Many businesses are already knowledgeable regarding IP-telephony, including apps like Skype. Unified Communications takes this idea and advances it, making your business phone system more cost-effective and convenient.
The biggest goal of Unified Communications is to combine telephony and business data onto the same network. With UC, firms can use voice, data and video in their typical business applications, which saves and forwards entire chucks of data.
On its own, a business phone system, or Skype, isn’t that secure. Sensitive information can easily wind up in the wrong hands. To solve that, UC software encrypts data. This ensures that the only person who can read the data is the one it was meant for, regardless of the transmission method. Another benefit of UC is that employees only need one phone number and a unified inbox to keep track of all of their communications.
When addressing your organization’s collaboration technology, consider a few scenarios. For example, do your employees have to navigate through long strings of email to find an answer to a question about a project? Or do they have unified communications features like IM and presence to find and contact a co-worker with the touch of a finger, from any device, to get answers in real time? Do they have automatic calendar reminders and mobile notifications alerting them when to follow up on projects?
The technology you choose to implement to support your employees is what will enhance their existing skill sets and strengthen their areas of weakness (i.e. forgetfulness, tardiness), helping keep them accountable.