An Internet Protocol-based unified communications (UC) platform can save companies more than 38% on their power consumption, says Interactive Intelligence.
Regional sales director for the UK and Africa Dave Paulding says IP-based UC have a number of benefits for companies to reduce their carbon footprint.
"IP systems spanning multiple sites can decrease a company's power consumption by 38%, depending on the configuration," says Paulding. "Unified communications reduce a company's carbon footprint in two primary ways."
Firstly, by reducing the need to maintain working parts, he says, adding that servers, used with UC, are smaller and, therefore, draw less power and they do not need the additional power supplies and cooling fans as required by legacy systems.
Secondly, UC allows companies to have mobile workforces and this reduces the need for commuting and, inevitably, office space. Interactive Intelligence explains capabilities such as "find-me-follow-me", where office calls are routed to relevant personnel, mean customers calling that employee have no indication he or she is working from home.
Interactive Intelligence says this has two spin-offs. Firstly, a mobile work-from-home approach cuts back on the emissions of employees travelling to and from work. Secondly, enterprises with a sales focus can operate with up to 70% fewer workstations by implementing desk-share schemes.
"At a time in our history when green issues are becoming increasingly pressing, companies are compelled to contribute in a myriad of ways to counter the effects of global warming. Unified communications makes sense both ecologically and economically," says Paulding.
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