Recently I've been going back and forth with the esteemed Michael Finneran regarding the definition of FMC and who should be included. While I still disagree with the quadrant chart he created, I do agree with the fact that companies like DiVitas and Agito do belong in this market segment.Recently one of these vendors, DiVitas opened up its hosted trial program to me and I had to chance to play with the device and the software on it and I thought I would blog on my experience as I consider them one of the more advanced FMC vendors, so it's a good litmus test of where the industry is at. Now, I will say I've seen the DiVitas software before but it's normally been one of the pushy marketing people showing me how it works, which doesn't really give you a true sense of the actual user experience.
They sent a phone to me and to another colleague here at Yankee Group, Josh Holbrook, so we could communicate with each other and play with the features. This actually worked out pretty well since many of these features you need a second person to talk to. There were a handful of DiVitas folks on the system as well but they're not as fun to talk to as another user. Generally they'll just try and brainwash you!!
The seamless roaming worked as advertised although this wasn't much of a surprise. This is a feature they've had around for a couple of years and they've always done a good job handing off calls between WiFi and cell service and vice versa. For me, this is a HUGE feature. At my home in the Boston area, my cell phone works like crap in my apartment so I rely on calling over WiFi to make calls. Without it, I'd have to get a traditional home phone (gasp!) and who wants to do that? With the traditional UMA type of software that I have on my T-Mobile phone, the call drops every time I go outside and I get out of WiFi range, so there is some practical applicability to it.
The other big change to just making calls is that the phone they sent was much better. They have the software on a Nokia E71 which is so much better than the older versions of the Nokia phones (E62, E61 etc.). The keyboard and screen are much better than older versions and it actually has a camera too (welcome to 2009, Nokia). I still think the Blackberry Curve is the best smart phone out there, but it's a matter of opinion and this device isn't all that far behind it yet. The other thing Nokia fixed is that it has a real headphone jack instead of some goofy proprietary port that you need a special cable for to connect headphones.
The big feature with the DiVitas software, though, was the unified communications features. Again, I've seen the presence, chat and visual voice mail before, but it was quite different when actually using it. I currently run IBM's mobile Sametime on my Blackberry so I'm sold on the concept of mobile presence. In fact, because I'm normally engaged with another activity when mobile (driving, walking, etc) I think mobile presence is actually more important than desktop based presence.
On the positive side, the experience was great. I was able to set my availability by selecting preset presence icons such as available by voice only, text only, voice or text, do not disturb etc. Because I spend far too much time in meetings or traveling around the world I can see this feature being very handy. Co-workers will not only know if I'm available but how to reach me. What happens now is when I'm mobile, I'll be on the phone and someone will call. I'll then need to grab my other cell phone and text the person back (if they're on a mobile) that I'll call them when my call is over. If it's not a cell phone, then I try and send an email on the other phone (I have two BBs which some people think is overkill, but hey, I like to be fully redundant). Even when in the office, I'm rarely at my desk, so being able to set status when mobile will definitely let people know where to find me (hmm... maybe I don't want that). The other way I could handle this is to continually update Twitter or Facebook (or both using TweetDeck) but honestly, I get tired of seeing people Tweet stuff like "Enjoying two for one margaritas with Bob and Steph"). My community of people is pretty big now and not everyone needs to see where I am at all times.
The client also lets you create custom status updates, which is kind of mobile microblog. This feature allows me to tell people I'm busy and then maybe text or IM me if they need to reach me.
The downside is that is the DiVitas presence engine isn't federated with Yankee Group's corporate Sametime system. While I would like to see DiVitas federate with IBM or Cisco (our telephony provider), the advantages of what DiVitas has over Blackberry-based Sametime means that I'm likely to use both. When I am using Sametime and I want to call someone, I need to exit the application, find the contact and then place the call. With DiVitas, if I am tired of IMing and want to switch to a voice call, I can simply click-to-dial directly from the GUI. Having a Unified Client and click-to-dial is a huge time saver, and the best case-in-point advantage of mobile UC that I can think of. I've always claimed that mobile UC has more bang for the buck than desktop based UC, and this is an example of why.
So overall, my impression of the DiVitas Mobile UC solution was positive. But even more so, I'm impressed they let a discriminating shopper like me alone with their phone and solution. It's been said by many that I'm overly cynical!
