Time to Embrace UC

The bad times are back again. The dreaded 'R' word is reverberating around in

economies across the globe. How long will the current recession last and how

much would it hurt is anybody's guess. However, it brings with it the need to

redefine the way corporates function. So, what you'll see in the next few months

is companies innovating ways and means to cut costs and prune their production

efficiencies. This would translate into more and more companies willing to adopt

technologies and solutions that are cost-effective in the long run. Some of

these could have been gathering dust in conference rooms for years due to lousy

implementations or simply because people have been to busy to try and work

differently! We've described UC many a time in past and also discussed how you

can implement it in your organization. You might want to read all about it again

at http://pcquest.com.

As the name suggests, the technology provides seamless communication amongst

users regardless of the device they are using at a point of time. For instance,

if you're not in office and carrying a cell phone, and want to reach out to a

colleague; you need not first figure out or make a guess as to what device he

has at that moment. Just go ahead and call him or send an SMS, email-whatever

you want and the task of routing the call or the message would be carried out by

the UC equipment, with a Presence server that finds out the communication device

the other person has access to at a given instance. So if the called party is

working on a notebook and does not have access to a UC device and therefore,

cannot listen to your call, he'll still be alerted about your call. A similar

process is carried out to deliver SMSes anytime, anywhere.

One can set up conference calls: audio or video, at any point of time

regardless of the equipment installed at the other end. Also, you could share

and modify presentations through the use of interactive whiteboards.

With a slowing economy, unified communications could become a major source of

savings for enterprises trying to cut costs. The most tangible benefit of a UC

solution that comes to mind immediately is in saving travel costs for meetings.

Here's a breakdown of scenarios where UC can help trim costs:

1) Reduced air travel: Organizations could look at using audio or

video conferencing more than ever before to save travel costs. For those finicky

about conference quality, there's Telepresence to provide a life-like meeting

experience.



2) Lower cell phone bills: Fixed-mobile convergence (FMC) networks are
maturing rapidly to provide seamless handshake between cellular and fixed

telephony networks. An executive using a dual-mode phone (hybrid between mobile

and VoIP phone) could enter the company's IP PBX network through WiFi or WiMAX

as soon as he enters its premises or vice-versa and thus reduce mobile bills.





3) UC for niche businesses: Call centers have been some of the earliest
adopters of unified communications due to the volumes of communications they

carry out daily. Similarly, other businesses or departments that are heavy

callers could embrace unified communications to save time and cut costs.



4) Cheaper ISD/STD calls: A no-brainer when it comes to long term
benefits. Most companies have placed a gag on using landlines for such calls and

instead encourage employees to use IP telephony.



5) Open Source UC solutions: For enterprises already using UC equipment,
switching over to open source solutions such as Asterix IP PBX instead of old

PBX makes sense.



6) Consolidated networks: A switch to UC means consolidation of different
communication networks, which in the long run means lesser hassles in management

and lesser overheads, even though it could be a CIOs nightmare to set one up!