I presented my semi-annual UC market overview at VoiceCon San Francisco last week, and the audience had some great questions. There were a few questions about professional services as it relates to UC, including who are the key UC professional services providers, and how much does professional services add on to the cost of a UC implementation. It thought I would respond to those questions in written format in order to expand on my answers during the session.

Regarding who are the key UC professional services firms, there are several types of organizations – the UC vendors themselves, system integrators, professional services organizations, and large management consultancies. Some of the key professional services providers are Dimension Data, INX, Touchbase, IBM Global Services, and of course the Accentures and companies like Avanade (IT consultancy dedicated to the Microsoft platform). Many vendors recognize the importance of professional services in UC implementations, and several are revving up their practices for UC. Aspect recently announced its foray into UC professional services and systems integration with a new practice designed to assist organizations with the planning, implementation and support of UC products across their enterprises and into their contact centers.

IBM Global Services (IGS) is an important part of IBM’s overall UC program, offering a comprehensive suite of strategy-and-assessment and architecture-and-design services, as well as integration, deployment and managed services. IBM is one of the few companies that really emphasizes its professional services organizations – as well it should. This group provides an important competitive edge to IBM, which recognizes the complexities of UC and how important it is to integrate with existing business processes and applications. You can listen to the podcast I did with Marisa Viveros of IGS at http://www.ucstrategies.com/industry-buzz/ibm-global-technology-services-marisa-viveros-discusses-how-gts-is-helping-customers-receive-value-from-unified-communications.aspx

Professional services are key to UC implementations, especially as we move to CEBP types of implements, and from UC-User to UC-Business Productivity. Integrating all of the elements and components of a UC solution, as well as integrating products from various vendors, generally requires significant professional services engagements. According to my recent market study, Unified Communications 2007-2012, professional services represented over 15% of total UC revenues in 2007, growing to 28.6% of total revenues in 2012.

Another question I didn’t really get time to respond to was about mobile UC and the role of fixed mobile convergence (FMC) and UC. Mobile UC capabilities include the ability to transfer mobile calls to a landline phone and vice versa with the click of a mouse. Extending enterprise telephony features to the mobile environment generally involves integration with the corporate IP PBX. Some UC offerings make it possible to transfer mobile calls to your landline phone and vice versa with the click of a mouse. Mobile UC capabilities make it possible to extend the desktop communication environment to the mobile device when needed, giving mobile workers access to features like conferencing, unified messaging, integration with the calendar and enterprise directory, and other communication capabilities – so mobile workers can be just as productive when out of the office as when in the office. One mobile technology often associated with UC is FMC, the integration of wireline and wireless technologies and services to create a single telecommunications network foundation, which enables users to seamlessly switch between different types of networks, generally cellular and WiFi networks.

There is no single mobility solution for everyone; different types of workers will have different types of devices, based on their job functions. Office professionals, for example, may use an IP phone and a basic mobile phone with single number reach (or find me/follow me capabilities), while sales professionals may need smart phones and softphone-equipped laptops. Integrating the mobile users’ voice and real time communications services with the core enterprise communications lets them do their jobs regardless of location. Enabling UC features like click-to-conference and IM for mobile users lets them participate in conferences and employ some of the same capabilities when they are mobile as when they are in the office.