August, 2009

Web Scheduler for Office Communications Server 2007 R2

Microsoft recently released Web Scheduler for Office Communications Server 2007 R2. The Web Scheduler provides a web-based interface for conference management functions giving users the ability to:

• Schedule a new Live Meeting conference or conference call
• View and modify details of an existing conference.
• List schedules of all existing user of a Microsoft Office conference.
• Delete an existing conference.
• Send an e-mail invitation to conference participants using a configured SMTP mail server.
• Join an existing conference.

The Web Scheduler is an ASP.Net application and must be installed on the same Internet Information Services (IIS) server that the OCS 2007 R2 Web Components are running on.

Web Scheduler requires OCS 2007 R2. The ability to send email meeting invites requires an SMTP server- ostensibly Microsoft Exchange Server, but others will due.

End of the Desk Phone Era

One of the ubiquitous elements of a corporate desk in virtually any cubicle or office is the desk phone. When new employees join the team, assigning a phone number and supplying them with a phone are typically some of the first steps for getting them set up and ready to work.

A recent article on SearchUnifiedCommunications examines whether or not the desk phone is a dying breed. In an age of unified communications where users can make and receive calls from their computer using softphones and where much greater integration with and reliance on mobile phones is a key component, it seems that the desk phone is no longer necessary- like the appendix is no longer necessary in the human body.

Well, perhaps its premature to declare it unnecessary? Recent medical studies have suddenly discovered that the body makes valuable use of the appendix- an organ that has been dubbed useless for over a century. Like the appendix- news of the death of the desk phone may be exaggerated.

For one thing- companies already have them. So, sales of new desk phones may slow dramatically, but that doesn’t mean that companies won’t continue using the desk phones they’ve got until they’ve squeezed out every last drop of possible productivity from them.

Another issue is the performance of the computer itself. Desk phones are not cheap - corporate desk phones cost a few hundred dollars each. It may seem logical to suggest that users just leverage softphones and unified communications on the computer they already have rather than investing in the desk phone. That assumes that the computer has the horsepower to multitask and still manage to make and receive phone calls without impacting voice quality.

Many companies may find that they need to invest in upgrading the computer hardware to make the move to pure softphones feasible. As a long-term strategy, it may make sense to invest in the robust computer hardware. If you’re going to spend money either way, better to invest it in advancing technology and adapting to evolving communications methods instead of legacy equipment.

Adapability and Agility are Keys to UC Success

Unified communications is a rapidly changing market without a clearly defined product offering. Selling unified communications successfully requires being able to quickly understand and integrate new technologies, and the flexibility to evolve quickly as the landscape changes.

Companies that make their livelihood as resellers of telecommunications equipment spent decades essentially selling the same thing. A PBX was a PBX and it was basically built on the same PBX technology as a PBX from 30 years ago. Things have changed over the last decade though, and the pace of change seems to pick up exponentially from year to year.

A recent blog post noted “Some channel partners are still trying to figure out VoIP and now there’s unified communications, virtualization, and the cloud!” That is true, but don’t leave out virtualized unified communications in the cloud.

That same blog post went on to say “Business as usual or TWIWAD (”that’s the way it was always done”) definitely isn’t today’s formula for success.”

Success depends on three things:

1. Stay informed and educated on emerging technologies and understand how they integrate with existing technologies and the value they provide.
2. Establish a consultative relationship with customers and sell solutions- not specific products or services. The customer doesn’t care who the vendor of the software is or how the hardware is architected as long as it works and helps solve business problems.
3. Don’t forget #1 and #2- but especially don’t forget #2.

Adapt. Evolve. Succeed.

RIP TWIWAD

Leave Security to the Pros

In a past life I worked as a consultant for a very large global computer services firm. I was a lead security engineer and one of the first responders for incidents and virus outbreaks for a large, Fortune 100 customer.

The powers that be spent a significant amount of time and effort sucking up to the customer. The customer said ‘jump’ and we asked ‘how high?’ That included decisions about computer and network security and how to mitigate and resolve security breaches.

Well, leave it to me to be the rebel who said “um, didn’t they hire US to manage their security?” As far as I was concerned the value that we brought to the table and the reason they paid us was to let THEM know how to secure their computers and network, and to effectively and efficiently mitigate and resolve security breaches.

So, when I read a recent blog post titled ‘Why Not Leave Security to the Experts?’ it resonated with me. Whether its internal employees or external contracted resources, management needs to respect that security is a full-time role and let those who are focused on emerging attack techniques and trained in avoiding or blocking them do the job they were hired to do.

Here is the bottom line I learned while watching my management suck up to our large customer: they may like how compliant you are when you follow their direction and do what they ask no matter how stupid it is or how contrary it is to protecting and securing the network, but they also have short memories. When the proverbial ’stuff’ hits the fan you will still be held responsible for the failed security and the customer will conveniently forget that they’re the ones who requested that hole in the firewall, or whatever.

I am not suggesting security pros go around being cocky or abrasive- but confident and assertive is OK. You will prove your value more and establish yourself as an indispensible asset by firmly doing the job you were hired to do and not catering to the whims of those who don’t know what they’re doing.

This is true throughout IT and throughout information security. It has particular application these days though with VoIP and unified communications. Companies are racing to deploy unified communications technologies, but slow to understand the security risks or invest in the controls and technologies to secure it. When the system is breached, you will be the scapebgoat taking the heat so do the right thing and stand your ground to ensure management understands the risks involved.

Enabling Brings OCS to the College Classroom

Colleges and universities across the country use the Blackboard Academic Suite to allow students and faculty to engage and collaborate virtually. Enabling Technologies is helping to expand the functionality of Blackboard and provide more effective communications and collaboration with OCS for Blackboard.

OCS for Blackboard automatically populates the Office Communicator client with information such as the course, users, teachers, and information about the school. Users can view the Presence details of the professor or fellow students and determine the best way to communicate. 

“The Higher Education Universities that we have contacted are very excited to trial the OCS for Blackboard application,” says Bill Vollerthum, President of Enabling Technologies.

A 45-day trial evaluation version can be downloaded from the Enabling Technologies web site.

2.6 Million Lost Jobs Result of Communications Fraud

Did I get your attention? I thought I might.

Now, let’s step back and look at the perhaps questionable or dubious math I used to arrive at this sensational conclusion.

A recent worldwide survey by the Communications Fraud Control Association (CFCA) reported that the annual loss from communications fraud is about $80 billion (USD). Assuming an annual income of $30,000 - perhaps low for United States standards, but arguably quite high by global standards- that means that companies lose the equivalent amount of money as 2.6 million employees’ annual salaries.

So, could 2.6 million more people have decent paying jobs if we got communications fraud under control? I am sure the correlation is not that direct. If more money in the corporate coffers translated to more jobs or higher paying jobs then trickle-down economics wouldn’t be such an abysmal failure.

But, money is money. Assuming your employer could save 10% or 15% of the annual communications expenses by reducing or eliminating fraud it might make that next request for a raise go a little smoother.

Forgetting employees entirely- the company has its own interests to look out for as well. I assume the corporations can find better things to do with $80 billion. Relative to the losses, the investment in the tools and technologies to secure communications and prevent fraud is relatively small. Companies should view this report as a wake up call of sorts and use it to build the business case for funding that VoIP / unified communications security project that is pending approval.

SIP Trunks Gain Appeal in a Down Economy

SIP trunking has been a very hot technology in 2009- thanks in no small part to Office Communications Server 2007 R2. In fact, Microsoft shook the SIP trunking world up again recently with its announcement to partner with JaJah which will enable customers to place calls from almost any device to almost any device using VoIP, and let OCS 2007 R2 customers begin making calls almost immediately when deploying the server.

SIP trunking offers savings by eliminating some hardware components and more importantly by cutting costs and increasing efficiency. Adam Boone, vice president of marketing at Sipera Systems said “The economic crisis has underscored for us that any technology that enables greater enterprise process efficiencies actually is relatively recession proof” in a recent interview.

The rest of the interview with Boone is interesting and worth a read. SIP trunking is a step in the evolution from traditional voice to a completely software-based, IP-voice implementation. Be sure to keep security on your to-do list though. Part of the reason that Sipera Systems is gung ho on SIP trunking is that they offer appliances and services that let customers deploy it securely and extend it to remote and branch workers. Take a look at what they have to offer and how it can enhance your SiP trunking VoIP infrastructure.

Plan Ahead for Successful Unified Communications

I know, I know. You’re saying ‘well, duh’. Of course you should plan ahead. Have you ever seen anyone start laying a foundation and building the frame of a house without a plan? I don’t think so. Let’s face it- if you just start nailing 2×4’s together you have no way of knowing what the end result will look like and I doubt you’d want to risk your life by stepping inside the resulting structure.

That same common sense applies to almost everything in life- particularly IT projects like a unified communications implementation. As my SearchVoIP counterpart Robin Gariess points out, “Often, network and telecom staffs rush to start the project when instead they should slow down, consider the unified communications strategy, and make sure all the pieces are in place to ensure a successful project — for those operating the unified communications (UC) support system and for those using it.”

Make sure you stop, take a breath, and devise a sound implementation strategy so that your unified communications environment will look more like the Eiffel Tower and less like the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Unified Communications ROI Doesn’t Happen By Magic

I read an article recently that talked about the promise of cost savings with unified communications and that the ROI (return on investment) doesn’t always pan out the way it does in the marketing brochure.

I think the argument put forth in the article doesn’t support the headline. The article basically talks about why some customers aren’t able to determine ROI because they don’t know what their expenses were to begin with and have no baseline for comparison. That is an entirely different issue than whether or not the investment in unified communications is delivering the ROI it promised.

Assume for a moment that the claim is valid, I think I know where the problem lies. *Deploying* unified communications doesn’t lead to cost savings or deliver the expected ROI. It is the proper configuration, and more importantly, *use* of unified communications that leads to the ROI.

If an organization invests in unified communications, and deploys the technologies throughout the company, but the users don’t understand how to use the tools effectively and everyone just continues business as usual following the same old processes, unified communications will not provide any value. Part of the initial investment in unified communications should include some type of end-user training to educate the users {subliminal message} contact Tony Bradley to inqire about end-user training in unfied communications {/end subliminal message} on how to shift the way they communicate to take advantage of all that unified communications has to offer.

The UC ROI does’t just magically happen because you deploy UC. You have to actually USE the UC tools effectively to realize the ROI.

Surviving Swine Flu Outbreak with UC

The United States government is warning schools and businesses to be prepared for a Swine Flu epidemic this Fall. VoIP and unified communications can be a critical component of business continuity during an outbreak like Swine Flu.

We got a brief taste of Swine Flu earlier this year, but it wasn’t really flu season in the northern hemisphere so it was sort of a flash in the pan. Even that brief glimpse wreaked havoc and caused panic around the world. Mexico completely shut down to prevent human interaction and contain the virus. Schools throughout the world were shut down to ensure the Swine Flu wouldn’t spread through the student population.

Pharmaceutical companies are hard at work cranking out the vaccine for the Swine Flu, but there may not be enough for everyone so high risk groups will get preference. Besides, you may not want to be at the front of the line for a brand new vaccine that was rushed through development.

The United States government has issued some guidance for how to prepare for and respond to an epidemic outbreak. One suggestion is to cross-train employees on critical functions to ensure that the function will get done. That reminds me of Star Trek: The Next Generation. I always wondered how everyone seemed to know everyone else’s job and be able to jump in at a moment’s notice. It would seem to me that being an engineer of a starship and being a navigator of a starship would be very different roles and that it would be tough to become expert at both. I guess it was in the script though.

Another suggestion in the government guidance is to minimize face-to-face contact. No face-to-face contact means no opportunity for germs to spread. That is where UC comes in. With audio and video conferencing, instant messaging, and VoIP voice service many job functions can be performed from anywhere. Those who think they may be getting sick should stay home and work virtually. If employees start reporting that they are sick, businesses should implement work from home even on a temporary basis to eliminate face-to-face contact and allow business to continue without risking an even larger outbreak among employees.

Make sure your company has a plan in place for how to prevent or respond to an outbreak, and make sure that unified communications is a key component of that plan.