Unified communications how does it work

Users can integrate off-the-shelf software like Microsoft Outlook or Lotus Notes to deliver messages when the recipient is away from the computer. Organizations in specialized, fast-paced industries, such as education, healthcare or sales, might work with a technology provider to coordinate complete platforms to meet their needs. These solutions can be a combination of existing and custom components. UC also includes users who simply adapt to the technology and alter their habits to use resources that are already available [source: Unified Communications Strategies].

It's the results of UC that are influential, not the semantics, so in , the Unified Communications Strategies Web site put forth the following interpretation: "Communications integrated to optimize business processes" [source: Unified Communications Strategies]. It's vague, but in other words, it's not really a new form of communication. It's a way to combine older forms of communication to get better, more efficient results.

Whether you feel as if you can't escape from the office or you're more secure knowing you can be reached anytime and anywhere, UC is continuing to evolve. Let's take a closer look at its usage.

Unified communications aims to overcome the flaws of business communication, with considerable payoff. Many of the benefits to a well-planned UC system are outlined below. And how does all of this take place? Most old-school professional communication happens via messages, which sit on a phone or computer until they're retrieved.

It's convenient for the recipient, in part because messages don't demand an immediate response or sometimes, any response at all.

Senders, however, don't know if the correspondent is unavailable, or if they're simply being ignored. Messages are also dependent on the delivery method: You can call the desk phone instead of the cell phone, and when the message is received, it might be too late. Real-time electronic communication is intended to reduce or eliminate the lag between a message being sent and received, using functions such as chat, video conferencing and VoIP voice over Internet protocol -- basically, talking on the phone over an Internet connection.

Speech recognition applications can be used with text-based, real-time methods to convert a dictated spoken message into text that can be read on the recipient's screen [source: Microsoft ]. We've seen what UC can do for a business, but like any worthwhile investment, there are considerations. Continue reading to find out about some of the problems that can be incurred as a result of UC. Up until now, unified communications might seem like a no-brainer.

For most organizations, significant results can be achieved with minimal effort -- on the surface, anyway. These cool features aren't without complications, and the tech sector has worked for decades to overcome them. For example, the data industry faces the hurdle of routing VoIP calls from the Internet to a regular phone number as smoothly as land lines. Though hosted VoIP services don't provide call control the name for call routing, both behind the scenes and on the consumer's end , some interfaces allow users to control phone calls from the computer desktop.

According to Dave Gilbert, founder of call control app maker SimpleSignal, research showed that a lot of VoIP users ignored familiar features like voice messaging, call forwarding and speed dial because the programs were confusing and often required a Web browser to run in the background, making it easy to overlook calls and other notifications [source: TMCnet ].

Despite these issues, Google's vice president of product management, Bradley Horowitz, told eWeek the goal of telephony is to be seamless, which is essential if it's to play a critical role in UC [source: Boulton ].

Face a desktop cluttered with all the UC applications we've discussed, and it's easy to get overwhelmed. This can lead to communication latency , which analyst Sagee Ben-Zedeff describes as the "negative effect on our effectiveness that is caused by having to deal with too many means of communications.

By using one platform, with one interface, to access all those means, either explicitly or implicitly, that latency is reduced if not eliminated" [source: Ben-Zedeff ]. An interesting effect of overcoming communication latency is the expectation that contacts will be available.

Some chat and message platforms, such as Google Chat, allow status messages that indicate availability and willingness to talk, which is known as presence information. To alleviate privacy concerns, many apps also allow status blocking, so contacts can't see if someone is online [source: Good ].

You may use a smartphone to juggle telephone calls, text messaging, e-mail and Web browsing. How do they fit into unified communications? To get the best experience possible out of your service, make sure your provider offers a high uptime guarantee — ideally over You also want to look at security and compliance — high standards and independent validation are a must.

Comprehensive support and a seamless onboarding experience are also important. How easy is it to get your questions answered? Are onboarding and migration services included, and can you count on zero downtime or data loss? All of this comes standard with Intermedia Unite. Learn more about Intermedia Unite.

Providing the right technology and tools to your employees is critical, especially regarding communications. Your team needs flexibility in the way that they exchange ideas and collaborate, and you can find this with unified communications. The benefits of unified communications can positively impact how your staff works. Making the switch to a unified communications platform is a smart investment.

Find out why. The goal with BYOD is to create a safe, unified gateway for work-related activities. But, before introducing a BYOD policy, companies need to evaluate how it could impact business. At the Cloud Collective, we can help you create a unified communications strategy for your business. Our UC experts can work with you to assess your current network, what your existing communications processes are, and how a unified communications tool can empower your business.

Today, businesses have plenty of choices when it comes to finding the right unified communications vendor. There are a lot of big-name vendors with robust solutions, including Cisco Unified Communications, Telstra, and RingCentral. We focus on the mid-market and are more capable of addressing the unique communications needs of medium-sized businesses than most of the other UC vendors on the market.

We also can offer our customers end-to-end technology solutions and support with everything from remote work enablement to digital security and mobility management. We can create a bespoke unified platform for your users, giving them easy access to all the solutions and collaboration apps you want them to have.

Our digital specialists can also help with a hosted solution. And, with everything located in one central hub, your employees will be able to take advantage of any underused tools that had been overlooked in the past. From unified communications solutions to Microsoft Teams solutions and disaster recovery , Cloud Collective can empower your business with smart digital solutions. Reach out today to find out what we can do for your organisation.

A unified communications system U C is an interconnected system of either one application, or multiple integrated applications combined, that includes most, if not all, of your business communication methods. It can be hosted on your own server called on-premise , on a third-party server called hosted , or in the cloud called UCaaS — unified communications as a service.

Unified communications works by bringing together multiple modalities of communication: presence, i nstant messaging, m eetings, document collaboration, voice , and video calling , into a single system of integrated applications, or even better, one single application that does it all. Whilst email is a modality of business communication, email generally sits outside of unified communications UC.

However, it is imperative that email is well-integrated into your unified communications system. Properly integrated email amplifies your UC platform, by ensuring that your calendar and contacts can be used for meeting scheduling, which also enables a one-click meeting join directly from your calendar.

Any tool that is used to communicate and collaborate is important. However, our top 5 most important features of unified communications are:. This is the most important unified communications takeaway, is that all tools can be integrated into a single application. Hosted unified communications and UCaaS unified communications as a service are two different but similar methods of running a unified communications system or platform.

Hosted unified communications is when your system is hosted on a server that is not on your network, using the same software that would be used if you were hosting your platform on-premise. Unified Communications as a Service refers to a secure cloud-based per-user subscription service that offers a variety of communication and collaboration tools bundled together. The key difference is that while hosted UC is on a dedicated server, and usually does not incur a per-user cost, but rather a per-server cost, irrespective of how many users you have, UCaaS is hosted across multiple different servers shared with other subscribers, and incurs a per-user cost, allowing you to only pay for what you use.

It is the method of choice if you have a diversified workforce, including office-based, front-line, traveling or on-the-road and remote workers, as having your UC hosted on-premise requires the use of a VPN virtual private network for remote or off-site workers to access your system.

This can result in network bottlenecks, and latency issues. In addition, deploying a UCaaS platform to your organisation often results in significant cost benefits, due to having all tools and applications, security, maintenance, and management bundled in the one subscription. By streamlining communication into a single application, users have a single place to communicate and collaborate with their colleag u es. This means that all messaging, all voicemails, all files that are used for collaboration, and many other facets, are accessible in one place.

This enables:. Using Unified Communications in the cloud means zero on — premises hardware requirements or maintenance, whilst providing u n limited scalability. You only pay for what you need. In addition, having one application suite that does it all, like Microsoft , that has all applications including your UC platform bundled into one subscription fee, you avoid using piecemeal applications from varying vendors, with varying policies, saving time and money not only on billing, but also on personnel having to troubleshoot when integrations fail.

The modern workplace is about supporting users who want the ability to work when and where they want. Having a unified communications platform that openly supports this is vital. We have 4 key steps that are imperative in deploying a unified communications system:. View Webinars. Related Terms Business Technologist. Digital Assets. Digital Finance. Fusion Team. Internet Speed Test. Remote Control.

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