So, for a question
that really required only 30??“60 seconds of our time, we spent about fi ve minutes on the phone!
Now, I??™m not saying that we should all be cold and business-like all the time, but there is
a time and a place for friendly conversations. Likewise, when I need someone to make a key
tactical decision, I really want that person to make that decision right there and then. So, to
address this issue, we installed Microsoft Live Communication Server (LCS) 2005. After
installing LCS, I was able to do multiple things:
?– I could tell when the CTO was online and in front of his PC.
?– I could tell whether he was online but away from his PC, on the phone, or in a
meeting and should not be disturbed.
?– Most important, I could initiate that quick 15??“30-second conversation for that
tactical answer that I was looking for??”and have a record of his response!
The LCS installation really started out as a ???pet project,??? but once the other departments
in the company caught wind of it, everybody wanted to get involved. For the sales team,
it became a crucial piece of their sales process. The fact that they could be on a phone call
Unified Communications ??? Chapter 1 13
with their customer, and at the same time IM their inside sales team for pricing information
for that customer in ???real time,??? was a huge advantage when trying to close a sale. Later,
when we were able to extend this capability to our customers and partners, our communication
network grew, and the gap between information requests and fulfi llment shrunk.
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