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Unified communications can improve business processes, save time, make employees more productive
John wants to get in touch with co-worker Mary on a pressing business matter. He shoots her an instant message, but he doesn't get a response. He calls her desk phone and leaves voice mail, then tries her mobile phone. Finally, John sends an e-mail or Short Message Service message in the hope that she'll read it on her mobile device. The result? John was never able to reach Mary, and maybe lost a sale as a result. And Mary now has messages in multiple places that she must retrieve and delete.
The problem isn't that John and Mary lack communication devices. Quite the opposite - they have too many ways of communicating and those methods are not unified.
These disjointed applications make communications more complex, leading to frustration and reduced efficiency. And it's only getting worse. Knowledge workers are increasingly distributed and virtual: working from multiple locations.
Enter unified communications
The answer is unified communications, in which real-time applications are integrated so individuals can manage all their communications together, in both desktop and mobile environments.
Unified communications is certainly moving to the front burner at most companies. According to the 2007 Nemertes benchmark, "Building the Virtual Workplace," 79 of 100 enterprises interviewed were planning to deploy unified communications over the next two years.
And most of the building blocks of a unified communications architecture are already in use at most companies. Ninety-six percent of benchmark participants report the use of at least one tool, such as audio, video, Web conferencing, IM or a presence application.
The challenge for many IT executives is to make the business case for unified communications. This can be tricky because purported productivity benefits can be hard to quantify.
However, business cases do exist. Companies see unified communications as a way to improve internal communications and increase productivity There is the potential for cost savings.
Determining the upfront cost
Implementation expenses for each enterprise will vary based on the capabilities of existing and planned systems. Nemertes has gathered cost information on overall spending on collaboration from organizations that have made investments in unified communications.
The data shows that, on average, enterprises are spending $557 per employee (based...