What is your burning desire for your phone system?

Stephen Elop, the CEO at Nokia has issued a startling rallying call to his employees. In a leaked memo, he pulled no punches as he described the current state of Nokia. Comparing the company to a man standing on a burning platform, Stephen said that Nokia has been fanning the flames of its own downfall rather than leaping in a new direction to recoup market share.

Nokia has long been known as a brand of quality and has a loyal following. However, it has slipped behind the trend in recent years with companies such as Apple taking the high tech innovative route whilst Chinese manufacturers are capturing the mass market.

One key paragraph in the memo will ring true for many companies. Stephen Elop said that while many competitors were pouring flames on the Nokia market share, Nokia “fell behind, we missed big trends, and we lost time. At that time, we thought we were making the right decisions; but, with the benefit of hindsight, we now find ourselves years behind”.

How many companies suffering under the recession could look back and not honestly say the same about their own product lines or some of their processes. With the pace of change over the last decade it is too easy to slip behind almost without knowing it and this is particularly so when looking at communications and telephone systems.

Long thought of as one of the most indispensible areas of setting up and running a business, once phone communications are in place they tend to be ignored as long as they are working. This means that many businesses are working with telephone systems that are well out of date. The advent of VoIP communications, virtual switchboards and caller routing has opened up the possibilities of using telephone systems to smooth processes and drive business forward. Talking cheaply or for free to any point in the world has opened up communication possibilities that just weren’t around a few years ago.

With even small businesses now being able to benefit from quite complex telephone processes thanks to virtual switchboards, they are increasingly competing on a much more level playing field with larger companies. Those who fail to step up to the new telephony mark will find themselves falling behind in business communications. Perhaps the Nokia rallying call should be a call to all of us.