Businesses in various industries and of all sizes are recognizing the value of VoIP and UC. And, as a result, VoIP systems are being implemented at a record pace. Many are seeing great benefits from cost savings and feature enhancement to the efficiency of a single network. However, there is more to the VoIP value proposition. The complete value in VoIP can be the result of seamlessly integrating a range of communications vehicles into a converged application, often referred to as Unified Communications (UC).
VoIP adoption makes it much easier for companies to implement UC, and coincidentally the need for UC is driving the adoption of VoIP. You don’t necessarily need VoIP to implement UC, but VoIP does make it much easier and less cumbersome, and it simply makes sense. It’s a synergistic partnership!
According to UCStrategies, UC is “communications integrated to optimize business processes.” UC integrates of real-time communication services such as chat, presence, telephony, video conferencing, data sharing, call control and speech recognition with non-real-time communication services such as voicemail, e-mail, SMS and fax.
This is the foundation of unified communications–a single platform that manages all communication vehicles, not just voice. It eliminates disparate systems for varied forms of communication, while facilitating interconnection between departmental teams. Companies that depend on frequent communications with external constituents (namely vendors, partners and customers) will benefit greatly even with standard features. By simplifying work life, small- to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) will see productivity gains out of their workforce.
UC can be very encompassing and is not necessarily a single product, but a set of products that provides a cohesive user interface and user experience across numerous devices and media types. A consultant is recommended to help design and implement a system suited to your specific business requirements. Contact us.
