Within two years, about 50% of enterprises are expected to be using unified communications. So what`s all the fuss about? STREAMLINED communications, unified comms, converged comms it doesn`t matter what you call it. In fact, that`s the whole point. Just like it doesn`t matter how you try to contact someone if they have a unified comms system.

It is said to be one of the next major trends in enterprise architecture over the coming years. In `s hype cycle it is currently on the descent of `the trough of disillusionment`, but expected to rise again soon on the `slope of enlightenment`.

Ky Ox, unified comms practice leader at , has an apt definition: "It`s about being able to use any device, in any location, with any application. It`s about combining instant messaging, telephony and personal productivity."

ANYWHERE, ANYTIME

Ox was speaking at the recent ITWeb-DiData Converged Communications Forum, in Bryanston, Johannesburg.

Underneath every unified communications initiative is an Internet Protocol backbone. If you get a call, or miss a call, get an e-mail, or an instant message, or a fax, the front-end unified comms interface will let you know.

This interface can be accessed at the office, the home, on a phone or with a PDA; and should be available in nearly every corner of the inhabited earth. In fact, "presence" awareness in unified comms will know where you are, and how best to get your personal notes to you.

NEW GENERATION

According to recent DataMonitor survey of 390 IT managers and 524 IT users, within the next 24 months, 50% of businesses will have employed unified communications in some form. This is up from a current figure of about 25%.

However, that doesn`t necessarily mean people will be using it," comments Ox.

The rate of adoption of unified comms is speeding up all the time, after a slow start, announces Roberto Del La Mora - `s unified communications lead for emerging markets.

And it`s clear that it will continue to grow in popularity, as a new generation of users enters the workplace. "This is a generation that is used to being connected all the time," he explains.

TRUE COLLABORATION

VOIP has paved the way for unified communications - there`s no question about that. But with unified comms, the converge gets taken to a whole new level. Now video-conferencing, speech recognition, remote calendaring, and of course all other voice and data information can be integrated onto a single platform, accessed with a single interface. `Communicator clients`, as Del La Mora calls them, utilise the knowledge of one`s presence state and reroute calls and e-mails to wherever you may be, whichever would be the easiest way.

A recent Siemens study showed that the average white-collar employee wastes about half an hour each day playing "phone tag" - finding numbers, missing people, calling back, asking if they can speak later, and so on.

Expand these blocks of thirty minutes to every member of an enterprise, every day of the week, and you begin to see how much time unified comms can save you.

Imagine entwining document collaboration tools with communications platforms - and you start getting really productive. Perhaps this explains the hype?

Tags: Unified  Communications