INTRODUCTION
In two to three years, our experience communicating digitally (i.e., making and receiving even basic mobile calls) will be very different from our experience today. Communication will be more effective and drive better outcomes.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Technology is moving at a blistering pace, from both a physical computing power and software perspective. In conjunction with market and cultural conditions, these technological factors, converge to enable how we communicate and collaborate with others, particularly in the workplace.
BACKGROUND
To drive this significant transition, we need to consider the five market conditions and the solution below. If successful, we will leverage today’s advanced communication solutions and enterprise applications in a whole new way.
CONDITIONS:
- Communication Solution Options
- Complexity and Moving Backwards
- Access
- Adoption
- Social Media
SOLUTION:
- Immediate Performance Support™
COMMUNICATION SOLUTION OPTIONS
There is a dizzying array of unified communications solution options for IP Telephony systems, desktop voice/video, mobile and room-based video, Instant Messaging, Group Messaging, and Web Collaboration. It seems as though with all these options from a variety of manufacturers, solutions should be easier to implement, operate, and adopt. Their overall value should be more apparent, as well.
While these solutions improve how we communicate digitally (mobile and smartphones aside), manufacturers and software providers have not driven a significant business communications shift for the average worker in decades. Keep in mind, when most users receive a call today, voice or video, the most prolific feature is caller ID, a feature that has been around for 25 years.
COMPLEXITY AND MOVING BACKWARDS
One could argue that we may be moving backwards from a communications perspective due to communication systems complexity. Thirty years ago, we had analog “Centrex” phone lines delivered by telephone service providers for voice and voicemail. This transitioned into companies getting their phone switches (PBX) in the ’80s and ’90s, which then transitioned into advanced on-premises, IP-based systems in the early 2000s, to now – cloud-based systems that deliver basic voice services.
Many of these providers and businesses are devolving into commoditized, simple voice and voicemail systems without leveraging additional valuable features due to complex implementation, administration, and adoption challenges. These commoditized, cloud-based solutions may seem more attractive due to decreased operational overhead. Still, companies are left with communication platforms that deliver what those in the late ’90s did without the higher value features.
ACCESS
Today’s businesses capture an enormous amount of valuable information. Unfortunately, we typically aren’t exposed to this information at the right time. The data lives in software application databases and is accessible through those application’s “front-end” or aggregators like Microsoft Sharepoint. These applications include financial software, client relationship management software, document management systems, performance management software, learning & development software, etc. While these applications can capture critical information, users need to go to those applications to access the information they are looking for…click, click, click.
Consider a brief call between an employee and a client. During the conversation, information valuable to that interaction resides in a financial application. Because the employee does not have the application and the associated record open at the time of the interaction, the opportunity to leverage or share that information is lost. Users often think to themselves or say, “I’ll pull it up and follow up later.”
Take a 500-user company, for example. As a result of data living in applications across the organization, a conservative estimate would be that twice a day, 80% or 400 employees miss an opportunity to be exposed to information that would be helpful to them during real-time communication. Based on 261 workdays in a year, over 200,000 interactions would have benefited from having the right information at the right time, at the time of interaction, when it matters most.
ADOPTION
If enterprise software adoption is a challenge (it is), the scenario above is even more likely to occur, further adversely impacting any enterprise applications return on investment (ROI). As the volume and complexity of enterprise applications increases, adoption continues to be a growing challenge. How much of the potential value of these applications is your organization leveraging? Think customer relationship management (CRM), performance management, Electronic Medical Records (EMR), etc. Adoption challenges alone cost businesses hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars per year. Even the smallest speedbump on the way to accessing information is an adoption deterrent. Access itself is a significantly underestimated challenge of enterprise application adoption.
Take performance management systems, for instance, a fundamental component of healthy cultures and employee engagement. This market includes companies like Success Factors (acquired by SAP for $3.4B) and Workday with a Market Cap of $46B. Are we getting the expected return out of these solutions? Can we do better? When you talk to a direct report, peer, or manager, how does valuable information in your performance management platform regarding goals, objectives, feedback, and learning and development opportunities add value to your day-to-day interactions? Would you use the application more if it provided Immediate Performance Support™ for you throughout the day? Imagine if the information was available in real-time, at the point of interaction when it matters most.
Another example and a core component of performance management platforms are Learning Management Systems (LMS). Learning and development is another key component of high-performance organizations and high employee engagement. Astoundingly, the statistic on training and development information retention is 8-10%. What are best practices for material retention post-seminar, conference, and internal or external training initiatives? Imagine if your organization, departmental leaders, or managers could focus employees on key content from training at the time of interaction when it matters most.
SOCIAL MEDIA: A PROVEN CONSUMPTION MODEL
During a recent interview, Lady Gaga said, “Social media is the toilet of the Internet.” Whether we agree or not doesn’t matter (I do), but in the context of this subject social media has generally demonstrated that people respond to brief subsets of information that matters to them. So, what if we applied these cultural phenomena in the workplace, for good. What if we were presented with small subsets of information at work that helped us interact with clients and colleagues in real-time, providing Immediate Performance Support™?
THE SOLUTION
CONLUSION
Providing companies, leaders, and users a way to present brief subsets of multi-source information in real-time will be the biggest game-changer in communications in the last 20 years. Specifically, integrating communication systems with application data. The solution will be relationship-aware. It will know whether we are speaking with or writing to a client, a direct report, or a friend. Based on that relationship, different information will be presented.
Companies will be able to control what is presented to employees and when. It may be a key document or sales and marketing information when speaking with a client, or valuable performance and learning management information when speaking with a subordinate. Specific training content can be reinforced. This content will gravitate to the user, so they won’t have to search for it. Imagine how this would help with access, application adoption, sales, performance management, and learning and development – another key component, a passionate communication services provider who can put it all together.
COMPLETE SUPPORT
Advanced and robust communications are an essential part of any enterprise. Speak with an expert today to discuss Fidelus’s solution to simplify your communications and collaboration while stabilizing and securing your workflow.
FIDELUS UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION
Fidelus Technologies, LLC provides enterprise communication and networking solutions. Fidelus offers Managed, and Professional Services such as unified communications, SD-WAN and networking, business continuity and hardware resale. Our commitment to delivering best-in-class service drove us to be highly consultative and business-focused. This enables us to uncover and develop solutions that are embedded into business processes, resulting in a higher level of service than our competitors.
CISCO SOLUTION
Web Calling: Web calling, or “web conferencing” as its also known, is a collaboration solution that enables users to place calls via an internet browser, mobile, or video device. Users can simply have a voice call, similar to a regular phone call, or you can incorporate video, share your computer screen, chat, poll attendees, and even share ideas via a digital whiteboard. Web calling elevates the dreaded meeting to true collaboration.
Video Conferencing: A subset of web calling solutions, video conferencing technology enables users to transmit live video during a call. Many smartphones—with built-in cameras have a native video calling app installed— think iPhone’s FaceTime—and several web conferencing solutions have video capabilities for enterprise collaboration users. As more and more colleagues collaborate remotely on a day-to-day basis, having some FaceTime with one another helps teams humanize communication, bond, and form relationships, as well as easily meet on virtually any schedule regardless of location.
Team Collaboration: Most often, we reach out via email when we have a quick question or need to share feedback on a file. But this approach leads to inboxes that are as cluttered as our schedules. Per IDC, workers spend 36 percent of their days searching for information. Team collaboration solutions can help reduce that time and shift tasks away from cluttered inboxes to an all-in-one collaboration platform that enables work whenever and wherever inspiration strikes. With both desktop and mobile apps, users can message, collaborate on documents, share files, or meet if needed to ensure work doesn’t stop when the meeting does.
Document Collaboration: How often have you asked your colleagues to review a file via email and received several versions with conflicting markups, leaving you to reconcile the edits? It’s an exercise in frustration. Document collaboration solutions, particularly those that enable version control, can help eliminate unnecessary confusion and extra work. No overlapping edits; no multiple versions of a file floating around; and some offer a single repository for the final files. Everyone on the same page.
Additional benefits of enterprise collaboration solutions include:
- Accelerate project delivery times
- Improve communication among and across teams
- Keep projects moving forward between meetings
- Ignite innovation because idea sharing isn’t limited to meeting times
- Help erase hierarchies and give a voice to all team members
- Enable team members to work whenever and wherever they want from any device
- Reduce travel and training costs
REFERENCES
• SAP ACQUIRE SUCCESSFACTORS INC. FOR $3,4B
• Learning Management Systems (LMS)
• Lady Gaga: Social media is the toilet of the internet
• What is Collaboration?
• The Hidden Costs of Missing HR Documents
