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Who are IP telephony's most effective champions at an organization, and why?
IP telephony promises significant benefits to both internal communications and collaborations and to management of relationships with customers and partners. But implementation of IP telephony can require significant changes in how things are done, for users and for telephony and IT decision-makers. So who best to advocate for the changes a business needs to succeeds with IP telephony?
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4 Answers
All aspects of the business if possible;
Finance - for cost savings, ROI benefits
Facilities - stress their knowledge will still be required for communicatons or they will not be onside.
IT - they will need to support it and you going forward, single interface, less management overhead, lower cost to support and less strain on their budget
HR - flexible working, improved and faster communications and collaboration
Sales Managers/Directors see HR and add clients able to contact your staff effectively and immediately, more meetings greater visibility of staff movements
I believe traditional Telecom Managers are one of the primary sources for introducing the change to IP Telephony within their organizations. With that said, I would not discount the IT group. The fact is, a transition to a fully functional IP Telephony solution requires a solid working knowledge of both disciplines.
Most larger organizations view and support these disciplines with seperate groups within the organization. This can create significant barriers to implementation. These organizations need to work together to make the transition work. However, there is some reluctance to do this due to concerns regarding erosion of responsibilities. It is a fact that once a transtion to IP Telephony is complete, one of the more significant benefits to the transition may well be a RIF of Telecom or IT personnel.
For the small organization, say 2-20 total employees, it is generally a business manager or owner that will drive the decision to make the transition to IP Telephony. After 23 years in the business, I have come to find that the end-user is a hundred times more knowledeable today than they were even 10 years ago as to the options available to them. What they need is a solid provider that is willing to take the time to explain the differences between legacy TDM services and the many IP offerings available today. And, more importantly, to take the time to identify exactly what the end-user is trying to achieve so that the solution they propose meets the customer's needs.
A champion for IP Telephony can be anywhere in an organization; it's dependent on what value you're bringing to the organization. The chart below is high level, but it's a start:
Value: Champion
Saving money: CFO or Finance Department
Increasing market share or growing business: CEO or VP Sales
Increasing agility: COO or CIO
Reducing risk: COO or CFO
Training or work-at-home initiatives: HR, COO
Increase sales: VP Sales
Affecting efficiency: Line of Business Managers
In today's market, there is no "one-size-fits-all" application. To compete effectively, companies must look for champions in all corners of the customer's business. Ideally, these champions should each champion a different benefit. This way, in case one initiative takes a back seat, the other initiatives can buoy the project.
I would encourage the points recently made by Joel Maloff at TMCnet. Joel is a consummate professional in the IP telephony area. This article http://tinyurl.com/ygl89nk provide a number of points of view to the questions you raise.
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