UC places new and unprecedented importance on a desktop computer’s performance: not just speed but stability — jitter in the desktop’s response to network traffic is as bad for user experience as jitter on the network itself.
Given this, the fact that most organizations do not directly monitor desktop performance is likely to lead to difficulty resolving UC performance problems as UC spreads. Most organizations either do not measure performance as perceived by the end user at all, or they measure it only via (usually annual) help desk surveys of end users. Some look at desktops indirectly (e.g. via the network ports they are attached to), but fewer than 40% directly measure desktop performance and even fewer do it regularly.
Whether IT chooses indirect or direct strategy in the future, the growing importance of desktops to UC initiatives makes “We don’t” an unsustainable strategy.
