UC is the undisputed future of enterprise communication

Archana Swamy

INDIA: Avaya has been investing heavily in familiarizing corporate customers with unified communication. Mun Yuen Leong observes that globally most enterprises have taken UC very well and expects a similar uptake in India.

Excerpts:

What, according to you, is the reason behind slow acceptance of unified communication (UC) amongst small and medium businesses (SMBs) in India?

What I have seen about the Indian working pattern is that the various communication systems are not functional. This is because most of these organizations use very basic communication systems. I personally feel that this status quo is just a matter of time. These corporate houses will need some time to take decisions on how to invest correctly on the right kind of technologies, which will up their employee productivity. But this is bound to happen, sooner than later.

Many Indian organizations feel that video conferencing (VC) can give UC a run for its money. Do you agree with this belief?

Today, video and voice are integrated within a communication system. Companies go for VC or UC depending on their requirement. There are dedicated VC systems, which can successfully support the communication network. But this is only if there is a need for room conferencing. At the same time, UC is a totally different ballgame. It seamlessly joins the various communication devices in an organization in such a way that the employees are accessible at all time.

Good business prospects are often lost because information is not furnished to the client instantly, either due to the relevant employee being unavailable or because the approvals need a particular person. This situation can be eliminated with UC, because a real-time update is visible for all the employees, which translates into quicker decision making. At the same time, the solution providers largely drive the adoption of these technologies. Once they understand the clients' requirements and budgets, they can pitch in with the right solution.

How do you view the UC business, given that there are many components to it today?

Avaya looks at UC in three different levels. The first level is integrated desktops featured with data, voice, video, and conferencing. The next level is communication. For instance, systems are integrated in a way that if people can't attend calls at office, those calls get diverted to either their desired cell phones or home phones. In the US, people are already working with mobile handsets, which can be tuned to a virtual private number, which means they are on the corporate network at all times. The third phase is not just people to people - it's system to people. This is the most important facet of our communications messaging today because we are saying that our communication solutions will not negate the need for human intervention.

What is your technology road map for this year?

We have two primary business areas - UC and contact center business. Avaya commands 40 percent of the global market in contact center business. We are continuing our investment to enable contact centers, IP contact centers, and video contact centers. In UC, we are going to invest with Microsoft and IBM.

Source: DQWeek