Can UC save you real dollars?(from the TMC net[TM] BLOGS.)

In his On Rad's Radar, Peter Radizeski of RAD-INFO, Inc writes:

We hear a lot about Unified Communications today. UC this and UC that. Even Cloud Telephony and UCaaS.

The main buzz is around the savings from UC. If you have a distributed workforce, then unifying on a communications platform with a collaboration module can improve productivity.

The productivity gains only come if the technology is easy to use, reliable, and intuitive. By intuitive, I mean that unlike some CRM and telco software platforms, the software was created with the user in mind and doesn't require a lot of thinking on how to do something. It needs to be like WYSIWYG.

Anything done by committee means it will be drawn out and frustrating. The current collaboration software I have seen are really just document sharing applications and some white boarding online.

UC's benefits come from a geographically dispersed workforce or a virtual office setting. It's similar with VoIP. If you are making a lot of in-state calls to other branches, the cost savings from VoIP diminish. When people are working on the same project but aren't in the same building or city, making progress is tricking because audio conference calls, IM/chat and email are one-dimensional. Video conferencing, webinars, document sharing, and whiteboarding - all can lead to productive gains.

It looks like a lot of the UC hype is based on productivity gains and time savings, not so much real actual dollars. Aspect rolled out Microsoft OCS globally and is seeing over $1 million in real savings. So there are real dollar benefits to UC if it is rolled out correctly with proper training.

Visit Peter's blog at http://blog.tmcnet.com/on-rads-radar

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