Discovering the Value of Unified Communications

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1 Research Publication Date: 12 February 2007 ID Number: G Discovering the Value of Unified Communications Bern Elliot, Steve Cramoysan Unified communications represent a broad range of new solutions that can be applied in different ways to different groups and individuals in an organization. To succeed, it is critical that enterprise executives, managers and planners understand how and where these solutions offer value, and how they can improve the competitiveness of their organizations. Key Findings Unified communications is not a single product, system or solution. Unified communication solutions offer value in personal productivity, workgroup performance and enterprise effectiveness. Although there is overlap among these areas, the ways in which they are justified and deployed will vary. Because the return on investment (ROI) of new communication solutions is difficult to quantify, enterprises should focus on trials and pilots. This will enable users to discover and prove their value. This, in turn, will be used to justify further deployments. Recommendations Planners should research, analyze and understand the justification and costs of providing and managing siloed communications. This can form the basis for planning and obtaining benefits by consolidating channels, applications, devices and clients. Managers should introduce new unified communication functionality along with major upgrades of established applications; frequently, a number of licenses for new functionality can be funded as part of a major upgrade. Personal unified communication applications enable key personnel to provide the feedback and business case needed to justify further deployment of technology trials and evaluations. It is critical that the evaluation include influential business users whose views carry weight. Workgroup unified communication applications are often most useful for larger groups that are decentralized, that must collaborate intensively, where timely output is particularly valuable and that are open to technology change. Enterprise unified communications support cross-department workflows and require senior executive sponsorship to succeed. To identify these opportunities, executives should promote cross-department groups to review business processes to identify workflows with significant communication and collaboration dependencies. Reproduction and distribution of this publication in any form without prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. Although Gartner's research may discuss legal issues related to the information technology business, Gartner does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the information contained herein or for interpretations thereof. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice.

2 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Justifying unified communications is difficult for many reasons: It spans technology, market and application areas; there is a lack of proof points in actual deployment; experience with best practices is limited; and individual and group requirements vary enormously. However, enterprises that wait for a clearly established ROI before conducting evaluations may lose potential competitive advantage. We divide unified communications into three functional areas: Personal unified communications is geared toward supporting individual or personal productivity. Workgroup unified communications is oriented toward supporting collaborative and team efforts. Enterprise unified communications that add value are justified at the enterprise or division level. Synergistic benefits may also emerge as functionality used in one area assists in achieving objectives in other areas. Enterprise planners should not expect a single broad business case for unified communications. Targeted benefits for each of the three areas are easier to define and the business case becomes clearer. Because benefits are difficult to measure in emerging communication technologies, the most successful approach is often to introduce new unified communication functionality along with major upgrades of established applications; frequently, licenses for new functionality can be funded as part of a major upgrade. Alternatively, limited trials can be funded as a stand-alone pilot. Planners should allocate some percent of new communication spending to new technology evaluations. Feedback regarding benefits from key personnel and defined metrics will then provide the information needed to justify further deployments. ANALYSIS Unified communications add value in different ways at multiple levels of an enterprise. We categorize unified communications into three functional areas: personal, workgroup and enterprise (see Figure 1). Publication Date: 12 February 2007/ID Number: G Page 2 of 8

3 Figure 1. Types of Unified Communications Personal Geared toward personal productivity. Makes individual s tasks easier and capable of being accomplished more effectively. Personal Workgroup Workgroup Support collaborative and team activity. Improves the effectiveness of workgroups in planned and ad hoc activities. Enterprise Synergistic Unified communications in one area benefits other areas. Leverages investments across multiple applications. Source: Gartner (February 2007) Enterprise Improve performance at an enterprise or department level, on a scale beyond what is offered by personal or workgroup unified communications. In Figure 2, we provide an overview of the major solution areas for unified communications. In many cases, enterprises interested in developing a business case for unified communications must first develop a vision for how new communication options can be leveraged to improve, or even transform, the way employees, partners and customers interact. Without this vision, the only goal will be to communicate in the same way they've always communicated. The result of a lack of vision will be that new benefits will not be achieved or even evaluated. Publication Date: 12 February 2007/ID Number: G Page 3 of 8

4 Figure 2. Overview of the Major Unified Communication Solution Areas Siloed Communications Personal Workgroup Enterprise Characteristics Stand-alone communications. Increasingly use Internet approaches. Bundles of functions and a shift from siloed to shared services. Added communication functions to collaboration applications; added collaboration functions to communication applications. Added communication to enterprise applications. Integration of communications with enterprise architecture. Technologies (sample only, there are more) Legacy: PBX, , audioconferencing, voice mail, mobile phones. New: IP-PBX, PDAs, soft phones, Web conferring, IM Web presence. - Bundles of integrated siloed solutions - Unified desktop client communicator - Rich-presence engine - Mobility for all communications - Shared directory - Communications and presence in personal applications - Communications added to teamware - Workgroup tools added to communication servers - Notification services - Converged conferencing - Contact routing across workgroups - Common communication portal architecture, including wireless - Communicationenabled business processes - Communication content management - Enterprisewide contact centers Adoption Barriers Barrier to new functions: Installed base. Security, performance. Case-bycase justification. Intervendor conflicts. Norms, habit, lack of best practices. New business case. Cost. Can't identify tasks with hard benefits. Infrastructure changes can be complex. Across department responsibility. Organizational change. Hard Justification Competitive necessity, productivity, speed. Often not clear for new channels. Consolidated platform and administration cost. Specific productivity gains. Leverage TCP/IP. Speed or accuracy of group tasks. Ability to work across distance. Productivity of specific work processes and workflows. Improved sales and service. Soft Justification Pilots of new practices and technologies. Accepted practices. Lower complexity for more functionality. Fewer applications. Productivity gains. Group efficiency, distance work, satisfaction. Business productivity and efficiency. Visibility of communications. Source: Gartner (February 2007) Siloed Communications Siloed communications make up the majority of enterprise communications, where each channel is separate. Often, there are multiple networks: voice, data and wireless, each with its own dedicated platforms, devices and protocols. In many cases, there are different vendors for each. Companies that are shifting their communications to common TCP/IP networks and Internet protocols frequently maintain the separate silos of functionality. The result is an increasingly large and complex set of applications and devices for users to learn and for administrators to manage, and a more complex and difficult task to integrate communications with each other and with business applications. Action Item: To identify opportunities, planners should research, analyze and understand the justification and costs of providing and managing siloed communications. This can form the basis for planning and for obtaining benefits by consolidating channels, applications, devices and clients. Publication Date: 12 February 2007/ID Number: G Page 4 of 8

5 Personal Unified Communications Personal unified communications are characterized by the convergence of devices, clients and formerly siloed communication channels to improve individual or personal productivity. This is often enabled by the widespread shift to an all-ip-based communication approach and, in some cases, these solutions integrate communications with personal productivity applications. Three examples are: Unified messaging that bundles voice mail and Desktop communicators that provide converged access to multiple channels, such as to voice, instant messaging (IM), presence information, conferencing and a consolidated directory Mobile devices, such as smartphones and PDAs, that provide access to voice, IM and business applications Although the functions described here target personal productivity, some functions also assist in group and enterprise applications. For instance, rich presence enables individuals to be more productive because it simplifies their work tasks; but when applied in other ways, it can support collaboration work and enterprisewide objectives. Benefits and Barriers: The benefits lie in individual productivity and performance. However, defining tangible benefits for new communication applications is challenging because obtaining hard personal productivity measurements is difficult. If communications can be tied to specific performance or revenue metrics, then the benefits may be meaningfully quantifiable. Also, when the performance of key personnel such as managers, executives or leading sales representatives is improved in any way, then investments supporting these valuable employees is readily justified. A related area of benefit lies in platform and administration consolidation of multiple functions onto a single server. Consolidation can reduce purchase, licensing and maintenance costs. Single-point administration can reduce administration costs. These types of benefits might more properly be characterized as enterprisewide benefits of personal unified communications because it is not the individual who receives the benefit, but rather the organization. Similarly, when individual functions also contribute to workgroup or enterprise objectives, these would more properly be characterized as synergistic benefits. A barrier to adoption of personal unified communication solutions is frequently that enterprises have a difficult time defining a tangible enterprise business case from individual productivity improvements. Individuals feel that they would benefit from the change, but have trouble convincing management of the tangible benefits. Conversely, sometimes when management introduces change, individuals are reluctant to modify their work habits to learn and adopt new methods and tools. These barriers will be reduced as best practices for new communication applications mature, as work norms shift toward adoption, and as pilots and trials demonstrate the value of the investments. Action Item: Managers should introduce new unified communication functionality along with major application upgrades; frequently, a number of licenses for new functionality can be funded as part of a major upgrade. Trials and evaluations by key personnel will provide the feedback and business case needed to justify further deployment. It is critical that the evaluation include influential business users whose views carry weight. Publication Date: 12 February 2007/ID Number: G Page 5 of 8

6 Workgroup Unified Communications Workgroup unified communication applications support collaborative activities. These can be created by combining communications and collaboration applications to improve the effectiveness of teams and workgroups in planned and ad hoc activities. For instance, presence information grouped by teams or projects enables members to interact more easily. Similarly, a virtual meeting/meeting place can be created for each team; each meeting has a presence indicator (active/inactive meeting). If a meeting is taking place, there is a list of the participants. These solutions will also bring multiple channel support to collaboration tools, enabling converged conferencing (audio and Web collaboration). Similarly, it is possible for teamware and project applications to be integrated with IM, voice, and audioconferencing or Web conferencing. Benefits and Barriers: The benefits and barriers to workgroup unified communication solutions are similar to those in personal unified communications. The benefits, which are often difficult to measure and quantify, are based on the speed, accuracy and quality of group tasks, on the ability for participants to work more effectively across distances, and on increased group cohesion and satisfaction as measured by employee retention and surveys. The barriers to adoption are similar to those for personal unified communications it is difficult for groups to modify their work habits, methods and group norms. Because of this, leadership plays an even more important role in overcoming these barriers for workgroups. Action Item: First, identify groups where improvements in communications and collaboration will provide significant value to the enterprise. Often, this involves larger groups that are decentralized, that must collaborate intensively, where timely output is particularly valuable and that are open to technology change. If possible, it is useful to gather metrics on established methods before introducing change. Examples of ways to improve performance include the use of presence (that is, information about an individual's availability) to speed identification of the individual with the right skills, the use of business rules to route or escalate communications, or the use of virtual meeting rooms to speed rapid-response teams. Enterprise Unified Communications Enterprise unified communications integrate communications with enterprisewide and department-level applications, business processes and workflows. These technologies may also integrate communications with the enterprise application architecture. The goal of enterprise unified communications is to improve performance at an enterprise or departmental level, at a scale beyond what is offered by personal or workgroup unified communications. For example, a communications-enabled business process can be found in a credit card authorization. When a bank receives a request for a credit card authorization, an application reviews the request in real time. If the transaction is outside the credit card holder's usual behavior, then it is flagged as being at high risk of fraud. The system makes an outbound notification to the credit card holder (phone, or Short Message Service). The system may also directly contact the merchant. If the system succeeds in reaching the card holder, then the individual is requested to confirm his or her identity. Instead of rejecting a transaction from a valued customer, the bank can possibly allow the transaction, thus improving its service and reducing its and the client's fraud exposure. Benefits and Barriers: Gartner research indicates that there are significant opportunities to improve business processes and workflows with communication dependencies on timely response, coordination and access to information. Frequently, the benefits of improved workflows are tangible and measurable. Even where the benefits are clear, adoption can be difficult due to cross-departmental responsibilities and possible changes to processes and systems. As a result, these deployments require senior-executive-level commitment and sponsorship. Additional examples of communication-enabled business processes are described in "Achieving Agility Through Communication-Enabled Business Processes." Work with Gartner clients indicates a Publication Date: 12 February 2007/ID Number: G Page 6 of 8

7 multitude of opportunities in business areas where there are multiple dependencies between workflows and interpersonal communications. Action Item: Senior executives should sponsor cross-departmental workgroups to review business processes and workflows with communication and collaboration dependencies. Once identified, potential benefits from enterprise unified communications can be quantified and, as appropriated, solutions can be deployed. Synergistic Unified Communications Investments in a communication infrastructure often result in benefits to multiple areas. The deployment and use of unified communications in one area, such as personal unified communications, can enable benefits in other areas, such as workgroup unified communications. For instance, making presence information available offers benefits at the individual, workgroup and enterprise levels. Benefits and Barriers: Leveraging unified communication investments for multiple solutions and across workgroups and individuals can result in useful synergy. In the early stages of evaluation, focusing on these broader benefits can create a confused business case, unclear sponsorship and unfocused objectives. Specific immediate benefits may become lost as the project scale and scope increases, making pilot deployments of targeted solutions more difficult to initiate. Additionally, the audience and justification for the benefits differ. Action Item: Executives should understand potential synergistic benefits as they develop plans for personal, workgroup and enterprise unified communications. Those benefits that are significant should be considered as part of any business justification and piloted as part of trials. It is important that the types of unified communications be kept distinct because the justification and business stakeholders for each are different. Focusing solely on synergistic benefits may result in confused objectives and will dilute executive sponsorship and commitment. RECOMMENDED READING "Achieving Agility Through Communication-Enabled Business Processes" "A Framework for Unified Communications" "Three New Approaches Make IP-PBX Obsolete" Publication Date: 12 February 2007/ID Number: G Page 7 of 8

8 REGIONAL HEADQUARTERS Corporate Headquarters 56 Top Gallant Road Stamford, CT U.S.A European Headquarters Tamesis The Glanty Egham Surrey, TW20 9AW UNITED KINGDOM Asia/Pacific Headquarters Gartner Australasia Pty. Ltd. Level 9, 141 Walker Street North Sydney New South Wales 2060 AUSTRALIA Japan Headquarters Gartner Japan Ltd. Aobadai Hills, 6F 7-7, Aobadai, 4-chome Meguro-ku, Tokyo JAPAN Latin America Headquarters Gartner do Brazil Av. das Nações Unidas, andar World Trade Center São Paulo SP BRAZIL Publication Date: 12 February 2007/ID Number: G Page 8 of 8

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