Unified Communications Strategy

Unified communications is undoubtedly changing the way that business is conducted. It has helped to open the door to new ways for people to communicate and collaborate. With the combination of IP based technology with voice, video, and data, it has garnered the attention of many Canadian organizations. However, to fully understand its applicability to your organization, time must be taken to examine unified communications and develop a strategy for it to be used internally.

A three-step approach to unified communications strategy implementation

When it comes to implementing a unified communications strategy, there are three main steps that must be taken. They are:

• Evaluation: Review the current state of technology in your company. What technology do you need to acquire? Where are you going to purchase it from? Weigh your options and select the best option that fits well with what you want to accomplish.
• Plan: Develop a timeline for implementation. What steps are necessary and what role will people within your company play in adoption? Also, take the time to uncover challenges and risks that exist and the best way to phase in the technology.
• Implementation: This step involves upgrading the infrastructure to merge your voice and data networks. This often involves upgrading your local and wide area networks in addition to the software required to run unified communications platforms. To complexity of implementation will depend on the current state of communication within your company.

What your unified communications strategy needs to address

Collaboration is ultimately one of the main goals of any unified communications strategy. Therefore, companies need to take the time to not only understand collaboration needs, but also the current habits that exist. In this sense, your UC strategy cannot be a one-size-fits-all solution. Every company has specific needs in addition to your organizational culture having specific values that you want to be reflected in the system.

When thinking about your needs, consider them in this manner:

• Departmentally: What departments exist and would benefit from a unified system?
• Primary contacts: Within each department, who do they communicate with? How frequently?
• Method of communication: What devices do departments use to connect with their target primary contacts?
• Needs: What functionality do departments need to enhance their ability to effectively communicate with their primary contact through their preferred method of communication? Outside of collaboration, your unified strategy needs to consider the following elements:
• Existing systems: Examine how your departments are currently collaborating and what tools they use to connect internally and externally.
• Gaps: What gaps in technology exist that will prevent your company from achieve a unified approach? How do you plan on developing solutions to address these gaps?
• Technology lifecycle: Create a timeline for when you can expect to upgrade some of the current communications technology components.
• Challenges: What challenges currently exist? Do you lack technology or knowledge? Do people internally question the validity of the software?

Things to consider in your unified communications strategy

Here are some additional things that companies should consider as part of their strategy:

• The impact that UC will have on the end user and your customers
• The impact it will have on day to day operations and current business processes
• Hardware and software considerations
• How UC tools will be leveraged
• Training and ramp-up considerations
• How to address adoption issues
• How UC will impact ROI and the bottom line
• The benefits that will be derived from UC adoption and new methods of communication
• How does UC impact things like the help desk, customer support, and the IT department