Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway is hoping that Microsoft's telephony software can help it replace its aging phone system. But it also hopes the software might help it replace another asset that's getting older: its workforce.
About 40 percent of the company's workers will become eligible for retirement in the next few years. BNSF is hoping that by adding tools like unified communications, it can help attract workers who have grown up with tools like instant messaging and video conferencing.
"We've got to attract and recruit that next generation of workers," said Gary Grissum, BNSF's assistant vice president of telecom. "That's the way they communicate. They expect that same type of communication in a business environment."
Just how much that helps recruitment remains to be seen.
Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway sees Microsoft's telephony software as a way to get younger workers to hop on the company train.
(Credit: BNSF)In any case, it's a nice win for Microsoft, which was up against competing products from Cisco and IBM that had also been tested by BNSF. For several years now, Microsoft has been trying to expand its corporate presence from the desktop to the phone. The company took its corporate instant messaging product and transformed it into one that can handle phone calls as well.
BNSF has been piloting Microsoft's software with about 700 workers in its tech unit since December. Next month, it plans to expand to 1,000 workers, including its top executives, with plans to go to 15,000 workers by year's end.
Microsoft almost didn't get the railway deal. "We looked really hard at Cisco," Grissum said. "We are a Cisco shop from a network infrastructure side."
Cisco is still ahead when it comes to telephony features, Grissum said, but, in the end, it was the PC software experience that sealed the deal for Microsoft.
"Microsoft owns the desktop," Grissum said.
Heading into the project, Grissum imagined that the toughest part would be convincing the company's workers--many of whom have been at the company for 20, 30, or even 40 years--to embrace the technology.
"What we found was just the opposite," he said. "The biggest challenge has been managing demand."
Although the early pilot was supposed to focus on just those in the technology services unit, about 100 people outside that group have managed to get in on the trial.
BNSF isn't throwing away its desktop phones. For now, it will add Microsoft's PC-based "soft phones" as an option in addition to using standard handsets.
"At this point Microsoft doesn't have al the features we need," he said. "We're not replacing phones right now...As Microsoft moves to 'Wave 14' (the next version of Office), we'll look hard at the Microsoft solution."
Down the road, the company is also thinking about trying to expand into intra-company social networking using SharePoint. "We just have to get our head around how to incorporate that," Grissum said. "As soon as we get the first wave of unified communications out of the way we are going to take a hard look at that and what we do."
Microsoft's RoundTable has found a white knight.
The software maker will stop selling the Microsoft Research-developed panoramic video camera. Instead, Microsoft said this week, it will license the Webcam technology to teleconference gear maker Polycom, which will take over sales of the device.
Microsoft plans to stop selling its RoundTable Webcam. Instead, Microsoft will transfer the technology to Polycom, which will sell the product under its brand.
(Credit: Microsoft)It's unclear whether Microsoft will get a lump sum payment or receive per-unit royalties. It's also unclear how it will be compensated for the technology.
"Microsoft and Polycom are not discussing the financial terms of the deal, but profit is not the focus for Microsoft in distributing the RoundTable device," the company said in a statement to CNET News. "Microsoft RoundTable was developed by Microsoft Research over five years ago and broadening the availability of the product, and the relevant IP, has always been a part of Microsoft's (Unified Communications) strategy for the device. With a global leader such as Polycom, RoundTable will now be available to more people in more countries with strong support options."
Originally developed as RingCam, the panoramic Webcam made frequent appearances in Microsoft Research demonstrations. Microsoft launched RoundTable commercially in October 2007, but will stop selling it next month, once Polycom starts selling its version, dubbed the Polycom CX5000. It will carry a list price of $4,300 in the U.S. and be sold in 27 countries, the companies said. Microsoft will support the devices it has sold, while Polycom will provide front-line support for the units it sells.
While Microsoft is not making major changes to its businesses, the company has been trimming its product lines at the edges. Among the changes announced in recent weeks, Microsoft is planning to shutter Encarta and is scrapping plans for a Web analytics program that had been in beta. The company is also discontinuing a standalone business intelligence product and is halting its paid Windows Live OneCare antivirus program.
As part of its push into business telephony, Microsoft said Tuesday it is investing in Aspect Software, whose technology is used to run large call centers. Aspect, in turn, will make sure its software works with Microsoft's unified communications products.
"A key pillar of Microsoft's unified communications vision is improving access to the people and information you need to do your job better and more quickly, and with Aspect, we are making this vision a reality for contact centers," said Gurdeep Singh Pall, corporate vice president at Microsoft, in a statement.
Later this year, Aspect plans to release a new version of its software that works with Microsoft's Office Communications Server 2007.
Microsoft is counting on telephony to be one of the biggest growth areas in its business division, the part of the company that includes Office.
- prev
- 1
- next
