To paraphrase and update an old saying that has become particularly relevant for communications, “The next best thing to being there is having a great remote user experience.”  

Ever since Morse, Marconi, Bell and a few others turned the history of remote communications from a subset of transportation (trains, ships, railroads, the Pony Express, etc.) the goal of those in the business of using dedicated communications media (cable and wireless) has been to provide user experiences that replicate or exceed those in real-time physical proximity. 

Indeed, the history of communications can be seen as a timeline of engagement and then enhancement of experiences to encompass all of our senses, e.g., to make things more tactile. We started with dots and dashes then moved on to things like voice, facsimile and email. Today we now have an omnichannel world where the use of real-time video conferencing, unified communications (UC) and a host of collaboration and analytic tools are bringing us closer and closer to blurring the value distinctions between being there and being remote.  Virtualization has taken over the workplace. It has transformed where, how, why, and by whom, work is done.  And, with virtual reality, cognitive computing, 3-D printing and holography, the only limit on how user experiences are likely to be enhanced further is our imagination.     

That said, one of the nice things about the ability to replicate or enhance a real-time session is that everyone has the chance to literally and figuratively turn seeing into believing, regardless of where they are.

When it comes to the evolution of office communications systems and how technology is changing the way in which real-time interactions are experienced, the move to the cloud and the momentum it has generated is impressive.  Indeed, moving to the cloud is delivering on early promises of increasing operational efficiencies and effectiveness while extending quality interactive reach.  

If your organization has still not moved your communications functions to the cloud, or is in the process of evaluating such a move, you have a chance to see the value of a cloud-based solution via the webinar, Live Demo: RingCentral’s (News - Alert) Award-Winning Cloud Communications System. The webinar will be held December 10, 2015 at 2:00 PM EST and December 16, 2015 at 2:00 PM EST. Join me and Ray Durham, Cloud-solutions Engineer, RingCentral , as Ray walks participants through a live demo of RingCentral’s award-winning cloud-based solution.  

RingCentral Office integrates into enterprise business apps like Google (News - Alert), Office 365, Salesforce and others to help boost productivity and reduce costs. 

Ease of use will be highlighted as Ray shows participants how easy it is to have your company’s people initiate phone calls and SMS, host meetings and video conferences, view screen pops with relevant information, and more, without having to click from one tool to another -- from anywhere, any time. In addition he will demonstrate how users can configure their own call handling, and how IT sets up and manages users. Plus, there will be time left after the demo for you to have your questions answered.

We have come a long way since the early days of dedicated media being used for real-time communications and the cloud is enabling the next steps in making not being there as good if not better than the original near-field communications.