What’s the most widely implemented elements of Unified Communications, and what are the most “popular” applications?
It may not be the definitive word, but there’s an interesting post over at NoJitter that offers some insight into the answers to these questions. The post is based on a modest survey of enterprises that isn’t available publicly, but that blogger Gary Audin took a look at.
Only 60 enterprises were surveyed, more than half of them with over 500 employees, so you can add whatever filters you want to the findings. But any valid survey that can provide a look at how enterprises are deploying UC is worth examining.
For example, this survey showed that IP telephony is the most widespread element of UC, in place at 69 percent of the surveyed enterprises. Next is videoconferencing at 65 percent, web conferencing at 63 percent, Instant Messaging 61 percent, desktop VoIP at 57 percent, and unified messaging at 55 percent.
As far as applications, 78 percent of the responding enterprises say they have implemented UC for integrated communication and collaboration interfaces, followed by communication and collaboration tool integration with core applications (63 percent), workflow optimization via collaboration tools (59 percent), and integrated presence (56 percent).
Asked about how easy it is to implement UC, almost all (94 percent) of the respondents said they felt third-party expertise was essential to deploying UC, and three-fourths said such outside expertise is necessary for any additional UC optimization they would be doing, as they feel it is beyond the capabilities of their internal IT resources. Also, 72 percent say that “substantial” user training is required in a UC deployment.
No one ever said moving to UC would be a no-sweat, plug-it-in-and-forget-about-it operation. But while this survey – at least the portions cited – didn’t talk about satisfaction with UC and appreciation of its benefits, our own experience tells us that enterprises which have made the move feel it was more than worth the effort.
