Are unified communications here at last?
So far, IP communications that follow users across voice, IM, email and other media have benefitted a narrow group. That may be about to change. While Todd Sharp is driving down the highway between Charlotte and Atlanta, a new sales order triggers a lookup for the customer phone number and salesperson (that would be Todd) assigned to it.
The system then polls Siemens OpenScape UC (unified communications) software and checks Todd's presence status, discovering that he's working remotely and available only on his cell. OpenScape kicks off a VoIP call to Todd's cell phone and, using a text-to-speech engine, reads the sales order over the phone. It then prompts Todd to press 1 to autodial the customer. Minutes after the order arrived, Todd is thanking the customer from his car. This example is typical of how UC - an amalgam of voice communications, email, instant messaging, and presence that may also include video, Web conferencing, and calendaring - can accelerate and enhance business processes, customer service, and mobile communications. But adoption has been slow. Todd is one of the lucky few to enjoy the benefits, mainly because he works for Engage, a UC services vendor.
"Unified communications is a very overhyped market," says Mark Straton, senior vice president of global marketing at Siemens Enterprise Networks, "and one that will probably take another two to 10 years to roll out in the enterprise." Zeus Kerravala, a Yankee Group analyst, agrees. "The market is basically where it was two years ago," says Kerravala. "Interest in the enterprise is high, but actual deployments are low." ... more >>>