Enterprise Communications Featured Article

Unified communications, VoIP and the cloud tend to mingle with each other quite a bit in technology, but there are some misconceptions when it comes to these communication tools, particularly when it comes to VoIP and unified communications (UC).

According to Enterprise Network Planet, UC isn’t the answer for cutting costs when network quality is poor. How does one implement UC in a way that it can boost productivity and reduce costs?

VoIP isn’t required in order to implement UC, but VoIP does make it easier. VoIP services already include mechanisms for forwarding voicemail to email and other features used in a UC system. With VoIP, there is more scalability and better integration than with UC-type products that rely on traditional phone services.

When you boil down function versus features, VoIP is really a cost-savings communication tool for businesses that boasts its own set of features. Despite this, it does not include the many features that UC comes with.

The growing adoption of VoIP makes it easier for companies to employ unified communications, and the increasing recognition of a need for UC within the organization is an influence that's helping to drive the acceptance of VoIP in the business world. Essentially, these two technologies play well together and rely on each other to work.

The two technologies are but mere compliments of each other; however, they can remain mutually exclusive, and even influence the other.

As companies move toward a UC system, they become aware of various challenges, including the fact that not everything works seamlessly together. UC is not a single product, but a solution comprised of many different elements and components from various vendors, which don't always play nice with each other. Trying to get all the moving pieces to work together, while managing and maintaining the different vendor products, can be a nightmare.

To remain relevant within the communications landscape, it is imperative that communications service providers (CSPs) must bring market services that can build on their core networks but it must be done quickly and cost-efficiently.

CSPs need to work with the challenges not only on their side, but on the consumer side as well. That is where the cloud comes to the rescue.

Unified communications, at face value, could be the application of the decade given all its promises. It lets users access people and resources, no matter the location or communication channel, spurring productivity and boosting business processes at an economical cost when provided with an optimal connection.