Unified Communications shouldn’t just be another buzz phrase you don’t fully understand; instead, it should be in your business strategy, spoken about in the board room, and appreciated for what it really is – arguably the most revolutionary development in the way we work and converse this side of 2012.
Due to the fact at our company we are currently combining our web and audio conferencing capabilities with a new video conferencing offer, we thought it great timing to take you through some interesting facts and figures regarding all things UC.
Speaking ahead of London’s Unified Communications Expo in March, event organiser Hugh Keeble said that by investing in UC systems, businesses can take advantage of synergised communications systems that boost efficiency. “Unified communications allows organisations to do business wherever they are, by bringing fixed, mobile and desktop communications together,” he said. “This is particularly important in the current economic climate”, he added, “with many companies looking to invest in systems that facilitate new working practices to improve cost-effectiveness”
According to Wikipedia, Unified communications can be defined as “the integration of real-time communication services such as instant messaging (chat), presence information, telephony (including IP telephony), video conferencing, data sharing (including web connected electronic whiteboards aka IWB’s or Interactive White Boards), call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as unified messaging (integrated voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax). UC is not necessarily a single product, but a set of products that provides a consistent unified user interface and user experience across multiple devices and media types. There have been attempts at creating a single product solution however the most popular solution is dependent on multiple products.”
And whilst the above is currently true, there are many companies trying to combine all these tools to provide a fully functional one-stop solution. With demand rising, the top driver for adoption, according to a recent Unified Communications Survey [conducted by Information Week 2012] was ‘Improving employee collaboration’ (54%). That said, ‘improving employee efficiency’ was close behind with 42%, as was ‘improving communications with customers’ (33%) and the ambition to ‘create a more mobile workforce’ (32%).
It was surprising that the reasoning to ‘reduce operation expenditure’ only clocked up 20%and the ‘reduction of travel expenses’ only amassed a similarly low 13%. However, the fact that the significant carbon footprint reduction didn’t even register with people is what really surprised of. If you want to see how much you can save, it’s definitely worth checking out our ‘Business Carbon Footprint Calculator’.
What didn’t surprise us is the fact people intended to use UC to better improve communications with their customers. As it stands today, the top communication methods for connecting with customers, suppliers and partners include, Email (91%), Voice [phone] (88%), In-person visit to customer site (38%), Video conferencing (16%), Contact centre (inbound or outbound) – 15%, IM (14%);and last but not least, social Media, with a mere 3%. We will absolutely try and find and deliver these figures to you in a years’ time, as we expect them to be very, very different. [clue: imagine a see-saw]
Despite the fact that some of these technologies can be expensive, it seems the main reason for companies not using UC remains ‘they are focussing on existing projects’. In another recent survey it proved existing projects and the fact many companies ‘fear lack of house expertise’ were still sadly identified as major hurdles to quicker full scale adoption.
Last year Kevin Kieller spent several thousand words on No Jitter describing his approach to selecting the right solution: The Goldilocks Approach. That article in itself is essential reading; however, once you selected a solution, the implementation must be well led in order for the overall project to be a success. This prompts us to ask, if you are thinking of implementing a UC solution, who will lead these projects?
UC projects are complex. They are complex technically and often politically. To be successful, UC projects need a strong leader who is willing to gather facts, understand trade-offs and make decisions. This will typically be an I.T Director, or possibly the Marketing Director. That said, many employees are taking the bull by the horns and carving out roles and proposing them to senior management. Roles such as Head of U.C and U.C Director will become increasingly common, and when we last checked, they also pay an awful lot of money. So no matter whether you’re part of the senior management or an aspiring member of the marketing team, be sure to understand the benefits of UC, then go out and show your company what it’s worth. The RIO in terms of costs, productivity and efficiency are all very clear to us. Hopefully they are to you too.
