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Evan Koblentz CTI@Home

BY EVAN KOBLENTZ
Technology Editor, TMC Labs™


[March 17, 2000]

Unified Messaging Meandering

Three readers messaged me during the past week, and all of them wanted to know my humble opinion about which is the best SOHO messaging software. However, each call arrived at a time when I happened to be quite busy and on deadline -- as we all are -- and so each time I provided them with a handful of the product names off the top of my head.

But... (and this is Point One for today):
As the deadline of this column neared, I began to feel guilty for not giving each caller -- nay, each reader, and each of the millions of SOHO proprietors -- a more detailed, definitive answer. After all, thats why you come here every other Friday, right? So, before I choked on all of the commas and em dashes in this already too-wordy paragraph, I compiled this chart of 18 (count 'em!) SOHO messaging solutions from 12 vendors. Im sure there are many others available, but these are some of the more popular. (Look for full reviews of many of these packages, starting with the 01 Communique and LOREDEC products, in upcoming issues of Communications Solutions magazine.)

 

Vendor

Software

01 Communique

Communicate! I2000
Communicate!
Communicate!

BrightArrow

PhoneAssistant 2.0

Clearwave Communications

Intellect

Conversa

Messenger

Figment Technologies

UniExchange

Kommunicate

PhoneTools Suite

LOREDEC/Pacific Image Communications

SuperVoice Communications Server
SuperVoice Pro 4.0
SuperVoice Home 1.1

Maisoft

Office Messenger SOHO

MediaPhonics

PhoneRider/CyberDesk

Mountain Systems

CallAudit Voice
CallAudit Voice Pro

ObjectWorld

CallAttendent Pro & Client
CallAttendent

Symantec

TalkWorks PRO 3.0

 

Turning left onto Postulation Place, I found Point Two:
Although these 18 products all do mostly the same thing, some of them have unique features, like speech recognition, music-on-hold, VoIP, videoconferencing, etc. But one thing thats rare among SOHO-oriented UM products is Microsoft Exchange integration, or "true" UM.

(A quick primer for those who dont know: although we call them unified messaging, most SOHO solutions are actually integrated messaging. Without getting into the gory details, the basic difference is that integrated messaging takes message types from different sources -- called message stores -- and puts them into a single interface. "True" unified messaging actually creates the different messages in a single message store in the first place -- usually its Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes. Either way, the result is the same for end users, but true UM is much easier to implement, manage, and scale. And, dont ever use "IM" for integrated messaging, because IM is already taken for "instant messaging," which is an entirely different technology, for another column.)

While making a pit stop for a Coca-Cola, I found Point Three:
You may wonder why implementation, management, and scalability are things that you should care about. Those are big business concerns, and yours is a small business, right? Wrong! For every 100 SOHO owners youll meet, most will admit that they dream of eventually becoming a big business owner, and the rest theyre probably lying. Regardless, in the meantime, why not run your small business like a big one?

I then made a legal U-turn, got bored, made another legal U-turn, drove on some more, and crashed into Point Four (don't worry, there were no serious injuries):
Because no one has made it easy yet, thats why. Its not just SOHO owners who prefer to focus on their product or service, big businesses do the same thing -- thats why the smartest executives hire IT staff or outsource the job.

Ooops... I got lost and ended up in Flanders, NY, home of the big duck. Here, I found Point Five:
Perhaps the compromise between the ease and cost of small UM software and the complexity (and cost) of big UM software is service-based UM. Service-based UM, also known as virtual assistants, are products that provide Web and telephone access to personalized (and sometimes, truly unified) mailboxes which reside on a service providers network. In this case, there are some great advantages: having built-in and rules-based find-me/follow-me features; speech-enabled commands; contact/appointment management; a single telephone/ fax number and e-mail address to distribute; and not having to invest in your own hardware, software, or maintenance staff. There are downsides, too: often monthly or annual subscription fees; security (people who you dont know could have access to your messages); and relying on the QoS of a network that you do not control.

My favorite example of this is Portico. Portico is expensive, and a quick search engine session will find you plenty of simpler, less expensive options. I attempted to maintain a comprehensive list of these vendors when the category debuted about 18 months ago, but alas, so many similar vendors appeared that I could not keep up.

It all finally came to a halt here, on your computer screen:
Having to choose between a SOHO premise-side solution, a big-time UM solution, and a service-provider UM solution is not easy. All three types of UM offer unique advantages and disadvantages. Even more choices will become available during the next few years, many of which will also incorporate PDA clients. For now though, consider the concept of service provider-based big company UM (which is a long shot, but could work given the proper security and QoS guarantees), or the concept of "true" UM for the SOHO (which is a more realistic goal, if someone comes along whos got the chutzpah to make it easy to install and manage).

Now its time for your opinion. As a SOHO owner or reseller, which solution appeals to you the most? Why? Which solution do you think will appeal to you the most in the future? Why? Go ahead and click the link below to e-mail me a reply; the best of which will receive future discussion right here.

Evan Koblentz welcomes your comments at ekoblentz@tmcnet.com.


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