Unified communications offers plenty of benefits for business, says Fulvio Toniotti, Jabra Australia and New Zealand managing director.
The way we work is changing – and unified communications (UC) plays a central role, allowing users to work effectively and efficiently, no matter where they are.
As UC is increasingly rolled out across businesses, it will be even more important for resellers to not only help their customers make informed decisions on its deployment, but also to continue that relationship after deployment to understand and appreciate how the technology is being used.
A study of 500 Australian office workers commissioned by Jabra found that 60% of employees claim to seldom or never turn off communications devices and applications, for both personal and business use, during work hours.
To juggle communications, the average employee uses more than five different devices or applications. Email is still the most widely used form of communication (90%), with the desk phone (84%) and mobile phone (51%) also heavily used for work purposes.
Historically the ‘always connected’ workplace has been viewed unfavourably, however, as the study shows, in recent times employees are largely comfortable working in this kind of environment.
Now more than ever, workers are choosing to work wherever and whenever they are most productive, and the advances in technology, namely the up-take of BYOD, has helped them in that pursuit.
Mobile rise
The rise of the mobile worker allows resellers the opportunity to encourage and support companies to embrace BYOD culture in the workplace.
As more businesses place confidence in UC – seven out of 10 Australian businesses are confident of a return on investment through investing in UC in the next two years (Frost & Sullivan) – resellers must help businesses understand their unique needs and potential barriers to adoption such as getting staff and management buy-in.
Over half of those surveyed reported adequate training as a key driver to a successful implementation of UC applications.
Smart devices with remote access and wireless headsets can provide workers with easy mobile access to important client calls and work files- including email, IM, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, spread sheets and word docs – while keeping IT costs tightly reined in.
Technology should enable businesses to be more agile and superior at competing in a difficult economy, and the many benefits of unified communication tools – such as greater collaboration, increased productivity, and more efficient business processes – will become readily apparent as companies move forward using them.
