A Cooperative Project of VoiceCon and UC Strategies

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When it comes to choosing a user interface for Unified Communications, you have a vast number of choices, almost more than you can count. The sheer volume is why some customers are making the “safe” play and going with traditional interfaces but, over time, that actually may not deliver the maximum value to users or the business.

Traditional interfaces enable users to get into UC quicker, but it also perpetuates a problem we all face—having two different and disconnected ways to communicate: an IP Telephone that, except for those with small screens for display and features, looks and acts just like a TDM phone; an instant messaging interface (browser or client) showing presence for a buddy list and, maybe, click to call/conference/web share.

The “safe” choice isn’t always optimal. I was recently involved in an evaluation of a new IP telephony system for a field sales force. Users were given an IP Phone and voice messages deposited in email (played on the media player), but the new system proved to be a big disappointment. While users could see the missed call list and dial from the PBX directory, they couldn’t call from their contact list and couldn’t record a reply to the voice mail.

When the sales team was shown an IP Softphone, into which they could cut and paste numbers from the customer lists and CRM database, they loved it. When they got the Outlook plug-in that let them play voice messages directly from Outlook (with a choice of playback on the PC, IP Phone or cell phone) and record a reply with one click, they really got the value of unified messaging. And, when they were shown the plug-in to the Outlook calendar that let them set up a multi-party audio and/or web conference just by checking a box and entering the e-mail addresses, it was a WOW.

This kind of basic example shows how effective user interfaces can improve productivity; it forms the foundation for improving business processes. At VoiceCon Orlando in mid-March, you’ll hear more examples and case studies—one enterprise will describe how a presence-enabled portal for its field delivery force is saving time and expense and improving service; another will share how it is rescuing transaction time and labor costs by embedding presence, IM and click-to-call into an ERP application it uses for network provisioning. (Conference details available at www.voicecon.com/orlando/)

There’s no doubt that paying attention to the user interface is critical in UC and delivers real benefits for users, customers and the business processes alike. But—and you knew this was coming—there are barriers to overcome. Each vendor naturally tends to emphasize its own product, which means it’s up to customers to ask for, make that demand, a review of the interoperation possibilities.

Every enterprise should at least consider integrating its preferred IM/presence client—e.g., Microsoft Office Communicator or IBM Sametime—with its IP Telephony system(s). This will provide both the richest possible presence indication, including telephone status, and the ability to click-to-call or click-to-conference to any telephone extension from an IM window, a buddy list, a personal contact/business card or a collaborative workspace software package. There are a lot more options, but this type of integration is a basic building block.

If you want to get the “WOW” factor from your investment in UC, spend time and attention to user interface.

What do you think? What experience—good or bad—have you had? Please send me a note, at mparker@UniCommConsulting.com or post your comments here in the VoiceCon Unified Communications eWeekly Forum.

Marty Parker
UniComm Consulting and UCStrategies.com

Posted in Usability, User Devices, Implementation, Marty Parker |

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