There's a great discussion going on over at BroadDev around the various skills gaps when deploying a unified communications solution. John Furrier jumped in to outline the technical challenges in deploying UC "in the trenches". I countered with what I think it a more pervasive issue, the IT/business alignment around UC.
I mean no disrespect to IT infrastructure departments but in my experience most are well removed from day-to-day business process and even enterprise application integration. Also, the perception of IT as a cost center is damaging to employee morale and does a disservice to the value of IT. IT can be a critical element to providing a competitive business advantage if leveraged correctly. Unified communications is a perfect opportunity to showcase the value of IT so long as all the right resources, including the business, are involved and take ownership in the process.
Alex Lewis has been involved in the high tech industry for more than 15 years, from satellite antenna design to to executive IT management. He has been a co-author or contributing author for books on Exchange 2003, Exchange 2007, Windows 2003 R2 and Microsoft Technical Specialist Exam Guides. Alex is a senior consultant at Convergent Computing, an IT consulting firm specializing in Microsoft technologies. Alex is involved in many early adopter and TAP programs, working with new technology often 2-3 years before public release. Alex is also a CISSP and leads Convergent's Security and Unified Messaging practices in the field.
The opinions expressed in this Weblog are those of the writer and may not represent the opinions of Network World.
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