As many of you already know, the way business gets done is changing. This is part of a new paradigm shift has taken place over the last two years. I believe that the flash point occurred in 2007 as business communications changed from being primarily centered around separate components (such as voice and e-mail) and shifted towards a converged architecture. Workers today rely much more heavily on multiple forms of information and communication technology (ICT) than any previous working generation.

So what happened in 2007? This is when three separate factors began to collide. Together these factors (business requirements for worker mobility, unified communications and Generation Y started to become agents of change. It’s the combination of these separate factors that has really made change happen. For instance, a trend towards increased business worker mobility had already been in progress for several years (starting in the 1990’s) with the advent of traveling knowledge workers that carried laptops and cell phones. But in 2006 and 2007 unified communications moved out of it’s infancy and started to affect businesses through application and terminal consolidation, while at the same time increasing information access and flow for workers and managers.

The worker mobility and unified communications trends have changed the typical business model forever. If you don’t believe this, look around. How many people are carrying a smartphone? For anyone not familiar with a smartphone, it is the evolution of the PDA and a cell phone. Both elements are combined into one device. This allows the user to stop worrying about managing two separate devices. In addition, many of the smartphones have an integrated IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN interface, music player, and even a camera. This can allow the user to stop managing additional devices. Smartphones also typically provide Internet access and can function as a mini-computer to let users view and modify desktop applications (such as Microsoft Office) which can also eliminate the need for some users to carry a laptop with them.

A third fundamental change is in the attitude and preferences of the newest members of the workforce. Generation Y (also called the Millennial generation) began entering the workforce this decade and are a generation of technically savvy employees that are pushing the existing workplace technology beyond its outdated limits, even if they have to use consumer products because the workplace doesn’t have adequate “business grade” products. For instance, Generation Y is demanding (and getting) the consolidation of multiple functions and terminals into a single, unified device with products like the iPhone. While the iPhone has been more of a consumer product, business versions of smartphone technology exist and are experiencing wide adoption as well. This is not just a trend but rather a paradigm shift that will continue for years as the latest generation enters the workplace.

Products such as the smartphone and applications such as unified communications are being embraced by the business world. In my opinion, these communication trends have initiated a transformation that will reshape business processes and transactions for years to come.

Keith Bromley is a subject matter expert on unified communications, IP telephony, SIP, optical, wireless and wireline infrastructure. He has held various technical and marketing roles with various national and international telecommunications companies including NEC, Metro-Optix, Cisco Systems, DSC and Ericsson. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and has authored more than 15 industry whitepapers and made more than 20 public presentations covering topics on IP telephony drivers, SIP, unified communications, as well as discussions around ROI and TCO for IP telephony solutions.

With the filing of Chapter 11 bankruptcy for General Motors on June 1 and the federal government taking an even larger share in the financial ownership of GM, an era has passed. The behemoth is dead. Nortel is another example of a once wildly successful business that has gone so wrong in the last several years and ended up in bankruptcy. Even if both of these companies survive their Chapter 11 reorganizations, they will look far different from the giants of the past.

The real question is, “Have we (and business leaders) learned our lesson?” Are the rest of the businesses in America seriously looking at why GM and Nortel failed? How many more businesses are ready for bankruptcy?

While I’m sure everybody will look at the GM demise with different viewpoints, I hope we can all see some of the same lessons. The first major lesson is that business environments change and businesses have to change with it. What worked 50 years ago almost assuredly doesn’t work now. In this case, GM never changed enough to match the economic conditions. As a result, other manufacturers used more agile business processes to deliver the products that customers wanted better and faster. One example would be Toyota and how they shifted away from the assembly line process to what they call “The Toyota Way” — essentially the forerunner of the Six Sigma process management concept where teams are organized into cells rather than using an assembly line process. GM tried to incorporate some of this as part of their “Global Manufacturing Process,” especially in some of the plants they used in Germany, China and Argentina, but it hasn’t been enough to keep up with the competition. Don’t get me wrong. I think the assembly line process has its place and it was a revolutionary technology for Henry Ford — but that was also almost 100 years ago. Again, the market changes and we (people and businesses) must “adapt or die” as Darwin would say.

Lesson 2 is that relying on a partisan protectionism customer sentiment no longer works. One of the marketing factors that American manufacturers have used in the past was that consumers would always buy American, no matter what product quality was delivered, or at what cost, or how many jobs the manufacturers shipped overseas. Again, this philosophy did have its place, even through the 1990s, but then a paradigm shift occurred. To keep revenue and profits up, U.S. companies started to embrace a global economy concept. Offshoring increased in the 1990s which created dependence on foreign countries, not just for labor and manufacturing goods but also for customers. This theoretically had the benefit of making products cheaper, but it also sent consumer paychecks abroad and gave domestic workers less money to spend on buying U.S. made products.

Hence the economic rise of India and China. These countries had a gross domestic product (GDP) of 4.9 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively, in 1990. Now, the GDP growth rate is 9 percent for both India and China as of 2008. Even with the economic recession, China’s GDP has still grown 6.1 percent in the first quarter of 2009. In contrast, the U.S. GDP growth rate for 2008 was 1.1 percent in 2008 and was approximately -3.2 percent in the first quarter of 2009. Brazil and Russia have also increased in economic status in the last several years. Businesses must understand that there is now a global economy for manufactured products and that even the services sector of the American economy has some competitive risk from abroad.

A third lesson for businesses is that they need to focus on the business. Trying to appease Wall Street and shareholders can be a very bad mistake. In my opinion, Wall Street especially is only interested in short-term gains and focuses less on the long-term economic stability of the business. The economic collapse of 2008 should provide more than enough lessons as to how poor an idea it is to focus on this “Wall Street as a customer” sentiment. Business owners and management have a larger responsibility to the company and employees to properly manage businesses by reinvesting in the business and making tough decisions, like not laying off the work force just to appease Wall Street so that the stock price will rise a few dollars for the quarter or so that management can receive higher bonuses. However, this subject leads to a much longer discussion on loyalty so I’ll stop my self short of going down that long and winding road.

I think there are many other lessons to be learned from GM, Nortel, Lehman Brothers Holdings, Chrysler and Washington Mutual as well, but these are at least three “low hanging” lessons that we can grab onto.

Keith Bromley is a subject matter expert on unified communications, IP telephony, SIP, optical, wireless and wireline infrastructure. He has held various technical and marketing roles with various national and international telecommunications companies including NEC, Metro-Optix, Cisco Systems, DSC and Ericsson. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and has authored more than 15 industry whitepapers and made more than 20 public presentations covering topics on IP telephony drivers, SIP, unified communications, as well as discussions around ROI and TCO for IP telephony solutions.

If you are like most people, you’ve scoffed at the notion of a pandemic and any impact it would have on you. Unfortunately, several people have now been directly affected by the N1H1 influenza pandemic. Most of the affected people have not been infected with the virus, but other related effects such as to what to do with your children when all of the schools close. For instance, the Fort Worth, Texas , school district made a decision to close all schools within the district for at least one week. This decision (and other school closings across the country) leaves parents wondering how to take care of their children and keep working at the same time. While some people have ample sick time, others don’t, or they have to use vacation time to cover the absence. Taking the time off assumes there are no important work deadlines looming. For some parents, they simply can’t take time off.

For several businesses and government agencies, this is the perfect time to dust off business continuity plans and teleworking plans. Teleworking, also called telecommuting, allows employees to use a computer (typically a laptop) and communication equipment (typically an IP phone, softphone or videophone) to connect to the corporate network and access most, if not all, company software, databases and communications. If teleworking is an option, it could be a perfect solution to the flu (or other Illness) outbreaks. Employees can work from home while still taking care of family members, whether the family members are sick or not.

Teleworking should also be a part of disaster recovery planning for government agencies. The overall number of federal teleworkers declined in 2007 by 15,949 from 2006 levels. This is approximately a 14.4 percent reduction. 2008 numbers are not out yet to see if this downward trend has continued. Hopefully, the 2008 report will show an increase in teleworking since the fuel crisis that happened last year. If not, then maybe the N1H1 pandemic will provide enough justification to the approximately 40 percent of government agencies (according to the 2008 Status of Telework in the Federal Government Report to the Congress) that do not support teleworking plans for business continuity. If you are interested in more information on federal teleworking then check out www.telework.gov.

In the end, if businesses and federal agencies aren’t properly reviewing their disaster recovery plans, they may face serious financial repercussions from that lack of vigilance. In addition, the ARRA stimulus plan passed earlier this year provides a window of opportunity that can provide tax incentives for companies that invest in technology solutions this year.

Keith Bromley is a subject matter expert on unified communications, IP telephony, SIP, optical, wireless and wireline infrastructure. He has held various technical and marketing roles with various national and international telecommunications companies including NEC, Metro-Optix, Cisco Systems, DSC and Ericsson. He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and has authored more than 15 industry whitepapers and made more than 20 public presentations covering topics on IP telephony drivers, SIP, unified communications, as well as discussions around ROI and TCO for IP telephony solutions.