Today’s business environment is very demanding, with businesses under ever-increasing pressure to reduce costs and become more competitive. Its workforce is also becoming increasingly dispersed because people no longer need to travel to the office every day to do their jobs. Provided they have access to the Internet and a mobile phone, they can work from virtually anywhere.

As a result of these changes, a company’s communications solutions must comprise a great deal more than just phone lines and Internet cables. A dispersed workforce is resulting in more and more communications channels being used for business, such as Instant Messaging, SMS, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter Linkedin or custom-developed social media applications.

But while dispersed workforces may result in cost savings for businesses in relation to office-overheads, they can have long term efficiency and profitability implications if the multiple devices (PDAs Blackberries, iPhones etc) and communications methods (phone, email, fax, SMS, instant messaging etc), used by employees are not fully synchronized.

C3 has been trading for twenty years and during that time we have installed many thousands of lines of communications technology to many different organisations. We have helped companies in many different markets and we understand the different types communications issues different businesses may face. Our proven experience means we would like to offer some advice on what  to take into account if you are thinking of upgrading your existing unified communications system or implementing new one.

• Satisfaction – does your existing unified communications system meet all your requirements?  If the answer is no, then try to identify where the problems and inefficiencies lie and make sure your new solution is flexible enough to meet your specific requirements. Your needs may be very different to those of your competitors, so make sure your new solutions will meet those needs.
•  Value for money -Unified communications systems supplied by larger organizations can have limitations regarding Switch integration and IP suppliers.  They can also have a “one size fits all” approach, selling you applications that you don’t necessarily need at an initial stage, making the overall installation more costly.
•  Future proof – IP telephony is definitely the way forward long-term, but are you in a position to implement a complete IP telephony solution at this stage?. Many organisations are still using traditional PBX switches (in higher education this figure is 65% for example). They could benefit from a hybrid solution that connects to traditional telephony and IP networks simultaneously, allowing them to make a smooth transition to IP telephony.
• Multi channel – Does your existing system support all communications methods? It is important that your unified communications system supports the different communications methods used by your customers – phone (be it land line, mobile or soft phone), SMS, Instant Messaging, video. It must also offer your staff versatile unified messaging facilities. They need to be able to access their messages by different means – telephone, Internet, iPhone app etc – and pick up their messages in what ever format they chose. 
• Flexibility – Most solutions offer basic voicemail facilities as standard, but would your organization benefit from other self service applications such as automated help desks or information hotlines running from the same core infrastructure? Easy-to-use back end software is also very important factor because it means you to react very quickly to external situations – setting up information hotlines advising on school closures due to bad weather for example.
•  Automated payment facilities – many companies offer telephone-based payment facilities to their customers, but under a new standard, known as PCI DSS (set up by the credit card industry), all credit card transactions must be processed in real time and financial data must be managed in a highly secure manner. Payment facilities that do not adhere to these new standards will have very costly implications, resulting in large fines and the loss of merchant codes.

Other things to think about are scalability and stability. It is very hard to predict the future, so a scalable solution that will satisfy your current requirements, but  allow you to expand painlessly in the future is the most cost-effective option. Regarding stability – what would happen if your supplier became involved in an acquisition or a restructuring process and would you be offered the support needed if things went wrong?

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