UC or not? How do you get the correct people?

 

UC or not? How do you get the correct people?

One of the key concerns about whether to implement Unified communications in an organisation is who has the skill set to manage and administer it.  Since UC is relatively new, finding someone with hands-on experience of UC is going to be an issue. So what you need to look out for is the correct mindset as opposed to the particular skill set  You’re going to need someone who knows how to learn and who enjoys learning as the technology evolves.

I suppose as long as you have a basic but solid grounding in Windows and Exchange Server technology, you’ll be able to make a natural transition into the role  - it’s a natural extension of the Exchange Administrator role.  So you see how important the server team is when you’re considering UC deployment.

There are lots of perceptions about hiring someone with telephony experience too – but as far as telephony goes, the UC administrator need only know enough to be able to communicate well with the PBX/telephony team and find out what they need or hire an outsourced telephony vendor to help with the voice deployments.

And finally, during a project you need to roll out Unified Communications in a series of waves, starting with your committed enthusiasts to a wider set of users, and from less critical applications to more critical ones. This way your early adopters, who treat setbacks as a learning experience, can find potential problems before they can cause a loss of confidence among less patient users.

Eileen Brown's WebLog : UC or not? How do you get the correct people?