So...is "Unified Communications" relevant to your business?
Posted Fri Nov 7 00:00:00 2008 - 1 comment
1.
Baroni Limited
Mon Feb 23 14:12:23 2009
GMT
Not quite the grasp on UC. UC is part of a convergence roadmap, the first is the infrastructure such as MPLS and IPVPN, etc all being common IP based rather than platform specific. Then UM to integrate the core messaging application such as vMail, eMail, fax, IM, etc. thus making the art of cummincation simpler. No fiddling with multiple applications, tools and stuff, and then UC. UC is the next stage of the journey by which other applications integrate in to the services, such as IPT (IP telephoney), Active Directory (one place for registration), Presence (knowing who is available, when and how they can be contacted at any specidfic time), and so on. the next stages are full integration in to core applications such as Excel and word, and many other exciting things.
Does UC have a business application. Yes, certainly does, but does it have a good ROI, unlikely. There is no question of the improved ability to communicate effectivley (60% of all phoine calls end in a vMail message), reducing hops to communicate and delays, must have an impact, but on its own without the roadmap it is realy a solution looking for a problem. There is little chance of an ROI model actually stacking up on its own. you need the bigger picture.
The move to hosted, virtual technology is part of the roadmap, and has been part of our conversation for many years: terminal services (1970s and 80s), ASP of 1990s (too soon) and now SaaS. This return to terminal type services stems for the superb infrastructure we have available, security issues and the greater need to share information. There is no question that companies like Steam Software who have been building and delivering such solutions since the ASP model are ahead of the game by some considerable way, but most IT Directors today still do not understand the significance of the technology revolution and are still buying expensive traditional technologies.
I see an exciting furter for companies like SSW in integration of their application with the Exchange type applications/services of the likes of Cisco and MS. If the Active Directory, Presence, IM, RSS capabilities were all integrated with SSW's Business builder, this would be by far a most significant proposition.
Name & email are optional. (Email addresses will not be displayed).
Name: Email:
Comments: (Do not enter links as these will not be posted)
