Unified Communication and Collaboration

 

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Unified Communication and Collaboration

Chris Eichermueller BUS600 Maria DeRegester November 15, 2010

 

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Unified Communication (UC) is the up and coming technology in business communication. Because increased productivity and collaboration is very coveted by businesses, new concepts in communication have to be explored and implemented. To be a leader in one’ one ’s industry, it is imperative that a company embraces the changes and takes the daring and sometimes daunting challenge to upgrade and change their old ways of communicating. The common consensus is that unified communication is where the IT industry and business communication is heading, however there are various opinions on how business will accept the shift and what services will be accepted and utilized. This topic will require a lot of research in that most of the information is derived from journals, magazines and opinions. Finding the right information that best pertains to my research will take due diligence to ensure that I have good sources that are not only are creditable but also are heavily involved with the technology. While reviewing possible sources I have concluded that utilizing the ProQuest research utility will be of great value as it has a large repository of information that would be difficult to find using conventional methods. In addition I plan on utilizing other industry resources, industry forums and personal experiences.

 

3 I have chosen this topic as it directly relates with my current career and because I am faced with questions and concerns from clients and my company regarding new media and collaboration tools in today’s business environment.

Unified communication is not a new concept as some forms are already in place and are actively in use. New technologies, concepts and sometimes old concepts such as social media and videoconferencing add a level to modern business communication. In addition, the influx of a younger already connected workforce will add to the acceptance and expectation of a properly implemented UC system. “Our future is in the hands of our youth. And, our youth and young adults choose to communicate through social media sites. As they enter the workforce they’ll be bringing their new, fresh and creative ideas to the workplace —  workplace — through through social means, however they evolve.” (ExceedSales, 2010) No longer is a press release sufficient. Now, in addition, one has to post the press release not only on their website, but also on Facebook and/or other social networking sites. And even though the effectiveness of social networking sites may still be mixed (Healey, 2010), future solutions may just be the tools that can make the difference. Companies such as IBM, Google and Microsoft are developing social media based collaboration tools such as Project Vulcan, GoogleWave and SharePoint (Saran, 2010), which make it possible to collaborate between people in various geographic locations, departments and even across multiple companies. All are “aiming to make collaboration easier in the connected enterprise.” enterprise. ”  (Saran, 2010) What UC seeks to establish is a unified way to getting the message across to everyone involved by combining new services and tools with the old into one solution. In addition, UC aims to consolidate the departments into one streamlined and effective organization as traditionally email

 

4 and messaging is managed by one organization while phone and voicemail is dealt by another. (Network World Middle East, 2009) “UC allows your business to improve customer service, make faster decisions and locate relevant resources quickly and efficiently”, [it is] “designed to reduce the delays and frustrations of communication between individual employees, the extended virtual organization and external customers.” (Anonymous, 2010) By completing this paper I hope to see and be able to convey the bigger picture of unified communications as it pertains it pertains to a business’s need to stay one step step ahead, and to be able to use my findings in my career as a tool to improve collaboration and communication for my clients and the company I work for.

Bibliography: Anonymous. (2010, Febuary 16-22). Empower the business with unified communications. Computer Weekly , pp. 14-16. Retrieved November 15, 2010, from ProQuest Computing.

(Document ID: 1980079071). The author(s) of this artilce reviews the different aspects of unified communication and how other companies have viewed the implementation and option of transitioning to a Unified Communication model. The article reviewes technologies which use is on the rise and would benefit from proper UC implementation. Another topic that is covered is the question of return of  investment (ROI) and implementation process.

 

5 Healey, M. (2010, April 26). E-Mail: Let's Get Unified.  InformationWeek (1264), pp. 29-32. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2022314651). The author of this article evaluates a survey that their magazine conducted on Enterprise  Messaging. The survey dealt with the e-mail systems that companies deploy and with the integration of their emails with other software and tools. The analasys reaview and offers explanations on why companies are reluctant to move forward on unifying commnucation technologies. She also reveiws the adoption of social media and tools that are still new to business as a communication tool. Saran, C. (2010, July 6-12). Get connected to business value. Computer Weekly , pp. 22-23. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from ProQuest Computing. (Document ID: 2095942301). This article reviewes current tools that are being developed by various companies and why such tools should be implemented in todays business. The author reviews different collaboration systems as a way to enable successful busienss communication internally and externally. Can UC me now? (2009, October). Network World Middle East, 1. Retrieved November 15, 2010, from ProQuest Computing. (Document ID: 1891491551). This article dives into the challenges that IT departments face when implementing a unified communication system. The author reviews some of the issues that the IT department may face, like the ever expanding need for more storage can hamper a successful UC setup.

 

6 ExceedSales. (2010, March 2). Future Trends for Social Media and Business Communication: 2010. Retrieved November 13, 2010, from ExceedSales: http://exceedsales.com/social-

networking/future-trends-for-social-media-and-business-communication-2010/ 

The author in this article reviews possible trends in communication between businesses especially in relation to social media and the impact of the youth joining the workforce. . She also reviewed the impact of the lack social skills that the youth of today exhibits due to the use of  social networks.