Time to Cut the Cord?

You have to be living in a cave if you aren’t aware of the growing prevalence of smartphones and mobile applications. It seems like every day there’s some new, cool device or solution that makes your life just that much easier. It is one big cycle; the more we consume these ‘conveniences’, the more they are developed, each one better than the last.

My co-worker talked about how consumer trends eventually make their way into the business world, and you can see how our dependence on mobile solutions is transferring to how we work. We’ve become so dependent on being able to communicate with our friends and family through cell phones, texting and social media that we now expect the same thing from our colleagues.

That’s why the results of a recent survey shouldn’t be that surprising. They asked 200 companies in the U.S. and 200 in the UK (IT decision-makers including CXOs, VPs and directors at enterprises of all sizes) about their plans to move to mobile-only communications and their adoption of unified communication services. Their findings showed that companies are making the move faster than expected.

• "25% of enterprise IT decision makers believe desk phones will be replaced by mobile phones within two years, and 82% of enterprises have employees currently using mobile applications for communications and collaboration,
• 44% of enterprises surveyed have at least one-quarter of their workforce operating solely using a mobile phone, and 82% of enterprises have employees using mobile apps for communications and collaboration and
• 30% of enterprises support tablets; 51% support BlackBerry devices, 40% support iPhones and 31% support Android phones."

They also found that "62% are expanding their enterprise's UC capabilities, with instant messaging, web collaboration and videoconferencing identified as the top UC services they seek to support on mobile devices over the next three years." When it comes to video conferencing, the survey showed that more U.S. companies plan to roll out video conferencing in the next year compared to UK companies (72% compared to 56%).

Are you already experiencing these trends in your business? We are finding this among our customers, not just the need to support an on-the-go workforce through mobile conferencing solutions, but also a growing demand for unified communications services. Will your company be next to cut the cord on your landline and put solutions in your hands to make you and your colleagues more accessible?

Jill Huselton is a senior marketing manager at InterCall. She's been in the conferencing industry for nearly 15 years, working in operations, account management and marketing, mainly based in Colorado. Before leaving the Mile-High City, she hiked a 14er, one of her top accomplishments. Now she's traded the mountains for the beach and works from a home office in North Carolina.

What’s a Traffic Jam Worth?

According to a recent study, the answer to this question is $100 billion. Yep, billion with a ‘b’. Crazy, right?

I’m sure we can all recall a time when we were stuck in a long line of traffic, due to weather, overturned semis or trains crossing a track, and thinking about all the other things we could be doing. (Actually, not to rub it in, but I have to think really hard since I’ve worked from home for the last three years. I know there were plenty of times in the past when I wanted to pull my hair out because no one was moving, but I think I've buried them.)

Based on a study of traffic and congestion, the time we spend waiting in traffic is getting worse and there’s no sign of improvement. By 2020, we’ll waste a whole work week trying to make sense of the vanity plate in front of us or wishing we had more coffee as we watch the cars go nowhere fast.

• 1982: 14 hours/year/person
• 1992: 28 hours/year/person
• Today: 34 hours/year/person
• 2015: predicted to be 37 hours/year/person
• 2020: predicted to be 41 hours/year/person

Anyone trying to go anywhere in the most congested cities listed below can already tell you what it’s like to lose that work week to traffic. The study rated the cities around the U.S with the worst traffic and it isn’t pretty.

Most congested cities:

• Metro DC: 74 hours/year/person
• Chicago: 71 hours/year/person
• LA: 64 hours/year/person
• Houston: 57 hours/year/person
• NY/NJ/CT: 54 hours/year/person
• Baltimore: 52 hours/year/person
• San Francisco: 50 hours/year/person
• Denver: 49 hours/year/person
• Boston: 47 hours/year/person
• Dallas/Minneapolis: 45 hours/year/person

The old theory was to avoid rush hour and drive later in the day or at night. It seems that a lot of people have caught on because it is estimated that 40% of delays occur in mid-day and over night. There goes that idea.

So what can you do? It may not be feasible for you to work full-time from home, but how about a couple of days a week. That would cut your wasted time each year in half. Or, if you have to endure the sea of brake lights, make the most of it and plan your meetings during your travel time. It’s easy to join an audio conference call on the road with your mobile phone (hands free, of course). You can even join online meetings with apps for your phone or tablet.

What’s your strategy? If moving to South Dakota isn't an option, have you tried staying home or rearranging your schedule to take meetings on the road?

Jill Huselton is a senior marketing manager at InterCall. She's been in the conferencing industry for nearly 15 years, working in operations, account management and marketing, mainly based in Colorado. Before leaving the Mile-High City, she hiked a 14er, one of her top accomplishments. Now she's traded the mountains for the beach and works from a home office in North Carolina.

Will Windows Mobile Phones Make a Comeback?

Oct. 17, 2011 (Bloomberg) -- British consumers will spend 19.3 billion pounds ($30.5 billion) by 2021 on purchases using their mobile phones as technology advances and more people have smartphones, Barclays Corporate estimated.

Over the last five years, the UK has experienced a huge boom in the smartphone market. Consumers are now favouring the iPhone or Android-powered devices in favour of the more basic options out there.

Long gone are the days of the ‘smart’ Windows® CE-powered phone or the market share enjoyed by Nokia with their Symbian-powered devices (the Nokia N95 was a huge success in its day). Now consumers want fast 3G Internet access, streamed video and audio and push-email that can be accessed and edited from a variety of devices simultaneously (Bluetooth headsets, iPads, laptops, etc.).

Android™’s market share has risen significantly in the UK over the last 12 months, gaining 34% on 2010’s figure to a total share of 45% of the smartphone market.

Apple, interestingly, has experienced a decline in market share, down 12% to 18% share with Blackberry® increasing their share by 2%, up to 22.3%. Nokia’s Symbian platform has experienced the largest drop from any provider, down 22% to just 10% market share.

However, one of the largest companies in the world has one of the lowest market share of the smartphone market—and it’s dropping. Windows. Window’s market share has halved over the last 12 months, landing it with just 2.7% of the smartphone market in the UK.

Although you may think that it’s safe to assume that Windows is dead in the water (especially since the epic fail of its Facebook-ready phone which was on the market for less than two months!), it may be about to make a massive comeback into the smartphone space.

So what proof do I have that Windows-powered mobile’s aren’t about to go the way of the dinosaur? Well, here I sit with two phones on my desk. A Windows 7-powered HTC Pro™ and an Android-powered HTC Wildfire S™.

Both phones are built by HTC and have pretty similar features, in terms of touch-screens and cameras, but the Windows-powered phone seems to be in a league of its own.

Let’s take an example. Whilst on the road last week, my laptop battery died, so I had to rely on my phones for information. The Windows 7 mobile kept me up to date with my Outlook® email and enabled me to use Office365 on the handset to finish up a spreadsheet that I needed to email later that day. (On my Android device, I’m limited to using Google Apps, so I knew my colleagues would have problems editing the spreadsheet.) Not only that, I was able to talk to my colleague using the mobile version of Microsoft Lync™, meaning that although my laptop was dead, I could stay in touch with the team, send over the spreadsheet and stay productive.

Although Microsoft may be the underdog for another year, they have a lot of features set to launch which will be game-changers. The acquisition of Skype means that integration of Skype into Windows Mobile, Lync and Xbox will increase collaboration and communication between converged devices, making it even easier to stay in touch and collaborate with colleagues and family members all over the world.

Do you have a preferred platform? Have you tried using Lync to stay connected while on the road? If you haven’t, you can register for a free trial of our hosted version of Lync at www.lynctrial.com to test it out.

Ashley Davies is the small and medium sized business (SMB) manager in InterCall’s UK and European (EMEA) division and is responsible for managing the suite of services InterCall offers that are specifically designed for SMB customers. Before joining InterCall, Ashley worked as the sales manager for a free publication and studied for a degree in entrepreneurship and small business. In his spare time, Ashley likes to surf and work on his house.

What Would Zack Morris Do with a Mobile Phone?

What is the first thing you do when you wake up each morning? Ok, after you go to the bathroom. You check your mobile phone.

For some people this actually might be what wakes them up in the morning. There are catch phrases now like “There's an app for that” or “Droid does” that would make no sense to Zack Morris when he had his mobile phone. How many times do you see an iReport story on CNN, breaking news sent in by someone who just happened to catch something interesting and shot it with their mobile device?

There’s no denying that mobile has permeated our lives. It has almost gotten to the point where you'd rather lose your wallet than your mobile phone because it serves as a camera, photo album, TV remote, home phone and diary. We don’t just watch TV anymore—we use our mobile devices while doing so. Nielsen’s research in fact found that 70% of tablet owners use their tablet while watching TV. Check out this chart of Nielsen’s findings on when users “enjoy” their new mobile gadgets. Who would have thought that the bathroom would make the top of the list?

Typically after consumers adopt a new tool, the business world is not far behind. Just look what Microsoft is going to start doing with Skype, which has moved from an easy way to show the grandparents how big the kids are getting to becoming a fairly widespread business tool.

InterCall recognizes the way mobile has become a critical tool in our communications and workplace productivity. We believe that if we are going to continue to provide you with the ideal way to collaborate with your colleagues and customers, we must address your mobile needs. This means integrating mobile solutions into our conference call and online meeting services.

Our strategy for mobile conferencing solutions is being built around making it easier for you to schedule, invite, host, join and see who is with you on your conference calls. We have recently partnered with top developers and award-winning designers to help bring our application to groundbreaking standards. Over the next six months you'll start to see an industry-leading application evolve that will become a part of your everyday interaction.

Zack Morris could have really used InterCall’s mobile solutions to put together his plans to skip class or get Slater and Screech to help him manage three dates in one night. By the way, have you checked out the newly released Facebook Messenger app yet? Imagine what would have happened at Bayside High with that!

How do you use these mobile tools in your business or personal life?

As director of InterCall’s core services, Charlie is responsible for the product management of InterCall’s proprietary day-to-day collaboration services. Charlie joined InterCall after completing his business degree from the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University. Originally starting in sales, Charlie worked in InterCall’s business development team to help drive and support InterCall’s global sales efforts. In 2007, Charlie had the opportunity to spend a year in Singapore where he supported the restructuring of the office there and improving localization. Now back in Chicago, Charlie plays a key role in developing and improving InterCall’s core products. When not saving the world through collaboration services, Charlie enjoys spending time with his wife, Katie, and daughter, Annie.