Avaya’s 2013 Guidebook is the market-leading overview of the collaboration technologies and trends driving businesses of every size. Written for business and IT executive alike, the Guide features in-depth analysis and commentary from industry experts on the innovations that can help you and your organization gain and keep a competitive edge. Topics in the Guide include: • Why mobile and desktop videoconferencing are the future of communications; • How instant messaging is evolving past mere presence to awareness; • What are the 8 best practices every contact center must follow; • The steps you must take to secure your Unified Communications deployment. Contributors to this year’s Guide include leading Avaya executives such as CEO Kevin Kennedy, SVPs Gary Barnett, Marc Randall, Michael Runda, and Brett Shockley, and top analysts from Forrester and Nemertes Research as well as experts from IBM, VMware and other valued Avaya partners. The Guide also includes 14 enterprise case studies and 28 charts and infographics to create a full picture of how you can create a better, more agile business even in a fluctuating macroeconomic climate.

1. 2013 GUIDE
2013 THE
COLLABORATION
FSC
GUIDE TRENDS
Transforming Your Organization
Logo and Industry This Year
© 2013 Avaya Inc. All Rights Reserved.
All trademarks identified by ®, ™, or SM are registered marks,
trademarks, and service marks, respectively, of Avaya Inc.

2. AVAYA 2013 GUIDE

3. TABLE OF
CONTENTS
10 Leaning Forward to Embrace Innovation
Kevin J. Kennedy
President and Chief Executive Officer, Avaya
Avaya 2013 Guide
13 Megatrends
Published by Avaya Inc.
211 Mt. Airy Road, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920 U.S.A.
To download copies of Avaya 2013 Guide, visit www.avaya.com 14 Awareness. Simplicity. Customers.
Brett Shockley
Copyright © 2013 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved.
Senior Vice President and General Manager,
Avaya and the Avaya logo are trademarks of Avaya, Inc. or its subsidiaries. Avaya Applications and Emerging Technologies, Avaya
© indicates registration in the United States of America. All other trademarks
are the property of their respective owners.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Avaya Inc.
22 Hypertext to Hypervoice
Martin Geddes
Avaya 2013 Guide Consultant on Future Telecom Business Models and Technologies
Edited by Eric Lai and Richard Solosky.
p.cm.
ISBN 978-1-62209-556-8
29 Today’s 5 Biggest Communication Trends
Irwin Lazar
Vice President and Service Director, Nemertes Research
1. Unified Communications. 2. Videoconferencing. 3. Call Centers.
4. Networking. 5. Enterprise Mobility.
Library of Congress Class and Year: HF5734.7 R48 2013
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012923795
33 Do Collaboration Tools Boost Workplace Communication?
Dr. Charles Law
Assistant Professor, Penn State University
Printed in the United States of America
Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this
publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored
in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
4 | avaya.com avaya.com | 5

4. 43 Amplifying Innovation with Partnerships
An excerpt from ‘Leading with Connections,’ published by IBM
87 Mobile and Web
49 4 Trends Transforming the Unified Communications Ecosystem
Michael Taylor
CTO, Strategic Products and Services (SPS) 88 Bring Your Own Unified Communications
Gary E. Barnett
Senior Vice President and General Manager
for Collaboration Platforms, Avaya
91 The Future is WebRTC
55 Video Collaboration John Yoakum
Consulting Engineer, Avaya
Harvey Waxman
Vice President, Architecture, Avaya
56 Dawn of a New Era in Videoconferencing
Bob Romano
Alan Johnston
Distinguished Engineer, External Standards, Avaya
Vice President of Global Marketing, Radvision, an Avaya Company
94 Case Study: Adding Features, Subtracting Costs
63 The Rise of Video-Enabled Innovation Will Power Corporate Growth
An excerpt from a 2012 Forrester Consulting white paper
Matthews Pierce & Lloyd
97 Case Study: On the Road, Always in Touch
RootWorks, LLC
66 Videoconferencing Goes Viral
Moshe Machline
Vice President of Marketing, Radvision, an Avaya Company
70 The New ‘Rules’ for Videoconferencing
Eric Lai
Editorial Director, Avaya 101 Customer Experience
72 Case Study: Genius of Collaboration
ETH Zürich 103 A Solid Foundation for Tomorrow’s Customer
Chris McGugan
Vice President and General Manager for Emerging Products
& Technology, Avaya
76 Case Study: Truly Unified
CBC (Cologne Broadcasting Center)
110 8 Best Practices for Customer Experience Management Today
Laura Bassett
Director of Marketing, Avaya
79 Innovator’s Corner 116 Would You Call Your Own Contact Center?
Donna Dawson
Psychologist
IAUG Customer Innovation Winners
124 Case Study: Top Customer Service in All Channels
3C DIALOG GmbH
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5. 127 Case Study: Building for the Multichannel World
Gepin Contact SpA
131 Infrastructure
132 Optimizing Your Private Cloud for the Collaboration Era
Marc Randall
Senior Vice President & General Manager, Avaya Networking
Parag Patel
Vice President of Global Alliances, VMware
136 Border Cop
Gilman Stevens
Director of SBC R&D and the VIPER Lab, Avaya
Gina Odean
National Director of Converged Solutions, NACR
140 5 Traits of Great Communications Service Providers
Michael Runda
Senior Vice President, Avaya and President,
Avaya Client Services
142 The Future of 911
Mark J. Fletcher
ENP, Public Safety Solutions Product Strategy, Avaya
147 Case Study: Weaving the Network of the Future
Leeds Metropolitan University
150 Case Study: Avaya Virtual Networking Underpins
Netherlands’ Schiphol Airport Luggage System
153 Market Data
8 | avaya.com avaya.com | 9

6. LEANING FORWARD
In short, a wealth of new, cost-
effective solutions are available
today, can be deployed quickly, and
TO EMBRACE
can begin delivering measurable
benefits almost immediately.
If people have choices and can see
a realistic path forward, they don’t
INNOVATION
feel helpless to manage change.
In this Annual Guide, we offer what
we believe is some of the best
thinking from outside and inside
Avaya and varied observations on
the choices available to enterprises
The Transformational Edge that refuse to be victims of
circumstance. In the lead article,
of Better Collaboration for example, Brett Shockley,
Avaya’s Senior Vice President and
General Manager of Applications and Emerging Technologies,
examines the intersection and implications of collaboration,
There’s something about a new calendar year that stirs the blood of even the mobility, and cloud technologies. You’ll also find perspectives
most jaded among us. No one who knows me well would call me a wild-eyed from respected research firms; insights from Avaya’s
optimist; I’m a pragmatist at best, even on the headiest of days. Still, I feel more customers, partners, and thought leaders; and even
buoyant about what’s possible for the enterprise than I have in a very long time. an academic view of the behavioral psychology shaping
business collaboration (hint: Technology is necessary but
Admittedly, the headwinds that buffeted us all in 2012 haven’t abated significantly.
far from sufficient).
The economic climate, especially in North America and Europe, is still profoundly
uncertain. Technology spending overall remains cautious, and in many parts This book itself is a collaboration, evidence of what we
of the U.S. federal government, spending is still sharply constrained, sending at Avaya call The Power of We™. I am convinced that
ripples through a wide network of partners, suppliers, and end users. Inside the the most successful enterprises will be built on an open,
enterprise, employee mobility and geographic dispersion continue to expand, mobile collaboration platform—the more diversity, energy,
while the “consumerization of the enterprise” is an irresistible force. and creativity we bring to the conversation, the richer the
outcome will be. No one has a monopoly on insight, but
In spite of all that, I’m detecting a shift in customers’ attitude. There’s a renewed
if we bring the right people together at the right time with
sense of empowerment, fueled by a surge of market innovation. Instead of
the right information, we can quite literally change the world.
feeling victimized by tight budgets, our customers see new ways to reduce
I hope you find these perspectives valuable, and I invite you
bandwidth costs, accelerate time to productivity, and enhance the user
to continue the conversation with any of us at Avaya.
experience. For example, midsize enterprises no longer need to devote weeks
to deploying a new UC platform—new midmarket solutions can be configured Sincerely Yours,
in half an hour. In contact centers, our speech pattern recognition and natural
language chat software can improve a company’s productivity and Net Promoter
Score® in just weeks. Business-grade video scales from conference room to
desktop to smartphone, with up to 83 percent lower bandwidth requirements
and up to 71 percent lower TCO than competing solutions. In fact, low-bandwidth,
high-definition business video on your consumer mobile device can pay for
itself with the first business trip you eliminate, and the second eliminated trip Kevin J. Kennedy
contributes directly to the bottom line. President and Chief Executive Officer
Net Promoter Score is property of its respective trademark holders.
10 | Introduction Introduction | 11

7. MEGATRENDS
“Unity is strength … when there is
teamwork and collaboration,
wonderful things can be achieved.”
—
­ Mattie Stepanek, Poet
12 | Megatrends Megatrends | 13

8. Today’s real-time communications
tools can be too much of a good thing.
Here are 3 trends that will help you
and your business regain mastery.
For centuries, the speed of information flow has increased. And for all that
time, people have complained of information overload. The 17th-century
German philosopher Leibniz bemoaned the “horrible mass of books which
keeps on growing.” Technology has accelerated matters. One hundred fifty
years ago, it was considered a miracle when the Pony Express delivered a
letter from New York to San Francisco in a mere 10 days. Today, we have
numerous modes of real-time communications at our disposal. But we are
still afflicted by information fatigue and lost productivity.
Fortunately, there are trends in communications and collaboration solutions
on the horizon that may help us regain control over our working hours.
Here are three that I personally consider the most important.
1. CONTEXTUAL AWARENESS IMPROVES PRODUCTIVITY
We crave being up-to-date. Who can resist clicking on the “new mail”
icon? This need to know is not new. It’s just never been easier to sate
(temporarily). Whether it be stock prices, sports scores, friends’ activities,
or inventory levels, there is a good chance the information is ready
and waiting.
AWARENESS. Yet, being hyperconnected is not as satisfying as it might have once been
envisioned. The connections can feel shallow, or out of sync with our
thoughts or needs.
SIMPLICITY. “We live in a technological universe in which we are always communicating.
And yet we have sacrificed conversation for mere connection,” wrote
CUSTOMERS.
futurist Sherry Turkle in the New York Times in April 2012.
Being connected without appropriate filters can also be exhausting.
Not long ago, our biggest productivity complaint was email overload.
To solve the problem, we created other modes of communication.
But those have splintered. It’s the rare person who actually has only one
email or one social network to keep track of. Between work and personal
accounts, it isn’t uncommon for people to check 10–30 accounts in a single
By Brett Shockley,
day. The problem, rather than getting better, has worsened. >>
Senior Vice President and General Manager,
Avaya Applications and Emerging Technologies, Avaya
14 | Megatrends Megatrends | 15

9. Business communications will also become
It is more than sources and modes, far more effective. Not long ago,
but devices as well. Mobile devices secretaries applied contextual simpler—and more powerful—through
have made text (SMS) messaging awareness to determine when to route software that allows us to dynamically shift
ubiquitous. Some applications are calls or to take a message (though
desktop-only. Others are tablet- they would’ve likely called it common between text, voice, and video. Even the
only. And don’t forget the physical sense). In this era, new technologies
‘power phone’ of the future will be less about
mailbox. You can spend all of your will be contextually aware, and aid us
time checking and monitoring in routing, filtering, and prioritizing. the number of buttons and more about
conversations. Our appetite for
information and communication Context hastens productivity just as a screen size.
has paralyzed productivity. map becomes more useful when you
know at least roughly where you are.
Too much openness turns out to Context filters the relevant information
be its own cage. Urgent messages for given situations, allowing us to
can arrive from anywhere, requiring quickly find the right people and
diligent surveillance among all of our right documents as well as monitor
communication tools since there is activities across modalities. The
no easy way to filter the interruptions. technology will evaluate relationships
Our tools are not working for us— and contacts, conversations, and
they put us to work. information and event streams across
devices and locations.
A temporary degradation in
productivity was reasonable.
As Internet, VoIP, and other forms 2. SIMPLE IS AS SIMPLE DOES
of IP communications exploded, Remember the thick manuals that
each required some experimentation. came with pagers? Or the hefty
Now, it’s time to get back to business. instruction booklets that came with
The menu of modes and options fax machines? These were complex
isn’t going to shrink, but the focus devices as evidenced by their
will shift to managing them in a complex manuals. But as our devices
smart way. In other words, business become more powerful, the manuals
communications must start to are shrinking and disappearing.
emphasize productivity over novelty. Consider the relatively thin pamphlet
you probably got with your latest
Spam filtering saved email from smartphone, tablet, or TV.
uselessness. But filtering real-time
communications is a much harder nut Intuitiveness and ease of use now
to crack. Simple filters, based on caller becomes as important—more
ID or keywords, are not sufficient. The important—than any individual
next big focus will be real-time filters feature ... and not just for end
with contextual awareness. users. Enterprise technology is now
following this simplified approach. It is
Context separates Paris, France, the key theme to many priorities and
from Paris, Texas, and Paris Street projects underway and will continue
(in Denver). Our documents, activities, to be so. Today’s organizations are
locations, and contacts will provide much less tolerant about complexity
cues to determine context. Awareness (and the training it requires). >>
of context will make communications
16 | Megatrends Megatrends | 17

10. Urgent messages can arrive from anywhere, requiring Users’ Future Plans for UC&C Tools Over Next 12 Months, North America, 2012
diligent surveillance among all of our communication tools.
1.
Our tools are not working for us—they put us to work. 42% 48% 6%
2. 34% 64%
3. 32% 63%
31% 58% 10%
4.
30% 66% 5%
5.
30% 64%
For example, the wave of enterprise across locations. Location will (and 6.
26% 59% 11%
virtualization was initially motivated now should) be completely invisible 7.
by the cost savings of being able to customers and colleagues. 8. 24% 65% 9%
to run fewer servers. But the true 9. 23% 59% 16%
value lies in the simplification of Simplification is also behind the
rise of software. As tech investor 10. 21% 69% 10%
operations, even as powerful features
such as high availability and disaster Marc Andreessen famously put it, 11. 17% 72% 6% 6%
recovery are extended across multiple “Software is eating the world.” He
n Plan to use more extensively n Expect decreasing use
platforms and services. It’s a far cry points to the industry and segment n Plan to use at same capacity n Plan to discontinue use
from yesterday’s dedicated servers leaders that, under the covers, are
and their dedicated cabling. Desktop actually software companies:
1. Enterprise social
4. Videoconferencing 8. Instant messaging
virtualization (VDI) is also simplifying Amazon.com, Netflix, Apple’s iTunes,
media tools 5. Web conferencing 9. obile soft client
M
the management of PCs and mobile Spotify, Pandora (entertainment), 2. Unified communications
extension applications
6. Shared/collaborative
devices while supporting freedom Pixar, Google, and LinkedIn. Even client team spaces 10. Audio conferencing
of device and operating systems for Wal-Mart, a real-world retailer, 3. nified messaging/
U 7. PC-based softphones 11. IP PBX
uses software to win a competitive visual voicemail
end users. It’s becoming the antidote
to the “bring your own device” advantage in logistics and distribution. Base: All respondents (n=263). Source: Frost Sullivan analysis.
(BYOD) trend which has complicated Hardware-based solutions are rigid.
matters regarding data security and Software-based solutions work hard
protection in the name of employee underneath to generate context that between text, voice, and video. about $1.50 per automated IVR
choice. VDI offers effective, non- makes things appear simple to the Desktop phones will become simpler (integrated voice response)
obtrusive management, encryption, end user. You can see this in television and more contextual. The “power interaction to more than $4 per voice
and control. sets, which even today feature phone” of the future will be less call, according to 2011 estimates
remotes that resemble oversized about the number of buttons and published by callcentres.net. That’s
Communications infrastructure can more about screen size. Or you sometimes perceived as too costly.
candy bars arrayed with buttons.
also benefit from simplification. can skip the desk phone and use Many organizations have streamlined
The Apple TV remote, by contrast,
By centralizing communications an intuitive application on a desktop interactions, trading customer
is mostly software. It only has a few
equipment and operations, or tablet. No more esoteric satisfaction and experience for profits.
buttons. But by generating contextual
organizations reduce the number of commands like “flash.” But competing on price is increasingly
and intuitive on-screen menus, users
servers, administrators, and other difficult in a connected world where
can easily navigate through a much
resources needed. This also simplifies greater array of content with little 3. HE RETURN
T customers can easily switch to an
the setup and operation of remote need for instruction. alternative. Customer satisfaction and
offices and remote and mobile
OF CUSTOMER
loyalty become key, and great service
workers. And workers benefit because Business communications will CONVERSATIONS
can build and maintain it.
there is no longer a disparity in the also become simpler—and more We all know customers are the
features available to individual offices powerful—through software. key to a successful business. Customer satisfaction used to be
or locations, nor any technical barriers Software applications will allow But interacting with customers is difficult to measure. Today’s customers
to something as simple as voicemail us to dynamically and easily shift inherently costly, ranging between are willing to share their opinions
18 | Megatrends Megatrends | 19

11. Non-Users’ Future Plans for UCC Tools Over Next 12 Months, North America, 2012
1. 22% 12% 21% 45%
2. 14% 18% 20% 44%
3. 14% 16% 26% 44%
4. 14% 21% 30% 35%
13% 17% 28% 42%
5.
13% 21% 25% 41%
6.
13% 18% 26% 43%
7.
12% 20% 33% 34%
8.
12% 16% 25% 47%
9.
11% 15% 18% 56%
10.
11. 10% 14% 29% 47%
n Plan to implement within next 12 months n Plan to implement within next 2–3 years
n Considering, but no plans yet n Not considering
and experiences more than ever in place to monitor services more
before. Unfortunately, they are sharing quickly, before matters get out of
this information publicly via social hand. Strong customer service backed 1. Audio conferencing 5. Videoconferencing 9. hared/collaborative
S
networks that empower them. by agile, proactive organizations 2. Instant messaging 6. Web conferencing team spaces
The balance of communications will succeed in the social era. Social 3. nterprise social
E 7. obile soft client
M 10. IP PBX
power has shifted to the customer. networks remain important to media tools extension applications 11. PC-based softphones
monitor, not as a means of satisfying 4. Unified messaging
8. nified communications
U
For decades, the contact center was a customer—but as a feedback visual voicemail client
identified with cost and repetition: mechanism to satisfy all customers.
checking balances, changing Base: All respondents (n=263). Source: Frost Sullivan analysis.
passwords, ordering parts, etc. Self- In response, the contact center needs
service solutions are changing the to evolve. Rather than simply a forum
nature of contact centers. Many—if not for resolution, today’s contact center Live conversations with customers are These three megatrends are reshaping
most—customers prefer automated needs to be proactive, not reactive. a great place to foster relationships organizational communications.
telephone or Web-based technologies Real-time diagnostics and monitoring
and build perceptions. Organizations They are powerful forces resulting
for simple tasks. When a customer tools allow contact center agents
are rediscovering the value of in improved productivity, commerce,
actually makes the effort to call, it to identify satisfaction issues before
customer interactions: that they and growth. Most organizations
is because the self-service solutions they become angry tweets or
are a privilege, not an obligation. can benefit from addressing them
have failed them, and they have a Facebook posts. Social networks
That means the agent of tomorrow in their strategic plans. One thing
legitimate need for human interaction. allow an organization to get
will be better trained, more that has never changed is that
This shouldn’t be viewed as a cost or near-real-time feedback on activities
empowered, and backed with more communications continues to offer
burden, but an opportunity. such as advertising and promotion.
effective and adaptable support a means for businesses to gain
Whereas customer satisfaction was This means that agents need to be systems. These agents will not be not a competitive advantage. •
well-versed in organizational tools the “order takers” of the past, but key
once just a matter of retention, now it
and systems, and have the ability to organizational resources.
is also a matter of reputation, growth,
and brand. Customers now have a easily resolve a broad array of issues.
global and efficient voice, and the And in cases where they can’t, they
potential exists for their opinions need effective and instant means of
and experiences to cascade virally. finding the resources that can. With
Listening to and monitoring social products, quality is measured against
media is not enough, nor is it scalable. specifications. With services, quality is
Brett Shockley is Senior Vice President and General Manager for Avaya Applications
Instead, mechanisms need to be measured by customer perception. and Emerging Technologies. He is an industry veteran with more than 25 years of thought
leadership in the telecommunications and contact center markets.
20 | Megatrends Megatrends | 21

12. HYPERTEXT TO
HYPERVOICE
LINKING WHAT WE SAY TO WHAT WE DO
By Martin Geddes,
Consultant on Future Telecoms Business Models and Technologies
Imagine a world where computers Until now, the free-form nature of
enrich our voices with superhuman voice communication has left it
powers; where voice is integrated disconnected from the mainstream of
into our social media just as text our daily digital lives. Machines are
and images currently are; where adept at processing stored symbols,
our voice can be used as a not spoken syllables. As a result, we
communication tool at its full have skewed our patterns of
capacity: simple, powerful, and communication to favor media that
rich. This is the world of hypervoice, can be easily structured and
where voice on the Web is as native processed by machines.
and natural as hypertext.
Voice captures our creativity and You can tag a moment in the speech
If Web 2.0 was about transcending so much else of our essence that
place, enabling us to become more
as easily as the piece of text you have
makes us different from machines.
interactive and social online through Our most emotive and memorable typed. Indeed, any and every digital
text and images, Web 3.0 will be conversations are vocal. Even
about enriching conversation Spielberg’s E.T. didn’t fax home;
gesture can be tied to its moment
through the human voice. instead, he found his voice. in the spoken context.
Voice: Gift or Demand? However, there is a tension in voice
Our Western culture is dominated by between being creative and
visual media. Nevertheless, the disorganized. Nevertheless, we want
human voice remains a precious and to structure voice so it is amenable to
powerful form of communication. It is the tools that amplify our effort and
the easy and spontaneous mode in make it relevant to our personal and
which we account for our day, make work lives. Too often, the use of voice
important statements, and express becomes a demand, rather than a
our feelings and beliefs. gift; it seems that there is too much
22 | Megatrends Megatrends | 23

13. In the same way that hypertext did
for text, hypervoice brings voice
into the era of the Web.
cost involved to create a structure, rendezvous and synchronous manipulating stored information, the totality of a voice recording into
and yet without some helpful communications. They are over- voice is by its nature live and text, purely to record and share a few
structure there is too little benefit. demanding of participants’ time, synchronous; we speak and await an key parts of a conversation.
given the customary practice of immediate response. Historically, as
Tempo and Timing attending the entire call. Typically, a result of technological constraints, Voice is Missing
though, many participants are barely voice has also been ephemeral. Now From Hypermedia
A conversation calls for the
present to the conversation; that computers can readily make and
participation of at least two people. We have thus far failed to understand
conference calls often run as store records of what we say, recorded
As the number of parties to a and work with the natural dynamics
background noise while executives voice as a feature allows us to
conversation increases, so does the of voice communications. Indeed,
look at their emails, giving the group increase the number of parties to
cost and complexity of making that the Web was conceived without
conversation the status of a sort of a conversation in a way that is freed
interaction live and synchronous. voice being a part of it:
corporate soap opera. from the time constraints of “needing
Despite our valiant efforts on
to have been there.”
conference calls, the quality of the HyperText is a way to link and
By contrast, we want voice to be
interaction appears to decline with access information of various
alive, to feel alive, and to allow and Hitherto we lacked adequate means
additional participants. kinds as a web of nodes in which
encourage wide participation in to index, search, filter, and forward
the user can browse at will.
conversations. Ideally the interested voice conversations. This has turned
Voice communication remains Potentially, HyperText provides
parties would be free of the every recorded voice artifact into a
patterned on telephony, with a single user-interface to many
obligation to be present for the liability rather than a digital asset,
its model of interruption. “Live” large classes of stored information
original conversation. We want a fast with the result that very few recorded
voice is seen as the ideal, and voice such as reports, notes, data-bases,
tempo, and functional engagement, calls are ever listened to or create
recording is presented as a managed computer documentation and
without the trouble of timing. value. Furthermore, our spoken
failure mode that is bolted on as an on-line systems help ... A program
words are often stuttering and
afterthought. This leaves us with the which provides access to the
dismal experiences of dictating or
Inclusion and Exclusion provisional. Key information or
hypertext world we call a browser.
decisions take up only a small part
receiving voicemail messages. In the past, the mix of computers and — . Berners-Lee, R. Cailliau,
T
of the conversation. Yet, we often
chatter has been unsatisfactory. 12 November 1990, CERN
Conference calls perpetuate take on the burdens of transcribing
Whereas computers are adept at
these problems of
24 | Megatrends Megatrends | 25

14. In the same way that hypertext did for that can arise from
text, hypervoice brings voice into the a true integration
era of the Web. However, Web of voice and text.
technologies like WebRTC or VoIP
are neither necessary nor sufficient As we organize the gestures and
to achieve this. It’s the content that responses that are our business
matters, not its delivery mechanism: conversations, we believe we have
How do you organize and flow value a choice of space travel versus time
around voice? travel. With “hypervoice” we
transcend that limit: We can associate
Adding Voice to what is said with what is done using
when, not where.
Our Activity Streams
Conversations are sequences of
How Hypervoice Works
“gesture-response,” and these moves
create an activity stream. These Hypervoice turns voice into a native
gestures and responses are much Web object, rather than trying to
richer in their forms than merely convert it into a text object. It works
spoken interactions and interjections, by tying together all the gestures
Our recorded conversations since we can also make parallel digital and interactions made during a
gestures—such as pulling up Web conversation into a unified whole.
remain impossible to index, The basis of the linking structure
pages and advancing shared
search and use. That leaves presentations. We make digital is the relative time in which gestures
our voice artifacts as liabilities, responses, such as taking notes after and responses occur.
rather than digital assets. someone else’s spoken comment.
When you make a note during an oral
Critically, these parallel activities are
separated from their voice context, conversation, the words you type are
with the result that there is no cross- connected to the words that have
relation between what is said and been spoken. Your typed note is
what is done. important, and therefore forms
relevant searchable context for the
The management of our digital voice. You can tag a moment in the
artifacts does not yet extend to live speech as easily as the piece of text
or recorded voice. Voice gestures you have typed. Indeed, any and
aren’t captured at all, or are captured every digital gesture can be tied to its
as whole recorded conversations that moment in the spoken context. These
have little value because they cannot hypervoice conversations can be
be searched, navigated, or integrated given fine-grained permissions for
into our workflow. And who has the sharing, searching and syndication,
time or the impetus to plow through resolving the privacy issues around
an hour-long recording in real time, in coarse-grained voice recording.
search of a crucial but tiny snippet?
To progress, we must create a unified If you have an agenda for the
activity stream, and enable richer conversation, this provides structure;
conversations and the collaboration as you advance through the agenda
26 | Megatrends Megatrends | 27

15. Mobility
items, the relevant people can be in our lifetimes will ever rival a
included (if not already present), and human voice’s capacity to convey
those transitions are noted in the rich and complex social and
activity stream. Those agenda items emotional meaning.
can also be rich objects, tying the
voice to its context. For instance, an Just as hypertext breaks and
agenda item might be a customer reconnects the place metaphor for
help desk request, drawn from a text, hypervoice separates and links
ticketing system; the voice segment the time elements of spoken
on that trouble ticket can then be conversation. As has become the
directly linked to the discussion case for all manner of text material,
about its resolution. voice will no longer be left to
languish in the limited context
Thus, hypervoice is a natural of its origination.
extension of the fundamental Web
TODAY’S 5 BIGGEST
construct of linking both to and from Hypervoice allows other non-voice
the conversation object, in a manner metadata and digital gestures and
that is suitable for voice. responses to provide the structure
COMMUNICATION
around voice, as a natural byproduct
There is value to the user in creating of our online behavior. By making
metadata for hypervoice, as it is a voice easy to navigate using these
TRENDS
natural byproduct of what people structures, it makes voice recordings
do anyway, and it transforms the useful for those who are not present
voice into a digital asset. This in at the live event.
turn makes voice material easy to
share, consume, and distribute, and Hypervoice is like being hyper-
there is no learning curve, no barrier present. It’s “better than being
to utility, no friction. By unbundling there” as it augments and enriches
voice from synchronous telephony our conversations. The need to collaborate is driving everything
(or telephony-like unified
Hypervoice is like being hyper- from social business to video.
communications services), voice,
intelligent. You can access
too, can become an “anytime,
everything ever said, with One of the first questions we ask the IT leaders who give us their time is, “What’s
anywhere” asynchronous medium.
unbounded working memory. the hottest area that you’re focusing on now? What’s keeping you up at night?”
Hypervoice is at the Hypervoice is like being hyper- 1. Mobility is always at the top of that list. When you look at budgets, about
Core of Communications organized. You retain the link 68 percent of the companies are increasing their spending on mobility, with
Why put hypervoice as the between recorded words or images an average increase of 20 percent a year. They’re spending money on data
central plank of your collaboration and their spoken context. services, they’re spending money on mobile device management platforms,
strategy? Because the conversations and they’re spending money on integration and getting unified communications
that really matter are conducted The future of voice is hypervoice. • applications out to those mobile devices. They’re trying to enable a much more
in the voice channel. No computer open model where employees can bring in their iPhone, they can bring in their
Android device—whatever phone they want to use—and IT can potentially
support it.
Martin Geddes is a consultant on future telecom business models and technologies.
He provides speaking, advisory, training, and innovation services to telcos, equipment
vendors, cloud services providers, and industry bodies. This article was adapted from a 2012 By Irwin Lazar
white paper written for HarQen Inc. Please download the full version at hypervoice.org. Vice President and Service Director, Nemertes Research
28 | Megatrends Megatrends | 29

16. much personal contact with others.
A social platform can give you some
of that. People are also starting to
see social as part of their overall
collaboration environment. If I’m
looking up someone’s social profile
and reading their likes and interests,
shouldn’t I be able to click on their
name, see if they’re available and
immediately send them an IM or
call them?
3. Another trend is the rise in managed
and hosted services. We define that
as any kind of third party you’re
using to support IT, whether it’s
professional services for architecture
and build-out or managed services
Managed and Hosted Services
for day-to-day operations. Almost
90 percent of companies tell us
they’re doing something hosted. And
look at the plans for growth! Forty
Social Business percent are adding more services:
lower level application integration,
mobile device management, social
integration, unified communications
That has been easily the largest can lose a lot of time if they start integration, etc. We’re starting to see
overall trend. playing games on their smartphones IT trying again to position itself much
and tablets. So, “Can I lock that device more strategically. The drivers are the
IT departments themselves have down so they can’t play those games, complexity of IT and finding staff.
slightly different priorities. Data or can only do it on their own time?”
If you haven’t really looked at managed
security is top of mind. What happens
services carefully, our advice is: Take a
if the person leaves the company? Can 2. Social business is about taking how
hard look. When we measure success,
I remotely wipe their applications? If people collaborate and communicate
a device gets lost, will company data through Facebook and bringing it
we look at things like cost of IT per Video
employee, revenue per employee, and
be taken away? The second part is behind the firewall. Building a social
IT spend per employee. Better metrics
integration with other applications. platform that your employees, your
in these areas all tend to correlate
Counselors with the
How do I make someone’s single partners, and your customers can all
positively with higher use of managed Veterans Administration
phone number ring their mobile use to collaborate and communicate.
phone as well as their desktop, or Being able to set up groups around
services. Companies that outsource are checking for symptoms
day-to-day support operations of their
enable them to quickly move calls projects, “Like” different things,
applications tend to spend less per
of PTSD in soldiers recently
back and forth or participate in video suggest ways of finding information
sessions? The third is kind of a gotcha. to others, form communities of
employee and have higher success returned from Iraq, using
metrics. In this day and age, when easy-to-set-up desktop
When people start bringing in these interest, etc.
talent is so hard to find, being able to
devices, they hammer the wireless videoconferencing.
The biggest driver is collaboration: leverage third-party services seems
network in the company.
improving the way people work to show some significant financial and
One question that does come up a lot together. The secondary driver is this operational benefits.
participate in room-based meetings.
is, “How do we keep our employees age of telework where people work
4. With video, the focus is on giving So I don’t have to go to an office and
from playing Angry Birds?” Employees from home and they don’t have as
people at their desks the ability to find a videoconferencing center,
30 | Megatrends Megatrends | 31

17. DO COLLABORATION TOOLS
BOOST WORKPLACE
COMMUNICATION?
A REVIEW OF THE ACADEMIC RESEARCH
SIP Trunking
I can sit in an airport, in a hotel room, that a lot of the vendors go to market
or in my home office and participate with the idea that if we just make it
in a video call with people who are cheap enough and easy enough to
in conference rooms. That’s the killer use, everyone will use it and it will
app right now. replace phone calls. That’s not really
what we’re seeing.
One of my favorite examples is the
Veterans Administration (VA), which 5. The final trend is SIP trunking.
implemented videoconferencing for This often gets confused in the
soldiers returning from Iraq. Soldiers market. When we say SIP trunking,
download a high-quality, high-definition we’re talking about how you connect
video app on their desktop and and make calls outside your company,
then have a videoconference with not how you connect devices internally
a counselor to determine if they have through SIP. What we see with SIP is
any PTSD (post-traumatic stress that costs aren’t really the big drivers
disorder) -related issues. The counselors anymore. What is getting people
interested in SIP is some of the things
can now see many more patients per
you can do with it. I can have a whole
day. They can help out remote areas
lot more control over how calls get
that were understaffed. And they
to me. I can route them to failover
can read body language and see the
centers. I can load-balance calls
attitude of the person with whom
across facilities. I can implement
they are talking.
SIP as part of a disaster recovery
Video is extremely attractive for scenario. Plus, I can take advantage
such applications. The challenge is
of SIP services in the cloud. •
Irwin Lazar is Vice President and Service Director at Nemertes Research, where he
oversees research on unified communications, contact center, and social business.
Nemertes is a leading research-advisory and strategic-consulting firm specializing
in emerging technologies. This article is adapted from a 2012 presentation by Lazar By Dr. Charles Law,
sponsored by Avaya. Assistant Professor, Penn State University
32 | Megatrends Megatrends | 33

18. Should organizations continue to rely on text-based,
asynchronous communication when research
overwhelmingly indicates that there are better options?
Anyone in the working world knows 126 emails a day in 2006, up
this: Meetings are as hard to kill off as 55 percent from 2003. Employees
a supervillain in a James Bond film. were spending 26 percent of their
Despite the mainstreaming of email time managing email. That was
and other collaboration technologies predicted to grow to 41 percent
in the past decade, senior managers of their work day in 2009. This
still spend about 23 hours per week enormous increase in usage has
in face-to-face meetings (Rogelberg elevated the cost of supporting
and colleagues, 2007). Seventy-two email to $17 billion annually today.
percent of those managers said they
spend more time in meetings than 2) mail wastes time. Jackson and
E
they did five years earlier. colleagues (2003) found that
employees are interrupted by email
The move toward globalization and about every five minutes, hurting
the reality of geographically separated the productivity of both sender and
teams is accelerating the move receiver (Wilson, 2002). Source: The New Yorker.
toward new forms of communication.
Recent research has shown that this 3) Email is not good for urgent
is beneficial for group task cohesion decisions. A sender doesn’t know if Here’s how it might work in real life. work hard to finish and send their
and performance (Shin Song, the receiver is available, nor if he or “Zestion” is a large Denver-based work to everyone a couple days later.
2011). Will emerging collaboration she will read the email in a timely telecommunication company. Sophia,
technologies continue to offer the manner (Luor, Wu, Lu Tao, 2010). who is the marketing director of However, neither Theodore nor
same benefits? In this paper, I’ll review Zestion, recently initiated a process Luciana respond. Theodore was
4) Email is not rich. It is not real-
action team to better understand sick and thought that Luciana had
the academic research on the impact
time, lacks verbal and non-verbal how customers use its products. The replied to Sophia, while Luciana
of email, instant messaging (IM), and
cues, and conveys emotion badly team included two members from the was waiting for Theodore’s return
video on business collaboration, and
(Cameron Webster, 2005). The corporate office (Sophia and Oliver), to reply. After three days, Sophia
suggest the good and bad things that
use of emoticons can help, though two members from the Houston office emails asking if they had received her
the use of virtual avatars and social
only if they are positive, as negative (Juan and Theresa), and two members initial message. Luciana immediately
networking might bring.
emoticons tend to be disruptive from the New York office (Theodore becomes concerned that Sophia is
(Luor, Wu, Lu Tao, 2010). and Luciana). They have three weeks angry at their lack of communication.
Email: Convenient, but Limited to complete their project and present She forwards the message to
5) Email increases the number of
Theodore, who still doesn’t respond.
Cartwright and Kovacs (1995) it to management.
“social loafers” and “free riders.” Worried about the reaction from
identified three advantages to email:
The former describes someone What happens if they use only email? Sophia, Luciana decides to do all
It is quick, it is convenient, and it is
who reduces his/her own individual Sophia and Oliver complete their of the work herself. The result?
inexpensive. However, as email has
effort when working in a group portion and email their work to the Poor communication, hurt feelings,
proliferated, researchers have begun
with the assumption that others will other team members during the first and a “free rider” (Theodore).
to note its disadvantages.
make it up. The latter is an extreme week. Juan and Theresa “reply all”
1) Email is no longer cheap. According
example of a social loafer (Karau as soon as they get the email and Although email use has been steadily
to the Radicati Group (2007), Williams, 1993; Lantane and indicate that they will be done with declining among university students
employees received an average of colleagues, 1979). their portion soon. Juan and Theresa since 2005 (Judd, 2010), the number
34 | Megatrends Megatrends | 35

19. The Good and Bad of Email The Good and Bad of Instant Messaging
Advantages Disadvantages Advantages Disadvantages
Easy-to-use Asynchronous Richer, synchronous communication Potential privacy concerns
Almost universally adopted Disruptive Cost-effective May be disruptive
Convenient Social loafers/free riders Indicates “presence” Potential drop-off in usage
Easy to send/receive documents Expensive to support Interoperability
of email users will still grow from for 5 percent of workplace What might have happened if the
IM-Using Workers (Millions)
2.1 billion in 2012 to 2.7 billion in 2016 interruptions (others being Zestion team had used IM instead of
(Radicati). While antiquated to some, 140 telephone calls, email, face-to-face (or in addition to) email? Sophia could
email clearly remains one of the most communication, and meetings). IM the “available” team members with
120
important ways that organizational her and Oliver’s portion of the work,
members communicate. 3) bandonment. Birnholtz (2010)
A and follow up by email with those
100
studied 21 IM users who had that were unavailable. When Luciana
80 adopted and then abandoned IM. receives the email, she sends an IM to
Instant Messaging: They believed that IM left them too
60 Theodore letting him know about it.
Getting Closer available (privacy) and that they He sends a message back to Luciana
In 2007, more than 67 million people 40 were often interrupted by people letting her know that he is sick, but
used IM at work, up from only 11 million with whom they did not want to will try to be back to work in a few
20 talk, or had a hard time finishing
in 2004 (Shiu Lenhart, 2004). While days. Meanwhile, Luciana sends an
data hasn’t been recently collected, 0 IM conversations. IM to Juan and Theresa in Houston
Radicati (2007) estimated that over 2004 2007 2011 letting them know that Theodore is
120 million people would be using IM
Source: Radicati Group.
in the workplace by 2011.
IM has several advantages. It’s real-
time. It’s richer than email. And it could be saved and forwarded to
lets users easily switch to even richer others. Those employees were also
mediums, such as voice or video over concerned that IM logs could be
the Internet (Anandarajan et al., 2010). saved and retrieved at some future
IM users can also know the presence time, leading to problems with
of the people with whom they are misinterpretations. Some were even
communicating. Finally, IM can be concerned that their “available”
more cost-effective than telephone, status could be used as evidence
email, and travel (Peslak, Ceccucci that they weren’t being productive.
Sendall, 2010). 2) nterruptions. Cameron and
I
Webster (2005) found that over
What are the potential downsides?
half of the people they interviewed
1) Privacy. Patil and Kobsa (2004,
indicated that IM interrupted
2005) interviewed employees their work. However, more recent
who use IM and found they were research indicates that might be
uneasy that their IM conversations overstated. Ou and Davison (2011)
found that IM only accounted
36 | Megatrends Megatrends | 37

20. The Good and Bad of Videoconferencing
Advantages Disadvantages
Decreased travel costs May decrease task participation
Effective in information gathering, Junior employees may find it
training, brainstorming, and difficult to participate
distance collaboration
Rich communication medium Potential privacy concerns
Synchronous May result in less participation
sick, but that she is working on their other meeting participants, and this
portion of the project. helps make you feel more connected
to them.”
But when Juan doesn’t answer
her initial IM, Luciana sends No medium is perfect, of course.
several subsequent messages. Olaniran (2009) interviewed
Juan perceives this as pushy and employees at a large governmental
domineering. Annoyed, he forwards organization. While 88 percent
a copy of the messages to Sophia thought videoconferencing was more
as a record of what he considers “convenient” than travel, 85 percent
“harassment” by Luciana. When had problems dialing, 71 percent
Sophia tells Luciana, Luciana is angry believed that videoconferencing
at the violation of privacy. So what attendees sometimes “lurked”
IM giveth, it also taketh away. rather than participated, and others
Newer technologies might assuage worried that videoconferencing
these problems. would completely replace travel.
Still other workers view
Videoconferencing: videoconferencing as a way for their
Richer and Richer bosses to track their participation.
Much of the attention on Indeed, some workers do clam up
videoconferencing has focused and participate less, whether due
on its ability to decrease travel to shyness in large group meetings
costs. But as collaboration among (Boutte Jones, 1996) or, according
geographically separated team to Nandhakumar and Baskerville
members requires audio and/or (2006), due to senior-level managers
visual cues (Bekkering Shim, 2006; exerting their authority in a way that
Wegge, 2006), videoconferencing makes it hard for subordinates to
may be the primary tool to which participate or contradict senior-level
organizations turn. It provides a managers’ ideas. This can be
very rich, real-time medium with counteracted. One way, according
much of the intimacy of face-to- to Yoo and Alavi (2001), is for
face communication. As Alavi and participants to have a rapport
colleagues (1995) put it, “You based on a pre-existing history
can see the body language of the of teamwork.
38 | Megatrends Megatrends | 39

21. It should be pointed out that existing well as make work more dynamic and The Good and Bad of 3-D Immersive Environments
studies are based mostly around engaging, and collaboration more
room-based videoconferencing effective. 3-D immersive environments
environments, not newer PC or mobile may also motivate and interest users Advantages Disadvantages
video chats. As videoconferencing more, as well as produce a deeper Decreased need for communication Learning curve
moves from the performance art understanding of subject matter
Rich communication content Increased need for network
of the boardroom to the intimacy of (Jonassen, 2004).
bandwidth, computer processing
one-on-one conversations, it’s unclear Decrease in social loafers
power, and graphics cards
whether these same issues will apply. 3-D environments seem to help high- and free riders
performing teams most, because they
are adept at using the environments
3-D Immersive Environments to read each others’ non-verbal with Sophia being present might collaboration. Similarly, mobile
In a 3-D immersive environment, cues and gestures (Montoya et al., also be decreased. There are some collaboration and video offers the
a computer generates a space in 2011). They also encourage equal hurdles: training, Sophia’s fear of new convenience of rich, synchronous
which participants can interact participation in teams, especially high- technology, and Juan’s insufficiently collaboration anytime, anywhere.
through the use of an avatar, or performing ones. Avatars aren’t able powerful PC. While these problems
virtual representation of oneself. This to “free ride,” just as workers in small can be overcome, they do pose As collaboration continues to go
mimics face-to-face communication teams can’t loaf off in real life. significant issues for managers. global, organizations will increasingly
(Montoya, Massey Lockwood, 2011) seek new technologies to ensure
by enabling non-verbal cues like How would this work for Zestion? that their employees can effectively
Theresa, who is shy and doesn’t The Future and efficiently communicate across
direction of gaze and gestures
(More, Ducheneaut Nickell, 2007). want to be on video, might feel more By 2009, computer-mediated time and distance. While it may
comfortable as an avatar. Theodore, communication accounted for be impossible to predict exactly
Others like Reeves, Malone, and who is recovering from his cold, can 30 to 50 percent of employee which technology organizations will
O’Driscoll (2008) found that participate from home and not be interactions (Johnson, Bettenhausen embrace, it is likely that the trend
immersive online games may promote concerned about the appearance of Gibbons, 2009). Face-to-face toward a richer, more synchronous
collaboration and communication, as his red nose. The power differential interaction is already in the minority communication medium will continue.
for many organizations and Will email and IM fade away into
employees, and may already be obscurity anytime soon? Probably not.
in the minority overall today. But should organizations continue
to rely on text-based, asynchronous
In addition to the technologies communication when research
discussed above, there are other overwhelmingly indicates that there
emerging tools. Take social are better options? Clearly, there are
networking. While Facebook can better ways to communicate and
hurt worker productivity (Nucleus collaborate if organizations are willing
Research, 2009), it—along with to evolve and adapt, and it is likely that
the business-focused LinkedIn—
offers huge potential for business
successful organizations will do so. •
Dr. Charles Law is an assistant professor at Penn State University and President of SMART
Consulting. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the United States Air Force
Academy and his Ph.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from Rice University.
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