How to Overcome the Implementation Challenges of Unified Communication

With no sight that the recession will loosen its grip around our economy, small to medium sized businesses are looking to find a way to cut costs and improve efficiency. Increasingly more businesses are opting for technology applications that will help them do just that. The newest buzz word amongst this group is unified communication.

But what does it really mean? In essence it means that this application will help you consolidate various types of communication into one singe network. This again means that you won’t just get your emails into your inbox but could also get all your voicemails and SMSs too. Everything becomes digital and easier to deal with (plus it cuts out the cost of running several networks for voice and data).

So what to look out for when implementing such a technology?

This should not be an easy decision to make. It is not really something you would normally just pick off the shelf. Thinking of implementing such a technology means to review your whole business strategy. It might sound like a really good idea at the beginning but would your business model with all its processes actually support this type of application? Implementing unified communications could mean that you got to change some (or a lot) of your business processes to fit around the new system.

So you will be changing the way people (and ultimately) the business functions on a day to day basis. Don’t take me wrong, this could be a positive step. It will give you the chance to re-evaluate the way you do things, map out your current processes and see how the new system could improve those, allowing you to identify all the benefits that it will bring to your business and building your implementation case. You should also take this opportunity to highlight any barriers to implementing the system.

Getting the right stakeholders around the table will help doing that, make sure there is someone representing the people who will actually be using the system on a daily basis – it will give you an insight to how people might react to the change.

Cost is a major factor when implementing any system that will impact you on a strategic business level. To ensure that you keep costs at bay think of all the unexpected expenses that might creep up at you. It is not just the obvious costs that can make the implementation go really sour.

Always build some contingency into your cost forecast – that’s even without having identified any hidden costs yet. A good tip on how to get your cost forecast a little more accurate is to ask your system provider to give you a full list of anything they could charge for, such as training costs, technical support, installation costs, upgrade costs, maintenance costs etc.

This will give you a better overview on what costs you got to factor in. Furthermore, have a good look if your current IT kit is sufficient to run the system or if you might have to upgrade some to ensure everything will work correctly. It is almost like creating a risk assessment. List all the things that might happen, and put a cost against it. At the end of this process you might be looking at the real cost of implementation.

Every company at some point will have to deal with managing change. It is important to stress the word “managing”. You can’t simply force a new way of working onto people, their natural reaction will be to resist. One reason, especially these days, is because change might mean getting rid of people.

Some simple steps to avoid or help reduce resistance are: involve key stakeholder in the decision making process, keep people informed, select a person who will spearhead the change (who is respected and trusted by the people affected by the change), reassure people that the unified communications systems will help them become more efficient and take pressure off them – not replace them. It is also good to mention to people that they will be trained on the system. Further, you might want to think about appointing a hand full of people to get a more in depth training – so they can train new employees on the system at a later point.

To win over your staff – communication is the key. If they feel you are planning something behind their back resistance could spiral out of control and implementation could be delayed or made very difficult.

To ensure a success full implementation you will have to allocate plenty of time to training. Your business will be going through a major change, so the better people are prepared to deal with the change – the faster you will gain Return on Investment. Training will be on two levels really, ensure that you get some professional training from your system provider (almost classroom like) but also give your staff some time to get their heads around the new system themselves.

Training should be given before you change to the new system – so your staff will not be under pressure and you will have also some time to identify any further training needs that might not have been satisfied initially. But do not plan it in too early – you don’t want your staff to have forgotten everything they learnt by the time the system is implemented.

Make sure the system you go for is user-friendly. You don’t want to scare your staff off. Keep in mind you want the system to save you time and money – if it isn’t friendly to use and staff struggle with it, it might end in costing you more. A good way is to actually ask your staff where their pain points are when they carry out their work, and what they would be looking for in a system.

Not only you can then ensure you get the right system for them – but you will already gain some of their buy in as they will have the feeling that you involved them in the decision.

So, what you waiting for “unify your communications” – get implementing!