It looks like the creative ideas in mobility are coming from the smaller rather than the bigger players. Mitel has announced a version of their Unified Communicator (UC) Advanced software designed to run on Android mobile devices. Similar to the UC Advanced client for BlackBerry, the new software (which is available immediately) will allow a user to search the corporate directory, click-to-dial from corporate contact list and place calls through the corporate network. That last feature, often referred to as "hairpinning," allows the mobile number to be hidden from the called party, and the user's desk number is sent in its place.
The UC Advanced for Android is a mobile version of their desktop client. Mitel also offers a Web-based portal called Office Link Calling, which can be used from mobile devices. In that case, the interface is through a mobile browser where the user can click an entry from the corporate directory, the system calls the user's mobile, and when they answer, it places the outgoing call. As with the mobile client, the call is hairpinned through the PBX. We're still waiting to see how well that type of calling process will be accepted by users.
Mobile UC clients have had a tough time gaining traction, but Mitel has a unique hook with the UC Advanced for Android in that it is the first implementation I've seen that uses location information to change the user's presence status and set calling preferences. ShoreTel has the ability to use location to set calling preferences, but adjusting presence status is a major step forward.
Location-based presence is a capability I've been talking about for the past couple of years, and it's interesting to note that we are seeing this type of capability introduced first by the smaller rather than the larger suppliers. I have lamented that consumer services have locked onto the enormous potential of leveraging location information, but the action seems to be coming from the likes of Facebook and Foursquare rather than Cisco, Avaya, or Microsoft.
With the UC Advanced for Android, Mitel can make use of GPS, Bluetooth association, or Wi-Fi recognition to set a user's presence status and identify the device they want to receive calls on; the user can also set those preferences by time of day. By recognizing the Wi-Fi network the mobile device is connected on, we can tell if they are in- or out-of the office or if they are working from home. Mitel introduced similar capabilities with the UC Advanced for BlackBerry devices about a year ago, though that implementation does not include Wi-Fi recognition as an option (Mitel notes that it is planned for a future release).
Frankly, human beings are too busy (or too lazy) to update their presence status religiously, and once people realize that presence is an unreliable indicator, the value of the capability drops. Mobility is all the talk in UC, and the idea of leveraging the mobile device’s location for setting their presence status (or at least asking them if they want it changed) is so obvious, you have to wonder what’s standing in the way. Customer uptake for mobile UC clients has been disappointing across the board, and maybe it's time to start thinking about product deficiencies.
Mitel has been plugging along on the mobility front both with UC Advanced and their Dynamic Extension offering that can ring a call on up to eight devices based on user defined preferences; that group can include their mobile. They are also one of only two PBX vendors (Cisco being the other one) who had developed the capability to interface with BlackBerry's Mobile Voice System (MVS) 5. Mitel also resells the MVS and quoted it in their response to our Mobile UC RFP session at last month’s Enterprise Connect.
It is interesting that they went for Android rather than iPhone as their first option after BlackBerry. While Android sales have been rocketing, iPhone has been around longer and is still ahead of Android in areas like onboard encryption, which are critically important for enterprise customers. Onboard encryption is available in Honeycomb or Android 3.0, but that is currently supported only on tablets and not on smartphones.
On the mobile UC front, solutions like simultaneous ring, Dynamic Extension, and even basic call forwarding to the mobile number is about as far as most users have progressed--the message is: "simple sells". We are still waiting for the first real successful mobile UC client, and users have clearly not seen the value in what they have seen thus far. As more of these truly useful capabilities are added to the mix, maybe we will start moving closer to that goal.
