nothing to do with work.

PERSISTENT CONCERNS
Backups
If you work without backups, you will pay the price, sooner or later. It happened to us. One day, one of our PCs crashed, losing the most important document in the whole company. To prevent any other such calamity, we instituted a backup policy, whereby designating directories (such as "My Documents") on every computer in the office were backed up on a regular basis. In addition, we established a system of backup rotation, on-site and off-site, to ensure we never lost important data again. Of course, these measure demanded more time and effort from MIS.

Viruses
Viruses threaten every node on the network. In our company, we set a policy: No one is to bring an outside disk onto our network. This policy, like any other policy, is observed only imperfectly, so we took the additional measure of buying anti-virus software and installing it on every node of our network.

Unfortunately, anti-virus software soon becomes obsolete because old viruses mutate and new viruses appear all the time. MIS needs to concern itself with making sure anti-virus software is upgraded continually. Otherwise, the company risks losing important data.

Providing Adequate Bandwidth
When network traffic increases, as it always does, network speed suffers, and users start to complain. Under these circumstances, we start paying attention to the computer press, which entices us to upgrade our networks from 10Base-T to ATM, switched

10/100 Base-T, 100VG-AnyLAN, or Token Ring, depending on the year. A simple rearranging of LAN segments may do the trick, but either way MIS takes on the bulk of the work.

The Year 2000 Problem
Just when it seemed we already had enough to worry about, we realized that the talked-to-death (and easy to ignore) Year 2000 Problem demanded immediate attention. In the year 2000, which is just 18 months way, many legacy programs won’t work properly. Moreover, many of these programs are written in languages such as COBOL that went out of fashion years ago. Thus, fixing these programs is bound to cause ulcers among MIS personnel.

EVALUATING COPING STRATEGIES
If you think the proliferation of technology problems will end, think again. It won’t. It will, in fact, get worse. Can’t we just hire more MIS people? Don’t count on it. We’re practically at full employment. Furthermore, nearly 200,000 technology positions in the United States remain vacant. Clearly, MIS people are just going to get busier.

So, what do we do? Declare a moratorium on technology? Not likely. Instead, we have to be on the lookout for technologies that promise to consolidate MIS duties, as well as technologies that let users accomplish more on their own.

It is clear to me that any technology that simplifies the life of both MIS personnel and users and also makes them both more productive will be a breakthrough success. I describe a few candidates in the following:

Unified Messaging
With unified messaging, not only can the user avoid fussing with multiple inboxes and delivery mechanisms, MIS can take advantage of a central administration system for voice mail, e-mail, and fax. Without unified messaging, adding and changing a worker’s information is a nightmare. You must update a fax server, voice mail system, PBX, and e-mail server. Maintaining disparate systems demands too much attention. We need to unify all our messaging.

PC-PBX
One of the nicest features of most every PC-based PBX is the Windows-based GUI interface that provides an exponential leap in ease of use and power over the old character-based interface that many legacy and new PBXs ship with. Web configuration of extensions allows users of many of these PC-PBXs to set up follow-me information to allow every important call to reach them, regardless of the user’s physical location. This definitely beats calling in for voice mail every half-hour when you are waiting for an important call and are out of the office.

Internet Telephony
Finally, there are converged voice, video, and data networks that rely on the IP protocol, which is to say, Internet telephony. Many corporations are already planning the roll out of converged voice/data networks in the next few years. Stringing a single cable to the desktop with a single management and configuration point is a great time and cost saver. This doesn’t even take into account the efficiency and cost savings of Internet telephony when calling beyond your corporate location.

CONCLUSION
Technology is getting more complicated and distractions are proliferating. CTI magazine will continue to update you on products and technologies that not only make users more productive but also allow MIS and Telecom departments to deploy new technologies that will ultimately accomplish what technology always promises: More options, more power, and more effective shielding of users and implementers from technology’s underlying complexities.

Challenge Inflation At CTI™ EXPO

Whenever you get something to work, there is a brief moment when you imagine you’re done. Then you realize that whatever works can be made to work even better. That, at any rate, was the theme of this month’s Publisher’s Outlook, which indicated how MIS could be the victim of its own success, implementing technology after technology, as each new technology revealed unanticipated problems and opportunities.

I’ve discovered a similar dynamic applies to trade shows. Our own show, CTI™ EXPO is a case in point. At the first-ever CTI™ EXPO, which took place last May in Baltimore, Maryland, we had expected to attract between 3,000 and 5,000 attendees. Instead, we attracted over 8,000.

Our first impulse was euphoria. Then we felt gratitude — for all the attendees and participants that helped create a memorable event. Then, gradually, we realized we had to think of ways to outdo ourselves, to be sure the next event was even better.

We’ve decided the best thing to do is concentrate on what we feel is the key to CTI™ EXPO’s continued success: Education. For example, we apply the same attitude to our conference program as we do to our editorial coverage. We insist on the highest standards when selecting topics and speakers for our conferences, just as we insist on the highest standards when selecting authors and articles for our publications.

The editors of TMC publications and the engineers of TMC Labs help assemble the most cutting-edge seminars and recruit the most knowledgeable speakers for CTI™ EXPO’s conference program. Only the speakers with the highest possible speaking scores, as determined by our conferees, are asked to return to future CTI™ EXPO events.

ADDITIONAL LEARNING CENTERS
At the first CTI™ EXPO, we spent a great deal of time assembling learning centers, where state-of-the-art vendors could educate attendees on important technologies. At this event, our two learning centers focused on PC-PBXs and Internet telephony gateways. The response to these learning centers was incredible. They were choked with traffic during the entire show.

We were so impressed by the response to the learning centers that we decided to add more of them. We’re also committed to maintaining their quality. We work closely with learning center participants to ensure our learning centers stay as objective as possible. Our objective is to provide a no-pressure environment for technology education.

At CTI™ EXPO Fall, which will take place in San Jose, California, December 1-4, we will retain the PC-PBX and Internet Telephony learning centers. In addition, we will include learning centers on:

Web-Based Call Back
This technology includes call me buttons on Web sites. By clicking on these buttons, customers can access a live agent. Call back is catching on quickly. It’s only a matter of time before every Web site includes a call me button. Approximately six vendors will be on hand to objectively show you how the technology can be implemented directly into your call center, helping you increase sales and improve customer service.

Remote Access/Telecommuting
This learning center will focus on the technologies that seamlessly connect remote workers to their home office. Technology exists that can accommodate workers of all kinds, from call center agents to "road warriors."

At this center, we will showcase the industry’s leading vendors in a pure, non-commercial environment. That is, the center will eschew hype, making it easier for you to make informed product-purchasing decisions for your company.

S.100 Application Development
If you’ve followed the developments of the CTI™ market, you probably know that the Enterprise Computer Telephony Forum (ECTF) has defined a new standard, called S.100, that is designed to facilitate the development of client/server computer telephony applications.

Through the use of open APIs, developers can write programs directly to the S.100 server, allowing resources to be shared by multiple applications. These applications can consist of a PBX, ACD, predictive dialer, and even a programmable switch. CTI will certainly grow at a much faster rate once open client/server-style standards become commonplace. Of course, whether S.100 becomes the future standard or not is up to the market to decide. In the meantime, CTI™ EXPO will provide the first place you can visit to objectively learn about future client/server standards in CTI.

CONCLUSION
It is through our emphasis on educating the market and helping attendees make informed purchasing decisions that we distinguish CTI™ EXPO from other trade shows. All trade shows present a range of exhibitors. CTI™ EXPO, however, goes further. It truly focuses on objectively educational opportunities, on cultivating a non-commercial environment that allows a give and take between vendors and attendees that is unhurried and truly pleasant.

If you enjoy the style in which TMC publications are written, you will appreciate our CTI™ EXPO events as well. When you attend CTI™ EXPO, you can access the essential information you need to make intelligent purchasing decisions.

We hope to see you at the next CTI™ EXPO, which will be held December 1-4 in San Jose, California.