Alcatel-Lucent pushes the Dynamic Enterprise

Alcatel-Lucent is looking at new ways of unlocking knowledge

Alcatel-Lucent is pushing the 'Dynamic Enterprise' at its annual enterprise forum in Paris, focusing on the increasing complexity of network management and unified communications.

Chief executive Pat Russo said during a presentation that Alcatel-Lucent is looking at new ways of unlocking the knowledge trapped in disparate parts of every company and employee.

Steven Shepard, founder of Shepard Communications Group, and master of ceremonies at the presentation, quoted former HP chief executive Lou Platt as saying: "If HP knew what HP knows it would be three times more powerful."

A primary inhibitor to effective business is knowledge and expertise being trapped in certain key employees and processes, according to Russo.

Alcatel-Lucent is focusing heavily on the transformation of the network, services and business to help "use the knowledge that already exists in companies to best effect".

A range of new products and services aims to provide more integrated community-based collaboration within an organisation as well as with customers and providers.

Tom Burns, head of Alcatel-Lucent's enterprise business group, said that the rise of web 2.0 is having an increasing impact on businesses, and that these technologies can be harnessed to help rather than hinder communication within a company.

Burns talked of a new generation of employees, dubbed Millennials, who are placing new demands on the company infrastructure with the expectation of being always connected and being provided with flexible working options.

These new business drivers are placing new mandates on chief executives, moving them from a traditional back-office role to the forefront of decision making.

Alcatel-Lucent also highlighted a strong push towards enhanced, tightly integrated and simple security as a fundamental aspect of all communications, encompassing network hardware right through to the knowledge that is stored and transmitted.

The new strategy is to cater for a much broader range of communication technologies, including tightly integrated security and catering for the needs of specific markets and industries.

A recent report by analyst firm Frost & Sullivan suggested that companies implementing unified communications see a 35 per cent boost in employee productivity.