Anyone in business knows that customers and clients, not to mention busy department heads can be ruthlessly unforgiving when it comes to bad communication experiences.
Poor quality audio, video that cuts out, dropped calls and failed connections can seriously inhibit business processes, hinder business agility and impact productivity. Often these glitches can be attributed to the devices they’re using. Your organisation’s endpoint ecosystem could consist of one or more, or all of these devices – so you can see there’s a lot of potential for bad experiences.
- Headphones
- Microphones
- Laptops
- Desktops
- Smart phones
- Softphones
- Desk phone handsets
- Video conference room devices
- Webcams
- TV screens
- Tablets
So how do you solve the increasing challenges of managing your endpoint devices and making sure they all play nice? It’s all about monitoring with the right performance management tools.
You can’t fix what you can’t see
With the mammoth shift to remote working, flexibility and mobility are now a crucial part of the working environment. This involves the use of devices and software to make seamless communication happen.
Workers are adapting to the ‘new normal’ by collaborating through home internet connections, via tablets, laptops and mobile devices. Many are using their own headsets, earphones, webcams and other UC hardware, and while there’s nothing wrong with many BYO devices, a common problem is lack of integration and compatibility.
This is why IT teams need a clear, end-to-end picture of what’s going on inside an organisation’s entire communications infrastructure. Even when workers are spread out in a number of locations, with the right endpoint management tools to monitor and troubleshoot, businesses can create consistently better collaboration experiences.
Why you need UC endpoint visibility
Proactive support and advice
With endpoint management tools, IT teams can track exactly which apps are being used by which employee, their locations, the devices themselves, and even how much bandwidth is being used. Full visibility can even enable teams to prevent problems before they happen.
Security and compliance
Each device, or endpoint connecting to your network becomes a potential entry point into your IT infrastructure. With a high volume of data movement and applications interacting with these endpoints, businesses run the risk of security breaches. Endpoint monitoring can automatically create alerts when a device is at risk.
Configuration and compatibility
While some of the devices in your network may be compatible, others may not integrate with certain platforms. You may have devices that worked perfectly well until you introduced another platform – or alternatively one endpoint user may have added a new device which hasn’t been configured correctly. This all leads to limited functionality and reduced productivity. A vendor agnostic monitoring and troubleshooting tool can find exactly where these anomalies are, and how to fix them.
Data collection for inventory management
Better insights into your collaboration environment allow businesses to effectively manage device inventory and usage. With a vendor agnostic performance management tool, you can customise data and analytics to identify voice, video, network or device issues. You’ll also know automatically when updates are needed for firmware, as well as identifying which devices are certified, to prevent call quality and security issues.
Maximising business processes and moving forward
With more and more devices being connected to the Internet of Things (IoT), it’s imperative that the number of technology endpoints is properly managed across an organisation. Today, the IoT makes it possible to do things like access operational data from industrial equipment – or download bio-digital data from sensors worn by individuals. Enterprises need to consider how to incorporate every new device and its application into their endpoint management strategy.
With the valuable data and insights provided through monitoring and performance management tools, businesses can enhance and grow their operations locally and even globally.
The most important aspects of any endpoint management strategy are agility, constant evaluation, optimisation and improvement.
With the ongoing introduction of new devices and technologies and changing trends in the workplace, it’s imperative for organisations to implement comprehensive performance management tools. The data and analytics they reveal about users and their devices – and the ways in which they integrate will help to streamline work-related tasks as well as overall productivity.
The modern world relies on a complex array of technologies to keep turning. IR’s aim is to simplify that complexity. More than 1,000 organizations in over 60 countries rely on IR’s experience management solutions to optimize their business-critical systems. We provide insights, monitoring and support to keep payment hubs, unified communications ecosystems and contact centers running as they should. Visit IR for guidance on performance management tools.
This article was originally published on UC Today on September 7, 2020.
