THE MYTHS - THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

Unified Communications is not a product

UC isn't a single product; it's made up of various products and capabilities. UC is about bringing together the current disparate communication media and business applications into one cohesive environment to enable business and user improvements with reference to efficiency, costs and productivity.

It is not hardware or product centric, but instead focuses on the user and how to improve the way they work and collaborate with colleagues, customers and partners, for the greater good of the organization.

Be wary of any solution which proposes a need to invest in any new or additional physical devices in order to achieve UC!

UC is about optimizing not increasing

UC is initially about unleashing the potential in your existing investments as far as possible, through the bringing together of currently disparate communication media and applications.

Over time, as the UC solution is rolled out further throughout the organization, encompassing more elements, there should be a reduction in the number of devices, directories and databases, not an increase. Adding more of these elements will only serve to increase complexity for both the user and the organization, and consequently diminish the benefits of UC for the business.

The vision is to rationalise equipment, remove the desktop phone and provide users simply with one PC for the office and one mobile device for remote working – both offering completely integrated communications

Adopting UC is not about all or nothing

Organisations can implement some or all of the different UC components and still achieve benefits, without having to totally revamp their networks and applications. There are so many different aspects to UC, organisations can pick and choose what makes sense for them, whether it's a conferencing and collaboration solution, presence-enabled communications, or mobile extensions to the enterprise network for remote workers. There's no "one size fits all," and companies can start with the UC capabilities they need today, and add more as needed.

Start with utilising the existing infrastructure, applying a phased approach to adopting or adding new functionality at a pace that suits the business.

UC is not UM!

Unified Messaging (UM) has never really caught on. The benefits of having voicemail or faxes pop up into the email system were just not deemed strong enough to justify wholesale investment in the technology for the majority of organisations.

However, the evolution of UC heralds a new era for UM functionality as an integral part of a UC solution. UC has a far great scope and consequently potential than a UM application, by bringing together business applications and converged voice, video and data communications to provide easy to use but rich functionality to workers. Unified Communications enables companies to reduce costs and increase efficiency.

UC is not exclusive to IP telephony

Despite growing assertions to the contrary, IP telephony is not a prerequisite for UC. Some vendors are using UC as another opportunity to drive organisations towards converged networks. But, in reality, the benefits of improving the communication and collaboration between users can be achieved without IP telephony, even if that includes the use of existing analogue phones and non IP infrastructures, it is entirely possible.

UC can deliver benefits today!

Unlike many new technology or product based trends in the market place, UC can be delivered today and provide a return of benefits for the organization now and into the future.

UC is more than the technological components

UC implementations will only realize their potential and provide benefits to both the user and organization alike if the business knows from the onset what it wants to achieve by implementing UC. This not only entails setting objectives and targets, but a clear understanding of how it expects UC to improve and enhance business processes.

The drive for UC is clear; organisations need to be more competitive and efficient, which requires improved communication and collaboration between people – but organizations should not take the leap without first having a clear idea of how they want it to work for their business..