Although mobile unified communications (UC) solutions can give organisations a solid return on investment, many enterprises still see the platform as simply a 'nice to have', and not critical to their business.
According to a Gartner study last month, the technology to support mobile devices onto enterprise systems is widely available, but only a small percentage of companies are deploying it. The research firm expects that mobile integration will happen as UC platforms that support mobile UC are deployed.
“By 2016, 75% of mobile UC solutions will be integrated into the enterprise telephony infrastructure,” notes Phillip Redman, Gartner's research VP.
According to Frost & Sullivan, low awareness of the soft return on instant messaging applications, as well as limited interoperability of different vendor products, are proving challenging to UC vendors.
Analysis from the firm last month, in a report titled: “An Overview of the Enterprise Instant Messaging Market in SA”, finds that the market earned revenues of $1.7 million in 2010, and estimates this to reach $10.3 million in 2017.
Bennie Langenhoven, managing executive at Tellumat Communication Solutions, urges local organisations to change their perceptions on mobile UC solutions. He argues that with the high cost of communications in SA, there is a very appealing business case for mobile UC.
“With providers of enterprise-class WiFi solutions and the workforce becoming more and more mobile, linked to SA's traffic problems, mobile UC has a very rosy future,” says Langenhoven.
Rob Lith, director of Connection Telecom, also calls on local organisations to embrace mobility by investing in a converged communications solution.
“It doesn't matter much what role your employee fulfils, or what level he or she operates at anymore. Chances are they will have a mobile device capable of handling remote access and cost-effective IP communications, and that, at some point, it will make sense for them to use it, at home or at work,” he says.
Langenhoven believes that when employees are off-site, it is still possible to do seamless call routing and presence management, with the same impact on productivity and customer satisfaction. The result is a more flexible workforce, he adds.
“With more workers being mobile, organisations consequently require less office space, and can make more use of concepts such as 'hot-desking' when employees are on-site. This results in a further positive impact on the bottom line.”
He also explains that by making use of mobile technology, organisations can not only manage their mobile workers' communication, but also simultaneously receive a significant cost benefit. “It then becomes very easy to separate private and business calls, even if the individual uses their own mobile device.”
The second consideration is that of office workers who spend most of their time at work, but are often away from their desks, notes Langenhoven. “The result of this is that they are not contactable by their peers, supervisors or even customers.
“Typically, they are then contacted on their cellular phones, even though [they are] in the building, which has a significant cost attached to it. Mobility solutions will result in a significant cost-saving for the company, and an increase in customer satisfaction.”
However, Langenhoven notes that mobile UC also poses challenges to enterprises. “One of the major challenges for organisations is the mere number of possible mobile devices out there in the marketplace.
“It is virtually impossible for organisations to standardise on a specific model. The choice of mobility solution should therefore cater for as many platforms as possible, with Apple, Android and BlackBerry among the major ones.”
With mobile devices, he explains, employees have a lot of flexibility and functionality. “It is therefore necessary for organisations to look at usage policies, rather than to try and restrict certain services or functions, for example access to social media,” he concludes.
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