Unified Communications

Computing and telecomms technology is converging to provide some very useful benefits. Microsoft calls this "Unified Communications".

Unified Communications integrates the experiences you associate with the telephone (phone calls, voice mail, and conferencing) with the work you do on a computer (documents, spreadsheets, instant messaging, e-mail, and calendars).

We believe unified communications will transform business in the coming decade in the same way e-mail changed the business landscape in the 1990s.

When phone services become software and are managed by a server and delivered to desktop applications, many interesting things happen:

The computer starts to work like a phone

To call someone, you just click on his or her name. The computer places the call. It doesn't matter whether you see their name in e-mail, inside Microsoft Office Word, or on a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services site: their contact information and the ability to reach them is always present.

“Presence” is one of the key benefits of unified communications manager because it unites all the contact information stored in Active Directory with all the ways people communicate: phone, conferencing, instant messaging, e-mail, calendaring. People’s availability, their contact information, and the ability to communicate with them are integrated and always just a click away.

The phone starts to work like a computer

Try this with a standard office phone: call someone, then add someone else to the call. Okay, now add ten people. Now, turn it into a live video call. Could you do it? Is it even possible?

With Microsoft unified communications technologies, you click to call. Click again and you can launch a conference call. Need video? It’s a click away. It’s that easy.

Voice mail becomes e-mail

Voice mail arrives in your Microsoft Office Outlook inbox, right beside your e-mail. That might not sound impressive, but have you ever tried to forward voice mail using the touchtone keypad on a telephone? When voice mail becomes e-mail, you can forward it just like any e-mail: to one person, a work team, or an entire department.

VoIP can be added to your existing system

You don’t need a forklift to install Microsoft unified communications technologies because Microsoft uses software instead of hardware. Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007—the server that delivers presence, instant messaging, and audio- and videoconferencing—integrates smoothly with your existing telecommunications infrastructure, including your current PBX.

Unified communications streamlines things

Microsoft unified communications technologies use Active Directory to unify the entire corporate directory—names, PBX extensions, e-mail addresses, and logons. This simplifies IT administration.

Use speech technology for self-service via the phone

Voice portals offer callers an easy way to get to information they need using naturally spoken language from any phone, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The powerful speech-enabled Interactive Voice Response (IVR), Speech Server, which is a part of Microsoft Office Unified Communications Server 2007, can help businesses deliver significant value through speech-enabled self-service applications via the telephone at a very attractive price.

Such applications can be both inbound, like the above mentioned voice portals, as well as outbound applications, like quality surveys or notifications via the telephone.

Phone calls become digital assets, just like e-mail

This means they can be logged, reviewed, published, and archived. Having a complete record and recording of every phone call is increasingly critical as businesses struggle to comply with stricter federal and international regulations.

Flexible and future-ready

By using a software solution to deliver unified communications, your business can stay flexible and embrace innovations as they come. The Microsoft unified communications platform of powerful APIs enables developers to extend that software solution with security-enhanced and productivity-enhancing applications that span all modes of communications. When emerging technologies and changing business needs require your communications infrastructure to adapt, all you have to do is extend or upgrade your software, not your hardware.

For more information about Unified Communications, please click on the button below and one of our specialists will be in touch to tell you more and explain how this exciting new technology could impact on your business.