Guide to building an enterprise unified communications strategy
Unified communications transformed in the past year from largely supporting on- site collaboration through huddle rooms, in-room conferencing, whiteboarding and the like to uniting largely remote workforces with audio and video conferencing, virtual whiteboards and more. Now another unified communications shift is underway — the move to support hybrid in-office and at-home workforces. This guide, which includes links throughout to more information, explains why UC is more important than ever for businesses, its associated technologies, and the steps it takes to create a comprehensive but agile unified communications plan for collaboration across the extended enterprise.
WHAT IS UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS, AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT IN BUSINESS?
UC is a conceptual framework for integrating various enterprise communication methods — including telephony, video calling and conferencing, email, instant messaging and presence — into a single platform, with the goal of streamlining and enhancing business communications, collaboration and productivity.
UC deployment is less about rolling out a single technology and more about developing a strategy for how myriad real-time communications — synchronous or with negligible latency — and asynchronous tools help users collaborate and communicate in a productive manner that enhances organizational workflow.