The Internet has changed. The adoption of
popular consumer-oriented real-time communications and Web 2.0
applications within enterprise networks has significantly altered
the way many workers approach business collaboration today. As
employers recognize the productivity gains from their use, demand
for similar enterprise class applications increases. As a result, a
growing number of organizations are deploying and extending
solutions such as Microsoft Lync, IBM Sametime, and Cisco Unified
Presence.
But the assumption that consumer-oriented
applications will be eliminated once a UC platform is deployed is
little more than wishful thinking. In practice, the UC environment
will be a hybrid of these consumer-type applications that early
adopters have introduced to the organization, a standard UC
platform such as Lync/OCS, and a mix of other UC providers focusing
on VoIP and video/Web conferencing. In fact, leading analyst group
Gartner suggests that mid-to-large organizations depend on anywhere
from seven to twelve strategic UC vendors to provide critical
capabilities for their businesses.
It is highly likely that the existing communications and
collaborative applications installed inside the company will remain
in use. For example, ongoing meetings with suppliers may have been
established using WebEx for Web conferencing, corporate offices may
already be using Cisco VoIP, collaboration may be fostered using
Microsoft SharePoint. In addition, now introduced to the benefits
of features such as presence, users frequently start using
unsanctioned public real-time communications and Web 2.0
applications such as Skype, Twitter, and LinkedIn to ensure
continuous non-restricted conversations with partners and
customers.
Learn more about
how Actiance enhances Microsoft environments.
Learn more about how
Actiance enhances IBM environments.
Learn more about how
Actiance enhances Cisco environments.