September 1998

BY TOM MINIFIE

For years, the promises of productivity gains from unified messaging have gone unfulfilled. Some hindering factors relate to distribution channels and market readiness, but much of the delay has been due to overly optimistic unified messaging vendors. The past few months have shown that unified messaging products are finally moving off the drawing board, the "idea ware" stage, and into the enterprise. Unified messaging is no longer just a good idea in theory — it is a "real ware" productivity-enhancing solution.

UNIFIED MESSAGING EVOLUTION
Unified messaging solutions have existed in one form or another for many years. With the passing of time and every new release, additional functionality moves the unified messaging solution closer to its ultimate usability.

Unified messaging originated when voice mail was introduced to the desktop PC. Traditionally, voice mail was contained over the telephone through a limited interface defined by twelve keys on a telephone keypad. With voice mail on the desktop, users could control voice mail functions via a graphical user interface similar to e-mail. This function was a great improvement for people who received many voice messages on a daily basis.

The introduction of e-mail readers over the telephone was the next step. Using text-to-speech technology, users placed a phone call to a special number that provided access to their e-mail accounts. This functionality was a boon for users lacking the time or technology to download their e-mail remotely.

PC-based fax capabilities further enhanced unified messaging. Whether via a network fax server or a fax modem in a PC, users could send and receive fax documents directly from their PC, without using a printer or fax machine.

All of these developments provided a basis for the next iteration of unified messaging. Although desktop voice mail provided timesaving benefits, users demanded integration to their e-mail applications. Gaining access to e-mail over the phone was beneficial for remote employees, but they didn’t want to place separate calls to retrieve e-mail and voice mail. And while fax software provided productivity and cost benefits, users wanted to receive their faxes in e-mail, and access their faxes via the telephone. Throw the Internet into the mix, and the ultimate in unified messaging is now close at hand.

TODAY’S SOLUTIONS
With the advance of e-mail solutions that make unified messaging more voice- and fax-friendly, and the emergence of the Internet as a communication medium, today’s unified messaging solutions are far different than their predecessors.

The e-mail client is now commonly the focal point for providing unified messaging capabilities via a desktop PC. As most users are already familiar with managing e-mail messages through these programs, adding voice and fax messages to the mix is natural. In addition, many of today’s e-mail programs handle voice and fax messages as just another message type. These same e-mail programs typically have a browser version that provides the same functionality over the Internet.

Current unified messaging solutions also provide common access to voice, fax, and e-mail via a customized telephone user interface. Listening to e-mail messages, forwarding e-mail messages to fax machines, responding to e-mail messages with a voice message, and forwarding and deleting e-mail messages over the telephone are all standard functions today.

INTEGRATED OR UNIVERSAL?
There are two popular approaches to achieving unified messaging: an integrated approach and a universal approach. Pros and cons exist for both approaches; users must decide which best fits their needs.

The integrated approach is characterized by maintaining two or three distinct databases — one for voice, one for e-mail and, possibly, a third for fax. The fax database is sometimes combined with either voice or e-mail. With the integrated approach, the unification process occurs at the client: The telephone and desktop interfaces access all message databases and present the messages to the user in a unified fashion. To the end user, the messages are unified. It’s only behind-the-scenes that the items are still separate.

The universal approach is characterized by a single message database that stores and manages all message types — this format is typically the e-mail database. With this approach, all client interfaces access the single message database, providing unified messaging via all available interfaces.

From a user standpoint, both approaches are similar. From an administration standpoint, differences arise. The primary differences include the amount of network traffic created by each approach, the administration of multiple versus single databases, and the fault tolerance or redundancy provided.

UNIFIED MESSAGING BENEFITS
The unified messaging solutions available today provide great productivity and cost-saving opportunities for companies. Some of the most valuable benefits include:

• Voice and fax messaging over the Internet. Unified messaging is exactly that — messaging. It moves voice and fax messages into the messaging world and out of the mail world. Users can easily send voice and fax messages over the Internet without paying for a telephone call.
• Voice forward to non-subscribers. Users often receive voice messages they want someone outside the company to hear, or voice messages from customers they want vendors to hear. Unified messaging provides a way to accomplish this task. Users may receive voice messages and forward them via e-mail to any e-mail address, inside or outside the company.
• Phone access to e-mail and fax. With this feature, users maintain access to e-mail and fax messages even when all they have is a telephone. Users remain productive on the road or simply on the move.
• Message notification. Users receive instant notification of voice mail, e-mail, and fax messages via pager, telephone, computer, or SMS terminal. The users may define rules for notification that specifies sender, message type, or urgency and never lose touch with customers.
• Fax distribution. Unified messaging is a useful solution for automatically distributing received faxes to the intended recipients without using staff time to do so. Faxes remain private and are delivered in a form that permits access via multiple interfaces.
• Fax send. Unified messaging is also a solution for sending outbound faxes to internal and external recipients. Users save time by eliminating the need to produce a hard copy to place in a fax machine for sending.
• Maintain notes about voice and fax messages. Users listen to voice messages and view fax messages once. Maintaining notes about each message saves users time while they manage all their messages.
• Organize messages into folders. Organizing voice, fax, and e-mail messages into common folders improves users’ retrieval time, thus improving their productivity.

Unified messaging has been steadily moving from "idea ware" to a necessary, "real ware" productivity tool. Today’s products offer tremendous value and a great return on investment. If it’s been more than six months since you looked into a unified messaging product, it’s time to look again!

Tom Minifie is the director of marketing for Applied Voice Technology, Inc. (AVT). AVT develops, manufactures, markets, and supports a broad line of open systems-based advanced computer telephony products, specializing in unified messaging, high-performance fax processing, call center productivity, and customer service applications. AVT is headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, USA, and does business through its Computer Telephony Products Group, based in Kirkland, Washington and through its wholly owned subsidiaries, RightFAX, Inc. based in Tucson, Arizona and CommercePath, Inc. based in Portland, Oregon. For more information, contact the company at 425-820-6000 or visit their Web site at www.appliedvoice.com.

Companies with unified messaging products abound. Here are some points to look for when making purchasing decisions:

• Compatibility with existing infrastructure. Unified messaging interacts with your e-mail system, voice mail system, fax server, telephone system, network, and client workstations. Whether you are adding pieces or pulling existing pieces together, compatibility is a critical factor in your purchase decision.
• Universal access from telephone, computer, or Internet. What good is unified messaging if it is only available from one terminal? Make sure the unified messaging product you buy supports all the terminals that your organization uses.
• Integrated inbound and outbound faxing. One of the quickest ways to cost-justify unified messaging is through the benefits provided by inbound and outbound faxing. Be sure to include your faxing needs in your analysis.
• Special tools for message access via the telephone. A telephone user interface designed for unified messaging is a must. Using a standard voice mail interface to deal with fax and e-mail messages is a start, but not nearly as efficient as one designed for multiple message types.
• User training tools. Unified messaging will be new to most users so be certain your unified messaging solution comes with user training tools to facilitate the learning process.
• Windows NT operating system. Windows NT is an ideal operating system to drive unified messaging solutions. As unified messaging by its very definition brings multiple system components together, a compatible operating system is a must.