At its core, Unified Communications (UC) makes it easy for your employees to communicate with anyone, anywhere, at any time, even using different modes of communication (phone, mobile phone, laptop, etc).
UC can help break down the barriers to effective communication by coordinating multiple communication systems or models. It’s important for employees working remotely and virtual businesses. UC can also be a good fit for small businesses with small budgets.
Here is some basic information to get you started and see how unified communications will facilitate and potentially grow your business.
The Goal of UC
Several of the services that your small business already uses can be coordinated for efficiencies. Real-time services such as phone calls, data sharing, instant messaging (IM), and web conferencing, and Non-real-time services like texting (SMS – short message service), voicemail, email and fax can all be integrated. The goal of UC is to allow people to communicate in real time, or near real time, using different devices.
Examples of Unified Communications
Some examples of unified communications include a message that is sent on one medium that is received on another – like a text that is delivered by voicemail, or a voicemail that can be received as an email. An employee may not be in the office, but can be online while traveling and still easily reachable through various modes of communication. In the fast-paced business environment of today, this kind of immediate, coordinated communication across all fronts is critical to success.
UC makes it possible to instantly pool resources to collaborate on projects, conduct strategy sessions, resolve customer service issues, plan and prepare presentations, facilitate discussion of technical issues, and much more.
The benefits of UC can be noted in both human and fiscal terms. They include cost savings, improved customer service, increased opportunity for work that is performed remotely, employee flexibility, and overall increased efficiency. The ultimate benefit, of course, is an increase in revenue for your company.
Unified communication advocates predict that in the near future, even more can be achieved through the combination of the Cloud and UC. By integrating services for your company now, you’ll be well-positioned to streamline the way you do business, facilitate communication, increase productivity, and add to the bottom line.
[author_bio username=”Ken” avatar=”yes” name=”yes”]
