Are unified communications here at last?
<<<... Why? In part because most organisations have only partly completed the transition from old TDM phone systems to VoIP, the essential ingredient of UC. Plus, ROI numbers for UC remain elusive. Benefits come in fuzzy areas like higher productivity and faster decision-making, rather than revenue and cost savings. As a result, most organisations apply UC to specific parts of the business where a severe lag in reaching certain individuals can negatively affect the business. "We're seeing early adopters in financial services where seconds lost trying to reach someone can mean lots of money," says David Marshak, senior product manager for unified communications and collaboration at IBM Lotus Software. "We're also seeing it used in the medical field for first responders, to help them quickly find a close, available doctor with this capability and equipment, and that level of clearance." Enter the software gorillas Another obstacle to mainstream acceptance: Unified communications solutions have tended to originate with IP PBX vendors. Though IP-based, those systems were still largely proprietary, with software tied tightly to hardware and their own client software for UC functions, including instant messaging, VoIP calls, and audio or Web conferencing. Instead of accessing UC functions from the Outlook, Office Communicator, or Sametime clients they already knew, users had to learn a new client. Today, however, IP telephony and UC are moving toward a more IT-centric software architecture, laying the groundwork for broader acceptance. A prime example is the software-based OpenScape solution, built from the ground up on SIP and SOA, and interoperable with a variety of third-party VoIP and instant messaging systems. But the traditional software players, including Microsoft, IBM, and Oracle, are also getting into the act. ... more >>>