An App Store for OCS? Great Idea!

Recently The VAR Guy blog announced that an OCS app store was in the works. Not by Microsoft though - by Evangelyze Communications, an OCS channel partner (like us!).

(There's a nice write-up on No Jitter too. Eric asked some good questions.)

I find this idea very interesting. Honestly, I hadn't figured OCS as the type of platform for an app store. But as I think about what these posts have covered, it makes more sense. Let me explain what I'm thinking here.

As Companies Grow, Communication Needs Change

The larger a company grows, the more complex its communications needs become. Communications Server is quite flexible enough to handle more complexity (especially with OCS 2010 coming). But there's no shame in getting help. By building onto OCS, you can customize its setup toward more specific customer needs.

We've done that ourselves with the Dialogic VoIP gateway. No reason someone can't do it with apps in an app store.

Say one company needs video conferencing between interstate offices. Another doesn't care about conferencing, but wants VoIP on all their phones. Two different priorities. Two different OCS setups. Perfect opportunity for custom developers.

Advantages of an OCS App Store to Developers

A Showcase
Enterprise-level apps aren't always easy to market. (Not to mention custom development services!) You're mostly marketing direct to companies, without always knowing where they are in their buying cycle. Your marketing could arrive too early - or too late.

Contrast that with a profile in an app store. Then the customers come find you when it's time to buy. All you have to do then is make sure you have a solid product, and you deliver content that addresses their communications needs.

IP Security
Safety of your intellectual property, that is. Since this would be run by a Microsoft partner and not Microsoft itself, Evangelyze has a vested interest in keeping such a store buttoned down and protected. (I'm sure Microsoft will help at some point too.)

Project Focus
You can focus on one endpoint (Polycom desk phones, smartphones, laptops/netbooks) instead of trying to develop a big huge solution for everyone. The customers who want apps for that endpoint will come find you. We already see this kind of specialization in the Apple store.

Some OCS App Ideas

I'm throwing out some ideas for apps here, off the top of my head. If you want to use one (or you're already working on the same idea), email me.

1. Social media inter-communication. Plug in Facebook Chat and Twitter.
   • A LinkedIn chat module? Maybe create an app that bridges two (or more) LI profiles via OCS IM, letting them chat in real-time after connecting? You could even leapfrog LinkedIn development here.
2. Office Communicator versions for all smartphones. Maybe a wrapper for the Communicator client, or a duplicate (better?) app for each interface - Droid, Blackberry, iPhone/iPod, etc.
3. Video Conferencing add-ons.
4. Remote server access. Maybe turn OCS into a command prompt for Telnet or SSH?
5. Translation. Auto-translate Instant Messages into a different language, and back again.
6. Software Gateway. Hey, might as well aim high. I'm sure this is possible. Someone's already working on it, I'll bet.

Call me crazy, but I like the idea of a channel partner building an OCS app store. They have a different perspective from the team who made OCS. And it's also different from developers who'll be working on custom apps for OCS. That sort of “midway” perspective should translate to a platform everybody can take advantage of for better communications technology.

What do you think? What kind of apps would you like to see in an OCS app store? Shoot me a comment; let's talk about it.

A Basic Plan for Unified Communications User Adoption

Last week I said I'd go into more detail about UC user adoption. In keeping with that, I thought I'd write out an adoption plan from some of our OCS/Exchange deployments.

As you probably know by now, user adoption is the other half of a successful server installation. It’’s one thing to get new systems up & running. And another thing entirely to convince/persuade/poke people into using them.

One way to push user adoption is, as I mentioned last time, to take away the users' existing option. I discuss this in Step 6 below. But if you do that, you have to give them something else. (It's kind of required.) That's what the rest of this plan is for.

Note: Technical specifications on implementing UC components (Exchange 2010, OCS 2007) will not be included here due to their length. Full implementation processes can be found in the following Microsoft resources.
Deploying Exchange Exchange Server 2010: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd351084.aspx
Deploying Office Communications Server 2007 R2: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd425168(office.13).aspx

Step 1 - Sketch out implementation plan.

Essentially, “plan out Steps 2-6 ahead of time.” Also, consider file transfer times. Factor out any offline time needed to build the new UC servers. Check on the Web for any possible hardware issues before and during implementation.

Step 2 - Determine a Switchover Point. Announce it.

Send 2 emails and make an internal communications post (forum, intranet, whatever you use). Announce a point at which the company will switch to Unified Communications. Make this unavoidable. (Someone WILL claim they didn't hear about it when it's too late.) Provide a brief how-to and benefits statement, so they know they're getting something good out of it.

Step 3 - Implement UC technology at server-level.

Self-explanatory. Refer to the above URLs for documentation.

Step 4 - Invite a group of users to test it.

Deploy all UC tools to a select group of people who are technically savvy. Preferably people from multiple departments and/or branch offices. Having them test for system errors accomplishes two things.
One, it tests the UC technology in real-time from different physical locations.
Two, testing creates a small group of advocates within the organization. (Make sure to tell the group ahead of time that people may ask them for assistance during adoption. And get their OK.)

Step 5 - Furnish all users with a training kit.

Instruct them to familiarize themselves with the new UC interface. Here's an OCS 2007 R2 Adoption and Training Kit from Microsoft. You'll probably want to add information about your organization's specific setup to this too.

Step 6 - Evaluate alternatives.

I refer to two things here when I say “alternatives.” One is your existing communication options. Which of these options should you phase out? When should you do it?

The following can usually be phased out following Unified Communications implementation:

• Non-OCS desktop phones
• Third-party IM clients
• Fax machines
• Voicemail systems
• Third-party conferencing solutions

Two is Communicator Web Access (CWA). Will you need to implement CWA? I would say yes, as it makes a good backup when someone can't access their own system or is having trouble connecting with Office Communicator. CWA should be in place at switchover.

Step 7 - Remind users of Switchover Point.

Email all users again. Make it a short interval - 7 days, for example. Mention your advocates as people to ask if someone has a quick question. (This way people don't all hound one person–namely you.)

Step 8 - Switch Over to UC!

On the appointed day…
–Deploy the Unified Communications technology for all users.
–Deactivate the communication options being phased out. See previous post.

And prepare for the inevitable grumbling that comes with change.

Have you used a user adoption plan like this? Planning to use this one in future UC upgrades? Please let a comment and let us know. Same if there's something you think should be added here. I have an Edit button and everything.

Is Lack of User Adoption Hampering Your UC Plans?

How familiar is this little IM scenario to you?

Bob's IM: Hey Frank, do you have the project specs ready yet?
Frank's IM: yeah, busy right now can I send it later?
Bob's IM: Sorry Frank, your Presence didn't say you were busy. Later's fine.
Frank's IM: ok
(Frank's Presence status doesn't change at all for the next week. Bob gets his specs the next day.)

What's the problem here? User adoption. Or lack thereof. In this case, lack of adoption of OCS' Presence tool.

One of the biggest hurdles in Unified Communications is getting users to start using it. People “don't have time” or “aren't used to it” (how are you supposed to get used to something if you never use it?).

Why We're Nervous About Switching to Unified Communications

There's a simple reason why people don't want to switch to new technology like UC - we're afraid.

Oh, not of UC itself. It doesn't bite. It's just another manifestation of the human fear of change.

Nothing wrong with that. (Fear of change evolved for very good reasons at the time!) But it does get in the way of adopting newer technologies like Office Communicator or Exchange 2010.

Unified Communications contains new ways for users to communicate among themselves (and with customers). Disrupting the long-standing order of Phone and Email? People are bound to hesitate.

Someone will have to push the office to switch.

If you're the sysadmin or IT manager…that's you. (Sorry.)

Two Ways to Spur Adoption

Make it Dead Simple
Offer a training course. Mandatory.

Provide reference material. (The Unified Communications Strategies blog has solid UC material.)

Indicate what aspects of Unified Communications should be used for which activities. For example, all internal phone calls will be done through Office Communicator. Any non-critical project discussions should use IMs. And so on. Write up the complete list and post it someplace everyone will see it.

Remove Alternatives
Schedule the “old system” for deactivation at some point in the future (say 30-60 days from UC implementation). Now this may not always work - in some cases, the “old system” is the phone!

If adoption is the goal however, you may not have a choice. You'll have to make it difficult for people to use anything except the UC channels.

Remove any old phones. Make a big announcement that everyone will use Unified Communications channels from now on. Change company cellphone plans if necessary.

People will grumble and complain about it for a few days, maybe weeks. But they'll adapt.

I think I'll go into more detail on these next week. In the meantime, how have you spurred user adoption of a new product or technology? Share your story in the comments.

How to Use OCS 2007 on Your Mobile

I'm still amazed at how many people use their phones for–well, everything! We've reached the point where almost anything you can do on a computer, you can do on a mobile phone.

So it's no surprise that we've received requests for using OCS on mobiles. Some companies want their employees to still have access to OCS functions while out & about. Sure, why not? We have the tech to do that. In fact, it's now possible to put an OCS client on all major phones out there.

Let me list the clients I know about. (If I miss one and you know it, leave a comment and share it with us!)

If You Have…

a. An iPhone
Use the “iDialog” iPhone OCS client. Ironically, this app is not made by Microsoft or Apple. It was released in 2009 by Modality Systems, a UC consulting firm.
Find iDialog in the App Store. Documentation and links are available on Modality's website here.

b. A Droid (Google Android Phone)
Right now the best way to use OCS on Droids is Communicator Web Access (CWA). Like Outlook Web Access, this framework allows web-based use of a Microsoft app - in this case, Office Communicator.
The Communicator Team blog has an overview on CWA here.
(I mentioned the Web Scheduler component in February, too.)

c. A Windows Mobile Phone (Palm Pre, Nokia)
Those of you on Windows Mobile phones luck out here. There's a mobile OCS client available straight from Microsoft: Communicator Mobile 2007 R2.

d. A Blackberry
There is no native Blackberry OCS client to my knowledge. You can use the Communicator Web Client though, like you would on a Droid phone. However, if your company limits Web access on Blackberries, you're stuck. (Maybe this can help you successfully argue in favor of Web access…?)

I should note that in terms of capabilities, OCS mobile clients and CWA are practically identical to Office Communicator. Aside from screen size and a couple formatting differences, you won't lose out on anything by using OCS 2007 on your mobile.

Do you use OCS 2007 on the go? What mobile phone do you use? How's it been working for you? Let us know in the comments.

Introducing New Employees to OCS 2007: 4 General Rules on How to Use It

We brought a new network engineer on board this week. I didn't give him “the tour,” but apparently he breezed through all of it and got to work right away.

Then he had a question about OCS.

He just wanted to know who to add to Office Communicator's contact list. Easy answer. But this pointed out something important regarding new employees. He already knew how OCS worked technically; he just wanted to know our policies around it.

What are the Rules for Using OCS Around Here?

That sparked a little discussion (and this blog post). Do we have any rules in place for how we use OCS? If so, what are they? How did they come about?

Turns out we did have several rules in place. They came into existence by the whim of a nutty systems administrator who journeyed to the Forbidden Server Room–

Okay, we just used common sense when it comes to business communication.

4 General Rules for OCS Use

These are 4 of the rules we came up with. I included questions our newest employee asked.

Who Do I Add to My Contact List? Why?
Add everyone you'll communicate with regularly. Use Contact List Groups or Access Levels to group people by priority and/or proximity to you. My first group is “Team,” direct co-workers in the same department. Another group is “Company,” which holds people I don't regularly talk to, but who need to talk to me now & then.

How Often Should I Update My Status (Presence)?
Rule of thumb for us: Update Presence once a day or when you change projects, whichever is more frequent. Above all, keep it up-to-date. Avoid what happens when you don't change your Presence status.

When Is it Okay to IM People?
Depends on the severity and length of the request you have. If you have a problem that can be answered quickly, then go for IM. If the problem is more extensive, and you may need input from more than one person, then use email.

Should I Use OCS to Answer the Phone?
Yes. Our phone system runs through OCS first and cellphones second (OCS is set to auto-forward). So we answer phones via OCS whenever possible. That's what the VoIP is there for, after all.

Does your company use OCS 2007? What are your rules concerning office use? Do you have different rules than ours? Let us know in the comments.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft business technology OCS 2007 OCS 2010

Three Articles on Unified Communications Tech

SIP Primer from SearchUnifiedCommunications
Back in November I posted a few resources for SIP trunking. Here’’s one more: a more in-depth SIP primer at Unified Communications News.

Author Elaine Hom talks about the many points in SIP where cost and time savings come about. It’’s a good introduction, and even addresses some basic concerns & caveats. Worth the read if you”re using SIP in any way.

The IP PBX: Who Needs It?
Written by Shamus McGillicuddy for his Unified Communications Nation blog, this post is a comment on the necessity of PBXs in general (IP PBXs in specific). I think the direction he’’s pointing is the right one. We”re in the middle of a big shift in communications technology.

Before, you pretty much only had the PBX option. Now, not only do you have other options for phones (VoIP, cellphones), you have options for different types of communication too (IM, video).

Zeacom Unveils a New Gateway for OCS
Two weeks ago I talked about VoIP gateway manufacturers. Here’’s a new one. Zeacom is a communications solutions company out of New Zealand (with a US office in Irvine, CA). They announced a new gateway for Microsoft OCS 2007 on February 1st.

There isn”t a lot of info on their site about it, but there’’s plenty on overall UC solutions. I”ll keep an eye out for reviews of their new gateway–might be one we can add to the Recommended list.

Any more links related to these you”d like to share? Put them up in the Comments.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft business technology OCS 2007 SIP VoIP Gateway

Get On the List: Putting Together OCS Contact Lists for Users

In most IM clients you have to add new contacts one by one. It’’s annoying, it’’s piecemeal…and if you”re in a big office with lots of people, skipping it altogether starts to appeal after about 5 seconds.

Avoiding this is good. Especially if you want to actually use OCS for communicating with others. So the smart thing for an OCS administrator to do is push contact lists out. Formulate standardized groups and apply them to everyone’’s Office Communicator clients. (Whether they like it or not! Bwahaha…er, sorry. Got carried away.)

First, Group Your Contacts

Group them by department or by task.
Department groups could be Administration, IT, Project Development, Sales, HR, etc.
Task-based groups could be Main Product Team, Support Staff, Marketing, etc.
For starters, I”d recommend department groups for everybody. Then task-based groups as needed.

Next, Choose a Script or a Utility

Now that you have some groups built up with appropriate contacts, you”ll have to push them out to users. There are two ways to go about this right now - use a Microsoft scripting approach, or a third-party utility.

The Microsoft script is called “LCSAddContacts.wsf.” It’’s in the OCS Resource Kit available here. (Note: This version works with OCS 2007 R2 only.)

LCSAddContacts.wsf does one thing and one thing only: Adding contacts to OCS. It will even sort with Active Directory Containers. The WinXNet blog has a good tutorial on how to use it for pushing out contact lists.

The other way is to use a third-party utility called Office Communications Server Contact Manager (OCSCM for short) found here: http://www.ocscm.com/
I haven”t tried this one out. It has a user guide, FAQs and a support forum though. Plus it’’s free. Good to have as an option.

If you”re still on original OCS 2007, try OCSCM out. If you”re up to R2, go with LCSAddContacts.wsf.

A final note: Be sure to double-check your contact groups before pushing them out as lists! People WILL notice if they”re on a list that doesn”t correspond to their job function.

Do you know another way to manage contact lists for an OCS 2007 setup? Drop us a comment with a link below.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft business technology OCS 2007

JBuddy Messenger: An Office Communicator Alternative

The client app that ships with OCS 2007 is called Office Communicator. When you ask the average user what OCS is, they”ll point to their Communicator window (which looks like this) and call that OCS.

Communicator does its job very well. (I actually prefer it over most IM apps out there.) For a while I assumed it was the only OCS client app. You wouldn”t find a third-party alternative for a big Microsoft server, would you?

Well, it seems you would.

Here’’s JBuddy Messenger. A third-party OCS-capable IM app that runs in Java. I came across it in the TechNet OCS forums.

For Business IM

JBuddy starts out like Trillian or Adium - as a free multi-protocol IM client. But with licensing it becomes a business-level communications tool. In other words, you need a license to connect to OCS 2007 with it.

Because JBuddy is written in Java, it works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

As far as I can tell there is no support for voice or video. JBuddy is focused on Instant Messaging.

Why and When You”d Want to Use JBuddy

If you”re running OCS without VoIP
Say you aren”t planning on a VoIP install yet. Perhaps your office uses all cellphones. But you still need IM capability, and group chat would be nice.

Your Employees Use Different Instant Messaging Systems
While it’’s possible to set up third-party IM accounts in Office Communicator, JBuddy allows use of AIM, ICQ and Yahoo Messenger right away. With licensing it will operate with Jabber server, Lotus Sametime, and of course OCS 2007.

If you just want a fast, simple IM client for the office
JBuddy does the job.

In the end, it’’s nice to have choices. JBuddy is the first third-party messenger app to support OCS I”ve come across.

Because it doesn”t do conferencing and you need an enterprise license first, I”d only recommend JBuddy for small companies who use multiple IM systems and need a way to consolidate those. Otherwise, stick with Office Communicator.

Downloading JBuddy Messenger is free, but you”ll need to purchase an enterprise license to use all its business features (including OCS connectivity). http://www.zionsoftware.com/products/messenger/

If you”d like to try it out, request a 30-Day Evaluation License (free trial) here:
http://www.zionsoftware.com/products/messenger/request-eval.shtml

What Happens When You Don”t Change Your OCS Presence Status

Let’’s talk about OCS Presence for a moment. Specifically, what happens in the minds of others when you leave yours the same for days on end.

Do You Do This?

If your office use OCS at all, you know someone like this. You never know what Bill or Mary is doing–because they haven”t changed their Presence status in days. They”ve been “Updating the server” or “Meeting with Joe.”

Since last week? Really?

Presence is there for a reason. It makes others aware of what you”re doing. Just like IM. Are you here, available to talk? Away, not at your desk? Busy on a project, so please don”t disturb?

These are things co-workers need to know. And it frustrates the heck out of them when they can”t tell.

Why They Do It

Now the reason people don”t change their Presence status is simple. They”re lazy.

No, it’’s not “I just don”t have time” or “It’’s new, so I forget about it.” Those are excuses. They”re lazy and don”t value what help Presence does bring them.

It takes what, five seconds to update Presence? Nobody is so busy they can”t spare five seconds. (And if they think they are, they need to offload some duties.)

It’’s Poor Communication - Why Presence is Something to Remember

There’’s a very good reason why those five seconds matter. If you”re not updating your Presence status while working, it casts a bad shadow on you in the minds of others.

Little things like this can make people lose trust in your effectiveness. “He/she can”t be bothered to let us know what they”re doing? Are they not working at all? Or maybe hiding something?”

That’’s the kind of thought process this starts. With stale Presence status, your productivity can be called into question. If nobody knows what you”re doing, how can you prove you”re doing anything?

Something else to consider: If management monitors employee productivity (and there’’s no reason why they shouldn”t, if they do use OCS), then a days-old Presence will make them wonder. What are you up to? Anything?

Now you see where this can become a problem.

Loss of (Your) Value - What Happens as a Result

Without others able to determine what you”re doing, your value as an employee could drop. (I”m not saying this will happen. But it could.)

Why? Because people will stop relying on you. They”ll assume you”re not available for whatever reason and go about their business. They stop seeing you as a person who can help them do their job. That becomes a real problem for you. Fast.

And if management makes the same assumption? That you can”t keep “the rest of us” in the loop, so you could be screwing around not doing work? Well…

An Easy Way to Remember to Update

Like I said before - five seconds. And here’’s an easy way to remember.

Plan to update Presence before & after lunch. This way you put Presence in your thoughts related to lunch. (You”ll remember lunch, right?) Associating Presence with another idea like this makes it easier to recall afterward. A little memory trick courtesy of modern psychology.

OCS Presence status should be updated every day. Five seconds. Keep it up, and retain the impression of a reliable, productive worker in the minds of others.

The OCS Insider will go on holiday from today until January 1st. Join us again after that for more exploration of OCS 2007 - and the upcoming OCS 2010. Happy Holidays!

The Top 3 Questions People Ask Us Re: OCS 2007

When you”re experts in something, people ask you questions. The same questions. Over & over again.

I”ve blogged about many of the things our customer ask us in the past. Still, a recap now and then doesn”t hurt. And since we”ve had several sales meetings that were almost cookie-cutter when it came to the questions they asked, I figured now’’s the time.

This is a trio of very common questions we get asked about Office Communications Server. (There’’s actually about 6 or 7, but I”ll save the rest for a later post.) If you”ve had a burning questions about OCS but thought it was too basic to ask? It’’s your lucky day.

1. What can we use it (OCS) for?

Use it to communicate with co-workers, clients and partners. Via text, voice or video.  It runs all of that through the Office Communicator client on your desktop or mobile.

2. Does it work like a regular phone?

Yes, but not 100% the same. There are handsets you can use with OCS; that’’s pretty much a regular desktop phone for you. Otherwise, you can use the mic & speakers in your computer to have a voice conversation. Kind of like Skype, except OCS is more secure and incorporates tool for sharing business information while you chat.

Note: When people ask us about this, they”re also curious if OCS lets you talk with regular desk and cell phones too. The answer to that is yes, if you have an IP-PBX gateway installed. (We use gateways from Cisco, Aculab and Dialogic.)

3. Will it work with our phones?

Unless your phones are SIP-capable , no. Regular phones use standard telephone lines. OCS 2007′’s voice capabilities run through VoIP, which uses Internet connections. The tech’’s too new for the older phones to use. You”ll have to make some changes.

Any other OCS questions you”d like an answer to? Leave a comment, or email me. Next week I”ll post the Top 3 Questions we get about the new Exchange Server 2010.

Technorati Tags:MicrosoftbusinesstechnologyOCS 2007SIP

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