UNIFIED COMMUNICATIONS
1. Unified
communications encompasses all forms of call and multimedia / crossmedia
message-management functions controlled by an individual user for both business
and social purposes. This includes any enterprise informational or
transactional application process that emulates a human user and uses a single,
content-independent personal messaging channel (mailbox) for contact access.
2. Unified
communications has repeatedly been the center of many discussions involving the
future of communications. Unified communications encompasses a broad range of
technologies and many potential applications. It is important to note that it
is still in its infancy and many definitions have been used by the messaging
industry. This tutorial will present one view of unified communications and
present its appeal as a powerful mode of communication. The benefits to
subscribers will be discussed along with considerations for service providers
and the ways in which they will benefit from unified communications.
3. The essence of
communication is breaking down barriers. In its simplest form, the telephone
breaks distance and time barriers so that people can communicate in real time
or near real time when they are not together. There are now many other barriers
to be overcome. For example, people use many different devices to communicate
(wireless phones, personal digital assistants [PDA], personal computers [PC],
thin clients, etc.), and there are now new forms of communication as well, such
as instant messaging. The unified communications concept involves breaking down
these barriers so that people using different modes of communication, different
media, and different devices can still communicate to anyone, anywhere, at any
time.
4. Unified communications encompasses several communication
systems or models including unified messaging, collaboration, and interaction
systems; real-time and near real-time communications; and transactional
applications. Unified messaging focuses on allowing users to access voice,
e-mail, fax and other mixed media from a single mailbox independent of the
access device. Multimedia services include messages of mixed media types such
as video, sound clips, and pictures, and include communication via short
message services (SMS). Collaboration and interaction systems focus on applications
such as calendaring, scheduling, workflow, integrated voice response (IVR), and
other enterprise applications that help individuals and workgroups communicate
efficiently. Real-time and near real-time communications systems focus on
fundamental communication between individuals using applications or systems
such as conferencing, instant messaging, traditional and next-generation
private branch exchanges (PBX), and paging. Transactional and informational
systems focus on providing access to m-commerce, e-commerce, voice
Web-browsing, weather, stock-information, and other enterprise applications.
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Figure
1. Unified Communications and Its Components
Figure
2. Subscribers Live in Multiple Networks
subscribers belong to numerous electronic communities and have an
ever increasing number of innovative communications devices to choose from,
whether it is a mobile phone, PDA, pager, hand-held computer, or a wireless
application protocol (WAP)–enabled device. With a wide range of services and
devices at their disposal, greater demands are being placed on the subscriber
in they way they manage their communications. Today's busy consumers want an
intuitive, easy-to-use method for unifying their communications.
6. Unified
communications provides control for the individual user. It can help to send
and receive messages, whether they are voice, e-mail, or fax. It also will
notify the user whenever mail arrives. The concept of notification is becoming
a large part of messaging. Some people want to be reached at all costs,
anywhere, at any time. Whether they are at home or on vacation, they want to be
notified of messages. Others are more protective about their privacy. They do
not want to be reached, for example, when they are sleeping or having dinner.
Unified communications technology provides the power to reach people almost
anywhere, at any time, and provides the flexibility to allow people to control
when they can be reached. Subscribers can interface with messages how and when
they want.
7. With unified communications, subscribers reduce the number
of places they must check for incoming voice, fax, e-mail messages, and other
media types. From a single interface, they can check for all messages.
8. A natural
evolution in application value, which has built upon available
Figure
3. Unified Communications Evolution
technologies, has occurred in messaging (see Figure 3).
Technologies exist that enhance the integration of voice mail and e-mail, such
as text-to-speech software that converts e-mail into spoken words. For example,
at the airport, a user could call in on a phone and hear e-mail messages,
making it easy to reach important decisions without delay. Other enabling
technologies, such as speech recognition, are becoming more reliable and
cost-effective. For example, people who drive frequently will find speech
recognition a particularly convenient interface, especially if it is used to
dial numbers or navigate menu options.
9. Easy-to-use user interfaces are essential to accessing the
unified mailbox. Whether from the phone or from any Internet-enabled device,
the subscriber can navigate through a unified mailbox with ease and full
control at all times (see Figure 4). Checking e-mail from the phone
becomes intuitive, and, likewise, hearing voice messages from a PC becomes
second nature.
Figure
4. An Example of Unified Mailbox Access through the Web
10. Unified
communications can be used as a business tool as well. It can provide efficient
business communication or act as an interface to a 24-hour storefront. People
can use the phone to get information or to make transactions. They can purchase
merchandise or trade stock without talking to a live person. With the emergence
of new technology, especially the Internet, the 24-hour storefront has
flourished. More information can be accessed and more shopping can be done than
ever before.
11. Understanding the
needs of the diverse market segments is essential to the success of deploying
unified communications to a market. By mixing and matching various unified
communications applications, service providers can increase market penetration,
maximize revenues, and stimulate interest for more unified communications
functionality.
THE MESSAGING-SAVVY SUBSCRIBER
12. The premium-class
subscriber will be one of the first to adopt fully enhanced unified
communications. Whether these subscribers are heavy corporate messaging users
or small office/home office (SOHO) business entrepreneurs, with unified
communications they have a means of saving time and increasing productivity.
With text-to-speech and automatic speech-recognition technology, subscribers
are able to navigate through voice portals and to access a variety of
information and message content from any phone. Using standard voice protocols,
they are able to hear their voice messages on a PC or other devices. Future
services can tie even more applications into the unified mailbox. Consumers can
have their unified mailbox become a personal agent, sending personalized
information and notification preset by the subscriber. Other capabilities
include the ability to look up contact information in a wide variety of
contexts, whether the information may be located in personal, corporate, or
worldwide directories. For example, the traveling salesperson who may be
delayed at an airport is still able to stay in touch and conduct business with
the office and clients. With unified communications, the salesperson is able to
check voice messages, e-mail, and faxes, conduct transactions with corporate
enterprise servers, have access to calendars and scheduling, all from the
convenience of a wireless phone, Web portal, or PDA.
13. From the standpoint
of the traditional telco or Internet service provider (ISP), high service
availability is important. It is imperative that the service reaches thousands
of people, and that it is absolutely reliable. It must be available 24 hours
per day, and it must be something on which people rely and take for granted. If
a system suffers too many outages, people will complain and will wonder why
they are not receiving the expected service levels.
14. Another important
consideration is scalable systems. Some of the current technologies and
products on the market only work well on a small scale. The unified
communications platforms should reach thousands of customers. The
network-deployment cost for scaling up these systems must be manageable—merely
having the technology to provide a user service is not sufficient. The
service-provider involvement requires that different infrastructure services be
available. For example, users must be added to the system en masse rather than
having to type them in one by one. The systems also must be integrated with the
existing service infrastructure of the service provider. A similar
infrastructure service is needed, such as providing management reports,
research data, or data-collection facilities to allow the service provider to
know which part of the service is being used, what the popular services are,
and which services or features are not as popular. This information helps
service providers to determine where to invest next. The data-collection
facility is another feature that service providers want to integrate into their
service and system.
15. With the current
developments in communication, standards are important. Also, products are
needed that offer interoperability. These products may not be from the same
vendor, but they must operate together to form powerful solutions for
customers.
16. For the
subscribers, it is important that the interface is simple and intuitive. In a
business environment, people are forced to learn to use a service such as voice
mail that their company provides. There may be training sessions for employees
to learn how to use the sophisticated features. For the individual subscriber,
the situation is different. Service providers cannot offer a training session
for all the people in the city, so the product must be intuitive from different
device interfaces. If it is simple and people can use it, they will benefit
from it and will want to continue the service. If the service is less than
satisfying, subscribers will drop it. Instead of making products and services
ever more sophisticated, they must be made intuitive, simple, and useful in
solving problems.
17. Unified
communication offers several benefits for service providers. The first is
subscriber-base growth. More people are subscribing because the provider is
offering better solutions. Also, by using community messaging, more people
appreciate this form of two-way communication. With unified communications,
service providers can increase messaging availability with maximum penetration
in existing and new global segments via a wider deployment with networking.
18. Unified
communications provides a new source of revenue and the opportunity to
streamline product and service offerings. By keeping the interfaces intuitive
and the applications tailored to the market segments, service providers can
build stronger customer loyalty and be more attractive to new customers,
whether they are residential or small-business customers.
19. Unified communications can also streamline operations. The
Internet has changed technology and communications. It has shown how standards
work and how they can benefit even competing products. With standards, less
training is required. Different machines and different systems can work
together based on common standards. The power of the standard will streamline
products and services as well as operations. Fewer service reports are needed.
With network-management standards, for example, an essential system of control
by polling different machines can be established to find out how these machines
work. Streamlining operations will provide large cost savings for service
providers.