Complex initiatives such as Unified Communications (UC) require a strategic plan to ensure a successful implementation. Without a UC strategic plan budgets can grossly inflate, project target dates are missed, and the UC solution quickly becomes a UC problem as the system’s features fail to address business requirements.
UC may very well be one of the most difficult projects for IT to date due to its complexity. UC is not a single product, but an integrated solution that is comprised of many different features and products (often from various vendors). Getting all of these pieces to fit together and work can be a difficult challenge.
This challenge presents an opportunity for IT to step out of their department, and become leaders within their organization. IT becomes the catalyst for change; leading the way to improving how their company conducts business. The benefits of IT taking the time and resources to develop a UC strategic plan are numerous:
- Full-funding for the project – IT is often restrained by limited funding models. In our practice, a well thought out plan that is effectively communicated by IT leaders to key stakeholders is often granted full-funding.
- Priority – Key stakeholders grasp the importance of the project when communicated and planned meticulously; stakeholders often want the project fast tracked so the benefits can be reaped as soon as possible.
- Acknowledgement and positive visibility of IT – IT is an essential component of medium-large sized enterprises. However, traditionally speaking, IT has been viewed as a “support” group/added cost. This is an opportunity for IT to become more strategic, and to become leaders in their organization.
- Avoid unexpected costs and oversights – Taking the time to understand project scope by performing all of the necessary assessments, will prevent unforeseen costs such as additional UC features during implementation.
Poor planning is evident when we are supplied reference accounts during a RFP bid process. The purpose of the reference check is to evaluate a manufacturer’s solution and the integrator’s ability to execute the project. What we discover, is a common problem of services not being properly deployed due to preparations that were missed or were seen as “out of scope”. Some common oversights that we have come across include:
- Additional cabling, data closet space, back-up power, cooling, etc. were never considered. This adds time to the project and additional costs.
- Application licences were purchased with the intent of conducting trials. However, licences were never used because the “pilot” was not part of the planning process.
- Suggested formal training courses are not taken by the support team. This results in dependency on the Value Added Reseller (VAR) which adds more unplanned costs to the project and delays.
Over the next 6 weeks, I will share our processes and provide actionable items you can take that will help you lead your organizations’ successful migration to UC.
Stay tuned for next week’s entry on The Discovery Process.
Emily Nielsen,
UC Specialist & President of Nielsen IT Consulting Inc.
UC Strategic Planning Blog Series – Table of Contents
Having a plan is the first step to leadership. Follow our eight week blog series and learn key actionable items that are crucial to developing an effective UC Strategy for your company.
- Part 1a: UC Considerations
- Part 1b: UC Considerations Continued
- Part 2: The Importance of a Unified Communications Strategic Plan
- Part 3: The Discovery Process
- Part 4: Defining Your Vision
- Part 5: Identifying Corporate Requirements
- Part 6: Identifying UC Applications
- Part 7: Infrastructure Assessment
- Part 8: Final Thoughts
