November 1999

A Holistic Approach To Unified Messaging

BY ED REBELLO

Information technology has progressed at such a rapid pace that it is now estimated the average executive receives or sends more than 190 electronic, voice, fax, or paper messages per day (Pitney Bowes, 1998). Retrieving these messages is not only time-consuming, with multiple message "inboxes" to check, but when and how your workers respond to these messages depends on their ability to access them — especially while traveling or working from a remote location. Many unified messaging solutions vendors have presented compelling arguments about the business case for unified messaging. Few, if any, have delivered products that address the very real issues of implementation and cost.

THREE IMPERATIVES
When it comes to unified messaging, vendors are never hesitant to tell you about all the bells and whistles their solutions offer to end users. Users can have their voice mail messages read to them over the phone. Fax messages can be retrieved over the phone and delivered to a nearby fax machine. Voice mail messages can be played through your laptop's message inbox. Some even have find-me, follow-me personal digital assistants that can track you down on your mobile phone.

Then there are the productivity gains arguments. Some also suggest unified messaging can enhance knowledge sharing and collaboration between employees. So if the business case for unified messaging is so compelling, why haven't sales caught on?

As early as 1995, industry analysts were projecting that the unified messaging market would take off, reaching x number of mailboxes by such and such a date. But these lofty projections have not materialized.

Megan Gurley, research analyst at the Yankee Group, a market research firm, believes sales have been sluggish because the vendors have not looked at the big picture. "First-generation unified messaging systems required that the end user accommodate the messaging system," Gurley said. "Next-generation systems will need to accommodate the end user, effectively putting them in control of the way they message."

Don Van Doren, president of Vanguard Communications Corp., adds that first-generation systems were based on proprietary technologies and have not provided companies with a simple implementation or administration strategy. "Open, standards-based platforms with robust integrated capabilities and a simple migration path to future messaging paradigms will characterize successful next-generation messaging systems," he said. "We feel there are important benefits from streamlining the administration of multiple systems into a single administrative interface."

"In addition," said Van Doren, "while early unified messaging offerings provided access through a single 'mailbox' interface, there was little ability to respond to messages seamlessly across media. When one can respond to an e-mail with an immediate voice message, for example, messaging becomes a much more effective means of speeding communications for business purposes."

At Siemens, we believe an enterprise-scale unified messaging solution must address three key imperatives to be successful. Namely, it must:

• Provide complete convergence of voice, fax, and e-mail messaging for the end user.
• Be architected for trouble-free operation and easy maintenance.
• Provide an affordable, flexible, and rational migration path.

Complete Convergence
Unified messaging solutions should offer robust and reliable, anytime, anywhere access to voice, fax, and e-mail messages via PC or phone. Most vendors can deliver these features, but how these features are delivered to you can make a difference. Today’s vendors offer two different architectural approaches: “integrated” and “unified” messaging.

The integrated approach does not deliver true unified messaging. Instead, it provides users with desktop access to messages located on separate voice mail, fax, and e-mail messaging systems. These separate messaging systems must be maintained independently, meaning two or more points of system administration. Preserving the appearance of unified messaging requires continual synchronization between the various messaging servers. This consumes valuable system resources, slows system performance, and can delay the delivery of messages to desktop and telephone clients.

The unified approach, by contrast, stores all incoming voice, fax, and e-mail messages in a single mailbox. With this approach, all messages are centrally stored, administered, and controlled from a single messaging database, eliminating the need for background synchronization. Further, because voice, fax, and e-mail messages are stored together, there are almost no limitations on how one can respond. One can answer voice messages with fax or e-mail (and vice versa), add voice comments to fax messages, or broadcast a single message to both fax and e-mail recipients. This process is called “message morphing.”

Simple Administration
Another key requirement for today’s next-generation messaging systems is ease of implementation and maintenance. The truly unified messaging approach makes back office administration simpler because there is only one database to update or maintain when employees join or leave a company, or when they request changes to their messaging services.

Unified messaging systems that share a common inbox can also take advantage of shared directory (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol — LDAP) services that can simplify directory updates throughout the enterprise. Some systems also feature an intuitive Web-based interface that streamlines installation, maintenance, and updates.

Rational, Affordable Migration
A third imperative for the success of an enterprise unified messaging system is a rational and affordable migration path.

Many of the offerings on the market today fall short of this criteria, forcing customers to buy a full unified messaging system now, or a legacy voice messaging system with no clear upgrade path to true unified messaging. Today’s advanced unified messaging systems offer customers maximum flexibility in design and deployment. A scaleable system allows users the flexibility to implement unified messaging on a workgroup-by-workgroup or an application-by-application basis, as needs dictate.

NEXT-GENERATION MESSAGING
So what’s in store for tomorrow’s enterprise unified messaging systems?

“For so long, we’ve had discrete voice, e-mail, and fax messaging systems, but now these are being combined into a single inbox,” said David Zimmer, president of the Unified Messaging Consortium. “Tomorrow we’ll be putting other types of messages in there, such as workflow, e-commerce, and knowledge management. Our whole communications paradigm will change drastically over the next five to ten years as we roll these systems out.”

There are several key developments that we are likely to see flourish in next-generation messaging solutions.

• Speech recognition software will be added to unified messaging applications, allowing users hands-free navigation.
• Advances in voice compression technology will increase voice quality and further reduce network bandwidth requirements.
• The addition of multiple language voice menus will allow virtually any company to provide customized support to a global client base.
• Advances in video recording and compression technologies will enable the expansion of video messages into the unified messaging mix.
• Intelligent agent technology that finds and sorts messages and other database information according to user-defined criteria will allow users more control over an ever-growing volume of messages.
• Mobility functions such as find-me, follow-me forwarding will ensure that urgent messages are delivered right away.
• Telephone-based management of calendar and contact files as well as messages will more completely provide for the “virtual desktop.”
• Integration with real-time collaborative workflow applications will promote faster response to dynamic business opportunities.

Ed Rebello is Sr. Media Specialist for Siemens Information and Communication Networks. Specializing in the design and installation of operator and business phone networks of all sizes, Siemens is a systems house offering a complete portfolio of solutions and services in the converging worlds of voice, data, and mobile communications for customers in industry, business, and public administration. For more information, please visit their Web site at www.siemens.com.