Have You Installed Microsoft Lync or Cisco in the Last 12 Months?Have You Installed Microsoft Lync or Cisco in the Last 12 Months?

A unique Enterprise Connect workshop will focus on this strategic decision.

Last year at Enterprise Connect 2013, I did a session called "Lync versus Jabber: A Quantitative Decision Process." That session had the largest attendance of any breakout session, and I have received more than 400 requests for copies of the decision tool I discussed at that session.

The key to the interest was helping organizations that already have a strategic investment in both Cisco and Microsoft technologies, by providing a perspective to decide which UC platform was best in their organization--Cisco's, Microsoft's, or potentially another vendor's.

Many organizations have both Microsoft and Cisco as key strategic partners and are challenged with this decision. So for Enterprise Connect 2014 in Orlando, there is a three-hour workshop on the issue called Cisco versus Microsoft: Placing Your Strategic Bet. Robin Gareiss, Brent Kelly, J.R. Simmons and I will be talking about the integration, functions, features, economics, and organizational impacts of this decision.

I will be updating my Lync-Jabber decision tool as well as talking about key points of difference between the two options. I will be talking about the Cisco and Microsoft platforms from the perspective of an overall product and integration into your IT infrastructure. To assure that we are reflecting the latest true data, I would like to speak with you if you have installed either Cisco UC or Microsoft Lync (including Lync Enterprise Voice) in your organization over the last 12 months.

I am looking to have a brief 15-30 minute discussion about your experience, how the solution met (or did not meet) your expectations, any surprises (good and bad), and your operational experience with the platform since your installation. All discussions will be kept confidential. The goal is to get the widest view of the recent experiences with the respective products, to help other organizations in their evaluation of this challenging decision.

Please contact me at [email protected] (with "Lync-Jabber Installation" in the email subject), or call me at 925-264-9420. Thanks in advance for taking time to help the UC community. I look forward to seeing all of you in Orlando and talking about the information gathered.