One Moment, Please
What I've learned about Mike in the three weeks since he started (and the five days before he started) is that he's almost always working. I find myself responding to e-mail from him at wacky hours of the day (it's a time zone thing right now, but I have no illusions about the future). Meanwhile, my publisher and other team members leave minutes-long messages on voice mail. It's enough to make a traveling editor cry, especially on a cell phone in a busy airport.
I just can't respond fast enough, particularly when I don't know where that next message is going to pop up,in voice mail in any one of three places or my inbox (times two). Incidentally, I'm equally guilty of spouting off excited manifestos long before work hours begin, created in whatever communications medium is most convenient at the time. Hey, if someone comes up with an idea or question in the middle of the night or during the weekend, why stop him or her from sharing it? Tag, you're it.
I long for a better way to corral and consolidate all the questions and thought memos winging my way, so I was in just the right mood to be incredibly receptive to the executive briefing I attended at Avaya last week. That's because the conversation kept coming back to my own personal holy grail of technology,the one-number communications profile, or, in a more rudimentary form, the concept known as unified messaging. It scares me that I was wishing for this almost a decade ago. Now, my need is beyond urgent, and I don't even really travel all that much.
Even at a time when few businesses are willing to spend, IP telephony applications that intelligently route incoming calls and messages across a converged network according to user-defined specifications simply make sense. That's because they make the most out of existing investments almost immediately, with the promise of more to come when things turn around. It's not a matter of if, but when.
Are you ready to answer the call?
HEATHER CLANCY, Editor at CRN, vows to answer her messages as quickly as possible. Call (516) 562-7446 or e-mail [email protected].