Nothing satisfies customers more than a Unified Communications system and clients that combine all forms of messaging and communications within one client.
If any one word defines what customers want in this area, it is, "more." - more integration, more features and certainly, unlimited space where 15 plus Gigabytes is the norm. We've been busting tail for nearly a decade, integrating and adding features and capacity in this regard, which on the surface appear to obviate all we have done; however, newer issues of compliance, rights management and integration with a distributed desktop have given us new opportunities. As a platform, a hosted exchange and the many servers one can integrate to it to provide for any form of communication is a base from which none of can turn away from.
We are so spoiled - ourselves and our customers. If we nailed any area, unified communications is it. Few people fully realize how powerful and agile people in our industry can make other people. It's intoxicating - to see the changes in people's lives it makes.
#8 Is right - nothing beats a full client, expect one that is as light as a feather and totally integrated to every other server, or process in an organization.
Unified Communications is going to be among the true growth areas in our industry - but it is going to be so subtle - just as it should be. All forms of video, voice, data and reporting information combined in one environment that moves with the person and is agnostic as to platform - desktop, hand held, 2 foot, 10 foot, or in the air all around the user.
It has to deliver "Relevant" information and business product - e.g., rich, visual information products that are pushed to clients - all of this is possible and it is what we do as the core of our business services model. Messaging clients and servers have so much more potential than support of email and calendaring - they have the potential to deliver "Finalized Intelligence Product" - information products that are the aggregate result of many different, and seemingly dissimilar processes, people and groups.
A big part of me sweats it when Microsoft, or IBM begin to swing huge resources in this direction - as big as they are, they could appear to offer a similar set of services via an online service. I say appear, because there is one piece that they will never get - requirements management and collection management. That is, what collection and what processing are to be combined to produce what dissemination... of that finalized product? No online service can do that and it is that part that makes people and businesses powerful and agile.
The problem can be that people will not see that - if they focus only on price. At the rate CFO's and controllers churn through the SMB market, people like me will always have to deal with some mid-grade accountant looking to make his mark - by killing one line item on a P&L by spreading it and hiding it among 30 others.
The really important thing for guys on this site to remember is that any one of us can do this better than online messaging can - the customer can do better, too. The tools are inexpensive and more powerful than most imagine. With a little effort, deep distinctions that combine to give real advantages to customers are in easy reach of admins and devs.
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