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The Soft Touch

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VoicenData Bureau
New Update

Today's globalized world has created a communications

environment that is chaotic, cost-conscious, and demanding. This poses several

business challenges including the need to increase employee productivity and

efficiency, reduce costs and ensure return on investments made in the

communications infrastructure. It is ironic that the multiple modes of

communication-e-mail, voice mail, cell phone, instant messaging, conferencing-that

are supposed to make people easier to reach are instead causing information

overload. Already information workers are becoming overwhelmed by the

complexities of dealing with multiple phone numbers, voice mail boxes, user

identities, passwords, and device requirements.

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The challenges are also for IT infrastructure managers, who are

forced to manage multiple communications systems for telephony and

software-based communications. But, is this improving user productivity? The

answer is a big 'No'. A Harris Interactive Service survey has found that

two-thirds of business phone calls end in voice-mail messages. As a result, 25%

of information workers spend the equivalent of three full workdays each year

playing phone tag and leaving voice-mail messages. This underscores the

inefficiencies of the standard telephone communication.

IT decision makers have so far been investing in two parallel

communications infrastructures: voice communications through PBXs and email

communications through PCs. Both investments have delivered significant business

value to their organizations. This is often fragmented, comprising multiple

applications and hardware from different vendors. Therefore it's time

consuming, inefficient for employees to use, and also expensive for IT

departments.

So, here is a situation where infrastructure is working at

cross-purposes toward organizational goals and bottom lines. So, in today's

always-on, always connected global workplace environment, how to get a global

organization to act in concert across boundaries? How to prioritize and react to

the sheer volume of communications and be more productive? How to leverage

existing enterprise infrastructure and the Internet to lower communications

costs?

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Future Trends



Before answering these questions, it is important to highlight some
interesting trends that will define the communication landscape of the future.

First, the PC has displaced the phone as the primary communications mode in the

workplace. It is the first place employees look for messages each morning and

the desk phone is beginning to lose its functionality-at least in its current

avatar. A Harris Interactive Service survey has found that 61% of workers cite

emails as their primary mode of communications at work as against 31% who use

phones. Furthermore, 40% prefer using instant messaging instead of a phone for

business communications. Second, business communication is rapidly moving to

software. It is important to note that the PC infrastructure has seen more

innovation than the desktop phone, despite a evolving PBX systems and

standardization of IP networks. In fact, a May '06 Gartner report predicts

that by 2010, 80% companies will integrate communications (voice/messaging) into

business applications or processes.

The arrival of software—based unified communications will

change the way enterprises use the convergence of VoIP telephony, email, instant

messaging, mobile communications, and audio/video Web conferencing to deliver a

superior communications platform. This approach will ensure better

manageability, more economical voice communications, and greater opportunities

for innovation to customers.

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It is

important to note that PC infrastructure has seen more innovation than the

desktop phone. The arrival of software based unified communications will

change the way enterprises use convergence

For example, a PC software makes it possible to see if someone

is available before you call them, send them an instant message, or an e-mail.

This ability to see a person's availability is what we call

"presence," and it can be easily embedded in office productivity as

well as line-of-business applications. Calling someone can be as simple as

clicking on his/her name. With another click, one can initiate a Web conference

or a video call. Unified Communications enable teams to work together in

real-time and increase personal productivity. It keeps people in sync, enabling

them to share information quickly and easily, allow teams to work together from

distributed offices, while on the move, and thereby expedites business

decisions.

Further, with a software-based approach, IT departments get a

uniform platform to deliver communications support. In fact, Gartner has

endorsed the strength and completeness of the software-led approach for Unified

Communications in its recently published "Magic Quadrant 07 for Unified

Communications: A Competitive Mapping of Multiple Vendors". The importance

of this is underlined in the fact that the cost of branded IP handsets-typically

40-45% of the cost of telephony installation-continues to remain an obstacle

for companies adopting IP telephony, states a Gartner report. And, a rich

partner ecosystem that can provide telephony hardware, handsets, and devices

will further reduce the deployment cost.

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World over, companies like Volvo, France Telecom, Qualcomm,

Godrej, and AMD are benefiting from the software—based unified communications

platforms. They have streamlined secure communications to end users, increased

operational efficiency, and have built a future-ready communication foundation

for their organizations.

World over and in India, companies like Volvo, France Telecom,

Qualcomm, AMD, Godrej, NIIT Technologies, and Marico Industries are benefiting

from the software—based unified communications platforms. They have

streamlined secure communications to end users, increased operational

efficiency, and built a future-ready communication foundation for their

organizations.

The market for unified communications is just emerging, and it

is a big opportunity worth $40 bn worldwide. Software will be a key driver for

this. Unified communications will be based on an open and secure, software

platform that will create a broad eco-system. This eco-system is device and

network agnostic, which will result in communications centering around people-not

devices. And, it enables users to have one common identity and is cost-effective

for IT to manage, with a single directory and common management.

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Software will be the key to delivering this promise, resulting

in a more powerful end-user experience, real productivity enhancements, return

on investments, and compelling business value for customers and partners.

Vibhu Ranjan



(The author is business lead,

Unified Communications, Microsoft India)




vadmail@cybermedia.co.in

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