Over the past eight months, I’ve defined eight usage profiles in a series of articles to guide your communications strategies, planning, investments, and operations. These include
field sales and services,
production,
retail customer-facing,
information processing,
collaboration,
management and executive, and
administration roles, and the
universal usage profile.
Each of these usage profiles clearly defines the communication requirements for these types of workers and workflows. These eight usage profiles, plus the contact center usage profile that is not part of this series, are a comprehensive set of usage profiles. Our consulting firm, UniComm Consulting, has tested and proven this across all industry sectors so that you, as No Jitter readers, won’t have to wonder if there are two or three or one hundred others to discover.
By applying these usage profiles to your strategic and operational planning, you will be able to select the optimal set of communications technologies for each usage profile. This approach has proven to reduce communication technology costs by 30% or more (often far more) for our large enterprise clients.
This approach has also proven to be far more efficient for operations and to reduce the time and complexity of implementation since it is possible to roll out the selected technologies one usage profile or a few usage profiles at a time. It is far better to have a series of six-month projects to refresh each usage profile in a serial fashion than to try to cut over the entire enterprise in a two- to three-year UC project.
These usage profiles may shock you in some ways because they prove these points:
- Usage profiles such as field sales and services roles and collaboration roles no longer need an IP-PBX or a UC system. Rather, the communications tools for these groups are now embedded in the software applications that these roles use for their day-to-day work. In many cases, the necessary voice communications are provided by the mobile or collaborative employee’s smartphone or tablet using either cellular or IP technologies. In addition, this integration of communications with workflows produces greater efficiency and improved organizational results.
- Usage profiles such as information processing roles, production roles, and retail customer-facing roles are also best served by communications that are integrated into the operational software packages and workflows. In many of these cases, a desk phone is still useful, though voice calls have been replaced by email, texting, and web pages in many of these roles. The integration of the calling platform with the operational software package(s) may also improve business outcomes such as speed, accuracy, record-keeping, legal compliance, etc. The integration with the operational software packages can be either via IP PBX, a UC system, a UCaaS subscription, or a CPaaS provider.
- Management, executive, and administration roles still have need of many traditional IP PBX or UCaaS features, yet that can’t be taken in isolation since these roles are always highly mobile and are often tightly integrated to office systems, including email, calendars, and both online and physical meeting facilities.
- Usage profiles can be your guide into the future. They provide a guide to emerging communications tools needs such as AI for optimization of services and workflows, machine learning for such applications as real-time translation and searchable meeting transcription, and VR for training, simulations, or information-assisted work. The usage profiles aid in identifying and then prioritizing the areas in which such tools will have the greatest immediate benefits for the organization.
As I said, these usage profile articles and methods provide a proven planning framework that is seldom available from technology vendors. Most technology vendors want their innovations to be seen as applicable to all employees and workflows, yet the optimal solution is often found by analyzing how a new technology can be selectively applied to provide the maximized outcome, rather than trying to make one size fit all on an enterprise-wide basis.
We at UniComm Consulting wish you the best of success as you continue to guide the communications technology investments for your enterprise. We would welcome a dialog on these points at any time.
This post is written on behalf of BCStrategies, an industry resource for enterprises, vendors, system integrators, and anyone interested in the growing business communications arena. A supplier of objective information on business communications, BCStrategies is supported by an alliance of leading communication industry advisors, analysts, and consultants who have worked in the various segments of the dynamic business communications market.
