Business phone systems are becoming more sophisticated today with technological advancements allowing for more options when collaborating and communicating. These advancements are ultimately improving productivity and ROI for businesses.

 

Most phone systems today are making the move to Unified Communications (News - Alert) capabilities that support real-time collaboration using voice, IM, email, data or videoconferencing capabilities.

 

A new VendorSeek white paper, “ Unified Communications: The Basics,” outlines some of the basics of UC, and takes a closer look at how businesses are moving from VoIP to UC to gain success.

 

According to the white paper, the enterprise voice market is being driven by Unified Communications solutions which surpassed $3 billion in revenue in the third quarter of 2008. This increase represents a nearly twenty percent growth annually since 2006.

 

The most powerful advantages of UC solutions are that they allow users across the globe to come together and collaborate via any communications channel they please. This changes the original structure of the workforce that was once confined to “the phone tag (News - Alert), the unanswered emails, the pending decisions and green lights,” the white paper notes, and instead offers teamwork, productivity gains and a competitive advantage for companies with an increasingly mobile and dispersed workforce.

 

These users can leverage UC solutions to come together and exchange ideas, share data and documents, and collaborate regardless of the communications device they are utilizing.

Also, UC solutions make it possible for employees to access an organizations internal network securely for their communications needs.

Another important feature offered by UC solutions is the ability to see who is available on the network and what the best way to reach that contact is. This presence capability fosters more effective communications that can continually occur regardless of where different users are located.

 

The white paper also notes a 2005 Sage Research study which found 22 percent of companies experience communication-caused delays on a regular basis. By implementing UC solutions, the problems of reaching coworkers on the first try, reducing cell phone and long distance costs and making messaging management more efficient, are eliminated.