We hear about convergence, unified networks, unified messaging, unified communications, all-media contact centres, mobility - all these terms mean nothing if the communication and information they bring does not add value to the enterprise.
Gartner predicts that managing the channels of communication will be the biggest challenge to the enterprise in 2002.
The major benefit of UC is not to cut costs, but to improve communication responsiveness for both customers and internal people.
Deon Scheepers, Technology Solutions Director, ATIO Corporation
But why do we need to manage these channels of communication? With an overload of information in the form of messages - voicemail, e-mail, fax, SMS and a continuously growing list, the average employee can spend two to three hours a day just reading, listening and responding to messages. And the affect on productivity can be disastrous.
Individual message management is rapidly becoming a chore that erodes personal productivity. The high volume of relatively unimportant or unnecessary e-mail, voice mail or other media is making it essential for users to exploit other means for effective communications, including urgent message notification, delivery and connections for real-time telephone voice conversations.
The advent of unified communications technology brings us closer to managing this information overload. I believe potential users must make sure they understand the difference between unified messaging (UM) and unified communication (UC). UM provides the user access via a single interface to voicemail, fax and e-mail messages from his/her desktop, telephone or any remote device that is network or Internet connected.
UC provides the basic building blocks of a "personal communications portal", the next generation of personal communications management. In addition to all the features provided by the UM solutions of today, UC also provides a personal assistant feature to help with call screening and message filtering. This enables the individual to customise his/her inbox and control the voice, fax, e-mail, text-messages and other information media.
UC delivers a complex set of multimedia and cross-media features and functions that support all aspects of an individual`s needs for controlling both real-time and messaging communications as both an originator or a recipient of contacts and information delivery
The explosive growth in UM, a subset of UC, as predicted by research companies, will provide strong support for migration of organisations to full UC solutions. Ovum forecasts 25 million UM mailboxes worldwide by 2003 and 170 million UM mailboxes worldwide by 2006.
Ovum also forecasts worldwide subscription revenues on UM and UC will rise from $0.5 billion in 2001 to $13 billion in 2006, and that additional revenues will rise over the same period from $0.7 billion to $18 billion.
By 2002, UM will be a standard service on all mobile networks and 50% of US companies have or are in the process of installing UM solutions.
Countries with high mobile phone usage and adoption like SA will be early adopters of this technology and take up a large portion of the world UM and UC market share.
The increase in mobile and Internet users, and growth in wireless telephones and PDAs for both business and consumers bodes well for the future demand for UC. Wireless mobility is seen as the strongest driver for converged unified communications as information workers are increasing rapidly and are no longer bound to a single desk location. Sales people will be one of the biggest users of UC technology.
But all the growth statistics mean very little unless there is a real benefit to business. I believe the business benefits of UC to be the following:
- . More effective customer service: Improved management of contacts, messages and information will improve the response to the customer, reducing frustration and creating customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- . Increased competitive advantage: New and enhanced collaboration tools allow your business to make decisions quicker, boosting the impact on new ideas.
- . Enhance productivity of key talent: Top producers - sales, service, managers, and knowledge workers - are linked more effectively into the business and can be productive in any setting or location.
- . Costs: Savings in operational and admin costs. Although this is still a developing technology, early successes show return on investment within 12 months of implementing UC technology.
To me, the major benefit of UC is not to cut costs, but to improve communication responsiveness for both customers and internal people.
Organisational demands, such as integration with legacy systems, open standards, reduced transaction costs, reduced capital outlays and the utilisation of existing hardware, that are not solved or addressed fast enough by product suppliers could have an affect on the readiness and the pace of deployment of UC technology.
Various other market realities, such as the general economic slowdown, decrease in corporate IT spending and the rand vs dollar exchange rate, are also impacting UC deployment and will be closely monitored by vendors and players in the industry.
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