Don't get me wrong, I think GForce is very important, but I think Genesys turned the concept on its head. It is really a sales seminar for Genesys product. What is worse, most of the times, it is not even useful and does not address the issues at hand or the public that is attending it.
For example, several years ago I went to GExpo and there were several seminars, one focusing on how to sell Genesys to existing customers and another seminar on Genesys SIP ambitions and practical applications.
Well, in Genesys sales seminar, all I heard was "Genesys generates value for you. Our studies have shown that for every dollar in licenses sold, vendors generate ten dollars in revenue." It did not focus on how to sell Genesys, it did not focus on how to package Genesys, it did not even address such thing is how do you get a competitive advantage over Avaya's CMS or Nice!
In SIP seminar, the guy in charge of Engineering was going on about how they think SIP CS will be working, and me and about 200 other attendees had no clue what he is talking about. And we are supposed to be the crop of the crop. (Yes, of course I am shy!:
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Unfortunately, Genesys seminars are not focused on the problem at hand. There is only 10 minutes between seminars, and at the very end, there is a little dinner party, where only selected Genesys guests are invited. Did I rub shoulders with other engineers and users? Quite probably so. While sitting with them at the seminar listening to things that did not mean a thing to me.
Perhaps it is different now in U.S, but Japanese one is way too dysfunctional to even be bothered with.
Here is how I think it should be changed:
1. Genesys event should be offered freely to all of Genesys users and vendors
2. Case Studies should be made public and end-users should be given a chance to present their accomplishment and offer it to scrutiny of others
3. Technical seminars should be just what the title says. Sales seminars should be focused on selling Genesys to others and not to the poor vendors who are present there.
I am seeing a trend where Genesys is no longer a central piece of contact center operations. Ever since Avaya has rolled out their 8720 model and user's dependence on CMS, Genesys has been reduced to a mere popup application. Even URS, touted just a few years back can never be deployed without some sort of PBX routing.
Genesys reporting, even though very colorful, unfortunately, is too complex and primitive at the same time, and cannot be presented to the client without heavy modifications. I think Genesys has failed to understand that users are used to CMS-like reporting, and even though CCP and CCA are two generations ahead, you cannot just have user switch from CMS to CCA and not sratch his/her head in confusion.
CMS-like templates for CCA would have done wonders for CCA sales a few years back.
Genesys' strength is in its flexibility and customization. And it is of great concern that I see how Genesys does not consider all the development companies that probably outnumber vendors 20 to 1 as a major force to be used in both promotion and upsell of its product, instead focusing on the vendors, who, interestingly enough, generate most of their money through sale of PBXs such as Avaya.
Genesys must take the development companies under its wing and nurture them, because I believe that it is a matter of time before PBX makers like Avaya will start offering a popup on its own.
Summer of Code was a great way to get third-parties involved with Google and look at the following that it has generated. And I am perplexed why the same company that was revolutionary in computerizing the call centers worldwide fails to promote this. The developer programs that Genesys offers right now (and interestingly enough, Japan does not have anything close to this) is outdated, under-featured and is too restrictive. Part of GExpo should be not only about promoting Genesys products but Genesys implementations and most importantly Genesys innovations and parties that have done it. And I feel that GExpo is falling way short of it.
Is Genesy expo fun? Yes. But I think it is fun because we ourselves do not have to pay for it - the company does. But would you do it if you had to pay it yourself, I think the answer is a clear "no". And to me, it means a lot.
Look at Asterix convention - people are paying in droves to attend it. And we are talking small business and individuals themselves.
So, obviously, something is broken and if it is not fixed soon, we will hear even more negative comments about this what we would all should be looking forward to event.
