Social Media and Contact Centers - a New Way of Listening

Although you can't tell from their website, the Exony folks have been keeping me busy lately, and the fruits of that will start coming next month. Hey, that's a day away, isn't it? I seem to have missed summer - time sure zooms, and before you know it, I'll be in Austin at TMC's ITExpo. More on that next week, and if you're going, please come to my sessions!

So, I've been doing a fair bit of ongoing research about the impact of social media on the contact center, and my latest set of insights was posted today. This is the third instalment in a series I've been writing from my research, and one more piece is in the works now.

My focus here is how social media requires contact centers to listen in new ways, both literally and between the lines. Aside from being new, social media has many nuances, and it's not enough to just take every tweet or IM at face value. This type of content may often be sparse and brief, but much like body language, it's often laden with unspoken meaning - and that's what makes it social.

Enough preamble - it's time to go straight to the article on Exony's website. Give it a read, close your eyes, reflect, and share your thoughts! And then, like a good social media acolyte, re-tweet this to 10,000 of your closest friends.

The Future of the PSTN

How's that for a big topic? I think about it a lot, but its demise looks increasingly inevitable, especially the way the FCC is talking these days. Much like the railroads, when the system becomes too expensive to operate, the operators start making noise and giving reasons why it needs to be scaled back or done away with altogether.

I can see this unfolding at some point, but am also of an old school mindset that says the PSTN still has value - it just needs to be reinvented. Back in the 50's, when the U.S. Interstate highway system was built, it provided a huge boost for the auto industry, and train service has been on the decline ever since. In essence, the highway was simply a better way for people to travel, and the same argument can be made for why landlines are rapidly giving way to VoIP and mobility.

However - the trains run just fine, thank you, and in some markets have regained their appeal - especially where the highways have become way overcrowded and add a lot of stress to the daily commute. Of course, providing WiFi sure helps, and for a lot of people, the train is a far more productive form of commuting. I'd like to think the telcos might come up with similar brainwaves at some point, as the PSTN still has virtues - security, hello - that VoIP or mobility simply can't match.

Enough said. I could go on quite a bit here, but it's time to transition this to the podcast. I've missed several of the recent UCStrategies podcasts, but things finally worked out for this week. So, if you want hear how our group is weighing in on this topic, you can give it listen now. What do you think?

Oh Blogger, Where Art Thou?

Just popping in to say I'm still here! This may be the longest stayaway since I started blogging back in 2005, but I'll get back to posting this week. Been away on vacation, and that 100% means no blogging. More importantly, I've been busy on projects, and have just completed a pair of white papers for a vendor most of you will know that should launch any time now. I'm also in the final review phase for another white paper with a major IP comms provider that all of you know and use. Finally, I'm in writing mode now for yet another paper in the video space that will be out in early September.

Aside from that, my regular writing continues on both the Exony and ADTRAN portals, and one of those is about to ramp up later this month. I also have a number of proposals pending for new projects, so the pipeline is looking pretty good going into the Fall. Speaking of that, TMC's ITExpo is now just a few weeks away, and I'll be busy there, moderating three panels.

We may be in the home stretch of summer, but the work goes on. Last week was a good recharge, and I'll be back to blogging and tweeting soon enough.

ITExpo, Austin - 39 Days and Counting...

I don't usually talk up my next conferences this soon, but things are ramping up now for my participation in the next ITExpo. Regular followers will be familiar with my long history with TMC, and this expo should be pretty cool.

The West edition of their show has been in LA the past few years, but 2011 marks a shift from there to Austin, Texas. It's always great to be part of a change, and as a bonus, I've never been to Austin. That in itself is reason to be jazzed, since Austin is one of the top spots anywhere for two of my big passions - live music and food. More specifically, ribs, BBQ and the blues. Yahoo!

Back to work now. The ITExpo is a short 39 days away, and if you haven't made plans yet, you should check out the conference agenda here. I'll be talking more about the program and speaker highlights in upcoming posts. As usual, I'll be busy moderating - am running three sessions - two on contact centers and one on UC:

- Wed. at 9am: UC Unleashed

- Thurs. at 9am: Hosted Customer Care Trends/Drivers

- Thurs. at 11am: Harnessing Multichannel Customer Service Tools

Along the way, TMC will be doing various things to build momentum for the Expo, and I'll be participating during their Editor Day on Monday. I was also just interviewed by TMC for my thoughts around key trends in UC, and the article was posted earlier today. You can read it here, and if you come see me at the Expo, you'll get a more complete picture of what I'm seeing - not just from me, but my session speakers as well. After that, if you're into the blues, let's go on the town.

Social Media and Contact Centers - Part 2

I've been writing a column for Exony over the past few months, and it's been a great opportunity to explore how IP and hosting are impacting the contact center.

My most recent thread has been about social media's role in the contact center, and the more research I do, the more layers keep peeling back. My most recent analysis is running now on Exony's site, and the theme is unintended consequences. I'll let you think about that for a moment, and hopefully your curiousity will be piqued. At that point, zip over to the site, give the article a read, and let me know your thoughts. Part 3 is coming soon!

ADTRAN - Continued Growth, All Good

I had a briefing yesterday with ADTRAN to discuss the highlights of their recent Q2 results, and while this may be old news for the financial community, it's still worth noting for anyone that doesn't follow the company closely - and if you're in telecom, you should be.

I've been following ADTRAN for some time, and while they may not be a household name in telecom, I'll take their numbers any day, especially given how majors like Cisco and RIM are facing some big challenges now. As publicly cited, revenue and income are both growing and are at record levels. Getting growth in both areas is not easy, and speaks to how well the company is being run.

This last statement may sound like motherhood, but when you consider the vast range of both product lines and businesses they serve, ADTRAN has a lot on the go. They may not have the brand recognition of Cisco or Avaya, but the growth is there, and more importantly, they're making money. I'd say they're about a year away from hitting $1 billion in sales, and with $150 million of liquid capital on hand, they're certainly in a position to shape their roadmap.

There's still a lot of legacy out there, and a big part of their business is helping customers transition to IP. It's easy to think we're in an all-IP world, but businesses still have lots of interop challenges to work with both existing and new network elements. Looking ahead, I was updated on the progress they're making with vertical market UC solutions, virtualization and cloud (esp their 10 Gig Netvanta interfaces), and support for carriers rolling out IPv6.

ADTRAN covers more ground than most vendors, and there's always the risk of being spread too thin, but their growth metrics indicate otherwise. This was clarified in the briefing, as growth is coming from both hardware and software product lines - not just in the U.S., but overseas as well. So long as this trend continues, my only caution is a view I've held for some time - the company culture is still pretty product-centric - and while this is ideal for switches and routers, a different language and mindset is needed for service-based offerings like UC or hosted. This type of shift takes time, and I'm optimistic they'll get there. Who knows - with all the Cisco layoffs, something tells me they're getting a lot of resumes now, and that might help them get there faster.

Telesphere - Taking the Cloud to Market

Yesterday I got briefed on an announcement that just went live today. Wanted to share it with you, as I think this is a great example of where things are heading in the hosted services/cloud space. The company is called Telesphere, and now that I think about it, our paths crossed a few times a year or so ago, but based on today's news, they're ready to make some bigger noise.

In short, they've launched an end-to-end cloud based solution that should find a solid niche with businesses who don't want the hassle of managing their communications systems or the capital expense of upgrading to IP. As the release explains, Telesphere brings their own MPLS network, and they've partnered with three leading vendors for the complete solution - BroadSoft, Polycom and CounterPath.

There are several moving parts here, and I'll keep this simple. Unified Communications is a moving target to define, but everyone gets the basic premise about integrating multiple modes on to a common platform. Telesphere offers a variety of flavors to suit different use case scenarios, but the main focus for them is video. Having come from Cisco C-Scape recently, it's not hard to see why vendors are pushing strongly down this path - there's more money to be made than with voice, plus it's actually a better way to communicate.

With that, I'm going to be pretty video-centric here in talking about Telesphere. The core offering in the launch is called VideoConnect, and it's exactly as it sounds. Telesphere has put all the pieces in place to support a cloud-based videoconferencing service that works on most all key endpoints. BroadSoft and Polycom already work together with BroadCloud Video, which supports up to 12 participants, and being standards-based, will work with most standards-based video deployments, including big screen systems and tablets. Counterpath adds support for desktop video with their Bria softphone application. Smartphone support is coming, but for now, there's a lot to consider here.

We all know that some people love using video and some don't, but there's no denying how it adds value in the workplace. One key challenge is the firewall and connecting video across different enterprise networks. Telesphere has addressed this in the cloud, so they can serve as a hub of sorts, through which video traffic can pass among their customers. In keeping with their best of breed approach, they're using Acme Packet for the SBC component - not only does it interop with all the leading network vendors, but it can scale to whatever level Telesphere needs.

Once businesses see the value of this concept, they become believers when they experience both the ease of use and high quality. In the IP world, videoconferencing is no different than making a call - it's reservationless, and just requires dialing up an IP address. The quality comes through via HD audio and video - even on the desktop, and when end users see this, it's hard to go back to everyday phone calls or low res video chat. Plus, management will like the fact that one-to-one video sessions are free, so long as they're running over the LAN.

Being a cloud-based and managed service, Telesphere is also playing up the Capex-free angle. This can be a key value driver, as businesses don't need to make a big investment to have video, and if they do need endpoints, the cost can be built into the monthly service charge rather than coming from a capital budget.

For now, VideoConnect will largely be a line extension for Telesphere's existing customers. However, if the expected traction materializes, they'll have a proof of concept to warrant pushing this out into the broader market. Their MPLS coverage is nation-wide, so they can sell into any region, as well as support businesses with branch offices across the country.

If all this comes to pass, I think Telesphere will have a new model for the cloud communications space. I've always believed that owning a network gives you leverage for sustained growth, and everything else can built up through partnerships and the best-of-breed approach. That's exactly what I'm seeing here, and it shows that you don't have to be a Tier 1 carrier or vendor to succeed. Once you've adopted the cloud as the home for communications - and that's still a big leap for many companies - all bets are off in terms of who can best deliver those services. Google is certainly poised to do this, and Microsoft is working hard to get there, but for now there's plenty of room for companies like Telesphere make the model work and truly bring high-value video to the workplace.