Integrating UC for Businesses

Mitel is launching updates to its suite of unified communications solutions for conferencing, telecollaboration, and mobility. While it is important to continue with these innovations and deliver improved value to business and users, it is equally important to focus on how business can evolve from its existing communications network in a practical fashion, especially in today's budget conscious world.

The reality is, business and IT organizations are executing against specific, prioritized projects that directionally take them toward UC. For example, implementing an audio and Web conferencing capability can support reduction in travel, external fees for this service and improved team working. The key is to ensure that the next project builds off of previous investments and it all integrates well together. Islands of systems that are not integrated will cause problems in the long run.

But how do you get there? The best path is an evolution of your existing IT investments versus a rip-and-replace scenario. Something along the lines of the following five steps:

• a move to IP communications technology
• integration with mobile phones and unifying messaging
• deployment of collaboration tools based on specific user or site requirements
• deployment of presence and UC clients integrated across all applications to improve contact and use of communications tools
• selective integration of communications with business software systems

Each builds upon the previous investment, and ultimately integrates together as one system. In this world of open standards, a proprietary or single-vendor “closed system” approach to UC is retrogressive.

According to Zeus Kerravala of The Yankee Group, “Whatever system that gets put in likely needs to work with a combination of PBXs, data networks, e-mail and other business applications, and possibly some consumer communications tools as well.”

When implementing your unified communications strategy, look for vendors that provide open systems and allow you to integrate your applications together, which in turn will enhance your business processes and create a consistent user experience from application to application.

Kevin Johnson is director of analyst relations at Mitel.