Steve - don't wait to integrate and automate

I was recently speaking to a friend of mine who is an IT professional at an outsourcing firm. To protect his anonymity, I’ll call him “Steve.” Steve’s company has multiple contact center facilities here in the US, and each of those centers has different telephony platforms and a bouillabaisse of partner, legacy and proprietary applications to connect with.

I wasn’t surprised when Steve told me that new projects took too long to launch, that changes required him to take down during business hours, and that the company was constantly hiring new agents to replace those who left out of frustration due to constant changes and difficult-to-use systems.

But I was surprised to hear him tell me – after suggesting to him the adoption of an SOA integration platform for standardization and BPM tools to orchestrate web services – that introducing one more computing system was the last thing he needed.

Huh? What?

Steve told me he and his peers agreed that a zero tolerance policy had been put in-place with regard to new systems. “Make due with we have – make it work,” was the edict he and his co-workers had placed on themselves. Folks, this simply doesn’t make sense.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I like Steve. He’s a nice guy, and I think he’s a pretty smart fellow too. But in this case, Steve is missing the boat: SOA and BPM are exactly what his company needs to optimize their processes and to maximize their current IT investments.

Steve… if you’re reading this… don’t wait to integrate and automate. I’m telling you this as a friend!

SOA This. SOA That. Dolls Re-Enact SOA Confusion in Cute YouTube Video

In this YouTube video featuring "Greg the Architect", played by a doll (distant cousin of Ken Doll fame, perhaps?), Greg is tasked with implementing an SOA solution by his oppressed boss who is literally under the foot of "The Big Guy". Overwhelmed by the complexity of SOA and not-so-professional vendors, Greg is belittled, confused and ultimately yaks "SOA" in the toilet. A cute video from SOANowJournal, a publication sponsored by industry giant TIBCO.

Fred On Tech

I'm pleased to announce that my colleague, Fred White, a super-sharp technologist and all-around good guy, has published his new blog, Fred on Tech. His blog will feature trends, analysis and the latest, most interesting topics in the world of enterprise-level technology.

Reuse and standardization, part of the value of Contact Center SOA, get Gartner's green light

Don't you love it when a plan comes together? I start the Contact CenteRevolution on a Wednesday night, and by Thursday morning there's already an excellent blog from a very smart guy, Joe McKendrick, who writes about the advice from a very smart company, Gartner, that SOA is definitely the way to go. While Joe is referring to any industry, I hope contact center pros will keep their operations in mind when reading this post.

Gartner: ‘no major conceptual flaw’ yet with SOA, but… by ZDNet's Joe McKendrick -- Gartner has given the green light to accelerated SOA spending. The concept works, but caution, the payback will be slower than expected

Some Pros and Cons About Virtual or Hosted Contact Centers

Virtual contact centers, also known as hosted contact centers, are being considered by more and more companies these days - either as replacement systems, seasonal/overflow solutions, or as a temporary solution while migrating to an on-premise platform.

Decision-makers are attracted to the hosted model for very good reasons, a few of which are described here.

First and foremost, Hosted solutions don't have the same up-front investment required by on-premise systems. Monthly payments ease the strain on cash flow, and you're only paying for what you need. The virtual option appeals to small businesses because of the ability to avoid protracted periods of time installing, testing and training.

A second key reason for considering a virtual solution is independence from IT. Because it is not uncommon for an adversarial relationship to exist between business and IT personnel, the idea of jobbing out IT's involvement could mean quicker turnaround and less operational headaches and contractual SLAs to hold over the head of the hosting service.

The virtual contact center is on the rise for these and many more reasons. And, in my opinion, the hosted model is a smart way to go - if it suits the business need. There are plenty of reasons why an on-premise solution works best.

I'll address each of these in my next post.

Until then, peace.