In our first and second posts in this series on the 2014 State of Unified Communications we discussed the overall growth of the market, premise vs cloud deployments, collaboration, and what users are looking for in Unified Communications.
We’ll start off our final post talking about what IT Teams need to do in Unified Communications…
With the growth of the Unified Communications market in 2014, IT teams have more pressure than ever to develop and maintain an excellent solution.
IT Teams must acquaint themselves with the vendors on the market. Aside from all of the large business providers, consumer and cloud providers are gaining traction and represent real competition in the world of Unified Communications.
They must also recognize that Unified Communications are an essential part of telephony today. The market is growing and the competition has already adopted Unified Communications.
WHAT TO DO WHEN STARTING OR EXPANDING A UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS SOLUTION
After hearing those statistics and expectations for the Unified Communications market in the year to come, are you ready to start or expand your UC development? If so, follow these guidelines for a smooth transition:
- Target the deployment, at least at first. Provide UC to only those users that will most benefit to begin a slow transition.
- Evaluate all of your PBX options. You may not have to upgrade your PBX equipment. Unified Communications is more about virtual features and capabilities than equipment.
- Seek a vendor with plans for federation. As the world of telephony moves to 100% Unified Communications it will be important to connect with suppliers and business partners that have different systems.
- Do not minimize the importance of voice. While Unified Communications has many benefits to offer, voice continues to be the most fundamental service. Ensure that the new solution will allow maximum quality voice features within your company.
- Take full advantage of training. Less important is how to actually use Unified Communications – that tends to be self-explanatory; but teach users the value and benefits of using those features in order to get the most out of the system.
- Market your UC solution to its full extent. Unified Communications has so much to offer – show users and potential clients why it is so indispensable. From increased efficiency, to reduced cost, to employee productivity, UC practically markets itself with a little effort.
Not sure where to start? Bicom Systems Account Managers would be happy to talk to you. Contact us at sales@bicomsystems.com, browse our products, or watch our gloCOM Unified Communications app video:
In summary, the world of Unified Communications has made vast improvement in the past year, but there are still several areas that could use some work for the remainder of 2014.
Want to keep reading? Download the full report from Information Week
What are your thoughts on how the Unified Communications Market is going? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!