What is Unified Communication?

CNR 3.23.2011

Every business needs to communicate.  CNR can offer you the total package; yes I am referring to unified communications or UC for those in the know.  It seems like every telecommunication company offers UC but for many people, they don’t know what it is, and so they don’t know what aspects of their communication should be “unified” and more importantly what should  a UC system be capable of doing. Well today I am here to help.  UC revolves around a desktop application that syncs many different forms of communication including your phone, email, voicemail, and snail mail. (Ok it doesn’t link the last one.)  UC also compiles a list of contacts, a call history, and includes phone controls on your desktop.  These are the most basic features and should always be included in a basic UC application. (If they don’t, then stay away.)  If you are willing to spring for a slightly fancier version (i.e. pay a little extra) you get some really cool features such as instant messaging integration, presence, and the ability to receive calls from your work phone anywhere on any phone.  Those last two features are known by many names and change depending on what system you look at.  (I guess in order to keep everyone confused because why would a business ever try and make things simple for the customer to understand.)  Anyway; as those terms can be different, they might be unfamiliar to some so I will describe them briefly.  Office anywhere allows a user to forward a call that comes in to his office number to any phone they want.  That means no matter where an employee is, a customer only needs to dial one number, and a worker only needs to give out one number and they can still take calls no matter where they go.  This feature is set by users and changes based on the status a worker sets.  Presence, the second feature allows you to describe what you are doing at a specific moment and what an incoming call should do, like making it go straight to voicemail if you are in a meeting, or forwarding it to a mobile phone if you are out of the office.  Presence can also be used to set instant messaging availability and coolest of all, allows others you work with to see what you are doing, so they can figure out how best to reach you. (Instead of calling you, instant messaging you, emailing you, and then cursing your name when you don’t respond.) This application can also update itself by integrating with your Microsoft Outlook calendar and automatically change your status.  While I have described some cool features here there are many more depending on the system and UC can be configured and customized to fit any business’ needs and is a great way to simplify and bring together many forms of communication

UC is offered by many different companies, including Avaya, Mitel and ShoreTel which will give you a basic version for free with the purchase of a phone system.  You can also get UC from Microsoft and AVST along with many others which will (hopefully) integrate with your phone system.  To truly understand UC visit a manufactures website or call CNR (888.826.9600) and have us set up a demo for you.  Unified Communications is a great application and while some of the features sound confusing, remember UC is about simplicity and no matter which system you go with can really help your business be more efficient. 

Daniel Knoben is CNR’s Customer Advocate and Social Media Manager