Collaboration is a staple in most any organization today, as users have to routinely work together around documents, projects, customer issues and more. That makes enabling effective unified communications a core requirement of the IT organization.
That can be a daunting task, given the various moving parts involved, but the benefits can be significant when the job is done well.
Planning for an Effective UC Implementation
UC involves integrating technologies including e-mail, voice messaging, audio and video conferencing, instant messaging, presence, Web conferencing and voice, both fixed and mobile. As such, it requires a significant effort to first define requirements, come up with a design that meets those requirements and integrate all the required components.
At each step of the way, companies will have to choose from various options, including existing infrastructure. Carousel’s partner Avaya, for example, offers a modular messaging product that gives users the option of fixed, mobile and/or soft phones for voice messaging access. Similarly, with conferencing, users can choose from separate voice, video and Web conferencing capabilities or build a more integrated, unified system on a single platform.
Instant messaging and presence are likewise key components and here again, the options are many, with products such as IBM Sametime and Microsoft Lync Server (previously Office Communications Server) as well as Avaya’s Aura Presence Services.
Benefits of Unified Communications
When the various components work together effectively, however, the benefits are great. They include simplified information sharing from multiple mobile and desktop clients. That naturally leads to enhanced collaboration. When all employees have a consistent interface to the same tools, they can quickly mobilize teams around a project or an idea, often even pulling in customers, suppliers and partners.
Enhanced customer service is another key benefit, as employees have real-time access to the resources they need and customers can more easily find the people they need to communicate with. With the ability to get at the information you need quickly, UC also leads to faster – and better – decision-making.
Partnering for Success in UC
When Ball State University wanted to upgrade its UC implementation, it called on Carousel to help. The university environment is like a 24×7 enterprise, with a police station, on-campus apartments and residence halls that can’t be without communications services, says Mark Watters, director of telephone and postal services for Ball State.
Carousel helped the university examine its legacy infrastructure, determine what needed to be upgraded and what could wait, and put together an upgrade plan that would minimize down time. In the end, the upgrade began at 8 p.m. on a Friday night and was finished by 1 a.m.
“To me that’s a successful cut – a 4-hour window and we hit it,” Watters says. “We allowed for the entire next day just for protection.” To learn more about how Carousel helped Ball State, check out this short video. Then contact Carousel to find out how we can help with your own UC project.
