Well, there seems to be quite a buzz in the IT industry about UCC (Unified Communications & Collaboration). What is UCC? Well, that depends on who you ask. What you will typically find is a vision of consolidation of most of your communications channels into a single interface (as much as possible).
In my limited research around this area, I have learned that people communicate in very different ways. If I were to email my dad, it’s likely that I might get a phone call back. On the other hand, if I email your typical high school to college age individual it is far more likely that they will want to continue the discussion via text messaging or posting on each others facebook pages.
It can be a challenge to keep track of all of your communications options. With wikis, blogs, desk phones, cell phones, email, social networking sites, instant messaging, text messaging, face to face meetings, etc… Who can keep it all straight?
Well, there are a few vendors in this space with some really cool ideas. They write software that, through a single interface, allows access to email, phones, instant messaging, document repositories…. You name it! It’s actually very cool stuff. I’ve viewed a few demonstrations that allow you to escalate an instant message conversation into a phone call with a mouse click or call your email system and have it read you your calendar. In one cool demo I just attended, the presenter called his email system and it read his recent email to him. The presenter then, using only his cell phone, replied to the email via his voice and the email system sent his reply as a voice attachment. I was blown away! The presenter was Swedish and English is his second language. When the system encountered an email in Swedish, it was able to read it back to him in his native tongue. He also told his email system he was running 10 minutes late for a meeting and it sent an email notification to the attendees. OK… that part sounds like an enabler ;-)
So, what forms of communication do you use to grow your business? Do you prefer face to face or facebook to facebook? Maybe when you flip open your cell phone you actually talk into it… Or, perhaps you find yourself texting your business contacts instead? Do you follow up via an email or a voice mail? The more I dive into everything that is UCC, I find myself truly amazed and excited about the future of communication and the role IT has an opportunity to play.
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