Nemertes Bisque Soup

Irwin Lazar with Nemertes Research recently posted an insightful blog on No Jitter. In an nutshell, Nemertes interviewed IT leaders from 200 companies earlier in the year. Nearly 100% of the participants said they expected flat or falling budgets for 2010. They were asked (a) what would they be forced to cut; and (b) what would they cut last. The results were perplexing as Voice and UC topped both of those lists. What?!?

Irwin explains the logic behind this: Voice is one of the larger budget items while at the same time mission critical to the business. Net/Net – IT leaders need to cut costs and are looking at Voice and UC more tactically than strategically. Whereas in the past they were interested in leveraging UC to improve processes and drive competitive advantage; in the near future they are looking for immediate cost savings and hard dollar measurable returns on their investment.

I thought I would paraphrase Irwin and provide some suggestions for solutions we can focus on together. Here’s the imperatives, according to Lazar, companies are making a priority. Aside from the pickup in business we’re seeing from projects being postponed for too long, these very possibly represent a temporary shift (first half of 2010?) to a more tactical view of voice and UC.

• On-premise web/audio conferencing solutions – Can you say Meeting Exchange?
• Reduce travel expenses – Video through Avaya UC, Polycom Video, etc. My counterpart, Dave Cassone, in our Video division tells me Polycom video really is exploding in terms of their growth.
• Accommodate reductions in staff — Managed Services/ Outsourcing
• Reduce Facility Costs
  • Enable Telework: IP Softphone, One-X, EC500, Juniper/Sonicwall SSL VPN, Sipera Mobile Workspace (instead of VPN)
  • SIP trunking – Close an office, maintain local numbers for that office routed somewhere else.
• Cut Operational Costs
  • Evaluating AGS maintenance contracts (also ensuring accuracy of records)
  • SIP trunking – either via a new/upgraded Avaya system or via Audiocodes gateways. Both scenarios coupled with Sipera UC Sec.
  • Reduce Mobile Phone Bills –
    • Fixed Mobile Convergence: Avaya leads this space with 43% marketshare (Frost&Sullivan) while FMC reduces mobile bills by 10 to 20%.
    • Multitech Cellular Gateway – Calls from PBX to cell phones are routed over the cell network: toll bypass and free minutes since it’s in network.

Again, my humble opinion is that this shift to the tactical is temporary and partners still need to be focused on the strategic value of Avaya UC and Aura; however, the above initiatives may help provide a revenue bridge for partners between the burst of initiatives that are finally getting green lighted (since they were held back for funding for so long) and the next wave of strategic imperatives that business partners can capitalize on. Just my two cents.

Good Selling,

Tom