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Keywords
Communications, Technologies led strategy
Abstract
The proliferation of personal information devices such as home computers, mobile phones and digital organizers coupled with the rise of new mediums such as e-mail and the World wide web have forever altered the way in which information consumers work and play. These fragmented information channels often result in inefficient working patterns as users switch from device to device and between media. The convergence of the analog and digital infrastructure has facilitated the introduction of new technologies and information products. Loosely termed "unified communications" or "unified messaging", these new information technologies begin to address the technical challenges of convergence. However, in a nascent state, the introduction of new technology can create new challenges as information consumers must change the way they work and potentially break bad information-seeking habits. This article details the conceptual and technical issues around integrated communications. For the forward thinking researcher or practitioner these challenges can create significant opportunity.
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Introduction
With enhanced communications systems, many business people are inundated with messages and documents across multiple communication points. It is common for a single person to have a cell phone, laptop, blackberry/personal digital assistant (PDA), work PC, home PC and several e-mail accounts. Table I shows some of the staggering statistics regarding the proliferation of devices, of messaging and the volume of messages. The organization and management of messages and documents are not only cumbersome in its current state, but are difficult to streamline and consolidate both conceptually and technically. These difficulties are highlighted by the imperfect nature of "unified messaging" (UM) or "unified communications" (UC) solutions.
A brief search of the Web for "unified communications" gives little insight into the complexities of developing a revolutionary new product. The first question that comes to mind is "what is unified communications?" The second question is "what does unified communications mean for the normal business person?" It does not matter to most people that voice, e-mail and text messages travel through multiple networks and incorporate different protocols. Most people just want to make sure that they get notified of important messages...