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.
