Here's a video that Zeus did, interviewing Jorge Blanco of Avaya. Jorge explains the vision behind Aura, but along the way, he makes a point that I've been hearing more and more recently. Cost control and ROI are obviously still paramount, but there has to be a vision for how the choices that are made today and are planned for the near term will actually change the way the enterprise does business. This is also something that Tom Nolle has talked about recently; he's seeing much the same trend.
I believe I got an inkling of this movement at Interop in Las Vegas last week. The questions from the audience had much less to do with basics of voice over IP, or tactical decisions around technology replacement. Instead, there seemed to be a clear sense that Unified Communications was supposed to do something fundamentally different for your enterprise; the question that remained was, well, what exactly does UC do for me? Communications decision-makers will need to be ready with the answer that applies to their enterprises.
Just one last point about the video: Zeus asks Jorge the question that I've heard a lot of people ask about Aura: What's the name mean? I'm not sure I understand that any better after listening to Jorge's answer, but it did remind me that years ago, a woman I was dating at the time attempted unsuccessfully to "repair" my personal aura. As far as I know, my aura has remained out of whack to this day.
