UC enables people to

connect, communicate

and collaborateseamlessly to improve

business agility and

results.

EDITED BY LEIGHA CARDWELL

SPONSORED BY:

UNIFIEDCOMMUN

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

UC integrates real-time and non-real-time communications with busi-ness processes and requirements basedon presence capabilities, presenting aconsistent unified user interface anduser experience across multiple devicesand media types. UC supports theenterprise to manage various types of communications across multipledevices and applications, and acrossgeographies, with personalized rulesand policies, while integrating withback-office applications, systems andbusiness processes. UC enables people to connect, com-

municate and collaborate seamlessly to improve business agility and results.These results include better user andgroup productivity, dynamic collabora-tion and simplified business processes,with the goal of increasing revenues,decreasing costs and improving cus-tomer service. Now let’s talk about what UC is not.

UC is not a single product but rather a solution made up of a variety of com-munication tools and components.Some people use the terms “unifiedmessaging” and “unified communica-tions” interchangeably, but—as you’llsee—unified messaging is simply oneelement of a UC solution. Similarly, the term UC is sometimes expanded to encompass the next generation of IPcommunications. Again, call control orIP communications is one element of aUC solution, but it is not UC in and ofitself.UC is a comprehensive solution that

ties several components together withpresence capabilities and a consistentuser interface to provide a seamless

What UC Is and Isn’tLET’S START WITH the basics—what is unifiedcommunications? The term unified com-munications means different things todifferent people, depending on what part of the market they represent—e.g.,switch vendors have a view of unifiedcommunications (UC) different from thatof application or conferencing vendors.UCStrategies.com has defined UC as:

Communications integrated to optimizebusiness processes.

1.

By Blair PleasantPresident and principalanalyst, COMMfusion

LLC and CoFounder,UCStrategies.com

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

user experience. UC componentsinclude:

� Call control and multimodal communications

� Presence � Instant messaging� Unified messaging� Speech access and personal assistant

� Conferencing—audio, Web andvideo

� Collaboration tools� Mobility� Business process integration (BPI)� Software to enable business processintegration

For the highest ROI results, these UC tools are tied into business processesand applications, making the integratedsolution exponentially more useful tobusinesses and workers.One key part of UC is called pres-

ence. Presence enables you (or softwareapplications) to determine whether

someone is available to communi-cate—either by telephone, instant message, Web sharing or even mobilephone. This makes communicationsmuch more efficient and greatlyreduces “telephone tag.” A typical UCsession might start with an instantmessage between two parties that esca-

lates to a phone call or Web conferencethrough a click of a button on the PCscreen. That click connects the partiesvia audio, and another turns the callinto video, if desired. If other peopleneed to be added to the conversation, alook at the presence status of people onyour buddy list lets you simply click-to-conference to bring them into the call.In addition, the more advanced pres-ence tools can find a person based onrole, skill or knowledge and can alsopresent differing “presence” indicationsto different audiences (available toteam or client, but busy to others)—simple and efficient.

UC ELEMENTS AND COMPONENTS

Unified communications is not a singleproduct—it is a solution made up ofvarious components, including (but not limited to) the following:

Call control/IP PBXs: While several ven-dors consider the switch or IP PBX tobe the main element of a UC solution,and some consider UC to be merely anextension of Internet telephony, weview the IP PBX as a UC enabler—nomore, no less. The PBX/IP PBX pro-vides the plumbing needed for a UCsolution. The IP PBX market is in astate of change, as vendors movetoward software approaches and awayfrom hardware-centric products. Serv-ice-oriented architecture (SOA) andWeb services are playing an importantrole in UC solutions, and most switchvendors have announced plans to pro-vide call control capabilities via soft-ware rather than hardware.

Presence is the cornerstone of a UC solution. ... [It] will be“the dial tone of the future.”

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

CLICK FOR MORE ON UC APPS

+ Instant messaging (IM)and presence

+ Collaboration

Presence: Presence is the cornerstone of a UC solution. As the fundamentalenabler for UC, presence will be “thedial tone of the future.” Presence pro-vides real-time notification of users’current availability and ability to com-municate. Presence servers gather pres-ence information from various sourcesand provide unified presence informa-tion to end users or applications. In aUC world, when we discuss presence,we are going beyond simple instantmessage presence (i.e., knowing if abuddy is online and available for aninstant messaging session) to presenceenabling all communications, includingtelephony. Most switch vendors todayeither offer their own presence serverand capabilities or integrate with pres-ence capabilities from IBM and/orMicrosoft. The biggest challenge todayis the lack of federation, or the abilityof these presence systems to worktogether to allow users on one presencesystem to see the presence status of apartner or customer on another system.

Instant messaging: Instant messaging(IM) is another critical component of aUC solution. In business environments,IM generally requires an enterprise-grade IM system, rather than a publicIM service such as AOL or Yahoo.Enterprise IM systems offer securityand privacy that public IM services can-not. As with presence servers, however,most enterprise IM systems do notinteroperate with others.

Unified messaging: Unified messaging(UM) is the integration of voice, faxand email messages and message notifi-

cation. UM allows users to access anyof these messages, anywhere, anytime,from any terminal. Building on UM’sstore-and-forward capabilities, mostUM products add a variety of advancedcall and message management func-tions, including desktop call screeningof inbound calls, find me/follow me,live reply or call return, and cross-media messaging. New presence capa-bilities mean that the need for UM systems to act as answering machines is being reduced, and the value of UM is moving toward enhanced, real-timeconnectivity with individuals.

Speech access and personal assistant:Using speech commands, personalassistants (or virtual assistants) allowusers to access their inbox, calendar,directory and so on. Personal assistantsprovide intelligent screening and filter-ing of messages and let users navigatetheir schedule, calendar, contacts, out-bound dialing and so on, in addition totheir UM system.

Conferencing and collaboration: Con-ferencing and collaboration includesaudio, video and Web conferencing, aswell as collaborative capabilities suchas shared workspaces, whiteboarding,file sharing and document sharing. Thefastest-growing technology in the col-laborative portfolio is Web conferenc-ing, which brings collaboration to thedesktop via a Web browser and anInternet connection, allowing partici-pants to view presentations and otherdocuments while participating in areal-time conference. Voice communi-cations can take place over the Internet

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

or through a separate audio conferenc-ing bridge. Another collaboration com-ponent is shared workspaces, whichenable participants to view, share, editand save documents and files.

Mobility: In the UC world, more andmore voice and video communicationswill be launched from—and connectedto—mobile wireless devices. Integrat-ing the mobile users’ voice and real-time communications services withcore enterprise communications letsthem do their jobs regardless of loca-tion. Enabling UC features like click-to-conference and IM for mobile usersallows them to participate in confer-ences and access some of the samecapabilities they can access in theoffice, improving their productivitywhen mobile.

Business process integration: An impor-tant element of a UC solution is inte-gration with business processes andworkflow applications. One of the keygoals of business process integration isto eliminate “human latency”—a busi-ness process stalled by the need to waitfor human input or communication. Inmany business processes today, workcomes to a standstill until someone canprovide information needed to proceedto the next step. UC can reduce thisdelay by contacting the next person in asequence of steps, or by initiating an adhoc meeting or conference call to settlean issue. By communication- or voice-enabling business processes and appli-cations, communications can be initiat-ed within the application, making iteasier to notify and interact with others

to resolve a problem.The first applications to be commu-

nication-enabled are back-office appli-cations such as CRM, ERP, sales forceautomation and supply-chain manage-ment. Order fulfillment and customerservice readily lend themselves to sim-plification through presence and com-munications awareness.An example of basic business

process integration is a process thatuses Microsoft Office applications.Someone who is reviewing a documentor spreadsheet and needs additionalinformation from the author can sim-ply mouse-over the author’s name, seehis/her presence status, and click-to-call to initiate a real-time conversation.The same can be done within special-ized applications. A manufacturingexception system, for example, candetect an issue and automatically notify the appropriate people (i.e., quality assurance specialist, engineerand supervisor) via any communica-tions mode, be it mobile or desk phone, email or instant message.These people are brought into a confer-ence call and can resolve the issue onthe spot.

THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT

We are at the early stages of unifiedcommunication deployments. Bothvendors and enterprise customers arestruggling to understand what this newworld holds in store. But one thing iscertain: The future is bright, and thosecompanies that begin the move to UCimplementation will have a competitiveedge over those that delay. �

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PAGE 6

q “Unified Communications Is Inevitable—Are You in the Lead or Dragging Your Feet?Simplify IT—Here’s How”This is the first webcast of a series that will assist you in developing your roadmap for implementation of UC and put you on the path to success.

q “Rethink conferencing solutions—Dell and Microsoft Unified Communications Simplify IT—Here’s How”Attend this free webinar and see how you can integrate voice and video conferencing into your existing email infrastructure with Microsoft Unified Communications solutionsfrom Dell.

ABOUT THE SPONSOR:Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500. Visit www.dell.com/unified

RESOURCES FROM DELL

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

and contact options—anywhere, any-time, and in any communication modethat users need to do their jobs.

UNDERSTANDING THE “WHY” OF UC

The business drivers behind the moveto UC vary by industry and by the prob-lems each business is trying to solve.Most businesses, regardless of industry,have common needs. One of thesecommon needs is the ability of workersto seamlessly communicate and inter-act with co-workers, partners and sup-pliers, regardless of location. “Collaboration” today means work-

ing cooperatively as a distributed, “vir-tual” team. The demand for meaningfulcollaboration is fueling the necessityfor efficient communication and infor-mation-sharing capabilities from anylocation, over computerized networksthat allow things to get done faster andbetter. UC enhances collaborativeactivities by making workers more effi-cient and providing the ability to makefaster decisions through better accessto key players, ultimately enablingcompanies to bring products and serv-ices to market more quickly.One of the biggest drivers of UC is

the need for efficient contacts in cus-tomer-facing activities, such as market-ing, sales and customer service.As both consumers and business

users shift to new contact channelssuch as Web services, multimodal mes-saging communications, video and per-sonalized mobile devices, enterprisesare challenged to integrate those chan-nels to maintain consistently high lev-els of service across multiple platforms.

How Enterprises Are Using UC TodayEFFICIENT COMMUNICATION IS key to successfuloperations. In enterprises today, problemresolution and business processes are notaccomplished by a single person whoalready has all the necessary information.Real-time access to specific people andspecific information at specific times iswhat today’s business environmentdemands. UC technologies supplement or replace traditional methods of businesscommunications to maximize efficiency

By Art Rosenberg,Principal Analyst, The Unified View

2.

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

CLICK FOR MORE ON BUSINESSPROCESS INTEGRATION

+ Unified communicationstranslates to intelligent communications

+ Unified communicationsROI

We see traditional telephone call cen-ters, for example, being forced to tran-sition to more flexible and efficientmultimodal contact operations in orderto support “customer UC.” Outside the call center, the picture is

much the same—sales, services, logisticsand managerial personnel are all turningto UC to connect to customers and sup-pliers. When direct customer connectionis not possible, these users look to UCto monitor communications, providealerts or redirect the customer to an-other qualified, available team member.

THE TWO REALMS OF UC BENEFITS

Business communications affect peopleboth inside and outside the organiza-tion, which means that the benefits ofUC will be realized both at the businessprocess level (which involves opera-tional workflow efficiencies betweenstaff within the process) and at theindividual personal productivity level.

BUSINESS PROCESS BENEFITS OF UC

UC-driven business process improve-ments fall into two main categories—operational improvements and busi-ness benefits. Operational resultsinclude helping companies fix/avoidbusiness problems. Some of the ways inwhich UC can help enterprises improvebusiness processes include:

� Enabling faster, more flexibleaccess to people and information.

� Proactively delivering informationto the right people at the right time.

� Improving individual user task per-formance by minimizing communi-

cation delays with others (“humanlatency”).

� Improving “group” task perform-ance, coordination and efficiencythrough shared workspaces.

� Maximizing personal communica-tion efficiency.

� Optimizing operational staffingrequirements.

� Maximizing the ability to attractand retain operational staff.

To achieve real business results—improving the bottom line—companiesneed to take the operating results iden-tified above and redesign businessprocesses to speed cycle time, reducelabor content, and improve customer-facing effectiveness or similar factorsthat can translate into bottom-line ben-efits. By tracking how process improve-ments are achieved through UC, com-panies can achieve a number ofbenefits, including:

� Improving competitive marketposition.

� Reducing costs of doing business.� Minimizing technology invest-ments and support costs.

� Increasing or speeding up revenuegeneration.

� Increasing profitability.� Improving asset utilization.

Of course, solid implementation iskey to realizing these benefits. Successdepends on how well these UC tech-nologies are deployed for specific busi-ness processes and how thoroughlythey are adopted by different end useraudiences.

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

PRODUCTIVITY BENEFITS:

“DEADLINES” VS. “DEAD TIME”

The ROI spotlight for UC has shifted tobusiness advantage and operationalperformance, rather than simply costreduction. Productivity bottlenecksaffect every step of the workflowprocess, and inefficiencies in businesscommunications often slow thingsdown. Wasted communication timecan lead to missed critical deadlines,financial loss and missed businessopportunities.Consider these three different areas

of communication-based productivitymetrics in typical enterprise operationswhen evaluating overall UC benefits.

1. Personal productivity: Individual end-user communication efficiency: Individual users benefit from personalproductivity gains through easy, flexibleand efficient options for:

� Initiating business communicationcontacts

� Receiving contacts� Responding to contacts

Mobile capability is an importantpart of the personal productivity pic-ture, delivering significant improve-ments to users otherwise faced withnon-productive “dead time,” e.g., theinability to work efficiently while trav-eling.The productivity benefits for such

communication activities will, ofcourse, vary based on the UC capabili-ties deployed and on individual userneeds. Typical time savings claimed forcurrent UC technologies, however,

average roughly half an hour per dayper user.

2. Efficiencies in group communicationand collaboration on business processtasks: Getting the job done as well andas quickly as possible is a particularchallenge for teams that need to coordi-nate efforts on a particular task or busi-ness process. The ability of group mem-bers to communicate efficiently allowstasks to be completed more quickly,with better coordination and less effort. The biggest payoff, though, is in bot-

tom-line business results. Real businessbenefit results from improvements inthe ability to meet revenue-drivingdeadlines or to avoid delay penaltiesthrough better coordination with teammembers.

3. Business applications as contact initiators: UC technology can also beleveraged to automate processes andenable people to quickly respond tosensitive events and status changes. Inaddition to passive facilitation of user-initiated contacts, business processapplications can act as “contact initia-tors” to notify and deliver time-sensi-tive information.The benefit of automated monitoring

of business process events and statuschanges is threefold:

� Problem detection will be faster,more accurate and more consis-tent—24/7.

� Automation removes the cost ofmonitoring from expensive laborpools and frees those resources forhigher-value activities.

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

CLICK FOR MORE ON BUSINESSPROCESS INTEGRATION

+ Hybrid VoIP, unified communi-cations improvepatient care

+ IP communica-tions tools boost productivity,sales

� Immediate proactive notification tothe right people helps to avoid orminimize problems and to maxi-mize opportunities for affectedusers (customers, support person-nel, etc.) to interact.

Automated notifications rely on“reachability,” however. Without UC,automated notification is as unreliableas manual “person-to-person” tele-phone contact attempts.Communications-enabled business

process (CEBP) is an automated busi-ness process application that integrateswith UC applications to establish effi-cient and timely process-to-person con-tacts with specific people, solving the“reachability” problem.

WHAT IS UC LOOKING TO SOLVE?

REDUCING “HUMAN COMMUNICATION

LATENCY”

People are key to any business activityand are dependent on having the rightinformation at the right time to makethe right decisions and take the rightactions. The person in need of informa-tion can’t always access it directly andmay need support from others. As busi-ness activities become more global, distributed and mobile, making timelycontact with the people who have theinformation you need is increasinglycomplex, confusing and inefficient.Let’s look at how UC can help.

Customer care: The key to customer sat-isfaction and retention is “first contactresolution.” When problems are com-plex and need special expertise, contact

center agents, field sales, or field sup-port personnel can identify the avail-ability of “experts” from a presencemanagement display, initiate real-timecontact while maintaining contact withthe customer, and either conference thetwo for further discussion or get theexpert’s advice on resolving the issue.

Healthcare: The challenge is to enable a smooth, efficient flow of patientsthrough the care-giving process, bothto control the cost of service and tomeet patient expectations. UC toolsprovide secure, instant delivery of carerequests and supporting information tothe right caregiver, whether that personis at a workstation or mobile within theclinical environment.

Financial services: Both financial advis-ers and their clients need immediatealerts on changing investment situa-tions to buy and sell in a timely fashion.A communication-enabled businessprocess (CEBP) application that moni-tors real-time events can quickly notifyboth advisers and their clients tochanging conditions, giving each theopportunity to immediately connect, if needed. Time is money, and the valueof such quick communications will beseen in more timely financial decisions.

SUMMARY

To improve the efficacy of businessprocesses and leverage the value ofreal-time collaboration, businessesmust extend beyond the enterprise and tie key people virtually with time-critical business processes. �

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qQuintum’s Tenor VoIP MultiPath Switches and Gateways are “The Perfect Fit”for VoIP Deployments

q Find out how Tenors are easily deployed with Unified Communications

qAsk Dr. Quintum a question about Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 deployments.

ABOUT THE SPONSOR:Quintum delivers VoIP solutions that bring the reliability and voice clarity of public tele-phone networks to Internet telephony. Quintum's intelligent VoIP access solutions integrateeasily into existing PBX and IP infrastructures, making them the ideal choice for serviceproviders and enterprises alike.

Quintum was awarded the Frost & Sullivan 2007 Global Product Differentiation InnovationAward in recognition of its ability to grow and strengthen its position in the enterprise media gateway market through intensive in-house product development. Quintum is also a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, a Nortel Developer Partner and an Avaya Developer Connection Partner.

Quintum sells its switches worldwide through its direct sales force and a network ofresellers and distributors. For more information, call 1-877-SPEAK IP (1-877-773-2547), 1-732-460-9000 outside the US, or visit http://www.quintum.com.

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

STEP 1: Examine your enterprise strategicinitiatives. The purpose of any UCimplementation is to optimize businessprocesses and deliver improved results.Any UC application should align withand support your company’s strategicbusiness initiatives, so identify the topthree to five initiatives as a guide forUC investments.

STEP 2: Identify major business processes.UC solutions can deliver labor savingsin business processes by eliminatingunnecessary communications steps andcan accelerate business processes byspeeding access to resources and infor-mation. Identify the top businessprocesses in your company either by(a) examining the organization chartsto find the largest (and most labor-intensive) areas or (b) following yourproduct through the value chain fromdesign/development to production tomarketing/sales/delivery to service/maintenance.

STEP 3: Map the business processes to thejobs in the enterprise. Communicationsimprovement opportunities are foundin the jobs that people (not computers)perform in the business processes. Youneed to know what jobs are involvedwith each business process that youwant to improve with a UC solution.Once you identify a UC solution for aspecific business process, you will getsignificant ROI only if you providechange management and training tothe people in the jobs associated withthat business process.

STEP 4: Find communication “hot spots.” A

Evaluating Goals; Creating a RoadmapUNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS IS “communicationsintegrated to optimize business proc-esses.” Therefore, a unified communica-tions (UC) plan will focus on businessprocesses and will be linked to a com-pany’s strategies. Here are the major steps for identifying your own enterpriseUC goals and creating a UC roadmap:

By Marty Parker andDon Van Doren,

Principals, UniComm Consulting, LLC

3.

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

CLICK FOR MORE ON UC STRATEGIES

+Why you needVoIP to move to unified communications

+ Unified commu-nications imple-mentation andmanagement

communication hot spot is a communi-cation step in a business process that isprone to delays or errors. The UC bene-fits come from eliminating, streamlin-ing or otherwise optimizing communi-cation hot spots. Some typical hot spotexamples are queues of messages(voicemail or email); time spent wait-ing for responses or resources or infor-mation; collaborative or consultativeactivities that require agreementamong a group of people; gettingapprovals to proceed with a task orproject; or asking others to relay infor-mation, especially when mobile.

STEP 5: Optimize the process. Once thehot spots are found, you can look forways that new UC techniques and capa-bilities will optimize that process step.Essentially, you can look at each newUC capability and ask the question:“Could I apply this new UC functional-ity to reduce or eliminate the businessproblems that are occurring at this hotspot?”

STEP 6: Prioritize possible UC solutions to form a roadmap. Once you have ana-lyzed your selected business processesand found possible UC applications tooptimize the processes, decide on yourpriority applications. Base your prioriti-zation choices on:

� The business value of each possibleaction.

� How well each action supports yourenterprise strategic initiatives.

� The ease of implementation.� The fit with existing skills andresources.

Setting the priorities will guide youin laying out the best sequence ofinvestments, which will naturally trans-late into a UC investment roadmap.

STEP 7: Identify the technology needs.Using solution optimizations and prior-ities in Steps 5 and 6, you can begin toselect the technologies that will bestaccomplish the purposes. If the top-pri-ority problem is linked to an enterpriseapplication like SAP, Salesforce.com orSiebel, for example, then you may focuson integrating communication to thoseapplications. Or, if the main problem iscontact between your customers andtheir sales and services teams, then youwill probably focus on presence-basedcontact management tools and ondelivering communications and infor-mation to mobile devices (cell phones,BlackBerrys, etc.).

STEP 8: Create an implementation plan.Detailed implementation plans are critical to the success of a UC solution.A detailed UC implementation planwill improve the outcome in terms ofspeed, safety, cost and enjoyment. Thepurpose of the UC implementationplan is to:

� Show the business benefits andROI for the UC solution.

� Describe the “before” and “after”for the business process that willuse the UC solution.

� Win support for the project.� Lay out a detailed implementationplan.

� Educate the internal and externalimplementation team.

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

Your company may have standardtemplates for this purpose, or you canlook to industry resources, consultantsor integrators for support in this area.

ROADMAP TO SUCCESS

Implementation roadmap and technol-ogy choices have the highest probabil-ity of success if they are organized intosmall, logical steps. This way, each step

can receive the appropriate amount offocus and can be thoroughly completedbefore moving on to the next step. Inaddition, keeping the steps reasonableand modular will lower the investmentlevel for each step and will providereturn on that investment sooner thanis possible with long, extended projects. For example, it is often better to

avoid making an enterprise-wideupgrade to Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) or Internet telephony before orduring a UC project. Often it is possibleto implement the UC applicationswhile retaining existing telephone sys-tems and products. When it is neces-sary to replace or upgrade older sys-tems—e.g., Time Division Multiplexed(TDM) PBX systems—then considerupgrading only the systems needed tosupport the specific process and therelated set of jobs.

You will also have choices as to whichapproach or “model” to use for eachsegment of the UC roadmap. The fourmajor “models” for UC applications are:

� Enhancing or installing IP PBX sys-tems and software, such as provid-ing IP phones with mobility fea-tures for remote workers orwireless IP phones for campusmobility needs.

� Enhancing or installing UC featuresfor desktop software applications,such as integrating IM and pres-ence into the processes and work-flow.

� Enhancing or implementing com-munications features in enterpriseapplication software, such as pro-viding click-to-call from the CRMsystem for sales productivity.

� Enhancing or implementing mobileinformation delivery, such as emailaccess via BlackBerry devices, butextending further to include mobileinformation portals.

In many cases, a UC solution willrequire some elements of two of thesefour methods. Seldom are three or fourrequired to optimize a process step, soconsider reviewing the analysis (seeStep 5) if that appears to be the case.

PREPARE, PILOT AND DEPLOY

Once the right set of technologies isselected, it’s time to prepare, pilot anddeploy. Preparation will almost alwaysinclude an assessment of the network(s)required to support the UC applica-tions. Sometimes, as in the case of a

It is often better to avoid makingan enterprise-wide upgrade to VoIP or Internet telephony before or during a UC project.

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WHAT UC IS AND ISN’T

HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

EVALUATING GOALS;CREATING A ROADMAP

UC IN THE REAL WORLD

mobile information portal, there willbe little additional network load andminimal reconfiguration needed. How-ever, for a large deployment of Wi-Fimobile IP phones, the access point cov-erage and bandwidth will be critical. For implementation of IP telephony

elements of a UC solution, there aremany preparation resources, network

assessment tools and design aids toproperly configure the necessary band-width and to ensure proper quality ofservice (QoS) for the network. Be sureto visit “SearchUnifiedCommunica-tions” to learn more about these topics. Preparation must address the proper

security and access controls for the UCsolutions. It is also important to pro-vide for business continuity and disas-ter recovery, since a new UC applica-tion will often become an essential partof the business processes. Also, be sure to include measure-

ments and metrics in planning for UCapps. It is far easier to implement asmall amount of additional software,storage space and reporting tools whenthe application is in the design and

preparation phase than after it has beenlaunched. The measurements and met-rics will be crucial for understandingthe adoption rate of the new UC appli-cation(s), as well as for proving that thenew UC application has, in fact, opti-mized the business process and deliv-ered the expected benefits. Once preparation is complete, a pilot

test is recommended that includes a setof the actual users of the new UC solu-tion. It is important to notice that theIT and communications teams are notthe actual users of the tools and do notparticipate on a daily basis in the busi-ness processes that are being changed.An IT pilot is fine to test the technol-ogy and assess the administration andoperation of the new system, but it isnot sufficient for assessing the effec-tiveness of the technology for optimiz-ing the business process. Plan on hav-ing a set of users (a team, departmentor site) use the new UC applicationssufficiently to ensure that the solutionswill give the ROI that is expected. Beprepared for some tweaks and adjust-ments before a full rollout. And, throughout the entire process,

be sure to use your best change-man-agement programs. Users are alwaysreluctant to change. But if the projecthas executive sponsorship, if there aresufficient support tools and training,and if there is positive feedback to rein-force the successes, you will dramati-cally increase the probability of a majorUC success. UC is a huge opportunity for busi-

ness improvement, and the growing listof success stories is proof that it isworth the effort! �

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It is far easier to implement a small amount of additional software, storage space and reporting tools when the application is in the design and preparation phase than after it has been launched.

qUnified Communications Offers Value to Small and Medium Businesses: Global StudyIndicates Several Benefits for SMB Financial Services Firms (Part 1 of 3)This Cisco commissioned Forrester Research study combines survey data from six coun-tries to quantify how unified communications (U.C.) affect the small and medium-sizebusiness sector. This survey (part 1 of 3) identified several areas that enable small Finan-cial Service firms to achieve their business objectives. Major findings from the surveyindicate that UC offers several benefits.

qUnified Communications Offers Value to Small and Medium Businesses: Global StudyIndicates Several Benefits for SMB Manufacturing Services Firms (Part 2 of 3)This Forrester Research study (part 2 of 3) reveals that UC affects several areas for man-ufacturing - from product development to production - and it enables workers to improveresults of core business processes.

qUnified Communications Offers Value to Small and Medium Businesses: Global StudyIndicates Several Benefits for SMB Professional Services Firms (Part 3 of 3)This Forrester Research study (part 3 of 3) confirms that UC allows PS firms to facilitatedecision-making, collaborate more effectively with peers, respond faster to customers,and increase productivity for mobile workers.

qUnified Communications Business AdvisorGet a customized assessment of how unified communications can help your business.

qVancouver Film Studio Case Study VideoVancouver Film Studios relies on Cisco Unified Communications to meet the ever chang-ing demands of the entertainment industry.

ABOUT THE SPONSOR:Cisco provides end-to-end networking solutions that customers use to build a unified infor-mation infrastructure of their own, or to connect to someone else’s network. An end-to-endnetworking solution is one that provides a common architecture that delivers consistent net-work services to all users. The broader the range of network services, the more capabilities a network can provide to users connected to it. Cisco offers the industry’s broadest range of hardware products used to form information networks or give people access to those net-works; Cisco IOS software, which provides network services and enables networked applica-tions; expertise in network design and implementation; and technical support and profes-sional services to maintain and optimize network operations. Cisco is unique in its ability toprovide all these elements, either by itself or together with partners. http://www.cisco.com

RESOURCES FROM CISCO

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This is a hot area, since it is customerfacing.

IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICE

One of the earliest success stories inthis area is Shimano, the global bicycleparts maker. Shimano’s U.S. operationfound that it could dramaticallyimprove the ability of its customers to reach the sales teams by using the“find-me” mobility features of SiemensOpenScape. In addition, the salesteams could use presence and click-to-call to find immediate help from thesales support and logistics teams. Theresult was a significant year-over-yearrevenue growth, plus increased cus-tomer satisfaction from the Shimanodistributors. Another example of improved cus-

tomer access comes from France. TheFrench National Railway (SNCF) hasopened up a Web portal for its manycustomers to access from their GSMmobile phones. More than 28% of itscustomers (3million passengers permonth) are now using the “Infogare”service to access train schedules, result-ing in a 3% increase in total passengertravel. If the passenger still needsaccess to live customer service, thenumbers are visible and ready to dialright on the user’s mobile device.

UC PROVIDES MOBILE WORKERS

INNOVATIVE ACCESS TO DATA

Delivering information and communi-cation to mobile personnel is anotherimportant UC application. Nokia, RIMand Sony Ericsson are all active partici-

UC In the Real WorldNEW CONCEPTS AND solutions, including uni-fied communications (UC), always facethe “show me” challenge. If this stuff is sogood, then who is using it and what bene-fits are they gaining? At first, this was aproblem for UC, but now there is a flood of reports of impressive successes. Let’stake a look.Many enterprises are reporting

successes in linking their customers tothe enterprise sales and services teams.

By Marty Parker andDon Van Doren,

Principals, UniComm Consulting, LLC

4.

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pants in this area. For example, ChinaMobile, the world’s largest mobile com-munications operator, provides Shen-zhen Mobile’s 6,000 employees withsecure access to corporate informationfrom any mobile device using Sony

Ericsson phones powered by BEAWebLogic Mobility Server. The result-ing improvement in information flowto the mobile workers and the ROIcomes primarily from improved use ofChina Mobile assets such as vehiclesand test equipment. FFF Enterprises—the largest U.S.

distributor of plasma products, vac-cines and biopharmaceuticals—foundthat it could dramatically improve cus-tomer service while also increasing rev-enue growth by putting product andinventory information on a RIM Black-Berry device portal. This eliminatedmost calls or return trips to the officeto clear up customer questions. Thosecalls that must still go back to the officeare assisted by the information andsoftware linked to the BlackBerrydevice. But mobile information isn’t always

visual. It can also be provided audiblythrough speech recognition and text-to-speech to any cell phone. For example,

California’s Marin County uses theAvaya Speech Access solution to delivercalls, voicemail, email and calendarinformation seamlessly to its officials,attorneys and inspectors who are con-stantly on the go in the performance of their jobs. The result is improvedservice to the constituents anddecreased time spent traveling andplacing call-backs.

BUSINESS PROCESS ACCELERATION

Rapidly solving problems is another hot application of UC. Global Crossinguses Microsoft Office CommunicationsServer (OCS) 2007, with links to itsprovisioning system, to support thetechnical staff members who performthe network provisioning for GlobalCrossing’s customers. With the UC solution, staff members

no longer call around to get help withprocess exceptions. Instead, the soft-ware looks up the assigned technicianto solve the problem. If the assignedtech is available as shown by presence,an IM session is automatically openedto that technician. In most cases theproblem is solved via IM, entirely elim-inating the time required for a phonecall. If the assigned tech is not available,

the software finds another qualifiedand available technician for the IM session link-up. When a voice conversa-tion is needed, the two technicianssimply use OCS to click-to-talkbetween their two PCs. The time spent calling for help has

dropped dramatically, and voice mes-sages (a queue of work with implicit

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The result [of click-to-talk] for Global Crossing is a 75%lower cost per transaction with an 80% increase in customer responsiveness.

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CLICK FOR MORE ON UC STRATEGIES

+ Unified communicationsplatforms andmodels

+ Unified communicationsnetwork andsystems integration

delays) have been almost entirely elimi-nated. The result for Global Crossing isa 75% lower cost per transaction withan 80% increase in customer respon-siveness. Whirlpool Corporation is another

example of problem resolution usingUC. In the past, when a major neworder arrived or some other issue indi-cated the need to adjust the supplychain quickly, staff members had todetermine who needed to get involvedin the solution and then had to makecalls and send email messages andpages to get the right team together.Whirlpool made major improvementsusing Avaya’s Communications-EnabledBusiness Processor. When the supply chain software

identifies a problem, a new UC soft-ware module looks in the skills direc-tory and the presence server to find the right staff members who are im-mediately available. The software thenimmediately and automatically sets up an audio and Web conference forthe team and calls each team memberto link them into the conference.Whirlpool reports that problems arenow addressed in minutes rather thanhours, with significant benefits in production throughput and customerservice.

STREAMLINING COMMUNICATIONS

These problem-resolution UC applica-tions can be easily implemented inbasic form, simply by integrating voiceand desktop communications modes.Singapore-based International SOS, aleading provider of medical assistance,

international healthcare, security services and outsourced company care,has linked its Microsoft and Nortelsolutions (as offered in the InnovativeCommunications Alliance or ICA). The company is blending together IPtelephony voice with other communi-cations services like instant messaging,multimedia collaboration, conferenc-ing and presence to increase user pro-ductivity and simplify processes. UsingUC, workers can scan resources withonline presence to see who is currentlyavailable, making it quick and easy totap into specialists to assist their cus-tomers and solve problems morequickly.

ACCELERATED COLLABORATION

Collaboration acceleration is a majorUC theme, based on the rising use ofaudio, video and Web conferencing.Most of the cases highlight the abilityof teams to meet more quickly, espe-cially without travel time and expense. Advocate Health Care, a major

regional provider in the Chicago area,reports that by deploying AlcatelMyTeamwork for videoconferencingright from the desktop and includinglinks to conference rooms, it cut outhours of travel per day between loca-tions for a combined savings of$750,000 per year in direct travelexpense and lost time. A major German pharmaceutical

company found that the adoption ofMicrosoft’s Office CommunicationsServer 2007 for secure conferencinghelped protect its intellectual property,extending the economic life of its drugs

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HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

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and also helping to bring new drugs tomarket more quickly. The UC benefitsfor this pharmaceutical company aremeasured “in the billions.”Colgate Palmolive, a global leader in

oral care, personal care and pet nutri-tion products, is another example ofbusiness process acceleration throughcollaboration tools. Colgate Palmoliveproduct managers are using IBM Lotus

Sametime, IBM Lotus Quickr and thebeta release of IBM Lotus Connectionsto accelerate time to market for theirnew products. Product managers areeven using the Quickr collaborativeworkspace to conduct customer focusgroups, providing more feedback frommore customers in less time withouttravel expense. Job-specific communications-

enabled portals are another area of UCinnovation. One example shows up inhospitals and clinics that are using theXML displays on Cisco wireless IP telephones to provide rapid two-waycommunication of information andrequests for nurses, doctors and sup-port staff. Replacing the former one-way paging, the result is improvements

in both patient care and patient“throughput,” i.e., the ability to com-plete the care on time and on budget.

SIZING UP CUSTOMER SERVICE

WITH UC

Another great example is the use ofCisco’s IP phones with an RFID scan-ner attachment in the retail store envi-ronment. This combination allows cus-tomers to request alternate sizes orcolors of clothing to be delivered rightto the changing room. A high-end pro-ducer of designer jeans in Japan placedCisco IP phones directly in the chang-ing rooms. When a shopper finds that a pair of

jeans does not quite fit, or wants to tryanother color, he simply scans the pairhe currently has and then selects hisalternate choices on the phone’s displayscreen. A clerk quickly finds the newchoice and delivers it directly to thechanging room. The shoppers can eval-uate their options more quickly. Conse-quently, more customers are findingmore items to purchase during thevisit. The leaps in customer satisfactionand purchase rates have dramaticallyincreased revenues per store. Almost all of these are examples of

specific applications of UC technolo-gies to business process optimization.In most cases, the customers called ontheir IT staff or on VARs and systemsintegrators to create links between theUC tools and the enterprise’s back-office applications to make the fastestand most effective links to the relevantcustomers and employees. It’s impor-tant to note that the cost of these

The ability of staff members to click-to-call ... can save minutes and even hours of time for the user—time thatcan be converted into improved business speed, cost, quality or customer service.

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HOW ENTERPRISES ARE USING UC TODAY

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UC IN THE REAL WORLD

investments was included in and justi-fied by the very positive ROI results. However, some customers are cer-

tainly getting benefits from the basicUC packages offered by all the IP PBXsuppliers, by all the desktop office soft-ware providers, and by many of themobility device makers or carriers. Thesimple use of presence to find a skilledperson without making a number ofphone calls or sending a number ofemails can make an enormously posi-tive difference in productivity. The ability of staff members to click-to-callfrom a visual directory on the phone or PC or to call automatically from acontact list, customer directory or sup-plier list can save minutes and evenhours of time for the user—time thatcan be converted into improved busi-ness speed, cost, quality or customerservice. It is certainly fine to start with these

basic tools. But don’t stop there. Our

ROI models confirm the customerresults that the UC applications whichactually change the business processeswill deliver returns 10 times or even100 times greater than those availableby simply providing better tools to theusers. More great UC customer success sto-

ries are continually appearing. If yourcompany is wondering where to investin UC, we recommend you ask for ref-erences and case studies on what oth-ers have done and then apply or inno-vate from those cases to reap the UCbenefits in your enterprise. And pleasevisit UCStrategies.com for many morecustomer case studies and some excel-lent customer podcasts, as well asdetailed descriptions and RFP tem-plates for each of the application areasmentioned above. We wish you every success as you

bring these UC opportunities into focusin your enterprise. �

UCStrategies.com is an industry resource for enterprises, vendors, sys-tem integrators and anyone interested in the growing unified commu-nications arena. A supplier of objective information on UC, UCStrategiesis supported by an alliance of leading communication industry advisors,analysts and consultants, who have worked in the various segments ofUC since its inception. Please visit www.ucstrategies.com.

q Spontania ArchitectureThe Spontania platform is an adaptable, scalable, and easy to administer on-premise,software-only solution that enables many-to-many interactive voice, video, and datacollaboration sessions on the most common devices—PCs, PDAs, mobile phones, fixed phones, H.323 and SIP devices.

q Spontania Brochure

q Spontania Archtecture Datasheet

ABOUT THE SPONSOR:An innovator in unified collaboration, Dialcom delivers premise based, real-time videocommunication, collaboration and multimedia sharing capabilities over IP between anydevice, any network, and any user—seamlessly and securely. The most complete, flexible,and integrated system available, the Spontania collaboration software suite empowersusers to spontaneously switch among collaboration methods, to suit the immediate cir-cumstance within the session including IM, VoIP and/or teleconference, multi-party IPvideoconference, interactive file sharing, and white-boarding. Dialcom’s collaborationapplication automatically controls bandwidth and seamlessly integrates into the existingIT infrastructure—with a light footprint. More than 100 customers spanning a number ofindustries around the globe use the Spontania unified collaboration suite. Headquarteredin Herndon, Virginia, Dialcom maintains offices in Madrid, Frankfurt, and Singapore andsupported by a global network of partners in other regions. More information can befound at www.dialcom.com

RESOURCES FROM DIALCOM