Instant Messaging/Unified Communications - the first step to better collaboration

November 2010

The way in which employees at all levels need, or wish, to communicate and collaborate inside the firewall of organisations is changing. The key drivers of this change are:

The inefficiency or inappropriateness of the current primary technology tool, being E-Mail. Although E-Mail is excellent for one to one communication, it is less effective when it comes to group multi-way interaction or document collaboration.
Growth in the workplace of Generation Y employees who are digitally fluent and expect to be able to get connected to their colleagues at all times in the same way that they have been used to being able to do with their friends outside work.
The rise and mass adoption of free on-line technology (Google, Facebook, Twitter, Skype etc.) by all generations of employees outside the firewall and their perception of the benefits. For instance, we no longer tolerate a search tool that is not fast and accurate.

For organisations that rely heavily on e-mail as a major form of employee communication and collaboration, the deployment of Instant Messaging & Unified Communications on an enterprise level, represents an excellent first step towards improving collaboration capability and creating an Enterprise 2.0 platform inside the firewall.

The immediate benefits of Instant Messaging and Unified Communications are:

Reduce costs

Easiest solution to prove a return-on-investment (ROI)
Reduction in business travel through on-line meetings
Reduction in communication costs through instant messaging, VoIP and integrated telephony

Improve productivity

Connect to contacts quickly and gain access to information
Make decisions and resolve issues faster based on correct and up-to-date information

Enhance communication

Delivers the capabilities that people need in order to be flexible
Suits their mode of communication and location (in the office, working at home, or mobile)
Promote simple chats by adding more services

To understand more about the technology and its capabilities take a look at this really great video:

You may also like to read this white paper written by a partner of ours that specialises in helping businesses achieve real benefits from collaboration technologies

For more information:

Call us on 01483 863000

E-mail us on sales@time-technology.co.uk