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Unified Communications
IP Telephony (sometime termed VoIP) is the de facto standard for carrying voice traffic, IP Telephony means voice, video and data are integrated and operate on one network.
IP Telephony offers new types of applications that improve business processes and provide new and better ways of working. The most talked about applications at the moment are those under the banner of Unified Communications.
This video from Avaya gives you an idea of how unified communications can be applied:
Today many of us have multiple communication devices to juggle with; mobile phone, PDA, laptop, hot-desk/permanent desk phone and each device has a different interface; mobile & web-based email, corporate email: Outlook or Lotus Notes, mobile & corporate voicemail, local & corporate contact lists as well as bespoke business applications. This can be a nightmare for IT teams to manage, but thankfully this is also where Unified Communications comes into play. Depending on how you work (i.e. home worker, remote worker, in the office) there are different integrated applications, all with the same look and feel, designed to help you work more effectively and improve your client response times hence customer satisfaction. There is another important element with unified communications; everything is centrally managed by the IT team.
Unified communications is about aligning the right applications with the right type of worker. Many workers can be divided into numerous types depending on where they are and how they work:
- Desk workers spend considerable time working at their desks. Their primary tools are their computers and their desk phones.
- Roaming workers are at their work locations, but are roaming the office. They depend on mobility devices such as a PDA , Dect or mobile phone. They need in-building wireless over WiFi networks or dual mode phones that can be used on both public mobile and enterprise WiFi networks. They may use any available computer or phone not necessarily assigned for their primary use.
- Mobile workers are found travelling either locally or globally. They remain connected using mobile phones, PDAs, speech access from any phone to communication applications, public computers connected to the internet, or their computer using wireless broadband facilities.
- Remote Workers may be formal telecommuters or casual work-at-home associates. They could be working from their hotel rooms, or they could be a sales, service, or professional associate working at a customer's location. They could be groups of employees directed to work at a temporary or emergency locations.
While job types or specific individuals may predominantly operate in one of these modes, most workers today need to communicate in any and all of these modes.
The communication applications are adapted to work with each mode. For all users they have
- One Number access - the DDI is the standard number across all devices whether making outbound calls - the number appears to come from the deskphone or receiving inbound calls - receiving calls made to the deskphone number.
- Single voicemail - the corporate voicemail is the standard
- The same features and functionality as what's on the deskphone
- Seamless call recording/logging from the mobile phone
- Visual voicemail for voice and fax
- Audio Conferencing
- Corporate directory access
- Dial by extension
Each is tailored to the device they choose to work with whether this be a
- Mobile client - application on the mobile phone, Blackberry or iPhone
- Web-based soft phone client - a URL with the individual's log on which can be accessed from any PC to control and manage their telephony
- Softphone - loaded on to the user's PC to manage the individual's telephone
- Microsoft OCS / IBM Lotus Sametime - integrates with the telephony to view which of your colleagues are on a call and enable click to call, click to video call.
Unified Communications is a collection of advanced communications applications designed to:
- Enhance worker efficiency by enabling faster responses to colleagues, clients and suppliers.
- Increase worker productivity by allowing users to do more with their time
- Reduce business costs, increase revenue and boost profitability
When implementing a unified communications solution G3 works with the customer to design a solution that would best work for them, working through business processes and how each process can be improved with the use of unified communications.