Unified communications (UC) has always been something of a blessing wrapped inside a problem: while the ability to be anywhere and communicate with anyone at any time is attractive to most people, there have always been barriers to the adoption of a UC solution in business.
One of the barriers between UC and potential UC users has been in its price tag. Years ago, a company that wanted to put a UC solution in place would have to go for a single, elephantine package with a large number of features — some wanted, some superfluous — baked into the cake. The technology has matured over the years, and with more players now fighting for a share of the UC pie, businesses and organizations of all sizes have a larger menu from which to select the component pieces.
A second barrier between UC and potential users — many would say it remains a major factor — is complexity, or in direct terms: how easy a UC solution is to use. Tied into this barrier is the issue of scalability – how well (or poorly) a UC solution works as employees are added to the system.
Millennial workers expect more
The 2015 Statistics Canada survey results tell us that Millennials — those born between 1981 and 2000 — now comprise a staggering 37 per cent of the Canadian workforce, compared to 31 per cent for Generation X and 30 per cent for the rapidly aging “Boomer” cohort.
Companies that want to attract and retain Millennial talent – and to get the most out of this group as employees – need to look at  UC as not merely something they should have in place, but something they must have in place.
With some players in the UC space taking design cues from such popular consumer technologies as Skype, UC could well be at the beginning of a golden era. Unfortunately, the old questions about UC around cost, ease of use and scalability remain.
Join Jim Love, IT World Canada CIO, and Ian Gould, Worldwide Corporate Consulting Expert, Avaya, as they explore the advances being made in unified communications that may allow companies to offer employees and clients a means of moving effortlessly and close to hands-free between locations — and to do so without having to break the bank.
To register for “Mobile Magic: The Missing Component in Successful Unified Communication,” click here.
