A unified message
To get work done today, most of us have to communicate with people across different locations and with widespread partners. But there is the question of how to contact those people. Should I e-mail them, send an instant message or pick up the phone and call them? If I know where they are and what they’re doing, it would help me pick the right tool to reach them. This “hyperconnectivity” issue has led to a proliferation of choices and creates a burden in reaching people.
Microsoft recently launched a set of technologies called Unified Communications to address this problem by streamlining networks and integrating and connecting voice mail, e-mail, IM, conference-calling and the like.
Most businesses try to handle all those communications through a cobbling together of old phone systems with modern tools like wireless networks and the Net.
Microsoft’s approach is to build a software system combined with Voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) that can bring all of a company’s messages and communications together. That’s the basis of UC.
How does it work? Look at the “Devil Wears Prada” video parodies listed in the story breakout to see how one fictional company uses UC to find key people and give them the same crucial information in fast order.
Unified Communications doesn’t require abandoning one’s traditional company phone system. Thanks to Internet protocol (IP) technology, Microsoft’s Office Communications Server 2007 bridges to company phone systems and then takes over voice and call routing. Plus, it adds audio- and videoconferencing.
Users who have Microsoft’s Exchange Server 2007 can integrate phone communications directly with their employees’ messaging, calendaring and directories. Here’s where UC can resolve the “presence” question: If I know someone I need to reach is in a meeting, I might instant message him to call me when free, rather than call his phone and leave a message.
And you can control your presence status manually too, with the options to set it to “busy” or “do not disturb.”
Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 also lets Outlook users get voice messages as e-mail. It can even provide dial-in support so company workers can listen to their voice mails, e-mails and calendars over the phone.
John Weber, a senior consultant with Portland-based Ascentium, is a fan of UC because it provides for more secure administrative control of company information while letting younger generation workers use Internet-based communications tools, such as IM.
“Instant messaging and text messaging are Gen Y’s preferred methods of communicating,” Weber points out.
UC’s secure and encrypted IM service addresses both those concerns, said Weber.
Web videoconferencing is another part of Unified Communications. For sales people, both IM and Web videoconferencing can help with the “JITFTE” task – or just-in-time-fetch-the- expert. That happens when a customer needs to talk to an informed person, and the sales person has to arrange the call.
The UC screen on one’s computer or mobile phone can find the expert, and if she’s free, will reveal the best way to reach that person. When needed, UC will help launch a videoconference with the expert on the spot, if the users are near a video cam.
In tackling this broad hyperconnectivity issue, Microsoft is going up against some major players, such as Cisco, which has been developing a hardware-based VoIP phone system for years and has learned many lessons along the way. Many in the telephony field say Cisco is now in the curious dual role of being both a Microsoft partner on UC and a competitor in the long run.
In the short term, people find value in what Microsoft is trying to do. “Getting control of your communications is the major value that Unified Communications gives a firm,” said Amy Cleary, managing director of Ascentium’s Spokane office.
Added Weber: “Getting workers on one IM system, one voice mail system (is desirable). Unified Communications allows you to contain costs and makes workers more aware of who they are working with.”