Over the past few years, unified communications has gone from an overused buzzword to a staple in businesses across the country. With experts predicting that IT will change more in the next 18 months than in the last decade, it is becoming even more essential to understand what UC is and where it is heading next.
As businesses begin to expand both geographically and technologically, the need for efficient and effective collaboration is on the rise. Because IT experts are predicting that mobile capabilities will become a top priority for many companies in the next ten months, mobility and accessibility for employees is now a top priority for business leaders. In addition, recent reports suggest that not only did cloud-based unified communications experience double-digit growth in 2014, but it also is expected to continue growing throughout 2015. Alongside this existing technology, visual communication is also expected to make its way into business operations this year. For more information on the upcoming trends in unified communications, check out the infographic below:
Graphics provided by: ShoreTel
Unified Comms went mainstream a few years ago. Cloud is following that trend. BYOD and Big Data are the next ‘big buzzwords’ that will go mainstream for the enterprise soon.
Video is definitely going to become an integral part of our daily communication. IT Managers are consumers as well – they have used FaceTime, Skype etc with family and will translate the benefits into business soon.
This leads to the need for application fluent networks that understand and accordingly size the data flowing through the network.
While Unified Comms is much needed for big enterprises but even SMBs can benefit from UC when available as a service or via the cloud.