Reflecting on Nashville - in a Tennessee Whiskey kind of way
Those of you who follow such things will know that Avaya recently held its annual Sales Conference at the epicentre of country music; Nashville, Tennessee. As I was travelling from Australia – a journey that took about a day in the air no less, I thought it wise to arrive early and do my best to get into the time-zone. Perhaps catch up on a bit of sleep the following day of my arrival so I would be at my freshest and keenest as I sat through the key-note addresses of Messrs Kennedy and Abbott – not to mention the insights from the other leaders of this great company…
I think that idea lasted about five minutes – just long enough for my room-mate (Mr Swanson; you have a lot to answer for) to suggest a road-trip down to Lynchburg, a county about ninety minutes away and host to arguably the most famous name in whiskey; Jack Daniel.
It took a tour of the distillery for the penny to finally drop on Avaya’s roadmap for IP Office, and before you ask; no I wasn’t in some kind of whiskey-influenced reflective state. That was to occur much later on the dance-floor of the Gaylord Opryland’s Fuse nightclub – and repeated (from what I am told) at Tootsie's Orchid Lounge in the heart of Nashville (for the record; I am convinced that American bartenders have no clue what a standard measure entails), as Lynchburg is a dry county (yep, not even a wee dram (oops, wrong whiskey) can pass the weary traveller’s lips upon the obligatory gift-shop exit from the tour of Jasper Newton’s (Jack Daniel for the uninitiated) original ‘still).
So what was so inspiring about IP Office (and more importantly – how does it relate to Tennessee Whiskey)? The answer lays not so much in the technical aspect of IP Office’s future (sure there are some great enhancements coming down the road), but more importantly, the event represented a tremendous opportunity to network among SMEC peers from all corners of the globe - and see first-hand how the IP Office solution set is adapting for different markets.
Sound complicated? Let me explain it in the way it dawned on me; whiskey.
Did you know that whiskey is consumed and packaged in a variety of different methods for markets all around the world? I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t. I thought the ubiquitous ‘bottle of JD’ was the same everywhere - the famous ‘Old No. 7’ a one-size fits-all product.
Wrong, as I was soon to discover.
It all starts off the same – economies of scale are hard to ignore from a basis perspective for any product (a bit like IP500: one platform); a quality product, only the finest ingredients for the sour mash, the water is pure from a nearby stream, and the filtration process is done to a time-honoured tradition through ten feet of specially prepared charcoal. It then sits in a barrel for 4-7 years until it matures – a process which is measured and judged by the head-distiller (I wonder where one applies for that job…).
But the interesting thing is what happens next. Realising that whiskey is enjoyed differently depending on the region, it is packaged and marketed in different ways: The green label is for the domestic market only and is an entry-level product – manifested by maturing uniquely on the first level of the barrel house. Old No. 7 is a blend of whiskies matured from levels 2 through 6 of the barrel house and represents the most popular package – exported all around the world. Then there is a premium product (creatively called Single Barrel) which is derived only from the top level (7) of the barrel house – apparently the change of seasons influences the upper level the most. Lastly for only three markets (Australia being one of them, embarrassingly): they take all that painstaking attention to detail and time-honoured tradition – and then mix it into a can of cola! Somehow I think Mr Jasper would be turning in his grave!
Interesting stuff - now let’s relate it back to the SMEC market generally, and IP Office in particular.
My most impressive observation I have about the IP Office solution: the ability to adapt well to different markets right around the globe. For Europe, apparently the style of handset is very important – so Avaya has a unique handset to reflect those values; the T3. For the US, the ubiquitous grey handset is popular due in no small part to its paperless labels. For Australia, the 16xx handset with its key-system style red/green flashing lights is proving a hit.
But it’s not just the hardware on the desk; applications play an important role. New Zealanders are very quick to embrace integrated technology, so the DevConnect partnership is critical to provide an enhanced Contact Centre experience. Australia is less so, but is more interested in easy and intuitive reporting – which has seen Customer Call Reporter (CCR) popular with end-users. In India it’s all about CTI and database integration.
Trunking is also an interesting differentiator; the Kiwis appear to be leading the way with SIP, but ETSI ISDN BRI and PRI are still the big sellers in Australia. The Philippines and many parts of ASEAN and CALA still have a strong analogue legacy which needs to be supported. The US and Japan has T1 – while Europe (like Australia) still has ETSI PRI as the staple.
Supporting legacy equipment has always been a strong value proposition in certain markets. For example, the T3 handsets were incorporated some time ago to make the transition from the Tenovis platform much more palatable for the European installed base. Moreover, Release 5 for IP Office saw a whole swag of features introduced specifically for the German market aimed at consolidating customers using the legacy platform.
So what about the road-map? Without giving too much away, the SMEC Business Unit has some great things coming down the line to broaden and deepen the consideration rate of IP Office no matter what the market. The product will continue along its ‘easy to sell and position’ path to satisfy a sustained and growing channel focus - whether it’s SP, VAR, or SI. The ‘Defend and Grow’ campaign will be supported with product designed to exploit our large installed base of legacy SME equipment, and the introduction of browser-based applications we saw with Release 5 (CCR, one-X Portal for IP Office) will be further refined and enhanced. Lastly (but by no means least), the introduction of a new, intuitive web-based configuration and quoting tool will assist our new channel partners to hit the ground running.
All in all, a great conference – for me, the key take-away is the way that the marketing department has guided the SMEC business unit to make IP Office a truly attractive solution - no matter what the market.
Oh, and the whiskey tour at Jack Daniel’s wasn’t bad either…
Posted by Christian Wright at 10:24 on October 31, 2009