|
Page 5 of 6
Transforming business functions
With its ability to facilitate real-time collaboration, enterprises are now looking at using UC tools to transform their business functions. At Infosys, UC tools are being used in design and architecture reviews, in large deal pursuits and for co-creating Intellectual Property using its large distributed workforce. Using the same platform, Infosys holds virtual meetings for activities related to cross functional initiatives and discussions related to regional and global sales activities.
With current restrictions on travel, UC can be used effectively to deepen relationships with key customers. For example, Wipro has created an ‘Extended Work Environment,’ which it uses to collaborate with partners and customers. “More than ten customers are already on this network, and this allows us to establish instant communication with customers,” says Vikas Srivastava, VP, Technology Infrastructure Services, Wipro Infotech. While UC has been used primarily for slashing travel costs, in Wipro’s case, UC tools have been well integrated into business processes. “We use UC tools for knowledge acquisition, customer interfacing engagements, virtual trainings and leadership meetings,” says Srivastava. UC can play a pivotal role in the sales function too, as members of the sales team can immediately communicate with domain experts, and take effective decisions.
In the future, as more and more applications are embedded with collaborative capabilities, the associated impact is expected to be huge. For example, if the inventory of a particular product falls below a certain level, the production system which is tightly integrated with the UC system can shoot off an alert via multiple delivery channels—via an automated voice alert to the phone, a text message to a mobile number, or by using a simple fax.
At the Mahindra & Mahindra Group, some of the effective usages by different departments have been in the areas of remote training, getting real-time updates from regional offices and for improving collaboration especially in the area of R&D. The advantage of using a UC system can be seen from the fact that today, the corporate IT team based in Worli, Mumbai, conducts remote application training for users at Rudrapur (Uttarakhand) and Zaheerabad (Andhra Pradesh). The trainer interacts with the remote participants using UC tools.
Barry-Wehmiller International Resources (BWIR), a firm focused in the domain of engineering solutions, and operating across more than 20 different countries, uses a combination of Webex and Microsoft NetMeeting to reach out to the best domain experts in the company. Says Ramesh Santhanam, GM, IT, BWIR, “Today, our ability to resolve a problem is quicker, since we can reach out to an appropriate expert quickly across locations, without any delays.”
Today, robust communication links have made distance irrelevant, and this is being used by Indian organizations to effectively address real-life challenges. For example, Patel Engineering, a firm in the domain of infrastructure development, faced a huge issue in interviewing candidates based in remote locations. The firm now uses a solution from a firm called PeopleLink Corporate Solutions, which has helped it interview candidates from outstation remote locations. Says TL Sharma, Assistant General Manager, Patel Engineering, “We used to lose out on good candidates as we could not interview them on time. Today, we can not only interview candidates remotely, but can also use the same system for sharing presentations for training-related activities.” More importantly, the system has helped the company reduce the time taken for interviewing candidates from a week to a single day.
The transformative power of UC means that the solution can be leveraged across multiple domains. For example, Vijay Textiles uses a UC solution from PeopleLink to share designs and stock reports across all its regional branches. In the case of Dolphin Hotels, its Managing Director uses the PeopleLink solution to do live reviews with the senior management.
One of the best examples of how a UC solution can help an enterprise go beyond established boundaries can be seen in the case of Obeetee, a manufacturer of carpets, located in the rural hinterland of Mirzapur, in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The firm used a UC based solution from LifeSize to participate virtually in a trade fair based in Atlanta. The solution allowed the firm to connect directly to its headquarters in Mirzapur, India and simultaneously with its factory and production units while offering a fully immersive high-definition experience to the customer in Atlanta. Simply by using a public Internet connection, readily available at the booth at the trade show in Atlanta, sales executives at Obeetee were able to give existing and potential customers a hands-on experience of their products.
When seen in the context of segments such as the financial services industry, the impact of UC tools can be huge. Whenever new products are launched, most financial services firms find it difficult to service customers adequately, due to the unavailability of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). With the help of UC tools, SMEs can be based in one central location and still deliver the same level of desired customer experience, as they would have done, when based locally. Explains Zia of Cisco, “While physically SMEs cannot be everywhere, virtually they can be at any location with the help of UC tools. In essence, you can have virtual banking SMEs situated at the bank’s headquarters or at a central level.” Zia says that the same concept can be applied to any other industry. For example, any company which has a global presence can use the power of UC tools to standardize the release of products across different countries.
A world of virtual offices and virtual participations >>
l Page 1 l Page 2 l Page 3 l Page 4 l Page 6 l
|