Business phone systems plat an important role for many of today’s office users because they provide a main communication link to customers, partners and colleagues.

 

To optimize communications and productivity in the workplace, Unified Communications (News - Alert) or “UC,” brings together E-mail, conference calls, Instant Messaging and other communications in a converged communications environment.

 

Not only is UC important for improved operations, a recent report from Aberdeen (News - Alert) Group Report found also that unified communications or actually pays for itself.

 

The report, "Unified Communications: Gaining a Competitive Advantage While on the Move," found that businesses are not only able to maximize their telecom spend and increase productivity with UC, but their also reducing customer churn as a result.

Specifically, the report found that 79 percent of the top performers achieved a break-even return on their UC investment within the first 12 months.

The study also uncovered a large acceptance of mobility in the enterprise and the need to incorporate mobility into the communications infrastructure - a driving force behind increased UC adoption rates.

"Unified Communications holds enormous promise as a coherent approach to business communications, as a way to cut through 'communications clutter,' and more directly connect a customer to a company, employee to employee, and more tightly bind business partners and suppliers," said Andrew Borg, senior research analyst, Aberdeen Group.

"The challenge of our connected era is that the greater the number of communications options, the more difficult it can be to connect with a specific individual when you want to. UC therefore becomes increasingly important to mend the fractured digital communications landscape," Borg said.