The majority of South African organisations are investing or plan to invest in effective unified communications (UC) strategies.
This was one of the biggest findings from the recent ITWeb Unified Communications Survey conducted by Telkom Business in partnership with ITWeb. The study ran online for 14 days in March.
It emerged from the survey that 42% of respondents have plans to implement a UC strategy within the next six to 12 months, and only 20% said their organisations do not plan to do this. Meanwhile, 46% stated UC is part of their organisation's top 10 priorities and 15% stated it is in their top three priorities.
Some 47% of respondents plan to implement UC elements within the next one to two years, and 13% within two to five years, the survey found.
"Organisations are able to enjoy the many benefits brought about by successfully implementing unified communications within their business," says Paveshen Govender, senior manager, unified communications at Telkom Business, commenting on the results.
An overwhelming majority of survey respondents (82%) said they believe there are definite benefits brought about by UC, while only 16% are unsure.
"Cost consolidation and rationalisation are two of the benefits brought about by UC within an organisation," Govender comments further. "Service improvement and better overall user experience when using technology for business is another benefit which should be highlighted."
He stresses a more collaborative and agile organisational culture comes into being when a UC strategy is implemented, as well as a reduction in communication barriers. Another beneficial factor of UC is a fast decision-making across functions and business units, he adds.
Top drivers
The survey revealed improved workplace collaboration was the main driver for implementation of UC within organisations (36%); the second main driver was employee productivity and efficiency gains at 27%.
"Organisations that do not embark on the UC journey will most likely struggle to compete in their respective market segments against organisations that have embraced unified communications as a business tool," says Govender.
He explains that companies that embrace UC as a business tool tend to not have communication barriers and enjoy faster decision-making capabilities, which enable them to be more agile.
Some 44% of respondents stated their organisations have a unified communication strategy in place and 38% indicated their organisations do not.
"There is no actual time frame from start to end to implement a unified communications strategy," says Govender.
He believes the most important aspect of implementing a UC strategy is actually having a plan and aligning the benefits achieved at each stage of the implementation process with the desired business objectives.
"The second aspect of implementing an effective and successful UC strategy is to pick a point and start, and not just over-engineer the planning process."
Remaining competitive
Nonetheless, those who indicated they do not have a UC strategy in place revealed their organisation plans to put one in place within the next six to 12 months (42%).
"With the current challenges in the marketplace, it's becoming tougher for organisations to excel or remain competitive. UC can help organisations rationalise costs; consolidate infrastructure; as well as become more collaborative, which leads to a leaner, more agile organisation. This will go a long way to help the organisation to succeeding despite the current challenges," says Govender.
When asked if they prefer a service provider that offers a full end-to-end UC solution, the majority of survey respondents (82%) said yes; only 18% said no.
"The biggest benefit of this is around cost and service consolidation, which will introduce efficiencies in terms of service, process and overall customer experience," Govender explains.
He points out having a single organisation responsible for their full end-to-end UC solution also creates a platform in which convergence can take place and will be easier to achieve. This will deliver a deeper business benefit over time.
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