This article first appeared on Best in UC.

Following the overwhelming success of the Apple iPad, it seems that everyone is jumping on the tablet bandwagon. The latest figures from Apple show unit sales topping $25 million in just over 15 months. That may be more iPads than McDonald’s burgers purchased in a similar amount of time. It’s certainly more tablets than all competitors combined.

Applications drive hardware, and the iPad debuted in April 2010 with a huge advantage, carrying the approximately a half million apps over from the iPhone. Check out these statistics from Apple’s app store:

Total active apps (currently available for download): 449,581
Total inactive apps (no longer available for download): 109,446
Total apps seen in U.S. app store: 559,027
Number of active publishers in the U.S. app store: 100,108

It certainly makes sense for Samsung, RIM, Motorola and others to tackle this market, as they are device manufacturers used to churning out large numbers of widgets. But what gives with Avaya and Cisco, the giant enterprise unified communications (UC) players, trying to compete? Keep in mind that consumer device manufacturers haven’t exactly smoked Apple to date in this competition.

Cisco has introduced its tablet offering, the Cius, to underwhelming fanfare from the enterprise market it owns for routing and switching. The 7-inch device is full-featured, offers one-click connection to WebX (owned by Cisco), and is integrated with the proprietary Cisco Telepresence world. Cisco even rolled out a proprietary app store, cleverly named AppHQ, which replicates many of the apps seen in Apple’s storefront. I’ve often said there just aren’t enough app stores out there.

At about $1,000, the Cius is premium priced and may eventually sell in the thousands to giant Cisco clients who will find the product surreptitiously bundled with the enterprise products they purchase on a regular basis. And the tablet has, of all things, an Ethernet jack! Prepare to carry a very long CAT 6 cable about, as the idea of a tablet is portability. Cisco just cannot resist selling Ethernet ports!

But why? Spending this type of research and development dollars to produce a me-too product is just not Cisco’s usual modus operendi. Maybe the misstep with the Flip video camera was not their only gaffe. I cannot see where this product will add any significant revenue to a company that really needs it right now. And why divert resources away from making the Nexus product as reliable and as cost-efficient as the aged 6500 series platform it replaces? My poll of Cisco resellers across the nation indicates that they are just not buying into the Cius vision, and the recent Cisco Live! event confirmed that most partners are scratching their heads over this introduction.

Then there is Avaya, which has strayed even farther afield with its Flare tablet. Although the device is really just the front-end for the entire UC experience Avaya calls Flare, the nearly $2,000 price tag for an Andriod tablet is stunning. Also surprising is its hefty 3.5-pound weight. The UI is fantastic, but dedicating $2,000 for every conference room for a glorified remote control is outside the budget of all but the most die-hard Avaya fans or technologists with unlimited funds at their disposal. With 8,000 iPads leaving the dock daily and thousands of new apps each month, why would anyone try to mandate a proprietary system in an enterprise network? And who wants to carry around three and a half pounds of hardware with a very limited capability? But boy it sure has a cool interface!

ShoreTel unveiled its strategy at the corporation’s annual Partner Summit in Chicago last month. The company cleverly used the ubiquitous iPad as a desktop UC interface to enable all the applications associated with the ShoreWare UC platform.

ShoreTel, instead of re-inventing the tablet, chose to announce a high-quality docking station with a top-notch speakerphone and ergonomic handset. Yes, they may cut into their traditional IP desk set sales, but enabling unified communications users is the real end game. The station will support the iPhone and iPad at the outset, but eventually it will work with all major smartphone and tablet devices. The station has VGA/DVI output, as well as USB and Bluetooth interfaces for monitor and keyboard if desired. Pricing is said to be in the $200 to $400 range, which seems to make a great deal of sense for the millions of corporate iPad and iPhone users that want to integrate their mobile technology to the corporate PBX.

Gee, why didn’t the big guys think of this?

The most common mobile phone applications are still e-mail, voice and calendar. So does it make sense to transition your employees from cheaper mobile phones to smartphones?

For many workers, smartphones definitely pay for themselves in both savings and productivity. This is particularly true for mobile workers such as salespeople, delivery and repair personnel, and on-site consultants.

Many of our clients rely on a combination of smartphones and a ShoreTel unified communication solution. ShoreTel Mobility’s RoamAnywhere Client for mobile devices offers all the features found on a desk phone, such as a company directory, voicemail access, presence information and more. Plus, RoamAnywhere makes it easy for users to manage email, instant messaging and other communications while on the go.

With the power of a smartphone, workers can employ many strategies to improve their effectiveness and efficiency – helping the technology not only pay for itself, but provide positive return on investment as well:

1. Mobile email. When employees can send and receive emails on the go, they can speed up customer service requests, access critical information, and generally do their job more productively.
2. Fewer phone calls. With a smartphone, employees can access critical information via text message, instant message, email or app. They are less likely to call a colleague at the home office searching for information, which wastes the time of yet another person. Plus, when colleagues and customers know they can reach a mobile worker via email, they are more likely to communicate this way. The result? Less time spent on voicemail, fewer costly cellular minutes and lower phone bills.
3. Reduced drive time. What if your mobile workforce could skip their drive to the office and go directly to their first assignment or sales call instead? With a smartphone, employees can retrieve email and other information on the go, rather than being forced to visit the office. If your company reimburses for mileage or pays for company cars, a smartphone can shorten commutes and save you big bucks. Plus, employees can use that formerly wasted commute time to work on productive tasks.
4. Less getting lost. Most smartphones offer advanced mapping features and turn-by-turn directions, including GPS. If your mobile workforce spends less time getting lost, they will spend more time working. Plus, you can avoid buying more costly in-vehicle navigation systems.
5. Easy documentation. Smartphones include built-in cameras and video capabilities that are simple to use. Mobile workers can use these to document problems at client sites. When problems arise at remote sites, colleagues at the home office can receive photos or videos for further analysis. Finally, apps such as Apple’s FaceTime enable the mobile workforce to conduce a quick video conference from any location.

This article first appeared on Best in UC.

Party in my office. BYOD.

As the workforce grows more technology-savvy, most employees have very strong opinions and preferences about the type of phone, tablet and computer they use to do their jobs. A growing movement is seeing workers BYOD – or “bring your own device” – to the office.

When employees are allowed to use the technologies with which they are already familiar, the company can reap serious benefits. The costs of technology training drop, and productivity improves. Plus, job satisfaction typically rises, and firms can even gain a recruiting advantage over the competition.

Yet there are serious security risks associated with allowing employee devices to access the network. Not to mention the hassles for the IT department, which must support a myriad of devices that may or may not have adequate service plans. With these limitations in mind, does it make sense to pursue a BYOD policy at your company?

There are two strategies gaining traction in the marketplace right now that seem to make sense. In both cases, employees benefit from the satisfaction and improved productivity of working with familiar and preferred devices. At the same time, employers are protected from the networking being bombarded by an endless number of rogue devices.

Consider one of these two options for your organization:

1. BYOD – with conditions. A recent article by CIO Insight beautifully illustrated this strategy. Unisys recognized that employees would fight any policy against using their own devices. So the company rolled out a BYOD policy in North America, allowing employees to bring their own smartphones or tablets to work. The caveat? Employees must agree to installation of two pieces of security software: a public-key infrastructure device certificate (which authenticates the phone on the network) and remote wipe software (to delete company data in the event the phone is lost or stolen). The company is protected, and employees are happy.
2. A menu of supported devices. Under this scenario, employees are given a choice between three or more devices. For example, they may be able to choose between an iPhone, Android device or Blackberry. The same concept can extend to tablets and laptops. At some companies that have begun offering a choice between a PC or Mac, up to half of workers choose a Mac. Under this model, the IT burden remains relatively low. Help desk staff only need to support three kinds of devices, rather than the 10 or more that may be required when employees are given a completely free choice. Also, a limited number of service contracts can cover all of the company’s devices.

No matter your strategy, keep one thing in mind. As technology becomes a more natural, integrated part of consumers’ lives, they will have even stronger desires to control the kinds of devices and technologies they use on the job each day. It’s time to develop some kind of policy now, to get ahead of the BYOD curve.

This blog first appeared on Best in UC.

The mobile office is changing. And its metamorphosis is growing more rapid each day.

In years past, a mobile office typically was utilized only by traveling sales staff. These road warriors would stuff their cars with sample cases, a bulky car phone, and a paper-based order book.

How things have changed in just a few years. Today, a mobile office can carry with it several descriptions and definitions:

• The business owner or entrepreneur may be tethered to their business. But today, that no longer means they are tied to the office. With the right communications systems and connectivity, this power user can finally enjoy a vacation with the family – and still know what’s going on at headquarters.
• The solo practitioner can set up a mobile office at the local coffee shop or bookstore. Any business with free Internet access can attract the consultant, who utilizes a mobile office to work and conduct calls with clients.
• The commuter can create a full- or part-time work-at-home arrangement with their employer. This can benefit everyone. Many companies have mandates for fewer brick-and-mortar locations, and the employee avoids the long trek through traffic to the office each day.
• The next-generation worker can gain the flexibility they crave. More employers are touting work-life balance as a benefit. With a mobile office, the workforce isn’t tied to a cubicle at all times and has the ability to work around other life events.
• The customer service representative can be available at all times. What if a therapist only needs a part-time person to book appointments? Or if an entrepreneur needs to troubleshoot customer complaints in real-time? In either case, a mobile office makes the dream a reality.

So why has the concept of a mobile office changed so dramatically over the last few years? It all comes down to technology. Anybody with a smartphone can check email from any location. The Internet and web mail enable employees to work on applications and communicate remotely. And perhaps most significantly these days, unified communications solutions are allowing the workforce to operate in an efficient, streamlined way – from anywhere.

If your office hasn’t embraced unified communications, or if you are using only a portion of its functionality, consider these strategies. With unified communications, your workforce can be more responsive and flexible than ever:

1. I’m following you. How many phone numbers do you have? Some folks have a home phone, personal mobile phone, office phone, office mobile phone, etc. With a unified communications solution, you can easily have your phone calls follow you from one system to another, and callers only have to call one number. That way, you’re never out of communication with team members and customers.
2. Give them the green light. Presence information has become standard in many forms of communication. For example, when people use instant messaging programs, they can see whether a contact is available, busy or offline. Unified communications solutions offer this same status information on office and mobile phones, increasing productivity for the team.
3. Enjoy one inbox. With tools from ShoreTel and other unified communications vendors, you can easily access your company email and voicemail. This means getting your messages however and whenever you wish – at home, in the office, or on the go.
4. Go live. Today’s unified communications solutions are integrating telephone connectivity and video conferencing, both in the office and on the go. With telephone and video conferencing capabilities on a mobile phone or tablet, you can easily feel like you’re right in the office or at a client’s location – even if you’re on vacation.

This blog first appeared on Best in UC.

Ask workers what they want most out of a unified communications system (UC), and many will give a simple answer. They want to use their own mobile device.

The reasons are wide and varied. Some don’t want to learn how to use a new device. Others want both their work and home contacts in the same place. Still others shopped carefully to choose a mobile device they loved and simply prefer it over other handheld devices.

It’s important to take this into account when looking for a new UC solution in the office. Employees’ at-home devices have become ubiquitous and feature-filled, making workers more resistant to clunky corporate alternatives.

ShoreTel, for example, offers a module called the ShoreTel Communicator. This is an intuitive interface that can be viewed on a wide range of environments including Web browsers, Windows, MacOS, Citrix, iPad, iPhone, BlackBerry and Nokia mobile phones. (ShoreTel is currently working on compatibility with Droid.) With minimal training, users can moving seamlessly between voice, video, or instant message as needed.

Will workers accept this tool added to their personal or business mobile phones? The answer is most likely yes, since it puts all their communications needs right at their fingertips. In addition to tight integration with Microsoft Outlook, it offers instant messaging functionality that gives users the power to contact people in remote locations, have sidebar conversations during calls, or to bring several people into a chat session.

By integrating communications tasks previously performed with separate tools, ShoreTel Communicator’s rich media, advanced mobility, and presence features simplify communication, enabling on-site and remote users alike to see who is available, and to choose how best to reach them. End users have more control of their communications, and they can easily share documents and access scheduled conferences.

Mobile and off-site users can make and receive calls transparently, as though they were at their desks. It also improves productivity by providing seamless remote access to voicemail, directories and address books, call history, and call-routing settings. This direct visual access from mobile devices is a faster, more intuitive alternative to traditional dial-in access to corporate voicemail.

So whether your workers love their iPads and iPhones, can’t get enough of their BlackBerries, or enjoy their Nokias, ShoreTel can integrate them right into the office – without giving up their favorite phones.

This blog first appeared on Best in UC.

When companies go shopping for a unified communications (UC) solution, they typically have focused primarily on phone systems. Then, they might spend a little time evaluating features such as videoconferencing and instant messaging.

Things are about to change. Now, whether they are searching for a new UC supplier or considering upgrades to their current systems, companies must make mobility a major part of the buying decision.

The intent of mobility is to connect remote workers to the enterprise’s IP-PBX over the Wi-Fi and cellular data networks. This eliminates cellular voice long distance charges. Plus, it makes remote workers more available to co-workers and customers, no matter their location. As a company’s mobility tools develop over time, users will be able to use their corporate software on smartphones and tablets – anytime and anywhere. This can enhance customer service, improve productivity, and even enhance quality of life.

But companies need to understand what their mobility solution may look like at the end, so they can begin making important strategic decisions as they build a mobility infrastructure. Here are a few questions to consider:

• Where will your users get their devices? An increasing number of remote and enterprise workers prefer to use their personal iPhone, Android smartphone or tablet as their only communications device. They simply don’t want to juggle two phones – one business and one personal. At the same time, UC suppliers such as Cisco and Avaya are already developing their own endpoint devices. They will encourage clients to adopt these tablets and mobile phones for the entire workforce. Which route will your company wish to take?
• What are your policies? Every organization needs a mobility policy – right now. The IT department should establish policies and procedures regarding the use of personal mobile devices. Decide when and how these may connect with the enterprise IP-PBX and LAN. If your organization wishes to keep personal devices off the network, be prepared with an alternate strategy that will work for your mobile employees.
• Are desk phones necessary? Many mobility users may prefer a mobile device, making an investment on a desk phone just a wasted expense.
• Will video be part of your strategy? In the near future, companies will increasingly rely on enterprise video communications. If mobile workers don’t have access to video on employer-provided devices, they will again default to their personal smartphones and tablets.

This blog first appeared on Best in UC.

Decades ago, companies began naming chief executive officers to take on the primary leadership role. In the last several years, a slate of additional “chiefs” has been added to many organizations, including chief marketing officers, chief technology officers, chief information officers and more.

In the near future, a new chief may be adding his chair to the conference table. With the adoption of new work methodologies and the development of endless specialized apps, corporate America may soon need a chief mobility officer.

Of course, smaller companies may not need to take such a step. At organizations with fewer than a hundred employees, the IT department may be able to easily keep a handle on mobility using its traditional organizational structure.

But for larger enterprises, mobility issues can absolutely overwhelm existing IT personnel. What’s more, the current IT department may not fully understand – much less embrace – the trends toward increased mobility in everything from in-house applications to cloud computing.

Employees are streaming in the door every day with their own consumer wireless devices, including laptops, smartphones and tablets. They are asking for more powerful mobile apps from their companies to increase productivity. Plus, the workplace is asking employees to travel, work from home, and be available to customers and co-workers around-the-clock. At the same time, customers are demanding faster access to information and jonesing for apps to help them manage their own purchases and accounts.

All of these trends point to the need for a mobility officer, manager or task force. By assigning responsibility for mobility to a person or group in the organization, a formal strategy and methodology can be put in place and managed over time.

But, like IT, the mobility officer cannot “own” mobility. Rather, this person should serve departments throughout the company, helping to facilitate the availability of apps, data and equipment needed by a mobile workforce.

Citing the recent explosion in mobile apps, research form Forrester Research, Inc., recently began leading the charge for a chief mobility officer to be introduced into the corporate hierarchy. In a report dubbed “Mobile App Internet Recasts the Software and Services Landscape,” Forrester said the growing and changing app market will take advantage of cloud-based services, smart computing, and newly app- and Internet-enabled devices, like cars, appliances and entertainment systems. Under the Forrester model, the chief mobility officer would manage apps that span the call center, customer service, marketing, e-commerce, and IT.

In 2010, apps on smartphones and tablets generated $1.7 billion worldwide, Forrester said. The company forecasted that this number will grow 82 percent each year through 2015.

For small businesses, wireless access has created a tremendous challenge. Many organizations need strong network security, yet have not been able to justify the expense of the more robust, enterprise-level wireless access solutions that have long been on the market.

That’s why we’re excited about new products soon being released by Aruba Networks. These wireless access points and controllers provide small-scale, easy access to the network, but with high levels of security.

For many years, Aruba has provided some of the market’s most powerful wireless access solutions. Their controllers have provided access points for hundreds to thousands of wireless devices in an organization. But these were too pricey for small organizations that need great security, such as law firms, medical offices and other businesses with a moral or legal responsibility to protect information.

Now, Aruba is launching the Aruba Instant, a virtual controller built into an access point. Aruba Instant is ideal for companies with one physical location and up to 16 wireless devices. The controller supports over-the-air authentication, as well as a wide range of enterprise-class WLAN capabilities:

• A high level of reliability
• Mobility, enabling users to roam effortlessly
• Guest access, eliminating the need to set up a guest VLAN
• Scalability, including the ability to manage thousands of Aruba Instant networks across multiple locations from the centrally located Aruba AirWave solution.
• Intrusion detection and content filtering

According to a recent analysis of wireless access technologies by Gartner, Inc., Aruba maintains one of the largest catalogs of products in terms of access points, controllers, sensors and management consoles, appealing to nearly all network design types and price points, including network designs that embrace the emerging utility access point paradigm.

Aruba’s centralized zero-touch configuration and management model enables its controllers to be deployed, monitored and controlled without any local IT staff. Deployment options include remote management or local configuration via a web interface. Aruba controllers manage authentication, encryption, virtual private network (VPN) connections, IPv4 and IPv6 Layer 3 networking, and more.

The mini-controller will be ideal for branch offices or smaller business environments. It will cost less and consume less power, making total cost of ownership more effective over the long haul.

As WLAN requirements expand, Aruba Instant can be re-imaged as an 802.11n campus access point and migrate to a centralized mobility controller architecture that supports up to 2,048 access points.

This blog first appeared on Best in UC.

Just two years ago, it seemed that RIM’s Blackberry product set was unassailable in the corporate smartphone race.

Yes, the iPhone was all the rage with consumers. But corporate IT and telecom managers had marginalized the Apple product as not ready for primetime (or strict corporate security policies). RIM’s Blackberry Enterprise Server was head of the class in enforcing security and administering access policies for almost every corporate network. Thousands of business apps were deployed and in use every day.

But in the summer of 2009, I spotted a troubling trend for Blackberry. As we deployed an IP telephony solution for a Global 100 corporation, I had the opportunity to meet most of the company’s upper management. I quizzed them on their preference for handheld devices. To a person, all had a company-issued Blackberry in one pocket and a personal iPhone in the other.

They eagerly showed me the variety of business applications they could perform with the iPhone. We were deploying a client for their Blackberry to provide a virtual connection to the corporate IPBX, and the universal question was, “When will we have this for the iPhone?” I asked our vendor partner the same question.

Fast forward two years and look at the landscape now. For 2011, Apple forecasts 80 million iPhone shipments and an astounding 40 million iPads as well. An incredible number of these are destined for corporate America. The security issues have been addressed and a new dynamic has emerged: Bring Your Own Technology (BYOT). And the preferred technology is overwhelmingly Apple.

Just this week, I visited with one of our key vendors that transacts business in 27 countries, with a field force of more than 500 employees. They are providing iPhones to everyone and equipping the sales force with iPads. All others are encouraged to use their own iPads as needed. Yes, the Android is gaining steam, but it is actually hampered by the openness of the platform. App developers have to deal with multiple implementations of their software on all different screen sizes, resolutions, and front ends to the underlying Android operating system.

How does corporate telecom management handle this influx of employee-owned technology? The major smartphone manufacturers have tools for administering security, wiping stolen or lost phones, and distributing software. And with the move to cloud-based (centralized) computing, many of the applications are accessed via browser as opposed to phone-based apps. Distribution and standardization as provided by Apple and the Android market ease the workload of the telecom manager in deploying software.

BYOT is here to stay. It is the new normal in distribution and administration of smartphone apps, including unified communications applications.

In a recent blog, we explained how the new ShoreTel Mobility solution could cut your business’ cellular phone charges by up to 80 percent.

The ShoreTel Mobility Router automatically selects the best network, whether Wi-Fi or cellular, for each call made on a user’s smartphone. It allows your company to create policies that determine how calls should be routed, or it can be set to choose the least-costly option. Typically, that results in calls moving to an existing Wi-Fi network, which dramatically reduces the number of cellular minutes purchased from your wireless carrier.

The benefits to this technology don’t stop at cost savings, though. With ShoreTel Mobility, the workforce is more mobile, productive and accessible. After all, work is an activity – not a location. The solution allows users to be reached anywhere, on any device. There are numerous examples of enhanced productivity and a better working life:

• One of our clients worked from home frequently, but he could never get a 3G signal from his mobile carrier inside of his house. Now, thanks to the ShoreTel Mobility solution, his phone operates off of his home’s Wi-Fi connection, resulting in much better call quality and reliability. This is true for many mobile workers, who aren’t always able to get a strong signal in their home offices.
• Users are never tethered to a specific device. In the office, a user might start a conversation on a ShoreTel phone. With the push of a button, the call instantly pushes to a mobile phone leveraging the office Wi-Fi connection. Then, when the user walks outside while still carrying on the conversation, the call automatically hands off to a cellular network. Throughout the entire process, costs are minimized even as quality is maximized and battery life preserved.
• From anywhere in the world, users can dial their coworkers using the office’s three- or four-digit extensions. So calls to the home office can be made simply, rather than with the long sequence required for international calls.
• Team members and partners can see users’ presence information. This is similar to an online chat program, where users are shown as available for communication, on the phone, away from their desks, etc. This status information makes it easier for team members to get in touch instantly and avoid phone tag.

From serious savings to better productivity, ShoreTel Mobility pays for itself while improving the quality of your team members’ work life.