Enterprise Connect 2016 is in the rear view mirror by about a month now, and this year's event marks the sixth year that I've facilitated the well-attended Monday afternoon RFP session.
Each year I've endeavored to update the session and the resultant RFP to reflect changes in the market. New to the session this year was the limitation of requiring cloud and/or hybrid solutions, a significant departure from prior years that were dominated by premises-based solutions. As a result, there was a significant change in participants. Responses were received from Sprint, NEC, Masergy, Vonage, and 8x8, and included product solutions from Cisco, Microsoft, BroadSoft, Switch (now Dialpad), 8x8 and NEC. Vendors were also required to support small offices that would have services delivered over the top.
The RFP was based on an organization that is represented in the diagram below:
The RFP included stringent requirements for high availability, core voice functionality, voicemail, unified messaging, unified communications (e.g. presence, IM, voice, Web, and video conferencing) and system administration. Note that the RFP presentation is available for download to Enterprise Connect attendees.
Also key to this year's session was the introduction of panel discussions that covered topics such as:
In general, there were fewer new products introduced than previous years. It seemed to me that changes this year were evolutionary rather than revolutionary. There was an emphasis on mobility, virtualization, and integrating the existing product sets, as well as improving user interfaces.
"SCTC Perspectives" is written by members of the Society of Communications Technology Consultants, an international organization of independent information and communications technology professionals serving clients in all business sectors and government worldwide.
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