Don't just sell UC, use it for your own benefit, says Mark Leigh, Jabra Asia Pacific president.
An extreme focus on financial ROI in UC deployments is only half the truth in measuring a company's success. Deploying UC to lower costs and reach financial targets quickly is not the only reason why you should acquire it. The change in corporate culture once it's implemented, regardless of an organisation's size, is outstanding.
The reason? UC is about people and the way we interact with each other in stark contrast to other types of organisational software like ERP or CRM, to name a few.
Strategy The Peter Drucker quote that culture eats strategy for breakfast is true. Culture in any organisation will squash even the best strategy.
However, with UC, companies have a much better chance of getting their company culture to comply with their strategy. This is because of the way a company perceives itself once connected. It is like holding a mirror up to the organisation every day. People will want to improve to get the best possible image reflected back to them. It provides an opportunity to create a common purpose and spread the word through direct messaging, video conferencing and collaboration.
Collaboration Deploying UC encourages people to collaborate more effectively and they are provided with the tools to do so. It enables collaboration across borders and will put remote workers on an equal footing with their office-bound colleagues.
Community On that note, UC builds your company community and strengthens bonds.
More frequent and seamless interaction, both with in-house and dispersed teams, creates that feeling of community. The teams will be able to interact by video conferencing and instant messaging. Both will in the short term, bring all employees much closer together as the interaction is daily. A yearly strategy, meeting face-to-face or a monthly business call cannot compare with this facility.
People Buy from people. This not only applies to customers but is also important for relationships with employees and their relationship to their environment.
Daily interaction using UC builds trust, not because of the equipment, but because of the communication and contact that employees will experience. This often means that groups of people with a specific interest will come together. This usually happens naturally and organically, and companies could find themselves with a whole new product to sell.
In the short term, UC will not only provide significant operational cost savings and increased productivity for resellers, but will increase the dynamics of collaboration, and create a culture and community which to some extent, will be self-governed - employees holding one another to the promise the company offers its customers.
The increased visibility means remote specialists will no longer be a voice from the scratchy-sounding device in the middle of the conference table, but will be seen and heard as an equal. In turn, they will offer their commitment, expertise, and a fresh perspective.
