Unified Communications: Enabling the Next Gen Business Communication Date:   Wednesday , July 06, 2011 Business communications often fail to keep pace with the demand for real-time communications to address mission-critical business needs. Unified Communications (UC) offers new flexibility and manageability across multimodal applications to deliver unprecedented levels of connection for the distributed workforce. It also provides a competitive differentiator by enabling employees to reach others more quickly and eliminate delays caused by the inability to reach key decision-makers. In conversation with The SmartTechie, V. Venkataraman, Country Manager — Enterprise Services Offerings, IBM, talks about the trends and future of UC. What are the key trends you foresee in the workplace enabled by UC? The virtual workplace will become the rule. No need to leave the office. Just bring it along. Desk phones and desktop computers will gradually disappear, replaced by mobile devices, including laptops that take on traditional office capabilities. Social networking tools and virtual-world meeting experiences will simulate the feeling of being there in person. Work models will be changed by expanded globalization and green business initiatives that reduce travel and encourage work at home. Which new generation of collaboration tools is now becoming adopted in the workplace? Instant messaging (IM) and other real-time collaboration tools will become the norm, bypassing e-mail. Just as e-mail became a business necessity, a new generation of workers has a new expectation for IM as the preferred method of business interaction. This will fuel more rapid adoption of UC as traditional IM becomes the core extension point for multi-modal communications. Companies will go beyond the initial capabilities of IM—like click-to-call and online presence—to deep integration with business processes and line-of-business applications, where they can realize the greatest benefit. How much interoperability can be expected from various UC vendors? Interoperability and open standards will tear down proprietary walls across business and public domains. Corporate demand for interoperability and the maturing of industry standards will force UC providers to embrace interoperability. Converged, aggregated and rich presence will allow businesses and individuals to better find and reach the appropriate resources, removing inefficiencies from business processes and daily lives. What new collaboration models are likely to emerge? New meeting models will emerge. Hang up on routine, calendared conference calls. The definition of “meetings” will radically transform and become increasingly ad hoc and instantaneous based on context and need. HD video and audio technologies will significantly influence online corporate meeting experiences to deliver more life-like experiences demanded by the next-generation workers who will operate more efficiently in this familiar environment. What are your key recommendations for organizations looking to adopt UC? First, focus on the business view. What aspect of human latency are you trying to address? Outline your business priorities, operational constraints, regulatory requirements and budget considerations. These will be very key in prioritizing the what, where and how of implementing UC solutions. Second, develop your UC strategy and architecture based on your business strategy. Think through the UC capabilities that best support your business objectives. Catalog the UC capabilities your organization already has in place. Avoid the temptation to incorporate all the available bells and whistles if they are unnecessary. Third, lay out a roadmap. Make sure you are leveraging your current investments as appropriate, even as you take advantage of new technologies. Develop an implementation plan driven by your business priorities. Stage your rollout to get the highest ROI first. Finally, establish an ongoing approach to re-evaluating new technologies and capabilities as they evolve to continue to add to the benefits you can get from UC.