We Need More UC Vendors, Not Less

Microsoft's Bill Gates said, "User is king" back in 1996 and this is true even more in 2011 than it was back then. Unified communication is really about the user in so many ways. And thus the industry, including many analysts, have presented user oriented UC as "UC." Now we know that business process oriented UC has even better pay back than user oriented UC. But the challenge is that business process oriented UC has to support so many different programs. There are not many companies that have just one application provider, nor using the same architecture as another enterprise. Microsoft Lync is a great example of a strong suite that ties together many parts of the MS enterprise offering including such products as Office, Sharepoint and Exchange, much of what enterprises use today in their everyday business. Office 365 is the same offering in a different architecture. But how many enterprises are willing to put all their "eggs in the same basket?" "Basic features," if you forgive the expression, such as email, file storage and the like might be ok to come from one vendor, but many enterprises choose applications that best support their way of working. Thus business process oriented UC must support more than one vendor.

Consolidating adjacent markets and innovating others

Regarding Microsoft's recent move to acquire Skype, I must say that the choir is astoundingly in agreement. The acquisition of Skype by Microsoft is a great move by Microsoft in many ways; it is a strategic move for its Office 365 offering, it is a great add-on to its Lync product line and it can introduce any number of Skype features into its other product lines, such as Xbox and Windows Mobile. And I agree. I am part of the same choir in that way. This acquisition is also a move to block other Microsoft competitors. The functionality can easily be part of a lot of different companies, and Skype's installed base already uses many products from other companies as well.

The communications market is in need of more consolidation, not because there are too many vendors providing enterprise voice solutions, but because the innovation is gone and new entrants provide the same basic functionality using other technologies, e.g. mobile networks and cloud solutions.

But UC still needs more innovating vendors, not less. There are reports by those who expect Microsoft in the future will differentiate their offering depending on the client the users have. Will Skype users who also use other Microsoft products benefit more than those who choose products from other vendors? No, some say, Microsoft promises that Skype will be an independent business unit. Not sure, others say. Microsoft must definitely protect its $8.5 billion investment in Skype and if that means that those who buy other products from them gets added benefit from using Skype as well, then that will likely attract product development. Microsoft is such a dominant player in the marketplace that we can have special demands on such a company which we never would put on smaller players.

From a UC perspective we need more companies offering new UC features, not less. And in that sense, Microsoft's acquisition of Skype is unfortunate. At this year's Enterprise Connect, Skype presented a new approach to UC, energizing the crowd and infused us with hope that innovation is only a small step away. Now we must rely on Microsoft to continue to feed that innovation. But will all users get access to its innovation? Or will innovation now go into existing Microsoft products. Your guess is as good as mine. But I think they will innovate for Office 365 and for Lync and other MS products.

The future of UC can be somewhere else

The news is full of interesting developments that can be paralleled to the UC market space.

The acquisition of Skype was one. Another was Google's announcement of their Google OS with two vendors demonstrating computers using this operating system. These are web based computers that have almost all of their intelligence based in the cloud. That would mean no use of enterprise based mail boxes, office applications or UC systems. Could Google use Skype's features? Sure. The move by Microsoft was a strategic move to block competitors as much as it was a move to add Skype's features to its own product lines.

Apple's Ipad has opened up a new market of devices that was not there a few years back, and effectively killed the netbook market. Ipads are now being used in enterprises and government offices all over the world. Innovating apps for Ipad are flooding, and the jury is still out on new features. What will Apple do with its cloud strategy and will they step further into the enterprise space?

The market is ripe for new entrants adding UC features to cloud or premise based communication solutions. Voice Mobility (www.voicemobility.com) has a solution that integrates their UC with Google apps for those who work in hybrid cloud/premise architecture. Esnatech (www.esnatech.com) has a solution that adds UC as well as mobility to Google apps.

Innovation is needed even more. The future is not here, we are just seeing the ideas forming in this space.

We need more players that combine cloud and enterprise features, companies that innovates the user experience in such a way that UC really adds value to companies, not just nice features to its employees, but money-generating or cash-saving features. We need those who develop an innovative UC experience as well as enterprise-based services or cloud-based services for specific features.

Lego UC

We can play an "Innovate this" game to give you an idea of the opportunities.

Let's say one provider has a SIP client for tablets, who also adds a great user interface to innovate the call experience and verifies this with a number of PBX vendors and mobile operators. If that vendor, or another, adds Presence and Instant Messaging features supported by a cloud or enterprise based service (Google, Office 365, Lync or whatever) and voilà you get a UC client on the mobile device that connects the user to the enterprise in the ways the user would expect, only does it better and more clever, giving the company the freedom to add what they need.

If a company have users who wants to share a document they start an app using the same session or a new one, that share information from the first app, using open source based services that are in the enterprise and up you go. Basically each enterprise can create their own mobile UC solution based on their "own" app suite, like using a colourful Lego kit built by the best innovations in the market.

I congratulate Microsoft in their acquisition and I invite new players into the game.

I also look forward to discussing the opportunities out there with you.