H.323 vs. SIP: Which is Better for Enabling Remote Workers?

When it comes to planning for a remote and mobile workforce, a lot of companies are entering the second phase of their strategy, in which they are planning for a more permanent solution. The first phase was somewhere along the lines of, “This may not be the best approach, but we just need to get it done.” This included leveraging a lot of free temporary licenses, which typically had 30-90 day expiration dates, so they now need to figure out what’s next. At ConvergeOne, we’ve been having a lot of conversations about permanent solutions with customers. It might be because these customers think the “shelter in place” orders will be getting extended longer than first anticipated, but it might also be because people are seeing firsthand the value of enabling a remote, mobile workforce.

What is that one question that you’re answering repeatedly, every day?

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to compel people to work from home, countless companies are now holding daily meetings using web, audio, and video conferencing services from a variety of well-known providers. Though not the sole focus of our attention here, one that has received a significant amount of press is Zoom.

As the “temporary” new normal sets in, some of our traditional methods of connecting users to resources have changed. Here are some ways that networks can adapt to best serve predominately remote workforces.

One of my best friends turned 40 a few of weeks ago. He lives in Colorado, I live in Illinois, and both of our states have been under shelter-in-place orders for a while now. Going to see him was not an option. The bigger problem, however, was that our local friends were not going to be able to join him, either. Instead, his wife put together a surprise Zoom meeting, and we all joined together in singing “Happy Birthday” and sharing a few minutes of conversation and well-wishes, along with the now-customary, “Stay safe.”

The “bad guys” don’t sleep.

Dorothy went through a lot in the Wizard of Oz, but her main objective was to get back home to Kansas. With the COVID-19 crisis, we are all going through a lot right now. However, after the crisis settles down, we won’t be able to go back to “Kansas” as it was. Things will have changed forever.

Now that we’ve thought about customer engagement and satisfaction, and remote employees/contact centers, we should turn our thinking to strategy. None of us at this time know how long we will be working remotely, or when life will return back to a level of normalcy we had prior to March of this year. One thing is certain, especially during this uncertain time: employees and customers will have questions and requests outside of the norm we experienced earlier this year. Because of perceivably higher volumes of contact into your organization from both employees and customers, perhaps it’s time to think about how you can enable those elements in a mid-term strategy that you can maximize when we return to “normalcy.”

I’ve been spending a lot of my time talking with customers about remote worker strategies. Most are sending their employees home to work. As I discussed in an earlier blog post, for some customers it’s a very easy, short conversation (i.e., those that have already adopted a mobile-first strategy). For others, that discussion is a bit more involved. Customers who find themselves behind the 8-ball are not looking for a long, strategic, vendor-agnostic conversation. They want to know what they can do now. So, when conversations go that direction, it’s time to roll up the sleeves and dive into the tactical weeds. They don’t have time for a rip and replace. They require a vendor-specific conversation, that can include layered cloud services on top of their existing platform.

These are times that many of us have never lived through or previously had to adjust to. Children have been sent home from school and for many college students, the rest of the semester is now adjusting to an online format. As for employees, most of our clients are asking for ways to allow their employees to work remotely. Mostly, with contact centers, they are the first ones to be tackled. This blog provides thinking beyond the technical aspects needed for a successful transition.