Last week, on May 25^th Siemens Enterprise Communications (SEC) announced OpenScape Office MX which is an all-in-one unified communications (UC) solution designed to meet the business communications needs of small to medium business (SMB). OpenScape Office MX is the successor to HiPath OpenOffice ME and is an upgrade that requires a simple software procedure, no hardware changes are required.

OpenScape Office MX has been designed to better address the needs of the SMB market and offers the full benefits of end-to-end unified communications at a price point to match the cost sensitivities of small to medium companies. Supporting up to 150 users, Siemens Enterprise communications has made more than 50 improvements to OpenScape Office MX.

“In the development of OpenScape Office MX, we listened to the needs of our channel partners and the market,” said Eve Aretakis, executive vice president of voice and application platforms at Siemens Enterprise Communications. “In order to stay ahead of the curve, small and medium enterprises need to be able to offer dynamic and responsive customer service, without incurring significant expenditures. Our channel partners can offer the next generation of a highly advanced UC product that dramatically reduces installation time and is intuitive and easy to use to ultimately accelerate business communications.”

Over the last couple of years, Siemens Enterprise Communications was been working hard to distinguish itself in a very completive marketplace by offering full featured, easy to implement UC solutions. This has allowed SEC to not only retain enterprise and government clients, but to also gain traction against competitors such as Avaya and Nortel (now owned by Avaya).

What’s your experience with HiPath OpenOffice ME and do you think OpenScape Office MX will offer significant improvements for your business? If you found this post useful, please leave a comment, share with your peers, or subscribe to the news feed to have my future posts delivered to your news feed reader.

I’m gazing into the crystal ball to make some predications and observations about what we can expect in 2010 in the telecom and IT markets.

1. Although we aren’t out of the woods yet, U.S. business and consumer confidence is growing and should reach a peak about the third quarter of this year. However, attempting to guess the level of corporate or consumer spending is a dicey business because there are multiple factors that go into purchasing decisions.

2. I’ve been hearing that there is pent up demand for technology (both software and hardware) that will drive new purchases in both SMB and large enterprise businesses. Regarding pent up demand for technology, my gaze says that this will only have a small impact on spending trends in 2010. We heard similar wishful thinking in the years following the technology bubble and subsequent telecom bomb of the early 2000’s. Historically, pent up demand had no impact on business spending patterns then, and I suspect it will have little impact now in 2010.

3. Lessons learned. During our recent economic down-turn both companies and consumers have learned to make do with less. As a matter of company survival, projects and improvements have been shelved or cancelled all together. The net result is that businesses have learned they can protect profits by tightly controlling the bottom line when growing the top line is difficult (back to Business 101). This means that increases in spending will be slow in 2010 and largely driven by efforts to branch out into new markets or to increase competitive advantages.

4. Products and services that help businesses and consumers save money on essential services will continue to do well in 2010. Good money can be made by those who figure out how to deliver the things we can’t live without for less than we’re already paying. For example, AT&T has recently asked the FCC on the behalf of RBOCs around the country (and itself of course) to stop maintaining the country’s public switched telephone network (PSTN). AT&T says it wants to focus its maintenance efforts towards new fiber optic infrastructure that reaches further and further towards the end customer. In the near future look to see neighborhood micro-cell sites designed to service a customer base that isn’t driving between cell towers. This type of phone service can be installed for a fraction of the cost of trenching and running copper lines between homes, pedestals and central offices.

5. The demand for DSL technologies (ADSL, IDSL, VDSL, etc.) will decrease as increasing demand for faster Internet services push beyond what copper lines can deliver even with new modulation/DSP techniques. During 2010, the preferred Internet delivery methods will be fiber, digital cable TV and satellite systems.

6. Improvements in VoIP over wireless technologies will come this year, making it more practical and cost effective to deliver last mile access for VoIP and Internet services.

7. Last mile wireless technologies with fiber runs between pedestals and central offices will be the savior for America’s aging PSTN infrastructure.

8. Wireless Internet services owned and operated by municipalities will disappear this year as the cost of maintaining such systems increase beyond what local governments can afford.

9. In 2010, VoIP is no longer considered new. This year VoIP is a mainstream technology and simply is the way phone systems and voice services work.

10. Green was good in 2009 and saved money too. Look to see green technologies such as virtualization to do very well in 2010.

11. Late in 2010, 1 gig Ethernet within the data center and enterprise will begin to look slow as manufactures release 10 gig and 40 gig Ethernet products.

12. Software applications that merge office automation with business communications (both VoIP and cellular) will gain greater acceptance in 2010. However, due to business financial constraints all that Unified Communications promises to deliver will not be fully realized this year.

These are the changes in business infrastructure and focus that I am seeing for 2010. Do you agree? What other areas of change do you anticipate in your firm in 2010?

In the first installment of this thread, I laid a foundation for a continuing discussion about the value of formal project management practices for technology related projects. As a matter of fact, I stated that it’s not possible to deliver technology projects on time and on budget without using a project management methodology such as the Project Management Institute’s 42 processes and nine knowledge areas. In this installment I want to recognize a couple of reader’s comments and also share some thoughts about appropriate project management tools and processes. It’s a long post but if you can hang with me we may generate some interesting discussion together.

One reader commented that project management for technology projects is actually a myth. The reader’s perspective was that project management is actually a business management tool and not a tool for technology or information systems. I appreciate this reader’s perspective and agree that a project manager working in technology should be a good business manager first and a technologist second. In my opinion, it is a rare person who is a great programmer, application developer or hardware design engineer that also makes a great project manager.

The reason for this is the skills needed to be a good technologist versus a good project manager are very different. Also, a good project manager understands that they are managing a segment of the company’s business; they have to be concerned with a project’s profit objectives and the overall impact the project has on the company. What do you think about this? Does a good project manager working in technology need to first be a good business manager or can a good technologist also be a good project manager without business management experience?

Another reader commented that they wanted to be sure that I wasn’t confused about what a work breakdown structure (WBS) is. The comment was triggered by my sentence, “A task list, activity list or work breakdown structure (WBS) is an important tool of project managers, but this tool doesn’t scratch the surface of what formal project management entails.” After rereading what I blogged I understand why they made the comment and feel the comment was warranted. Many people confuse an activity list with a WBS, but a WBS is nothing like an activity list.

A WBS often looks like an organizational chart; however it isn’t an org chart. It shows a complete hierarchy of a project and allows the project manager and their team to breakdown the work into manageable bites called work packages. It also shows the interdependencies of work packages and details the deliverables of the project. Worked on as a team effort, the WBS allows the team to mentally walk through a project making it seem more achievable and enabling the team to identify ill defined requirements that need clarification. Here is an example WBS that details the work of a project to hire a new employee.

Borrowed from http://www.spottydog.u-net.com/images/wbs.jpg

Most often the description of a work package in a WBS is only a few words like, “Job Spec.” A brief work package description allows the project team to convey the fitness of the work package in the overall WBS, but it doesn’t define the work in enough detail to explain what’s actually needed. The WBS has a companion document called the WBS Dictionary, which is a listing of all the work packages for a project explained in greater detail. Information included in the WBS Dictionary can include when the work is scheduled to begin, identified resources, milestones and other information. Don’t let the word dictionary throw you, you won’t find any word definitions, roots or entomology listed in a WBS Dictionary. Instead you will find detail explanations of work packages listed within a WBS. Tell us about how you create a WBS and WBS Dictionary and how helpful you find the process of creating them.

Lastly, an important principal of any formal project management process is iteration. What does that mean? It means not many project managers and project management teams are able to create all the plans, schedules, registers and other documents that go into a complete project plan fully baked the first time they sit down to work on them. OK, let’s modify that last statement a bit; no project managers or project teams are able to create a fully baked project plan during their first pass.

Actually, as you collaborate on project documents like the WBS and WBS Dictionary, you define work packages with the best information that you have available at that time. All project documents go through multiple iterations and during each pass you incorporate the latest information into them. What does the mean? It means don’t put yourself under the pressure of thinking you need to know every detail of a project to create a good project plan, WBS, WBS Dictionary or any other document related to a project. Revisions to the project plan are a natural part of managing any project.

Ok, I just introduced something new into our discussion; the term “project plan.” Tell us what a project plan looks like in your world and maybe that will provide kindling for the next installment of this thread. By the way, if you want more detail and even a bit of history about the Work Breakdown structure visit www.hyperthot.com/pm_wbs.htm. On this same website you’ll find a nine minute free video by Jim Chapman called 5 Steps to Successful Project Management. Jim succinctly makes excellent points about successfully managing projects. Also, if you want real help learning to create good work breakdown structures, investigate a program called the WBS Coach, http://wbscoach.com/. Developed by Josh Nankivel, WBS Coach is a training course that provides video tutorials and lessons on seven tools for creating great WBS and WBS dictionaries. The WBS Coach isn’t free, but it is reasonable.

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I’ve worked on many technology and telecom projects over the course of my tenure in the technology marketplace. Some of these projects were short term and included a handful of contributors. Some of the projects involved dozens of participants and millions of dollars. Shamefully, most of these projects weren’t managed using a formal project management methodology, but relied mostly on the experience of the project participants and a few tools for its success.

Project management has been practiced by people since ancient times. All major human endeavors that required the coordination of resources, materials and finances involved some level of project management even if it wasn’t recognized as such. For an excellent overview of the history of project management visit Wikipedia.

Everyone does project management; there is any number of home, personal, work tasks or events that we naturally organize into a project. Recently, I had an instructor who mentioned that in their home they have a defined project plan for Thanksgiving dinner; the plan documents who prepares what food and in what order, who sets the table and at what time, who carves the turkey, etc.

Formal project management is more than most people think. If you believe that project management just involves writing a project charter, or a task list, then you don’t you understand the depth and value of project management. A project charter is an important document, but should only summarize a project’s business goals and objectives, define the business case for the project and detail the authority given to the Project Manager to complete the project. A task list, activity list or work breakdown structure (WBS) is an important tool of project managers, but this tool doesn’t scratch the surface of what formal project management entails. Likewise, a Gantt chart is a tool used to display the status of project phases or activities, but project management done right is a lot more than a diagram.

What is project management? According to the Project Management Institute (www.pmi.org),

“Project management is the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to project activities to meet the project requirements. Project management is accomplished through the appropriate application and integration of the 42 logically grouped project management processes comprising the 5 process groups. These groups are: Initiating, Planning, Executing, Monitoring and Controlling, and Closing, and are illustrated in the diagram below. Managing a project usually includes: Identifying requirements, addressing the needs, concerns, and expectations of the stakeholders as the project is planned and carried out, balancing competing project constraints including, but not limited to: scope, quality, schedule, budget, resources, and risk.” Project Management Book of Knowledge, 4^th Edition.

 

Technology or telecom projects cannot be done right without the application of formal project management methodologies. Too many projects end up needing more time and or capital to complete than was expected because the project was poorly planned. Therefore, a formal project management method is required to conserve all resources associated with any specific project.

Project management software is available for different scales of projects. Using the correct PM software for the right project is analogous to using the right tool for the job at hand. For technology projects that are frequently executed and everyone knows their role, such as implementing a server farm, a simple Excel spreadsheet would suffice. However, for large, multi-year software implementations and/or transitions such as moving to a cloud-based environment, a more formal project management application would be needed.

Personally, after completing a 17-week certification course in project management at Colorado State University, I’m now studying to take PMI’s Project Management Professional (PMP) certification exam. While completing the course and working on the PMP exam preparation, I’ve been looking at how to best apply what I’ve learned to my job and the telecom projects I manage.

Look for part II of this post in which I detail some of my lessons learned and recommend a few tools and techniques that I find helpful to appropriately implement a formal project management methodology.

What have been your experiences with project management tools for IT? Share your positive and negative experiences so we can all learn together.

This post was inspired by a September 8, 2009 InfoWorld article titled Dirty Vendor Tricks. The article talks about unscrupulous software vendors and mentions six dirty tricks they employed to separate you from hard earned company funds. The six dirty tricks listed in the article are as follows:

1. The Magic Demo – a canned demo that does magical things but doesn’t actually represent what the vendor can deliver

2. Underbid, then Overcharge – pretty self-explanatory

3. The Customer Headlock – once some vendors have you as a customer they will do anything to keep you, even if it crosses unethical lines

4. The Billing Mistake – billing you for services never rendered, or for more than you contracted

5. The Forced Upgrade March – requiring costly upgrades to keep you current even when what you purchased is relatively new

6. The Clueless Customer – This isn’t really a dirty trick, but is what happens when the customer puts too much trust in their vendors

If you’d like to read some of the specific horror stories that help drive their point, you can find the article here.

After reading the article I had two thoughts. My first thought was caveat emptor, buyer beware. It’s unfortunate that there are people and companies in this world that are more concerned about collecting money by any means than by acting with integrity.

However unfortunate this business model is, it is a reality of doing business and the customer must take the responsibility to ensure that they aren’t being taken advantage. This means taking the time to read the fine print of contracts and agreements as well as making sure that expectations, exceptions and assumptions are clearly communicated in writing. The larger the project in terms of business impact or cost, the greater the requirement to have a clear, written contract that can be reviewed by both parties. Ask your vendor to provide written expectations, exceptions and assumptions before you accept the terms of an agreement or give your authorization to allow work to begin. It can be as simple as a several line email or as complex as a multi-page document. It’s amazing the clarity that such a practice provides for both client and vendor and can save both parties time and money.

The second thought I had was that it really helps to know as much as you can about the companies you’re doing business with. I realize this thought seems a bit obvious, but it is often overlooked. Ask for referrals and actually talk with the reference accounts. Ask questions like, “Did their invoice match their proposal and if not why?” or “Was the level of service delivered equal to their promises?” If a company you’re doing business with treats a previous client unscrupulously what makes you think that it would be different for you?

Don’t take me wrong, I don’t believe all or even most businesses behave poorly. The vast majority of firms conduct business in a professional manner and try to take care of their customers. It only takes one unscrupulous vendor, though, to put your own firm in jeopardy. Take the time to read the contract and get a clear, documented understanding of what products and services you are contracting. In the long run, the enhanced clarity will improve the client-vendor relationship.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If you found it useful, please leave a comment, share with your peers, or subscribe to the news feed to have my future posts delivered to your news feed reader.

Why should you have remote access connectivity into your business telephone system? Simply put, remote access to your phone system is the fastest way to fix problems and return communication services to your business. Most problems experienced by business phone systems can be fixed remotely, but even if there has been an electronics failure and a card or board has to be replaced, remote access allows the phone system service provider to better determine the cause of the problem and arrive with the correct part. This decreases the onsite repair time and the number of return visits.

While supporting our PBX maintenance clients around the country, we’re often asked if the client really needs to have remote access available for their phone system. What does this mean? Most PBX phone systems have the ability to install a modem, either internal to the phone system or an external unit connected to a serial port. Newer IP PBX systems can be connected to the company’s intranet and a VPN connection established to a trusted maintenance service provider.

Sometimes a modem for the phone system is an included option when the system is purchased. Modem access is the simplest to get working and once it is setup it just needs a working POTS (plain old telephone service) line connection to have dial-up access to the PBX phone system. VPN access is often faster to use (data rate) and more reliable than modem access, but is more involved to setup and get working.

Are there security concerns with providing remote access to your telephone system? The short answer is yes. Modem access is much more straightforward to setup and nearly all phone systems that support modem connectivity will prompt the modem caller for a username and password before allowing access to the phone system. There are even secure modems available (more costly then a regular modem) that add another layer of username and password security and hang up the phone line if an incorrect username or password are entered. There is also the option of leaving the phone line disconnected from the modem until there is a problem and connecting it after you’ve contacted you maintenance provider. However, as simple as this seems it means that when you have a problem (even after hours) someone from your business needs to travel to the phone system’s location to connect the phone line to the modem. Also, many phone systems can reactively call your maintenance provider to report a problem if the maintenance provider has a monitoring system (this topic is a future post) and that wouldn’t work if the phone line is left disconnected until needed.

Security is something all businesses must consider in today’s hacker happy computer society. However, there is much that can be done to protect your businesses data security and the security of your phone system. First, VPN access is designed to be secure; the way it works is a secure encrypted tunnel is established between two organizations over the Internet between firewalls. There are two caveats with VPN access. The first caveat is that it requires software and sometimes hardware to make it work. Second caveat is that VPNs are a bit complex to setup and it will require the involvement of an IT person who understands how to configure a VPN and how to make changes to your company firewall.

The benefits of enabling remote access to your phone system outweigh the risks. Remote access decreases the amount of time your phone system is down and improves reliability. Remote access also decreases the number of onsite service calls and the parts required to repair your system. Remote telephony access makes good business sense.

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