Implement Unified Communications…Successfully
By: DreamWorld Solutions
Communication in any enterprise is one of the most important factors of success. It is what makes the wheels of commerce turn. Innovative communication processes add value to every business transaction. Customers, partners and internal players all enjoy added benefits from smooth, intelligent communication. The need for better communication processes has spurred the growth of different types of communication tools. The reality of today’s business world is that transactions and operations are becoming increasingly technology dependent. This means that businesses are not confined to one physical location. Instead, they are dispersed in multiple locations geographically and in cyberspace. This can lead to multiple conflicts in communications that would not exist in a face to face environment. Overcoming these limitations is one of the key drivers behind unified communication systems. The other two factors pushing unified communications are the scarcity of resources and the need to become more cost efficient. In order to make business communication more effective and efficient both technologically and cost wise, many companies are putting Unified Communication solutions into practice.
Unified Communications Reviewed
Unified Communication (UC) is a technological architecture in which all communication tools are integrated. This gives businesses and individuals the ability to manage all their communications in one single entity instead of dealing with all their communication tools separately. By implementing a unified communication system, businesses have the opportunity to add intelligence throughout the enterprise. Unified communication also decreases the gap between VoIP and other computer related communication technologies.
The benefits of a unified communication system to an organization can be countless. One of the major benefits is more control over important features like presence and single reach. Businesses then become more efficient through reduced costs, increased productivity, accelerated response to customers and business issues, and sustainable strategic advantage. In these tight economic times, the many advantages of a unified communication system make it a good investment for companies looking to save on costs while maintaining or improving quality. Unified Communications delivers the benefits of IT and telephony integration by making available any resource or business process to anyone. This means access anytime, anywhere, from any network and any interface including PC, phone or mobile devices.
The most common features of a unified communication system in today’s business environment include:
Unified messaging and multimedia services – This feature allows voice communication in all formats like voicemail, email, fax and multimedia elements including pictures, animations to be sent and received from one point. It also facilitates real time communications between employees, customers and other stake holders. This feature also provides immediate processing of commands like conferencing, call screening, instant messaging and paging.
Data Services - This feature involves the delivery of information like web data and online services.
Transaction – This feature allows access to any transaction made online through the web, e-commerce, or online banking.
Implementation
Before a business can establish a Unified Communication plan, it needs to consider some major points. First, a company must decide if it wants to implement the change on their own or with support of professional services. Service providers have experience and can help a business in the planning, deployment and ongoing management of a unified communication system. The business also needs to have an advanced IP network. Investing in an enterprise IP network is a must because this is the back bone for a unified communication system. A Unified Communication system utilizes the robust capabilities of your IP infrastructure to bring about the many efficient and cost savings processes. When adding an IP network, a business must make sure that they have future growth in mind. An effective and successful unified communication system is one that is based on a flexible and scalable IP network. Identify potential network equipment and application gaps and see how your new system will address these concerns. Don’t forget about your staff because these are the people who will be using the system the most and stand to gain the most from it. Identify the demand for the training of personnel. Skill assessments of your existing technical staff are also a must because they will be the ones responsible for keeping things running smoothly.
The enterprise should also remember to align their technology with their business goals. This will help greatly in purchasing decisions. All purchases should be made to enhance and maximize the impact of unified communication in current business processes. Always remember that the purpose of unified communication in any business is to create synergy in the existing setup. Establish benchmarks so you can track your progress.
Before the implementation of a unified communication system, a complete and comprehensive roadmap should be created. This road map should include cost of implementation, objectives and technology briefings. This detailed implementation plan should also handle security and design. The plan should integrate with the current network and leverage existing technology investments. It should also determine the capabilities of existing management that will handle, manage and solve any performance issues. If you believe that your in house capabilities are not sufficient, do not hesitate to select a service provider with the staff, resources and knowledge to provide assistance for the consistent performance of your unified communication system.
Your company will also require a good support system and processes through which corporate IT staff will be prepared to address end-user performance issues and problems. Once again, end-users are the ones which will ultimately benefit most from your unified communications system. It is paramount that end-users are ready and educated enough to adopt new tools.
During implementation, you should start training your staff. Training is an important factor which ensures employees understand the system and have the knowledge to utilize all features. Training should be given to all users before deployment of the system. Also make users aware about the policies concerning communications and ensure security and protection of company data. Security measures like restricted access can help minimize any security risks. Before enterprise wide deployment of the system, pre-testing should take place. Allow a sufficient budget and time to ensure the system works as planned prior to the deployment. This will help you determine if the system is ready or needs further improvement. The last steps you need to take is compliance testing. Make sure you have followed your road map and have done what you set out to do.
After a successful unified communication roll out, most enterprises experience increased efficiency and overall satisfaction. The greater control a business has with their unified communication system leads to improved performance and effectiveness. Successfully implementing a unified communication solution also provides good ROI and investment protection because it adds value to existing infrastructure and is extensible in the future. Unified Communications implementation is rapidly becoming a standard for businesses and will continue to help companies reach their business potential.
