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Coming together: A look at Unified Communications

Jon Wilcox takes a look at BT’s Unified Communications strategy for the UK’s small businesses.

The BT Business Experience proved a good opportunity for the company to show off its unified communications capabilities. Split into two distinct areas in the exhibition’s Big Picture zone, the Unified Communications solutions on offer from BT suggested a well-balanced and broad range of products for companies.

But what is Unified Communications?

Put simply, Unified Communications is a solution that links all forms of communication within a company together. Breaking away from disparate systems, Unified Communications allow companies to communicate with clients and colleagues under an umbrella of various technologies, including telephony, mobile, Instant Messaging (IM), email, and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). BT’s partnerships with the likes of Microsoft, IBM, and Cisco Systems, allow a high level of flexibility for companies to choose the communications tools best suited for their needs.

The benefits of implementing a Unified Communications package can be quite high for companies, not least the ability to develop flexible working and improve efficiencies in productivity. Emails for instance can be pushed to smartphones, allowing quicker responses even if you’re away from the PC. Installing an Instant Messaging solution can mean even greater levels of efficiency, as customers and colleagues receive rapid responses to queries and resolve issues in an instant.

In fact, Unified Communications even goes as far as bringing together all communications elements into a single mailbox, covering email, IM, and text messaging. By implementing a VoIP solution, telephonye costs can be reduced; in fact, unifying communications under a single platform is a robust way to streamline costs.

Unified Communications goes beyond the ability to offer IM services and VoIP, however. It also covers the ability for file sharing, together with audio and video conferencing, application sharing and mobilisation of every aspect, offering the flexibility to do business anywhere, anytime, with the device of choice and convenience.

In short, BT’s unified solutions could permeate into every corner of a business’ communication strategy, streamlining it in a number of different ways.