How useful are unified communications for enterprises? Apparently, they are very important.
Half of the companies interviewed in a new Infonetics Research study said return-on-investment wasn’t a major purchasing factor because the technology is so beneficial to employee productivity, according to Directing Analyst Matthias Machowinski.
Of the 80 companies interviewed, 80% already adopted the technology, and all plan to do so by next year. Cisco Systems and Microsoft lead in North American mindshare, trailed by Avaya and Nortel, with IBM slightly behind, Machowinski said.
Criteria in the study included features, innovation, overall value, price, reliability, third-party integration and vendor stability. All five companies did well in various areas, but all fared poorly for interoperability – the latter being, of course, a major issue for large enterprises.
Unified communications, often built on but not requiring VoIP, began in the late 1990s as a single-inbox approach to e-mail, fax and voicemail. Modern products also can include collaboration, contact management, instant messaging, presence status and SMS.
An interesting trend that’s just beginning is the decline of the desk phone, Machowinski noted that there is evidence of a decline of the desk phone, but it could be five years before that becomes noticeable unless they become more innovative.